Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to allocate to the Healthy Start scheme in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Healthy Start is a demand-led scheme and spending on the scheme varies each year. The amount of funds provided to the Department for Healthy Start each year is based on forecasts of the number of families on the scheme, with the Department managing actual spend within its overall budget.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the ability of social enterprises with staff on agenda for change contracts to meet the 2022-23 NHS non-consolidated pay awards without receiving Government funding for that purpose.
Answered by Will Quince
The pay deal that was accepted by the NHS Staff Council on 2 May 2023 covered staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations. These organisations are set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms.
NHS social enterprises are independent providers and remain free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the NHS non-consolidated pay awards for 2022-23 on health and care services previously run by social enterprises.
Answered by Will Quince
The pay deal that was accepted by the NHS Staff Council on 2 May 2023 covered staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations. These organisations are set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms.
NHS social enterprises are independent providers and remain free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average annual cost was of operating the Healthy Start scheme in the last three years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The average annual cost of operating the Healthy Start scheme between 2019/20 and 2021/22, the last three years for which data is available, was £55,523,961.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on Isotretinoin: an expert review of suspected psychiatric and sexual side effects, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing redress for people who have experienced severe side effects from isotretinoin.
Answered by Will Quince
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) obtains independent advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM). The Isotretinoin Expert Working Group was convened by CHM to evaluate the latest data on risk of psychiatric adverse reactions and sexual dysfunction suspected to be associated with the use of isotretinoin and to consider whether regulatory action is required to minimise risks or raise awareness of the risks. The report of this review will be published shortly, and more information on the working group is available at the following link:
The matter of redress sat outside the scope of the expert review and is also outside the remit of MHRA. Our primary focus currently is on improving future medicines and medical devices safety.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency review into the use of Roaccutane will be (a) concluded and (b) published.
Answered by Will Quince
An Expert Working Group has reviewed the available evidence relating to isotretinoin (Roaccutane). We expect the report to be published shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of increasing the Healthy Start Allowance by 20 per cent.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Department has no current plans to make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of increasing the Healthy Start value by 20%.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing free dentistry to people with cancer.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the value of Healthy Start vouchers in 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
While there are no current plans to increase the value of Healthy Start, this is kept under continuous review. In April 2021 the value of the Healthy Start benefit increased from £3.10 to £4.25 per week, providing additional support to pregnant women and families on lower incomes to make healthy food choices. Due to the increase, eligible families with children aged under one receive £8.50 per week compared to £6.20 previously.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the highest annual number of excess deaths in 2022 compared to previous years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
There are a range of different organisations producing different estimates of excess deaths based on different methodologies.
Provisional Office of National Statistics data show 32,088 excess deaths in England in 2022, compared with 51,907 in 2021 and 72,258 in 2020. These figures do not adjust for age and size of the population.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has been reporting on excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic, via its Excess Mortality report. Its estimates, which do adjust for age and size of population, indicate that excess deaths in England were also lower in 2022 than in the two preceding years of the pandemic.
The Department are closely monitoring figures on excess deaths. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths in the latter part of 2022, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.