Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 increase awareness of acute myeloid leukaemia.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Raising awareness and improving early diagnosis of cancer, including blood related cancers such as acute myeloid leukaemia, remains a priority for the Government. NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of all cancers, and in January 2024, relaunched the Help Us Help You cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis of cancer by reducing barriers to seeking help, as well as increasing body awareness, and knowledge of key red flag symptoms. This campaign addresses barriers to people coming forward with suspected signs of all cancers.
This relaunch follows NHS England’s initial launch of the Help Us Help You campaign in April 2020, a major public information campaign to persuade the public to seek urgent care and treatment when they need it. The Help Us Help You strategy is designed to address the underlying barriers to cancer diagnosis, including multifaceted fears, a lack of body awareness, and a lack of knowledge of cancer symptoms, to encourage people to present earlier.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on antimicrobial resistance ahead of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on that matter.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Government wants an ambitious outcome at the High-Level Meeting in September – one that works for everyone, including low and middle-income countries, where the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is felt most heavily. I made this point at the UK-Africa Health Summit on 18 March, and the Foreign Secretary raised AMR at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting on 21 February.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 ensure that there are sufficient numbers of Parkinson’s specialist nurses.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 ensure that Parkinson’s specialist nurses are retained in the profession.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to improve care for people with Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would like to thank my Honourable friend who is a tireless campaigner on this issue.Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the number of sitting peers in the House of Lords.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The House of Lords has a key role in scrutinising the executive and as a revising chamber. The Government has made no assessment of the merits of reducing the number of sitting peers and notes that unlike the Commons, peers are not full-time salaried legislators. It is important to focus on the number of peers who attend, and not just the number eligible to sit. Existing mechanisms allow sitting peers to retire or resign.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to help protect trans children from bullying and harassment in schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has sent a clear message to schools that bullying, including cyberbullying, for whatever reason, is unacceptable.
The department has provided over £3 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying, this includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups.
In addition to this, on 19 December 2023 the department published the draft guidance for schools and colleges in relation to gender questioning children, along with a consultation, which was clear that bullying must never be tolerated. The consultation closed on 12 March 2024 and the responses will support the department to finalise the guidance for schools and colleges for final publication later this year.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing alcohol duty for independent wine merchants.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty will be frozen until 1 February 2025 to support alcohol producers, pubs, and consumers with cost of living pressures. This extends the six month freeze the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2023 to give businesses time to adapt to the new duty system introduced on 1 August 2023.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 increase (a) awareness of and (b) research investment in postural tachycardia syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve awareness of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practices (GPs), the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12386&chapterid=247
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also produced a clinical knowledge summary, last revised in November 2023, which outlines the method healthcare professionals should follow for diagnosing PoTS. This summary is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
GPs are asked to investigate symptoms to ensure that it is not misdiagnosed. Following referral, patients are treated within National Health Service cardiology and neurology services. Where more specialist advice is required, a referral will be made to an appropriate clinician.
Services for PoTS are locally commissioned and, as such, it is the responsibility of the local commissioning teams within integrated care boards to ensure that their locally commissioned services meet the needs of their local population.
The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including PoTS, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 support people living with postural tachycardia syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve awareness of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practices (GPs), the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12386&chapterid=247
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also produced a clinical knowledge summary, last revised in November 2023, which outlines the method healthcare professionals should follow for diagnosing PoTS. This summary is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
GPs are asked to investigate symptoms to ensure that it is not misdiagnosed. Following referral, patients are treated within National Health Service cardiology and neurology services. Where more specialist advice is required, a referral will be made to an appropriate clinician.
Services for PoTS are locally commissioned and, as such, it is the responsibility of the local commissioning teams within integrated care boards to ensure that their locally commissioned services meet the needs of their local population.
The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including PoTS, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.