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, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2021 to Question 179006 on Food: Marketing and the statement in that Answer that his Department intends to lay secondary legislation before Parliament by mid-2021, by what date his Department plans to lay that secondary legislation.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are awaiting confirmation of a laying date.
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, for what reason his Department’s Tackling obesity strategy is using primary and secondary legislation to introduce proposed restrictions on advertising of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar, and promotion and placement of those products, respectively.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We have been careful to consider the views of stakeholders and experts as we developed our plans for implementing the healthy weight strategy, including restrictions on advertising and promotions. This process will continue as these measures pass through Parliament ensuring there is adequate time for scrutiny. Different legislative approaches being pursued reflect the current legislative framework and implementation routes available to the Government. For the promotions restrictions, we intend to use powers in the Food Safety Act (FSA) 1990 to lay secondary legislation before Parliament by mid-2021. The statutory instrument will be subject to the affirmative parliamentary procedure.
Subject to the outcome of the consultations on further advertising restrictions on TV and online, we intend to legislate through the Health and Care Bill. For online advertising restrictions primary legislation has to be used because there is no existing legislation on which to build. The decision was taken that the TV aspect should also be implemented through primary legislation because the two policies are closely aligned.
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 plans he has to ensure adequate opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny of (a) proposed restrictions on promotion and placement of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar and (b) advertising restrictions on those products in the context of the differing proposed legislative vehicles for those policies.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We have been careful to consider the views of stakeholders and experts as we developed our plans for implementing the healthy weight strategy, including restrictions on advertising and promotions. This process will continue as these measures pass through Parliament ensuring there is adequate time for scrutiny. Different legislative approaches being pursued reflect the current legislative framework and implementation routes available to the Government. For the promotions restrictions, we intend to use powers in the Food Safety Act (FSA) 1990 to lay secondary legislation before Parliament by mid-2021. The statutory instrument will be subject to the affirmative parliamentary procedure.
Subject to the outcome of the consultations on further advertising restrictions on TV and online, we intend to legislate through the Health and Care Bill. For online advertising restrictions primary legislation has to be used because there is no existing legislation on which to build. The decision was taken that the TV aspect should also be implemented through primary legislation because the two policies are closely aligned.
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, how many Integrated Care Systems (ICS) specifically cover prostate cancer as part of their local cancer recovery plans; and whether the (a) National Cancer Board and (b) Cancer Recovery Taskforce have plans to issue guidance to ICS on this matter.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Local systems, supported by Cancer Alliances, were asked to set recovery trajectories across all cancers and not for individual tumour types. Following NHS England’s publication of the 2021/22 Priorities and Operational Guidance in March 2021, Cancer Alliances have been asked to draw up a single delivery plan for all cancers, including prostate cancer, on behalf of their integrated care systems for April 2021 to September 2021.
The Cancer Recovery Taskforce met for the final time in March 2021 and therefore will not issue any further guidance. The National Cancer Board continues to oversee further recovery of cancer services alongside delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan for cancer.
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 data (a) his Department and (b) NHS trusts are collecting in order to monitor interruptions to prostate cancer treatment for existing patients during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No data on prostate cancer treatment interruptions during the COVID pandemic is collected.
The NHS Cancer Programme is currently establishing a task and finish group to review alterations and/or disruptions to care pathways, including services for those with prostate cancer, during the pandemic. The group will consider the most appropriate data sources with which to make this assessment.
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 proportion of NHS Cancer Recovery Funding his Department has allocated to tackle the backlog in prostate cancer services as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and what comparative assessment he has made of how that allocation compares with such funding allocated to other cancers.
Answered by Jo Churchill
This information is not held centrally. Funding allocation is decided at a local service level and is dependent on the needs of these services.
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, how many of clinical nurse specialists are focused solely on (a) urology and (b) prostate cancer in England.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department does not hold the data requested.
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 steps he is taking to increase the number of clinical nurse specialists working in (a) urology and (b) prostate cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Specialist clinical nursing workforce working in urology and prostate cancer is a post registration qualification and it is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure they have the staff available to provide clinical services.
The Spending Review 2020 provided £260 million to continue to grow the National Health Service workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan, including continuing to take forward the Cancer Workforce Plan - Phase One commitment to expand education and training to increase the number of clinical nurse specialists by 250 and develop common and consistent competencies.