Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many approvals of open market rent for new GP surgeries have been issued by District Valuers in each of the last five years for which information is available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We believe this question relates to ‘current market rent’ assessments of general practice (GP) properties undertaken by the District Valuer Service, which are provided to primary care organisations and integrated care boards under the Premises Cost Directions 2013. This helps to ensure agreed rent levels for these properties are in line with market conditions and provide value for money. It is then for integrated care boards, as part of their commissioning responsibilities for primary care, to consider applications for any new general practice surgeries, taking account of current market rent assessments.
While the Department does not hold this information on how many current market rent assessments for new GP surgeries the District Valuer Service has completed centrally, the Department does engage with NHS England and the District Valuer Service to ensure policy around rent reimbursements for GP surgeries is fit for purpose.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase equality of access to medical technologies for people with type one diabetes.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England have achieved their Long-Term Plan objective of 20% of all Type 1 diabetes patients in receipt of Flash Glucose Monitoring by April 21. Performance was 50% at June 2021 with an even distribution of access across all deprivation quintiles.
The ratio of prescribing Flash glucose monitoring between the most and least affluent areas has been reviewed and has reduced in every English region. When the programme started Flash was twice more likely to be prescribed to patients living in the most affluent areas, but current ratios show virtual parity between the most and least deprived patient groups across England.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Greater Manchester Health and Care Partnership on the release of the NICE technology appraisal on Hybrid closed loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Greater Manchester is currently considering the adoption of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance in relation to access to glucose monitoring technology. Working with the Greater Manchester Medicines Management Group and provider trusts, NHS Greater Manchester is seeking to review commissioning procedures and bring forward plans for adoption of NICE guidance
NHS Greater Manchester is currently reviewing NICE guidance on making available Technology Appraisals on Hybrid closed loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes available.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve access to technology to treat type 1 diabetes for local diabetes services in Greater Manchester.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Greater Manchester is currently considering the adoption of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance in relation to access to glucose monitoring technology. Working with the Greater Manchester Medicines Management Group and provider trusts, NHS Greater Manchester is seeking to review commissioning procedures and bring forward plans for adoption of NICE guidance
NHS Greater Manchester is currently reviewing NICE guidance on making available Technology Appraisals on Hybrid closed loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes available.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Greater Manchester Health and Care Partnership, (b) Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System and (c) Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership on plans to collaboratively support people with type one diabetes to access timely and localised care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has held no discussions with the Greater Manchester Health and Care Partnership, Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System or Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership on plans to collaboratively support people with type one diabetes to access timely and localised care
The NHS Long Term plan sets out how NHS will enhance its support offer for those people living with type one diabetes, including further expanding the provision of structured education and digital self-management support tools.
The Major Conditions Strategy will set out how we intend to tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England which includes diabetes.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale 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 Khan review: making smoking obsolete, published on 9 June 2022, whether his Department's response to that review will set out measures to (a) strengthen enforcement of vaping regulation and (b) stop the import and sale of vaping products that do not comply with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In order to support proposals set out in the Khan review, it is essential that consumers have access to high quality products while reducing the supply of non-compliant and smuggled goods entering through illegal channels. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently working closely with a number of regulatory and enforcement agencies, providing product and manufacturer information to assist in both strategic planning and direct enforcement of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. In addition to this, the MHRA is supporting the work of regulatory stakeholders across a range of related vaping and general legislation for the purposes of compliance and law enforcement.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the overall effectiveness of the MHRA in supporting and evaluating clinical trials in the UK; and what assessment he has made of the potential future risks to that effectiveness.
Answered by Will Quince
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recently underwent a programme organisational reform and transformation, supported by independent advisors, to deliver an agency able to modernise medicines and medical device regulation in the United Kingdom and take advantage of its new sovereign regulator status. This process and the ongoing implementation of the changes is under constant review by MHRA itself and departmental officials, including any impact on delivery and effectiveness. As part of that and the normal business planning cycles, the two teams will continue to work together to support the Agency to continue to protect the health of the UK population including ensuring the safety of clinical trials.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many phase one inspectors were employed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in each January since 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the number of Good Clinical Practice inspectors who are trained to perform the inspections of phase I clinical trial units, who are members of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Phase I Accreditation Scheme of this type during each January from 2019 to 2023
Year | Number of inspectors |
January 2023 | 5 (plus 1 inspector in training) |
January 2022 | 6 |
January 2021 | 7 |
January 2020 | 6 |
January 2019 | 6 |
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the standard time is for a coordinated response by MHRA for clinical trails; and what the performance has been against that standard in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The standard time for the initial coordinated response from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is 30 days from the date of receipt of a valid request for authorisation of a clinical trial. The average coordinated performance against the standard for the last 12 months between February 2022 to February 2023 inclusive was 43.96 days.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) average and (b) longest time taken by MHRA to evaluate a clinical trial was in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
For the financial year 2018/19, the average time taken by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess a clinical trial was 23.29 days. The longest time taken was 56 days. For the financial year 2019/20, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 23.47 days. The longest time taken was 56 days. For the financial year 2020/21, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 21.43 days. The longest time taken was 49 days. For the financial year 2021/22, the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 27.58 days. The longest time taken was 68 days. For the financial year 2022/23 (April 2022 – February 2023 inclusive), the average time taken by the MHRA to assess a clinical trial was 42.78 days. The longest time taken was 146 days.