Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to tackle social work workforce (a) shortages and (b) recruitment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise and value the vital contribution of regulated professions, including social workers in adult social care, and are committed to developing the skills of the workforce. That is why we announced a new fund on 10 January 2024 to support recruitment of social work apprentices into adult social care over the next three years.
The new funding will allow local authorities to apply for a contribution towards the costs of training and supervising new social work apprenticeships. Details on what the funding can be used for, how to access the funding, and employer eligibility will be set out in guidance to be published on GOV.UK shortly.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled The Impact of Care Act Easements published by the University of Manchester and the NIHR Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit in November 2022, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in identifying hidden older carers within their communities.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have need for support, and to meet their eligible needs upon request from the carer.
On 24 October 2023, the adult social care’s Innovation and Improvement Unit launched the Accelerating Reform Fund which provides a total of £42.6 million over 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support innovation and scaling in adult social care, and to kick start a change in services to support unpaid carers. The list of priorities for innovation and scaling includes focussing on identifying unpaid carers in local areas, encouraging people to recognise themselves as carers, and promoting access to carer services.
The adult social care reform white paper, People at the Heart of Care, published on 1 December 2021, highlighted the potential to increase the voluntary use of unpaid carer markers in National Health Service electronic health records. In 2022, NHS England wrote to all general practices about the importance of identifying carers and advising how caring status should be recorded on patient records.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending incentives for communities to host onshore wind projects to (a) nuclear and (b) other low-carbon generation projects.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government wants all communities to benefit from hosting energy technologies in their local areas. However, Government does not have a formal role with regards to community benefits for low-carbon energy projects. These are best agreed at a local level between the operators and the local community.
Many low-carbon energy developers already offer a range of community benefit schemes, including providing funding for environmental enhancements, job schemes, energy discounts, and investment in local infrastructure.
The Government will seek alignment and consistency between energy technologies where appropriate, but believes it is important that the approach to community benefits for each technology reflects their unique impacts.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to roll out new nuclear projects.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
HMG is backing new Nuclear with £1.2bn committed to support Sizewell C, completed the SMR competition initial down-selection, thanks to the newly established Great British Nuclear, and investing up to £75m in our Nuclear Fuel fund, in addition to the £385m already provided through our Advanced Nuclear Fund.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 20 October 2023 to Question 202779 on Rare Diseases: Drugs, how many single technology appraisals of medicines conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for non-orphan medicines resulted in (a) a positive recommendation, (b) an optimised recommendation, (c) a recommendation for managed access, (d) a negative recommendation and (e) termination in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's planned timetable is for the publication of new statutory guidance on the preparation of local transport plans.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is considering next steps on this matter in the light of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which represents a significant change in the Government’s funding of local transport schemes, and will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many single technology appraisals for medicines for rare diseases conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence resulted in (a) a positive recommendation, (b) an optimised recommendation, (c) a recommendation for managed access, (d) a negative recommendation and (e) termination in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows a breakdown of technologies with designated orphan status appraised through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence resulted single technology appraisal process by financial year from 2018/19:
Financial Year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | Total |
Recommended | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 25 |
Recommended (Cancer Drugs Fund) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Optimised | 3 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 26 |
Optimised (Cancer Drugs Fund) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Research Only | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Not Recommended | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Total | 10 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 67 |
Terminated | 1 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 23 |
Medicines with an orphan designation are for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition that is rare, namely affecting not more than five in 10,000 people in Great Britain, or where the medicine is unlikely to generate sufficient profit to justify research and development costs.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many highly specialised technology evaluations of medicines for very rare diseases conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence resulted in (a) a positive recommendation, (b) an optimised recommendation, (c) a recommendation for managed access, (d) a negative recommendation and (e) termination in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows a breakdown of technologies appraised through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s highly specialised technology process by financial year from 2018/19:
Financial Year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | Total |
Recommended | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 15 |
Optimised | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Not recommended | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
Terminated | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has made an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking modular updates on topics relevant to rare diseases since the publication of its updated process and methods for health technology evaluation on 31 January 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has no current plans to undertake a modular update of its methods and processes related specifically to rare diseases. NICE specifically considered treatments for rare diseases during its methods review, and many of the changes introduced in NICE’s updated health technology evaluation manual in January 2022 will benefit treatments for rare diseases. These include the severity modifier, flexibility in uncertainty considerations and the emphasis on a comprehensive evidence base including real-world, qualitative, surrogate, and expert evidence. These updates mitigate the barriers faced by rare disease technologies while maintaining an evidence-based, robust, and proportionate evaluation approach.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department makes an estimate of the timescale for manufacturing influenza vaccines to (a) inform its decision on eligibility for the annual NHS influenza immunisation programme and (b) ensure the adequacy of supply of those vaccines across the country.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation regularly discuss with the vaccine manufacturing industry issues such as the availability of new and existing vaccines, and manufacturing lead in times. Their advice about which flu vaccines are to be used for the coming season is informed by these discussions. An effective programme depends on a reliable supply of vaccine. It takes approximately five to six months for the first supplies of approved vaccine to become available once a new strain of influenza virus is identified and isolated.
National Health Service providers determine how many seasonal flu vaccines to buy for eligible cohorts each year based on their local populations, as outlined in the annual flu system letter. The letter, published on 25 May 2023, is based on the advice of the JCVI, which reviews the latest evidence on flu vaccines and advises on the type of vaccine to be offered to different age groups and on which vaccines should be prioritised for various at-risk groups.
General practitioners and community pharmacists are responsible for ordering their own flu vaccines for the adult population from suppliers. These are then used to deliver the national flu vaccination programme, with deliveries phased through the season to help mitigate against risks of wastage, cold chain failure and to adequately cover the peaks and flows of local demand.
NHS England encourages their contractors to purchase vaccines from more than one manufacturer to mitigate against the risk of supply issues. Regional NHS England commissioners, in partnership with their local systems, also make assessments of the amount of vaccine available in their area to ensure there is enough supply to meet public demand.
The UK Health Security Agency secures and supplies a sufficient volume of flu vaccines used in the children’s flu programme to ensure that eligible children aged less than 18 years old who present for vaccination can be offered an appropriate vaccine.