Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the names of the organisations who disclosed links to the tobacco industry that responded to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government response to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, was published on 29 January 2024. The consultation received nearly 28,000 responses. Whilst there are no plans to publish the names of all the organisations that responded, we did confirm that we received responses from 896 organisations as well as 307 responses from those who disclosed links with the tobacco industry.
As outlined in our consultation response, the UK is a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and so had an obligation to protect public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. In the consultation response we summarise the views of respondents with disclosed links to the tobacco industry but have been clear that we have not considered these views when determining our policy response.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the names of the organisations that responded to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government response to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, was published on 29 January 2024. The consultation received nearly 28,000 responses. Whilst there are no plans to publish the names of all the organisations that responded, we did confirm that we received responses from 896 organisations as well as 307 responses from those who disclosed links with the tobacco industry.
As outlined in our consultation response, the UK is a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and so had an obligation to protect public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. In the consultation response we summarise the views of respondents with disclosed links to the tobacco industry but have been clear that we have not considered these views when determining our policy response.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
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 (a) National Federation of Retail Newsagents, (b) Association of Convenience Stores, (c) British Independent Retailers Association, (d) Scottish Grocers Federation and (e) Federation of Wholesale Distributors on the introduction of a generational ban on the purchase of tobacco.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 15 years old this year or younger, will never be legally sold tobacco products.
Since this announcement, officials have undertaken a series of discussions with retailers and most recently met with the British Independent Retailers Association, the Association of Convenience Stores, and other trade associations to discuss the smokefree generation and youth vaping policy. We will continue to engage with the retail sector and ensure they are supported to implement future legislation.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people with less common conditions are not disproportionately impacted by additional rebates for older medicines.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commitments in the current voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access around patient access and uptake for innovative medicines have had a substantial positive impact on the speed of medicines access in England, ensuring that National Health Service patients benefit from cutting-edge treatments including personalised CAR-T cancer therapies, lifechanging treatments for rare conditions, and lifesaving gene therapies. The new voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth agreement will continue to build on these significant achievements, for example, through the piloting of new approaches for paying for ground-breaking advanced therapy medicinal products.
We do not expect disproportional impacts on people with less common conditions resulting from these policies. Provisions in the scheme allow for companies to apply for price increases should supply of products be otherwise uneconomical. Under specific circumstances an adjusted ‘Top-up Payment Percentage’ can also be considered for other older medicines where there would otherwise be a negative impact on patients.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of these policies on life science SMEs.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s Life Sciences Vision sets out our ambition to develop a globally competitive life sciences investment ecosystem in the United Kingdom. While no assessment has been made, the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth includes several policies that will benefit innovative companies and drive innovation into the United Kingdom. This includes an exemption from payment for small companies with under £6m of sales to the National Health Service and a taper for medium sized companies with between £6 million and £30 million of sales.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of these policies on people with less common conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commitments in the current voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access around patient access and uptake for innovative medicines have had a substantial positive impact on the speed of medicines access in England, ensuring that National Health Service patients benefit from cutting-edge treatments including personalised CAR-T cancer therapies, lifechanging treatments for rare conditions, and lifesaving gene therapies. The new voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth agreement will continue to build on these significant achievements, for example, through the piloting of new approaches for paying for ground-breaking advanced therapy medicinal products.
We do not expect disproportional impacts on people with less common conditions resulting from these policies. Provisions in the scheme allow for companies to apply for price increases should supply of products be otherwise uneconomical. Under specific circumstances an adjusted ‘Top-up Payment Percentage’ can also be considered for other older medicines where there would otherwise be a negative impact on patients.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
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 uptake of (a) cigarettes, (b) vapes, (c) HTPs and d) nicotine pouches by young people in each of the last five years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. However, we can estimate the change in vape and smoking use amongst young people, between 2018-2021, using the data available in the Smoking, Drinking and Drug use publication, which is available at the following link:
Unfortunately, we cannot estimate this for HTPs or nicotine pouches as we do not hold this data.
The number of children aged 11 to 15 years who currently smoke cigarettes is at 101,189 (3.3%), down from 2018 where 159,240 children were current smokers (5%). The number of children in the same age group who currently use vapes (e-cigarettes) is 288,159, (8.6%), up from 188,332 (5.9%) in 2018.
Survey data from Action on Smoking and Health on youth vaping from 2023 in Great Britain shows similar trends related to youth smoking and youth vaping. The data is available at the following link:
https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulances in England are (a) currently electric and (b) are scheduled to be electric by 2030.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England advise that there is currently one electric ambulance in operation. NHS England is working with industry partners and four ambulance trusts to pilot second generation electric ambulance vehicles, with 11 electric ambulances on order to be delivered in 2023/24.
It is not possible to accurately estimate how many and what proportion of ambulances will be electric by 2030. A number of factors will impact adoption including technological development, cost, and the availability of charging facilities. However, by 2030 NHS England expect all new emergency ambulance vehicles in England will be emission free (electric or hydrogen powered).
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of ambulances in England are (a) currently electric and (b) will be electric by 2030.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England advise that there is currently one electric ambulance in operation. NHS England is working with industry partners and four ambulance trusts to pilot second generation electric ambulance vehicles, with 11 electric ambulances on order to be delivered in 2023/24.
It is not possible to accurately estimate how many and what proportion of ambulances will be electric by 2030. A number of factors will impact adoption including technological development, cost, and the availability of charging facilities. However, by 2030 NHS England expect all new emergency ambulance vehicles in England will be emission free (electric or hydrogen powered).
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2023 to Question 125326 on Health Services: Males, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the lessons that can be learned from the men's health strategy implemented in Australia.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No such assessment is planned at present. We look to learn lessons from international comparators in the course of policy making.