Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed online advertising restrictions on foods high in fat, salt or sugar on reformulation work being undertaken by food and drink manufacturers.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We published an evidence note alongside the consultation on the proposal to introduce a total restriction of online advertising for products high in fat, salt and sugar. The note references non-monetised benefits as result of reformulation of products. This is available at the following link:
This builds on the impact assessment that accompanied the 2019 consultation on further advertising restrictions on TV and online. This is available at the following link:
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed (a) advertising and (b) promotional restrictions on foods high in fat, salt or sugar on (i) international businesses entering the UK market and (ii) inward investment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’, published in July, sets out our intention to restrict the advertising and promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS).
An impact assessment was published alongside the 2019 consultation on further advertising restrictions on TV and online. This is available at the following link:
We published an evidence note alongside the consultation on the proposal to introduce a total restriction of online advertising for HFSS products. This builds on the impact assessment that accompanied the 2019 consultation. This is available at the following link:
A full public consultation and impact assessment has been carried out for the proposal to restrict the promotion of HFSS foods in stores. The Government’s response to the consultation and the impact assessment will be published shortly.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of strategies local authorities have in place to tackle (a) childhood and (b) adult obesity.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Local authorities (LA) have access to the National Child Measurement Programme and NHS Health Checks to identify, monitor and help inform the needs of their local child and adult populations. Public Health England (PHE) will continue to work with LAs on public health approaches that support evidence based and place-based approaches, including the Sustainability Transformation Plans, whilst delivering the actions outlined in the Government's Childhood Obesity Plan.
Local authorities continue to invest in a breadth of approaches to tackle obesity, including work to improve the local food offer in public places; create healthier built environments; and provide weight management services to children and adults looking to achieve a healthier weight.
PHE are supporting local authorities to implement effective strategies by developing accessible resources and toolkits that support local authorities to take a place-based and whole systems approach to tackling obesity.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the amount owed to NHS trusts in Yorkshire and the Humber by non-EU nationals for health care they have received on the NHS.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not have an overall estimate of uncollected fees relating to the use of the National Health Service by patients subject to charge under section 175 of the NHS Act 2006, either by region or nationality of debtor. NHS Trust and NHS Foundation trust annual accounts provide information on provisions and debt that has been written off, however this does not give the total debt picture because some of these amounts will be paid in subsequent years.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of mental health services in (a) Calderdale and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Ultimately, the provision of mental health services in Calderdale and West Yorkshire, including those for children and young people, is a matter for local National Health Service commissioners.
The Government is investing an additional £1.4 billion to improve children and young people’s mental health, including eating disorders. We welcome the publication of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health to transform mental health services and ensure that an additional one million people have access to services by 2020/21.
In line with the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, NHS England advises that Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has worked with the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and partners to improve crisis services for mental health, including further development of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Services; the establishment of a hospital-based Mental Health Liaison team; the development of a Police Liaison team and has bid successfully for national and local funding to pilot safe spaces for adults in mental distress in Calderdale.
In addition, Calderdale has successfully bid to become an early implementer for the development of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services for people with long-term conditions. There are other initiatives around specialist perinatal services, older people’s mental health services and rehabilitation and recovery services.
The Calderdale CCG has received additional funding to use to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people – around £290,000 to meet local priorities and £107,000 for eating disorder services. Calderdale’s Local Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing, 2015-2020 can be obtained on the CCG’s website at:
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to assist young people experiencing mental health problems in Calderdale.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Ultimately, the provision of mental health services in Calderdale and West Yorkshire, including those for children and young people, is a matter for local National Health Service commissioners.
The Government is investing an additional £1.4 billion to improve children and young people’s mental health, including eating disorders. We welcome the publication of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health to transform mental health services and ensure that an additional one million people have access to services by 2020/21.
In line with the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, NHS England advises that Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has worked with the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and partners to improve crisis services for mental health, including further development of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Services; the establishment of a hospital-based Mental Health Liaison team; the development of a Police Liaison team and has bid successfully for national and local funding to pilot safe spaces for adults in mental distress in Calderdale.
In addition, Calderdale has successfully bid to become an early implementer for the development of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services for people with long-term conditions. There are other initiatives around specialist perinatal services, older people’s mental health services and rehabilitation and recovery services.
The Calderdale CCG has received additional funding to use to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people – around £290,000 to meet local priorities and £107,000 for eating disorder services. Calderdale’s Local Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing, 2015-2020 can be obtained on the CCG’s website at:
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to (a) prevent the late cancellation of appointments with GPs and (b) reduce the cost to GPs of cancelled appointments.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is promoting the use of online booking and cancellation of appointments in general practice. Evidence shows that patients are more likely to cancel an appointment which is no longer needed if the appointment was booked online. Furthermore, some general practitioner (GP) surgeries display information about lost clinic time potentially resulting from cancelled appointments which cannot be re-filled or from patients not attending appointments without any prior notification.
NHS England is trying to reduce the cost to GPs of cancelled appointments by putting measures in place to minimise the number of cancelled and missed appointments.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has conducted on variations in cancer survival rates between different (a) parts of the UK and (b) socio-economic groups.
Answered by David Mowat
Public Health England’s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service has published data on variation in cancer survival linked with deprivation as part of its Routes to Diagnosis project. This covers 55 different cancers and shows that, on the whole, survival is poorer in more deprived populations. Full results are available at the following link:
www.ncin.org.uk/publications/routes_to_diagnosis
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many junior doctors were employed by the NHS in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The information is shown in the following table:
Doctors in Training as at 30 September between 2011 and 2015 in England and Yorkshire and Humber
Year | England | Yorkshire and Humber |
2011 | 50,059 | 5,124 |
2012 | 50,318 | 5,024 |
2013 | 51,013 | 4,994 |
2014 | 51,686 | 4,944 |
2015 | 51,308 | 4,895 |
Source: NHS Workforce Statistics, February 2016, published by Health and Social Care Information Centre
Notes:
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP appointments were missed in (a) Calderdale and (b) England in each year since 2010; and what the estimated cost of those missed appointments was to the NHS.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The number of general practitioner (GP) appointments that are available in Calderdale and England is not held.
The number of GP appointments that are missed is not collected centrally, however, figures from NHS England suggest that more than 12 million GP appointments are missed each year in the United Kingdom (there is no individual breakdown for Calderdale or England separately), which costs in excess of £162 million per year.