Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What progress her Department has made on improving access to GP appointments.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Thanks to the efforts of superb GPs up and down the country, in England there is now a record additional 50 million appointments per year being made available.
Our Primary Care Recovery Plan for England is focussed on improving access for patients and reducing bureaucracy for GPs.
Health is devolved to Scotland and I’m sure the honourable lady will use our excellent record to challenge SNP Ministers on their performance.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times he has used powers to direct NHS England under section 45 of the Health and Care Act 2022; and in what context those powers were used.
Answered by Will Quince
Following the transfer of functions from NHS Digital in February, section 13ZC of the NHS Act 2006 (as inserted by section 45 of the Health and Care Act 2022) has been used to direct NHS England on its functions relating to information systems.
Two directions in relation to establishing new information systems have been given, and existing directions previously given to NHS Digital, and now treated as given to NHS England, have been amended. These, and future directions relating to information systems, are available at the following link:
The Secretary of State has not issued directions under section 13ZC in relation to any other matters.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on head-hunters in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in his Department in each year since 1 January 2016.
Answered by Will Quince
The provision of severance payments for Ministers is set out in legislation. Details of the severance payments made to Ministers on leaving office are published in the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of his Department's contracts for personal protective equipment are still to be uploaded to contract finder; what the value is of those contracts; whether those contracts were subject to competitive tendering; and when the remaining contracts will be published.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
All contracts notices and associated contracts awarded by the Department for the supply of personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are now available at the Contracts Finder service.
Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allows for the direct award of a contract without advertising in cases of “extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority”. The majority of COVID-19 related contracts were awarded using Regulation 32(2)(c) with the remainder using other procedures under the 2015 Regulations which allow for a direct award without tendering such as call-offs from pre-tendered framework contracts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much spending his Department has recovered for personal protective equipment that was either not delivered or was not fit for purpose, since March 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people diagnosed with a terminal illness who end their own lives each year.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have made no such estimate.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of specialist importers’ capacity to produce the required medication from imported Bedrocan flowers after the transition period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department, supported by the British Embassy to The Hague, has reached an agreement with the Dutch Government to allow the continued supply of Bedrocan oils, a form of unlicensed medicinal cannabis, against United Kingdom prescriptions for existing patients until 1 July 2021. The medicines supply chain has ensured that there continues to be good supply of licensed and unlicensed cannabis-based medicines after the transition period.
The Written Ministerial Statement of 26 January HCWS734 provided an update on action taken by the Government on supply from the Netherlands and next steps to establish a more permanent solution.
The Department has not made an assessment of the efficacy of the different unlicensed cannabis-based medicines. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance that states that there is insufficient evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of these products, to support their use in the National Health Service. The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the National Institute of Health Research to establish clinical trials to develop the evidence base to support further commissioning decisions.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of alleviating medical conditions with (a) Bedrocan oils and (b) alternate cannabis-based medicines in place of finished cannabis oil.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department, supported by the British Embassy to The Hague, has reached an agreement with the Dutch Government to allow the continued supply of Bedrocan oils, a form of unlicensed medicinal cannabis, against United Kingdom prescriptions for existing patients until 1 July 2021. The medicines supply chain has ensured that there continues to be good supply of licensed and unlicensed cannabis-based medicines after the transition period.
The Written Ministerial Statement of 26 January HCWS734 provided an update on action taken by the Government on supply from the Netherlands and next steps to establish a more permanent solution.
The Department has not made an assessment of the efficacy of the different unlicensed cannabis-based medicines. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance that states that there is insufficient evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of these products, to support their use in the National Health Service. The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the National Institute of Health Research to establish clinical trials to develop the evidence base to support further commissioning decisions.