Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of spending on cancer research services in England in (1) 2019–20, and (2) 2020–21.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s expenditure on cancer research was approximately £138 million in 2019/20. Expenditure for 2020/21 is currently being validated and will be published at the end of 2021.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the level of compliance of those who are required to quarantine upon arrival into the UK.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that NHS key workers are exempt from hospital car parking charges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Free car parking for National Health Service staff was announced on 25 March 2020 for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. This remains the Government’s position and funding has been provided to trusts to support this commitment.
Since October 2020, additional funding for the delivery of free staff parking is included as part of trusts’ overall systems allocation. The system funding allocation guidance provided to trusts sets out that money for free staff car parking is provided. A copy of Guidance on finance and contracting arrangements for H1 2021/22 is attached.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many COVID-19 vaccines have been disposed of in the UK as a result of missed vaccination appointments.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that homeless people receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recognises that many people who are homeless or sleeping rough are likely to have underlying health conditions which would place them in priority group six. These conditions are likely to be under-diagnosed or not properly reflected in general practitioner (GP) records. The JCVI has advised that homeless people should be offered the vaccine without the need for a National Health Service number or GP registration.
There is work being undertaken to update our operational guidance on reaching rough sleepers and homeless people based on this recent JCVI advice. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government are working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to support outreach, and further work is being done to explore the availability of effective on-street models which could be used to support this work. Local teams are now prioritising all homeless people for vaccination alongside priority group six.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that information hygiene ratings in hospitals and other public spaces are displayed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England has issued guidance on infection control, COVID-19: Guidance for the remobilisation of services within health and care settings. This includes infection prevention and control recommendations and advice on maintaining physical distancing and patient placement. A copy of the guidance is attached.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have also produced standardised signage for trusts, primary care, property companies and facilities management suppliers available to estates departments and to suppliers. This signage is not specific to distance, so it did not become obsolete if national guidance changed.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they have offered to carers of adults with learning disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We recognise the crucial role unpaid carers play caring for those with learning disabilities, especially at this time. We commissioned the Social Care Institute of Excellence to develop a hub of resources for paid and unpaid carers of people with learning disabilities and/or autism. The guidance is available in an online only format and covers topics such as social distancing, advance care planning and staying well.
We have also published guidance in an online only format for unpaid carers, which includes advice on infection control, and links to information and support, and we have provided funding to extend Carers UK’s information and advice service.
To help unpaid carers continue to claim Carer’s Allowance if they need to self-isolate, we made temporary amendments so that emotional support counts towards the 35 hours a week threshold.
We continue to work with carers organisations to identify further solutions to support carers.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence of mental health problems among former armed forces personnel; and how much funding they have allocated to assist with mental health provision for such people.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Veteran mental health needs are very often no different to those of the general population. Data in England has shown that most patients suffer from common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety and readily make use of the mainstream mental health services provided throughout the United Kingdom.
For veterans that do need specialist support, the Government is fully committed to providing high quality evidence-based services. The National Health Service in England has set up two dedicated veterans’ mental health services, the Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service and the Complex Treatment Services. These services benefit from over £12 million per year investment. The forthcoming Veterans’ Mental Health High Intensity Service will see even more investment and will provide crisis care and therapeutic inpatient support for those who need urgent and emergency care.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of generic medications whose costs have increased due to shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has made no such assessment.
We do, however, continuously monitor overall movements in changes in the prices of medicines through various methods, including data from suppliers using the provisions in the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018. It is too early to assess the increased cost to the National Health Service in light of COVID-19.
For unbranded generic medicines the Department relies on competition to keep prices down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the support that is available to people with photosensitive epilepsy.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
No specific assessment has been made.