Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made on the effect that home use of both pills for early medical abortions has had on women in abusive domestic situations for whom leaving their home for the length of time needed to attend an in-clinic appointment would be unsafe.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s public consultation on whether to make permanent the temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks’ gestation for all eligible women asked questions on the impact on the provision of abortion services for women and girls accessing these services with particular regard to safety. The consultation has now closed and we are considering all evidence submitted and plan to publish our response later this year.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that deaths from eating disorders are accurately recorded.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for collecting information on deaths, including any where an eating disorder may have played a role. The ONS has advised that official statistics on deaths are based on the data collected as part of civil registration, which are based in turn on the medical certificate of cause of death completed by a doctor or the conclusions of a coroner following an inquest.
Doctors determine the cause of death according to their professional knowledge and belief. They can record the sequence of health problems or events leading to a death and any other health conditions that contributed but were not directly the cause. If the certifier believes, on the basis of the evidence available to them, that an eating disorder was involved, they can record this as a contributing factor in the cause of death.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to collect information on deaths recorded from eating disorders.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for collecting information on deaths, including any where an eating disorder may have played a role. The ONS has advised that official statistics on deaths are based on the data collected as part of civil registration, which are based in turn on the medical certificate of cause of death completed by a doctor or the conclusions of a coroner following an inquest.
Doctors determine the cause of death according to their professional knowledge and belief. They can record the sequence of health problems or events leading to a death and any other health conditions that contributed but were not directly the cause. If the certifier believes, on the basis of the evidence available to them, that an eating disorder was involved, they can record this as a contributing factor in the cause of death.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review Patient reference group was set up to discuss the (a) three interventions of Valproate, Mesh and Primodos involved in that review and (b) future of patients and their welfare within the health system.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department has not established any groups or sub-groups on sodium valproate or medications in pregnancy.
The Department has established a Patient Reference Group (PRG) in 2020 consisting of patients and patients’ representatives, including those involved in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and those with a wider interest in patient safety. The purpose of the PRG is to provide challenge, advice and scrutiny to the work to develop the Government’s response to the recommendations set out in the IMMDS Review. The scope of the PRG does not extend beyond the recommendations in the Review.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has established groups on sodium valproate and medications in pregnancy. The Sodium Valproate Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines was convened in February 2014 to advise the Commission on Human Medicines on the risks of valproate in pregnancy and on measures to minimise risk. The MHRA convened the Valproate Stakeholder Network in January 2016 to support communications around the valproate toolkit to raise awareness among women of the risks. It is now focused on consistent UK-wide implementation of the valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme and monitoring compliance.
In July 2019 the Commission on Human Medicines established a new Expert Working Group on Optimising Data on Medicines used in Pregnancy. The Expert Group was to advise on better ways to collect and monitor data on the safety of medicines during pregnancy. The report and recommendations of the Expert Group were published in January 2021.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) groups and (b) sub groups have been set up on the matter of (i) sodium valproate, (ii) medications in pregnancy. (iii) Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and (iv) the recommendations of that Review since the (A) valproate toolkit was published in 2015 and (B) IMMDS Review reported in July 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department has not established any groups or sub-groups on sodium valproate or medications in pregnancy.
The Department has established a Patient Reference Group (PRG) in 2020 consisting of patients and patients’ representatives, including those involved in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and those with a wider interest in patient safety. The purpose of the PRG is to provide challenge, advice and scrutiny to the work to develop the Government’s response to the recommendations set out in the IMMDS Review. The scope of the PRG does not extend beyond the recommendations in the Review.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has established groups on sodium valproate and medications in pregnancy. The Sodium Valproate Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines was convened in February 2014 to advise the Commission on Human Medicines on the risks of valproate in pregnancy and on measures to minimise risk. The MHRA convened the Valproate Stakeholder Network in January 2016 to support communications around the valproate toolkit to raise awareness among women of the risks. It is now focused on consistent UK-wide implementation of the valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme and monitoring compliance.
In July 2019 the Commission on Human Medicines established a new Expert Working Group on Optimising Data on Medicines used in Pregnancy. The Expert Group was to advise on better ways to collect and monitor data on the safety of medicines during pregnancy. The report and recommendations of the Expert Group were published in January 2021.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the response to the recommendations of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review has been withheld for nine months.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The recommendations are still under careful consideration.
The Government is committed to learning from this report and we currently plan to respond further to the report of the Review during 2021.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to change the requirement that a disabled applicant must manually sign form FP92A.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no plans to do so. When a disabled applicant is unable to complete or sign form FP92A, the correct procedure is for a general practitioner or other healthcare professional to complete the application on the patient’s behalf. This instruction is noted on form FP92A in the patient declaration section.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the catch up programme for the HPV vaccine will take place in schools.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All providers are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement’s commissioners, with clinical advice from Public Health England, to deliver all missed school aged vaccinations as soon as possible and no later than August 2021. All areas were asked to establish vaccination programme recovery plans and many providers were able to offer some immunisation programme catch-up ahead of 2020/21. Where possible, providers have offered vaccinations through alternative school and community settings. In addition, support was sought from the Department for Education to ensure that wherever possible schools facilitated the vaccination continuation.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of pupils who will miss their HPV vaccine in academic year 2020-21.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data will be published in October 2021 showing coverage of the human papillomavirus vaccine for the academic year 2020-21.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pupils missed their HPV vaccine in academic year 2019-20.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All educational settings were closed from 23 March 2020 and the delivery of the 2019/20 school immunisation programmes were subsequently paused, which impacted the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme. The latest data shows that 64.7% of year nine females completed the two-dose HPV vaccination course in 2019/20 compared with 83.9% in 2018/19. HPV vaccination coverage for the priming dose in 2019/20 was 54.4% in year eight males.
Providers across the country are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioners with clinical advice from Public Health England to catch up on vaccinations, including HPV. All vaccinations missed will be delivered as soon as possible and no later than August 2021.