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Written Question
Clinical Trials
Tuesday 17th October 2023

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his Department's policy to authorise novel pharmaceutical products, therapies or medical devices for first-time human clinical trials by the MHRA on a case-by-case basis without relying on a standardised complement of pre-clinical animal toxicity or efficacy data; and what steps he is taking to promote the use of non-animal pre-clinical data.

Answered by Will Quince

There is no United Kingdom legislation that mandates animal testing. We do, however, work to a series of International Council of Harmonisation and Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use guidelines that describe ways to evaluate different non-clinical aspects of medicines, many of which use animals. These aspects include safety pharmacology, repeat dose toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, phototoxicity, and immunotoxicity.

The non-clinical assessors have always taken the approach that data from a suitably validated model that has been demonstrated to be predictive could be submitted in lieu of animal data. On a case-by-case basis, a non-clinical assessor will also accept appropriate justifications for not conducting animal tests, for example, no pharmacologically relevant species.

In terms of promoting use of non-animal methods, we do not consider this to be within the remit of non-clinical assessors. Rather, it is for those using these methods to tell the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) how they have validated them, or at least why they rely on the results and an assessor will then judge whether the data is appropriate to support the trial. The MHRA supports the developers of products by its offer of scientific advice services, the Innovation Office and the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway.

The MHRA fully supports the National Centre for the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement), and agency staff play an active role in projects to support adoption and adherence to the 3Rs principles in medicines regulation worldwide.


Written Question
Dentistry: Qualifications
Wednesday 1st February 2023

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to allow private dentists in Clacton who trained overseas to see National Health Service patients.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

All dentists wishing to practice in the United Kingdom, must register with the General Dental Council (GDC). The Government has laid secondary legislation to provide the GDC with greater flexibility on how it operates the Overseas Registration Exam and to expand the registration options open to international dentists. This will enable the GDC to increase the number of dentists it can assess, potentially allowing overseas dentists to join its register more quickly.

In addition to being registered with the GDC, dentists wishing to see National Health Service patients in England must apply to join the Dental Performers List (DPL), managed by NHS England. Any dentist registered with the GDC, whether trained in the UK or overseas, can apply to join the DPL. Inclusion on the DPL provides assurance that they are fit to provide NHS dental services, and it is for NHS England as the holder of the DPL to determine which dentists, who trained overseas, can see NHS patients.


Written Question
Home Care Services
Thursday 14th October 2021

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government's policy is on the role of housing-with-care within the social care system.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

The Government’s plan for health and social care, announced on 7 September, recognised the important role of housing in providing care and support to people in the community. There is clear evidence that the right housing arrangements can deliver improved outcomes and meet people’s preferences to remain in their own home. We will invest in supported housing, including housing-with-care, as well as exploring other innovative housing solutions to support more people to live independently at home for longer, with personalised care and support. We will continue to work closely with the sector, including as part of the white paper on adult social care reform which will be published later this year.


Written Question
Infant Mortality: Multiple Births
Tuesday 30th March 2021

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

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 maternity units implement the recommendations in the MBRRACE Perinatal Confidential Enquiry into stillbirths and neonatal deaths in twin pregnancies.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

Through the Maternity Transformation Programme, a range of interventions are being implemented to support the delivery of maternity and neonatal care according to clinical guidelines, as recommended in the MBRRACE Perinatal Confidential Enquiry into stillbirths and neonatal deaths in twin pregnancies, and to improve perinatal outcomes.

Every National Health Service maternity service is actively implementing elements of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle which sets out specific care pathways that can affect twin/multiple pregnancies including prevention of fetal growth restriction and preterm birth. Multidisciplinary fetal medicine clinics are being established across England, which aim to ensure that high risk women have timely access to specialist advice and care at all stages of pregnancy.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Travel
Friday 5th February 2021

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced in January 2021, what the maximum distance is that people are permitted to travel for exercise.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

There is no specific distance applicable to all circumstances. However, the advice is that to meet the legal requirement not to leave home to travel unless for work or other legally permitted reasons. To reduce the risk of transmission, people should stay local and avoid travelling outside of the village, town or the part of a city where they live and look to reduce the number of journeys made overall.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Car Washes
Thursday 3rd December 2020

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to exempt car washes from future covid-19 restrictions.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

Car washes are not considered as an essential service. From 2 December, essential and non-essential retail, including indoor and outdoor markets and car boot sales, can remain open in all tiers. All businesses and venues that are open are expected to follow COVID-19 secure guidelines to protect customers, visitors and workers.


Written Question
Multiple Births
Tuesday 20th October 2020

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

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 29 September 2020 to Question 92882 on Multiple Births, (a) how many twins were delivered after 38 weeks gestation and (b) what percentage of twins were delivered by caesarean section in each hospital trust between (i) April 2015 and March 2017 and (ii) April 2017 and March 2019.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

The information requested is in the attached table.


Written Question
Multiple Births
Tuesday 29th September 2020

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

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 NHS hospital trusts (a) collect and (b) publish accurate data on multiple births.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

Birth data, including information on multiple births is submitted to NHS Digital via the Hospital Episodes Statistics and Maternity Services Dataset data collections. As multiple births form only a small percentage of the total number of births, this information is not routinely released as part of monthly publications due to the small numbers involved at each provider, but is available on request.


Written Question
Sheltered Housing
Thursday 2nd July 2020

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the care sector on increasing the level of private sector investment in the housing with care sector.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Housing-with-care has a vital role in enabling older people to live independently, with the necessary care and support available if required. In the context of an ageing population, we will continue to work with the sector to improve the diversity of housing options available to older people.


Written Question
Twins Trust: Maternity Services
Monday 2nd March 2020

Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)

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 effectiveness of the Twins Trust Maternity Engagement Project in reducing (a) perinatal deaths and (b) neonatal admissions; and what steps he is taking to encourage trusts not currently involved in that project to make improvements in their care.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

The Department provided grant funding for the Twins Trust Maternity Engagement Project which provided evidence that implementing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on managing twin and multiple pregnancies can significantly reduce twin stillbirths, neonatal deaths and neonatal admissions. The two year evaluation demonstrated an 18% reduction in neonatal deaths, a 7% reduction in stillbirths, a 23% reduction in neonatal admissions, and a 6% reduction in emergency caesarean sections.

Based on the evidence generated through the Engagement Project, the Saving Babies’ Lives care bundle (version two) strongly encourages providers and commissioners to implement NICE guidance and stipulates best practice for multiple pregnancies.

The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, highlights our aim to roll out the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle (version two) across every maternity unit in England in 2019.