Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with the National Diabetes Audit group on that group's decision not to include the rate of diabetes among children on their database.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme includes two diabetes audits focusing on adults and children respectively due to the differences in the way that diabetes care and services are delivered for adults and children. The Data and Analytics Directorate at NHS England collect and analyse data relating to adults with diabetes for the National Diabetes Audit while the Royal College of Paediatric Child Health deliver the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing compensation to key workers seriously impacted by long COVID.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has not made an assessment.
The Department continues to work with the Department for Work and Pensions and as more evidence about the disease emerges, will consider the Government’s provisions and approach for those key workers experiencing the long-term effects of COVID-19.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he expects the Group B Strep trial to report before early 2025.
Answered by Will Quince
Group B Streptococcus: a cluster randomised trial with economic and acceptability evaluations is expected to end on 31 May 2024 and findings will be reported following a full analysis of the trial data.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he plans to continue the Thalidomide Health Grant after 31 March 2023; and how much has been awarded to date.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In March 2021, the Government committed to continue the Thalidomide Health Grant beyond 31 March 2023, when the current Grant concludes. This includes an initial payment of approximately £39 million for the first four years after the current Grant ends. The following table shows awards through the Thalidomide Health Grant in each year since 2013/14.
Grant Year | Financial year | Value |
Year 1 | 2013/14 | £7,300,000 |
Year 2 | 2014/15 | £7,456,220 |
Year 3 | 2015/16 | £7,560,607 |
Year 4 | 2016/17 | £7,673,400 |
Year 5 | 2017/18 | £6,711,163 |
Year 6 | 2018/19 | £8,366,832 |
Year 7 | 2019/20 | £8,481,247 |
Year 8 | 2020/21 | £8,298,163 |
Year 9 | 2021/22 | £8,658,131 |
Year 10 | 2022/23 | £9,080,334 |
Total |
| £79,586,097 |
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to help promote better eye care to help prevent sight loss conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
Health is a devolved matter. Many people qualify for a free eye test and optical vouchers to contribute towards the cost of glasses, with over 12 million National Health Service sight tests provided in England in 2021/22.
The NHS is ensuring that high quality, sustainable eye care services are available in the future, following the impact of the pandemic. We are also supporting research into diagnosis, prevention and treatment of eye conditions, including a £20 million award to the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre for vision research.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 trends in the level of people with diabetes receiving diabetic retinopathy screening between 2016 and 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Between April 2016 and March 2020, levels of routine digital screening for diabetic retinopathy in England were approximately 82%. Due to the impact of the pandemic, this rate reduced to 67.7% between January and March 2021.
The National Health Service and its partners are ensuring that participation in diabetic eye screening participation returns to pre-pandemic levels and we will continue to monitor progress.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to include under 18s in any future low calorie diet programme in the context of rising prevalence of obesity rates among minors.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The calorie reduction programme challenges all sectors of the food industry to achieve up to a 20% reduction in calories by 2024 in product categories which contribute significantly to the intakes of children up to the age of 18 years old. The programme includes retailers and manufacturers as well as businesses in the eating out, takeaway and delivery sector.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the outcomes were of the detailed modelling assessment of endoscopy capacity and demand within the bowel cancer screening programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that the modelling of endoscopy capacity and demand for the NHS Bowel Screening Programme has been completed and its outcomes are currently under review. Initial data was shared with regional public health commissioning teams to support the age extension to the Bowel Screening Programme over the next three years.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 help ensure that health service employees including care workers, who are paid a mileage allowance, have the rate per mile increased.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The reimbursement of travel costs for National Health Service staff is covered by the NHS Terms and Conditions, jointly agreed by employers and NHS trades unions. The current rate of reimbursement is 56 pence per mile. The NHS Terms and Conditions sets out the process for reviewing the rate of reimbursement every six months. This includes reviewing fluctuations in fuel prices.
The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who ultimately set their pay and terms and conditions, independent of central Government. HM Revenue and Customs sets the approved mileage allowance rate at 45 pence per mile for 10,000 miles. Employees can claim tax relief if they are reimbursed at less than 45 pence per mile.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were diagnosed with diabetes in each year between (a) 2011 and (b) 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The following table shows the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes in each year from 2011 to 2020. Data for 2021 is not yet available. The National Diabetes Audit (NDA) does not hold comprehensive data on children with diabetes.
Year | Type 1 diagnoses | Type 2 and other diagnoses |
2011 | 7,615 | 150,105 |
2012 | 8,055 | 165,220 |
2013 | 8,165 | 182,515 |
2014 | 8,365 | 173,895 |
2015 | 9,080 | 196,730 |
2016 | 9,270 | 202,940 |
2017 | 8,970 | 195,445 |
2018 | 9,210 | 220,545 |
2019 | 9,820 | 237,530 |
2020 | 11,730 | 198,600 |
Source: NHS Digital
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