Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to take steps to help ensure that the treatment of payments made under the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme to those living in the UK do not discriminate against those in receipt of means-tested benefits.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Means-tested benefits have no specific disregard of payments made by the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme to those living in Great Britain and DWP currently has no plans to change this policy.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in the United Kingdom who will be eligible for the Republic of Ireland's Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Government has not made any estimate of the number of people living in the United Kingdom who will be eligible for the scheme. Eligibility is ultimately a matter for the Irish Government.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the Government of the Republic of Ireland on the impact of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme on those eligible living in the UK.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

I have not had any discussions with the Irish Government on this topic. Details of the scheme are ultimately a matter for the Irish Government.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of introducing a disregard for recipients of the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme compensation.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

I have not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on this topic. Details of the scheme are a matter for the Irish Government.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress she has made on delivering the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

A cross-Government, United Kingdom-wide delivery board monitors and oversees progress in delivering the National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (NAP AMR) for 2019 to 2024. The majority of the commitments in the NAP AMR have been assessed as either completed, or as on track for delivery.

Progress against the measurable ambitions in the NAP AMR is collated by the UK Health Security Agency, and reported to the delivery board. Significant progress has been made in further reducing antibiotic use in food producing animals, by 59% since 2014, and in humans, with an 8.8% reduction in overall antibiotic usage from 2014 to 2022. Progress has been slower in other areas, such as reducing the incidence of specific drug-resistant infections, due to the diverse nature of the underlying causes of these infections. Other key achievements from the NAP AMR programme over the past five years include:

- Piloting innovative ways of evaluating and paying for antibiotics on the National Health Service;

- Securing antimicrobial resistance commitments on several ministerial tracks during the UK G7 presidency in 2021; and

- £19.2 million investment into One Health Surveillance through the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment Programme.

The Department has commissioned the Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct an evaluation of the 2019 to 2024 NAP AMR, to inform future policy development and implementation. Findings from the PIRU evaluation will be published following the peer-review process.

The forthcoming NAP AMR for 2024 to 2029 is under development, in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders across different sectors, and informed by the findings from the antimicrobial resistance Call for Evidence. This will set us on course for achieving our long-term ambitions, set out in the Government’s 20-year vision to contain, control, and mitigate antimicrobial resistance by 2040.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on improving infection prevention and control practices in animals.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Government takes a One Health approach to infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial resistance, as set out in the UK National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (NAP AMR) for 2019 to 2024. The UK NAP AMR delivery board is co-chaired by senior officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate meet regularly to consider appropriate actions to promote good animal health, welfare, and biosecurity in the animal health sector. This is done in accordance with the Government’s One-Health approach, to mitigating the risk of transmission of zoonotic infections between animals and humans, and to tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance. A zoonosis is any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans.

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 support research into anti-microbial resistance.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including anti-microbial resistance (AMR).

Over the last five years, the NIHR’s programme funding for AMR has totalled £88 million. This includes research that aims to reduce the need for antibiotics, optimising their use and supporting the development of new antimicrobials. This does not include NIHR infrastructure, which is fundamental to supporting all health research.

The NIHR has recently launched a competition for new Health Protection Research Units, in partnership with the UK Health Security Agency and academia, which will include multidisciplinary research to inform the prevention and control of AMR.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the additional resources required in (a) primary care, (b) thoracic surgery and (c) systemic anti-cancer therapy clinics following the implementation of a national lung cancer screening programme.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is responsible for the roll out of the NHS Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme, and work is underway to assess any potential additional resources that may be required at a national level. Primary care capacity has not been directly estimated by NHS England as the impact on capacity is mainly through the identification of incidental findings that require follow-up. This is highly dependent on existing local services and practices, and numbers are not held nationally.

The assessment on thoracic surgery is complex as some surgery would still be required in the absence of screening. In addition, requirements of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) clinics are equally complex, although some clinics will be required for those diagnosed through the targeted lung cancer screening programme, once fully implemented, the programme could deliver a reduction in SACT demand for patients no longer diagnosed at the latest stage.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Targeted Lung Health Check sites are planned to begin operation in each financial year until 2027-28.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is responsible for the running of the Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) Programme, and the roll out of the NHS Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme. NHS England does not hold the number of TLHC sites that will be in operation in each financial year until 2027/28. This is because the TLHC programme has moved away from the initial pilot sites, and towards a national rollout of a targeted lung cancer screening programme. The focus is therefore on overall population coverage, rather than the number of sites.

Plans for 2024/25 are currently being finalised by NHS England, including trajectories for expected population coverage. Plans from 2025/26 and beyond will be subject to the outcome of a future Spending Review. The programme is expected to have invited approximately 25% of the currently eligible population by the end of March 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of community diagnostic centres carried out DEXA scanning in 2023; and how many DEXA scans were conducted in community diagnostic centres (a) in total and (b) in each centre.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans were recommended as part of the Sir Mike Richards Diagnostics Recovery and Renewal report as an additional service that could be offered in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in addition to the core recommended services, and provision of it in CDCs will be determined locally.

As of the end of December 2023, 15 CDCs had reported carrying out DEXA scanning in 2023. The number of CDCs operational at the end of December 2023 was 141. The proportion of the total number of CDCs offering DEXA scans, therefore, was 10.6% as of the end of December 2023.

The total number of DEXA scans conducted in CDCs from 1 January to 31 December 2023 was 25,879. This is published monthly as of April 2023 as part of NHS Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity Data (DM01), which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/

We do not hold the number of DEXA scans in each CDC in the format requested and this data can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to update the standard protocol for the Targeted Lung Health Check programme to reflect work carried out by the National Screening Committee’s lung cancer screening task group.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The standard protocol for the Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) programme was last updated in November 2022, with the protocol and quality assurance standards being regularly reviewed by the programme’s Expert Advisory Group.

When the TLHC protocol is next updated, it will take into account feedback received since the last update, including work carried out by the UK National Screening Committee’s lung cancer screening task group. The focus of the task group has been to support the feasibility of the rollout of a national targeted lung cancer screening programme, and developing aspects of planning and implementation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish an assessment of the CT scanner capacity required to support the national roll-out of lung cancer screening by 2028.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is responsible for the roll out of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme, and has no plans to publish an assessment of the computed tomography scanner capacity required.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital admissions for patients aged 65 and over were the result of a fall in 2012-13.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England published information on finished consultant episodes for admitted patients in 2012/13, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-admitted-patient-care-activity/hospital-episode-statistics-admitted-patient-care-england-2012-13

This shows in 2012/13, there were 283,794 finished consultant episodes relating to a fall, where the patient was 65 years old or over.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to (a) implementing the national roll-out of lung cancer screening and (b) increasing CT scanner capacity to support the national roll-out of lung cancer screening in each financial year until 2027-2028.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme, once fully rolled out in 2030, will offer people aged 55 to 74 who are at high risk of lung cancer, screening every 2 years and will detect around 9,000 cancers earlier each year.

Plans for 2024/25 are currently being finalised by NHS England, including delivery trajectories. Over £100 million of revenue funding is available to support the implementation of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme in 2024/25.

Plans for 2025/26 and beyond will be subject to the outcome of a future Spending Review.

Assessing the funding required for computed tomography scanner capacity specifically is not possible as much of this capacity is commissioned by NHS England as part of a wider service, using broader programme funds.