Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the level of unpaid NHS charges in each year since 2010, broken down by NHS Trust.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Since the financial year 2014/15, the amounts written off as bad debt in relation to direct charges made to overseas visitors and migrants are part of National Health Service trusts’ and foundation trusts’ annual accounts and are published on Gov.uk broken down by NHS trust.
According to the published annual accounts, there have been £17 million in 2014/15, £16 million in 2015/16, and £17 million in 2016/17 written off as bad debt in relation to direct charges made to overseas visitors and migrants across England. At the same time, direct charges made to overseas visitors and migrants have increased from £47 million in 2014/15, through £69 million in 2015/16, to £81 million in 2016/17.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether e-cigarettes can be promoted in public health campaigns under the Tobacco Products Directive.
Answered by Steve Brine
As announced in the England Tobacco Control Plan published 18 July 2017, the Department will monitor the impact of regulation and policy on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products in England, including evidence on safety, uptake, health impact and effectiveness of these products as smoking cessation aids, to inform our actions on regulating their use.
Public Health England will continue to provide the evidence annually on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems until the end of Parliament in 2022 and will include within quit smoking campaign messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes compared to smoking.
The Department has published guidance on Article 20(5) of the EU Tobacco Products Directive covering restrictions on advertising electronic cigarettes. That guidance states that “a public health campaign about relative risks of e-cigarettes versus tobacco products by Public Health England or local stop smoking services are not advertisements made in the course of a business and therefore not covered by these restrictions”. The guidance is published here:
The Government will review where the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union offers opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
The Government also has a statutory duty to conduct an implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by the end of May 2021 to assess its impact.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to exclude e-cigarettes from the Tobacco Products Directive ban on advertising when the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Steve Brine
As announced in the England Tobacco Control Plan published 18 July 2017, the Department will monitor the impact of regulation and policy on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products in England, including evidence on safety, uptake, health impact and effectiveness of these products as smoking cessation aids, to inform our actions on regulating their use.
Public Health England will continue to provide the evidence annually on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems until the end of Parliament in 2022 and will include within quit smoking campaign messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes compared to smoking.
The Department has published guidance on Article 20(5) of the EU Tobacco Products Directive covering restrictions on advertising electronic cigarettes. That guidance states that “a public health campaign about relative risks of e-cigarettes versus tobacco products by Public Health England or local stop smoking services are not advertisements made in the course of a business and therefore not covered by these restrictions”. The guidance is published here:
The Government will review where the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union offers opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
The Government also has a statutory duty to conduct an implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by the end of May 2021 to assess its impact.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that public health campaigns are able to promote the use of e-cigarettes to aid smoking cessation.
Answered by Steve Brine
As announced in the England Tobacco Control Plan published 18 July 2017, the Department will monitor the impact of regulation and policy on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products in England, including evidence on safety, uptake, health impact and effectiveness of these products as smoking cessation aids, to inform our actions on regulating their use.
Public Health England will continue to provide the evidence annually on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems until the end of Parliament in 2022 and will include within quit smoking campaign messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes compared to smoking.
The Department has published guidance on Article 20(5) of the EU Tobacco Products Directive covering restrictions on advertising electronic cigarettes. That guidance states that “a public health campaign about relative risks of e-cigarettes versus tobacco products by Public Health England or local stop smoking services are not advertisements made in the course of a business and therefore not covered by these restrictions”. The guidance is published here:
The Government will review where the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union offers opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
The Government also has a statutory duty to conduct an implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by the end of May 2021 to assess its impact.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the advertising ban on the use of e-cigarettes.
Answered by Steve Brine
As announced in the England Tobacco Control Plan published 18 July 2017, the Department will monitor the impact of regulation and policy on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products in England, including evidence on safety, uptake, health impact and effectiveness of these products as smoking cessation aids, to inform our actions on regulating their use.
Public Health England will continue to provide the evidence annually on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems until the end of Parliament in 2022 and will include within quit smoking campaign messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes compared to smoking.
The Department has published guidance on Article 20(5) of the EU Tobacco Products Directive covering restrictions on advertising electronic cigarettes. That guidance states that “a public health campaign about relative risks of e-cigarettes versus tobacco products by Public Health England or local stop smoking services are not advertisements made in the course of a business and therefore not covered by these restrictions”. The guidance is published here:
The Government will review where the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union offers opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
The Government also has a statutory duty to conduct an implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by the end of May 2021 to assess its impact.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support those diagnosed with Ataxia.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ataxia can be the result of a hereditary condition (the most common being Friedreich's ataxia), it can be acquired through brain injury or neurological disease and may also result from a condition called idiopathic late-onset cerebellar ataxia. Certain disorders can also cause ataxia in people for short periods of time.
The treatment and support patients of people living with the condition will need will depend on the type of ataxia, the severity of symptoms and level of independence and patients’ needs, which should be assessed on a case by case basis. Subject to assessment, treatment may include pharmacological treatment to reduce and manage symptoms, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy and psychological support.
Whilst much of the treatment will be provided by local NHS commissioners, some patients may need access to specialised services, commissioned by NHS England. This may be because they have high levels of need or require a particular treatment, though in the case of ataxia telangiectasia, NHS England commissions services specifically for this condition because of its rarity and the complexity of symptoms.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the process is for reviewing the prescription charge exemption criteria.
Answered by Steve Brine
There is no set process or timeframe for reviewing prescription charges exemptions. With a range of charge exemptions already in place, almost 90% of items prescribed are free on the National Health Service in England. Furthermore, the cost of pre-payment certificates has been frozen, ensuring people can get access to affordable prescriptions.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many times and (b) when the prescription charge exemption criteria have been reviewed in the last 30 years.
Answered by Steve Brine
It is not possible to confirm how many times the full list of exemptions have been subject to review in the last 30 years. To identify and confirm details of each review would be of disproportionate cost as the information may not be fully held centrally.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prescription charge prepayment certificates have been purchased in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The number of 3-month and 12-month Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPC) purchased in each of the last five calendar years is provided in the table below:
Year | Number of PPCs sold |
2012 | 1,468,233 |
2013 | 1,531,016 |
2014 | 1,651,977 |
2015 | 1,798,037 |
2016 | 1,916,220 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority