Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of inflation on the cost of formula milk.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) published a report in November 2023 named ‘Price inflation and competition in food and grocery manufacturing and supply’, which included an assessment on infant formula. It found that between March 2021 and April 2023, the price of infant formula had grown beyond the increased input costs to manufacturers. The report is available at the following link:
The CMA has committed to publishing a further report examining infant formula in more detail later this year, and Departmental officials continue to engage with the CMA.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the baby formula market.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) published a report in November 2023 named ‘Price inflation and competition in food and grocery manufacturing and supply’, which included an assessment on infant formula. It found that between March 2021 and April 2023, the price of infant formula had grown beyond the increased input costs to manufacturers. The report is available at the following link:
The CMA has committed to publishing a further report examining infant formula in more detail later this year, and Departmental officials continue to engage with the CMA.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number and proportion of integrated care boards offering three full cycles of IVF in line with NICE guidelines as of 9 January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published our in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published integrated care board (ICB) policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress.
From the data compiled from published ICB commissioning policy statements, currently three out of 42 ICBs provide three full IVF cycles in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence fertility guidelines.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individual funding requests for (a) IVF and (b) other fertility treatment have been (i) made and (ii) approved in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Women's Health Strategy for England, published on 30 August 2022, what progress she has made in delivering the ambitions on fertility treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published on 20 July 2022 and contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. We have set out our long-term ambition to end the postcode lottery in NHS-funded in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and we expect the review to be published late in 2024.
We expect ICBs to be improving their broad offer to fertility patients in anticipation of implementing the new NICE guidelines. As part of the strategy’s commitments, NHS England will be assessing fertility provision across ICBs, with a view to removing non-clinical access criteria and assessing the challenge of implementing the new guidelines.
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published an IVF transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published ICB policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress and inform patients about comparative offers across ICBs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of steps taken by the Government to tackle barriers to accessing fertility treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published on 20 July 2022 and contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. We have set out our long-term ambition to end the postcode lottery in NHS-funded in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and we expect the review to be published late in 2024.
We expect ICBs to be improving their broad offer to fertility patients in anticipation of implementing the new NICE guidelines. As part of the strategy’s commitments, NHS England will be assessing fertility provision across ICBs, with a view to removing non-clinical access criteria and assessing the challenge of implementing the new guidelines.
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published an IVF transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published ICB policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress and inform patients about comparative offers across ICBs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that integrated care boards follow NICE guidelines on the number of IVF cycles that should be offered to patients.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published on 20 July 2022 and contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. We have set out our long-term ambition to end the postcode lottery in NHS-funded in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and we expect the review to be published late in 2024.
We expect ICBs to be improving their broad offer to fertility patients in anticipation of implementing the new NICE guidelines. As part of the strategy’s commitments, NHS England will be assessing fertility provision across ICBs, with a view to removing non-clinical access criteria and assessing the challenge of implementing the new guidelines.
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published an IVF transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published ICB policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress and inform patients about comparative offers across ICBs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to tackle disparities in access to IVF treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published on 20 July 2022 and contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. We have set out our long-term ambition to end the postcode lottery in NHS-funded in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and we expect the review to be published late in 2024.
We expect ICBs to be improving their broad offer to fertility patients in anticipation of implementing the new NICE guidelines. As part of the strategy’s commitments, NHS England will be assessing fertility provision across ICBs, with a view to removing non-clinical access criteria and assessing the challenge of implementing the new guidelines.
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published an IVF transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published ICB policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress and inform patients about comparative offers across ICBs.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 on restricting the placement of energy drinks in supermarkets.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The location restrictions came into force in October 2022. The restrictions prohibit the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations such as store entrances, aisle ends, checkouts and their online equivalents.
The Department is currently conducting a post implementation review to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the restrictions, which will be published within five years of implementation.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) hospitals and (b) other healthcare facilities that contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in (i) Lambeth and (ii) Southwark.
Answered by Will Quince
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.