Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason NHS numbers issued in Northern Ireland are not transferable to England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has never been a single National Health Service number system across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Prior to the introduction of the current 10-digit format NHS number in 1995/96, there were 22 different NHS number formats in existence; one of these was the Northern Ireland NHS number format. The rationalisation that took place introduced the common format we have now. Whilst a common format NHS number is in use there has never been a decision for a single database operating across both authorities.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of prison inmates who have Huntington's disease.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted research on the guidance provided to insurance companies by the governments of other European countries on requesting information about the genetic history of life insurance applicants.
Answered by Will Quince
The Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance is a shared agreement between the Government and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on the use of genetic testing in underwriting insurance policies. Compliance with the Code, and the adoption of the Commitments in the Code, is a condition of membership for all ABI members.
The Government and the ABI launched a Call for Evidence on the Code on 25 July 2023 and closed on 17 October 2023. The Call for Evidence gathered views around how to transparently assess which predictive genetic test results may need to be disclosed under the Code in the future, as well as whether approaches used in other countries should be considered.
The ABI has recently published a revised Consumer Guide to the Code, which directly addresses concerns about the level of premiums offered to applicants who have tested negative for Huntington's disease. The consumer guide is available at the following link:
While no specific conversations have taken place with life insurance providers, the Government continues to work closely with the ABI to ensure the Code remains fit for purpose and beneficial to both consumers and the insurance industry.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of including references to conditions other than Huntington’s disease in the code on genetic testing and insurance.
Answered by Will Quince
The Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance is a shared agreement between the Government and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on the use of genetic testing in underwriting insurance policies. Compliance with the Code, and the adoption of the Commitments in the Code, is a condition of membership for all ABI members.
The Government and the ABI launched a Call for Evidence on the Code on 25 July 2023 and closed on 17 October 2023. The Call for Evidence gathered views around how to transparently assess which predictive genetic test results may need to be disclosed under the Code in the future, as well as whether approaches used in other countries should be considered.
The ABI has recently published a revised Consumer Guide to the Code, which directly addresses concerns about the level of premiums offered to applicants who have tested negative for Huntington's disease. The consumer guide is available at the following link:
While no specific conversations have taken place with life insurance providers, the Government continues to work closely with the ABI to ensure the Code remains fit for purpose and beneficial to both consumers and the insurance industry.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with providers of life insurance on the level of premiums offered to applicants who have tested negative for Huntington's disease.
Answered by Will Quince
The Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance is a shared agreement between the Government and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on the use of genetic testing in underwriting insurance policies. Compliance with the Code, and the adoption of the Commitments in the Code, is a condition of membership for all ABI members.
The Government and the ABI launched a Call for Evidence on the Code on 25 July 2023 and closed on 17 October 2023. The Call for Evidence gathered views around how to transparently assess which predictive genetic test results may need to be disclosed under the Code in the future, as well as whether approaches used in other countries should be considered.
The ABI has recently published a revised Consumer Guide to the Code, which directly addresses concerns about the level of premiums offered to applicants who have tested negative for Huntington's disease. The consumer guide is available at the following link:
While no specific conversations have taken place with life insurance providers, the Government continues to work closely with the ABI to ensure the Code remains fit for purpose and beneficial to both consumers and the insurance industry.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time taken by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency was to respond to a clinical trials application in the last 12 months for which information is available; and how many and what proportion of those applications have been responded to within 30 days in that period.
Answered by Will Quince
From July 2022 to June 2023, 587 clinical trial authorisation applications were assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in an average of 65.43 days. Out of the 587 applications, 100 of those, or 17.04%, were assessed within 30 days.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time in Leeds is for a specialist appointment following a referral for gender dysphoria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The mean average wait time for a specialist appointment following a referral for gender dysphoria at the Leeds Gender Identity Clinic is 111.1 weeks, and the median average is 65.6 weeks.
The service operates a standard and priority waiting list, both are included in this data. Priority wait is for those people who have had a diagnosis in an NHS England Gender service and are returning to access further treatment, or those who are transferring from another National Health Service gender clinic.
To increase service capacity, NHS England has established four new pilot gender identity clinics since 2020. A fifth will open in Sussex in September 2023. This model will be rolled out nationally if the initial clinics are positively evaluated.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he is offering to patients on home dialysis who face higher energy bills as the result of their treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Certain specialised services in the National Health Service, including home Haemodialysis, do include the provision of financial support to offset energy costs faced by patients using medical equipment at home. It is for individual commissioned providers to agree the process for the reimbursement of utility costs for Haemodialysis patients at a local level and manage their budgets autonomously.
The Department does not have a policy on energy costs at this time. However, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are supporting the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s review of energy rebate schemes that are currently available for users of medical equipment at home; as well as supporting the Department of Energy’s policy development work in this area which they plan to publish for low-income vulnerable energy consumers post April 2024.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
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 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the development of NICE guidelines for Huntington's Disease.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence officials are currently discussing the possible development of a guideline on Huntingdon’s disease through the established topic selection arrangements. This entails consideration of factors such as the burden of disease, the evidence base and variation in practice.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for adults (a) to be assessed and (b) to receive treatment for ADHD.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 April 2023 to Question 175511.