Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165293 on Biometric Residence Permits: ICT, how many biometric resident permits were affected by this IT issue; and what recent estimate she has made of when these issues will be resolved.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether eligible students can access free school meals when they have been withdrawn from school by their parent or guardian.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Education Act 1996 places a duty on maintained schools and academies to provide free school meals (FSM) to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria for eligibility and who are attending school during term time. The Act makes clear that a child must be registered at a publicly funded school as a condition of claiming FSM. Free meals are not available to those who elect to undertake education from home, nor to pupils of private institutions.
Schools should continue to provide free meals for registered pupils either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
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 ensure that data is collected to assess the success rates of metastatic breast cancer treatment pathways.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service works closely with hospital trusts to determine sources of data which can be used to complete the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset data and also works with the software suppliers of cancer management systems to ensure that data items are able to be recorded. Compliance with data standards is monitored by local integrated care boards (ICBs).
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership commissions, develops, and manages the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme, on behalf of NHS England, Wales and other devolved administrations. These audits have been introduced to reduce variation in treatment by demonstrating where care is being provided in line with standards and where a service is doing well or could be improved. Five additional new clinical audits were announced in May 2021, one of which will focus on metastatic breast cancer.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
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 ensure that data is collected to find out the number of patients living with metastatic breast cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service works closely with hospital trusts to determine sources of data which can be used to complete the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset data and also works with the software suppliers of cancer management systems to ensure that data items are able to be recorded. Compliance with data standards is monitored by local integrated care boards (ICBs).
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership commissions, develops, and manages the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme, on behalf of NHS England, Wales and other devolved administrations. These audits have been introduced to reduce variation in treatment by demonstrating where care is being provided in line with standards and where a service is doing well or could be improved. Five additional new clinical audits were announced in May 2021, one of which will focus on metastatic breast cancer.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to ensure as far as possible that access to clinical trials for treatment of metastatic breast cancer is open to patients (a) from all areas of the UK (b) regardless of line of therapy restrictions and (c) who have pre-existing conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government published ‘Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’ in March 2021. The phase two implementation plan for the vision, published in June 2021, aims to make it easier for all patients, including cancer patients, to access relevant research.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) infrastructure supports clinical research, including metastatic breast cancer. The NIHR Clinical Research Network includes 15 Local Clinical Research Networks, accessible across all geographies in England, including underserved regions and communities. The NIHR also provides the online platform 'Be Part of Research' allowing users to search and register interest in research studies relevant to them across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
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 the NHS has flexible and effective procedures for identifying the correct treatments for patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People with breast cancer are cared for by a team of healthcare professionals, each with their own expertise. This is known as the multidisciplinary team (MDT). Each MDT should include the full range of health professionals required to best inform and plan the most appropriate treatment options for the patient including for those patients with metastatic breast cancer. This would include appropriate surgeons, oncologists and clinicians from a wide range of other disciplines including nursing, radiology and pathology.
NHS England expects treating clinicians will consider all available treatment options, taking account of relevant clinical and professional guidelines and the individual needs of the patient. In all cases, discussions about treatment options should take place in line with the General Medical Council’s Decision Making and Consent Guidance to ensure that people can make an informed choice about their treatment.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
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 ensure that all patients with primary breast cancer have an end of treatment summary in order to speed up detection of secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan states that, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including a needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. This includes provision of end of treatment summaries, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer.
The introduction of tailored follow up pathways for people after their initial breast cancer treatment has ensured there are clear access points for people with worrying symptoms or concerns to speak immediately to someone in the cancer team. Breast cancer-tailored follow up, which includes ‘patient initiated follow up’ or ‘open access follow up’ for suitable patients, is now in place in 95% of trusts.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the Scottish Medicines Consortium collaborate effectively on drug approvals for metastatic breast cancer treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is committed to publishing draft recommendations on all newly licensed treatments around the time of licensing in England and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure that licensing procedures and health technology assessments are as streamlined as possible.
Both NICE and the Scottish Medicines Consortium are permanent partners in the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway which supports more rapid review and approval of promising new cancer treatments.
NICE is an England-only body. Health is a devolved matter and as such decisions on access to drugs in Scotland is a matter for the devolved Government.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide free school meals to children who are permanently excluded.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are legally required to provide free school meals (FSM) to eligible pupils. Pupils must be registered at the school in order to be eligible. For temporary or fixed term exclusions, schools should continue to provide FSM for registered pupils, either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
In the case of pupils who have been permanently excluded, and are no longer registered with a school, the Local Authority must arrange suitable full time education for the pupil to begin from the sixth school day after the first day the permanent exclusion took place.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to support parents who do not live with their children to maintain contact where that contact is hindered by the resident parent or guardian.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is aware of the difficulties that parents can face in continuing a relationship with their child following parental separation or divorce.
Under the current legal framework, a parent can apply for a child arrangements order for the child to live with or spend time with them. The welfare of the child is paramount in any decision regarding child arrangements, including decisions about the nature and extent of parental involvement.
We are committed to supporting families to resolve private family law matters outside of court where appropriate to ensure that matters are resolved earlier, before conflict becomes entrenched.
The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme provides families with up to £500 towards mediation with a trained, authorised professional to help resolve child arrangement issues in a less adversarial way. As of 26 March 2023, over 16,100 families have now benefitted from the scheme. Analysis of the first 7,200 users shows 69% wholly or partially resolve their issues and don’t need to go on to court, other than for a consent order to formalise their agreement. The government announced on 23 March that an additional £15m would be provided to continue the scheme for up to a further two years. This will allow it to help around a further 28,500 families over the period.