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Written Question
Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Screening
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the UK National Screening Committee will publish (1) plans, and (2) timelines, for its in-service evaluation of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Stakeholders will be kept updated on the progress of the in-service evaluation (ISE) for newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) via the UK National Screening Committee’s blog, which is available in an online only format. The most recent update was published on 24 January 2024, and detailed the progress of the SMA ISE, which is available in an online only format.


Written Question
Neural Tube Defects
Wednesday 2nd August 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many babies born in England between January 2012 and December 2022 had neural tube defects; and how many pregnancies were terminated in that period because of neural tube defects.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the period January 2012 to December 2021, there were 8,052 mentions of congenital malformations of the nervous system under Ground E abortions for residents of England and Wales within both nations. Information on neural tube defects is published by number of mentions rather than number of pregnancies terminated, and it is possible for a pregnancy to have more than one neural tube defect. Data for January to December 2022 is not yet available and is due to be published in January 2024.

Data from the National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service shows that between 2015 and 2021, there were 3,124 babies born in England who had neural tube defects.


Written Question
Clinical Trials: Applications
Wednesday 2nd August 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of applications to undertake clinical trials that require MHRA approval are completed within 30 days; and how many such applications were received in the last 12 months.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

A total of 587 valid clinical trial authorisation applications were received and assessed during the period of July 2022 to June 2023. Out of the 587, 100 applications were assessed within 30 days (17.04%).


Written Question
Tobacco
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect public policy being influenced by the commercial interests of the tobacco industry.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government takes obligations to protect public policy from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control very seriously. The ‘Guidance for government engagement with the tobacco industry’ was published on 19 June 2023 to support Government Departments and public bodies to adhere to Article 5.3 and remind them of their commitments. This document builds on established measures that the Department has put in place internally to limit interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of the interactions that do occur. A copy is attached.


Written Question
Ophthalmic Services: Special Educational Needs
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take together with NHS England to ensure that children currently in receipt of the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service who attend day special schools will continue to access the service to meet their needs.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.

NHS England are currently considering the evaluation of this special school programme, to determine how services to meet the eye care needs of children with learning disabilities in school settings should be commissioned and will set out next steps shortly.


Written Question
Ophthalmic Services: Special Educational Needs
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the independent evaluation of the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service will be made publicly available

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.

NHS England are currently considering the evaluation of this special school programme, to determine how services to meet the eye care needs of children with learning disabilities in school settings should be commissioned and will set out next steps shortly.


Written Question
Hospices: Hospital Beds
Tuesday 11th April 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of hospice beds that have been lost due to shortfalls in the funding through integrated care boards and where no alternative provision has been made by local NHS providers.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No specific assessment has been made. Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs) in response to the needs of their local population. NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications to support ICBs in commissioning a range of palliative and end of life services, including inpatient beds, that meet local needs and preferences.

In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region to work closely with local commissioners on the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.


Written Question
Integrated Care Boards: Palliative Care
Tuesday 11th April 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that integrated care boards fulfil their obligations under the Health and Care Act 2022 to provide palliative care services to meet the needs of their population.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. Copies of these documents are attached.

In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.


Written Question
NHS and Social Services: Sick Leave
Monday 23rd January 2023

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce health and social care workforce sickness absence.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local National Health Service leaders have been asked to consider the health and wellbeing of all staff as a priority and establish a preventive approach to health and wellbeing. A national growing occupational health and wellbeing programme has been launched to ensure a preventive, organisation-wide approach to health and wellbeing. In addition, all NHS staff have access to a free confidential text service and to the online Headspace and Unmind platforms until 31 December 2023.

The NHS sickness absence toolkit provides advice to managers to support staff to return to work, including considering reasonable adjustments and discussing the direct causes of absence. For winter 2022/23, NHS organisations will support staff to prevent the transmission of respiratory illnesses and all frontline healthcare workers will be offered free COVID-19 and flu vaccines.

The majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers which set pay and terms and conditions, independently of central Government. We are encouraging adult social care providers to invest in mental health and wellbeing services for staff. We will continue to work with the sector to ensure that wellbeing resources and best practice advice are available.


Written Question
Antimicrobials: Drug Resistance
Friday 23rd December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to maintain the UK’s international leadership on tackling antimicrobial resistance by building on the momentum generated by the UK’s G7 presidency in 2021.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We continue to work with G7 partners to implement commitments made on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including those secured during the United Kingdom’s 2021 presidency. The UK Special Envoy on AMR, Professor Dame Sally Davies, also recently attended the Third High-level Ministerial Conference on AMR in Oman. In November 2022, the Government issued a call for evidence to seek expert contributions to the next five-year AMR national action plan, which has been shared with international counterparts.