Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage that the food and beverage manufacturing sector to reduce sugar content in the food and drink they produce.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Calorie reduction, including sugar reduction, will be part of the Government’s work on obesity. We have asked for expert advice about the amount of sugar we should be eating and this will be taken into account as we continue to work on our childhood obesity strategy.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on NHS England's National Diabetes Prevention Programme to tackle Type 2 diabetes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is making good progress following its public launch and announcement of demonstrator sites in March 2015.
Our demonstrator sites are working to help develop the programme and deliver prevention interventions to those individuals who are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Irish nationals had (a) one and (b) more than one abortion via NHS England in 2013.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No Irish nationals have had one or more than one abortion via NHS England in 2013.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will discuss with Transport for London the installation of hand sanitisers on London Underground trains and platforms.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Hand sanitisers can make an additional useful contribution to reduction of carriage of bacteria and viruses on the hands. However, the mainstay for reduction in transmission of bacteria and viruses remains regular washing of hands with soap and water. There has not been a trial of the use of hand sanitisers in public places such as train stations so there is no evidence for how effective an intervention like this might be. The Director of the London office of Public Health England and health advisor to the Mayor of London will raise the issue with Transport for London.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cases of TB in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In 2012 in the United Kingdom, a total of 8,751 cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported, a rate of 13.9 cases per 100,000 population. In 2011, 8,899 TB cases were reported in the UK (rate: 14.1/100,000 population), and 8,397 TB cases were reported in 2010, a rate of 13.5 per 100,000 population.
In the UK, the main burden of TB is concentrated in large urban areas; in 2012, London had the highest proportion of cases (39%) followed by West Midlands (12%).
The Department recognises the public health importance of TB, particularly amongst groups at higher risk of TB, such as migrants from high incidence countries and persons with social risk factors, such as homelessness, imprisonment and drug and alcohol use in England and within large metropolitan areas, like London.
We also recognise the contribution that latent TB infection (LTBI) makes to the overall TB disease burden. Systematic LTBI testing and treatment is part of the recommendation in the current TB guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2011) and are a key intervention in the draft collaborative TB strategy for England, being led by Public Health England (PHE).
The Department is also concerned about the high TB rates in persons with social risk factors, which is why it commissioned NICE to produce a short clinical guidance on TB services for underserved groups. The guidance makes clear recommendations for active case finding and other interventions in these groups (published in March 2012). The Department is funding research projects on identifying latent TB in relation to the effectiveness of testing for latent TB and on the prognostic value of these tests to predict the progression from latent to active TB.
PHE has made TB one of its main priorities, and is leading a coalition of key stakeholders, including the Department, NHS England, Local Government and other key public and voluntary organisations, to develop a national TB strategy.
The strategy aims to bring together best practice in clinical care, social support and public health to strengthen TB control, leading to a year on year decrease in incidence, a reduction in health inequalities associated with TB, and to contribute to the eventual elimination of the disease.
The consultation process for the formulation of the strategy started in March 2014 and ended in June 2014. The strategy will be launched sometime in the autumn 2014.
The following link is for the TB Strategy consultation, which provides useful information on introducing TB controls in England:
www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317140970182
In London, a London TB Control Board has been constituted with representation from all agencies involved in preventing, controlling and treating TB, to try and replicate the progress made in other major international cities such as New York and Paris.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will discuss a public health campaign with Transport for London to educate passengers on reducing the spread of influenza on public transport.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) engages in public health campaigns when there is an evidence base to demonstrate the likely impact on positive public health outcomes. There is evidence that people are more likely to respond to messages about respiratory and hand hygiene when there is an imminent threat to public health, such as a pandemic.
PHE closely monitors flu infection rates, and should rates suddenly accelerate or meet unacceptably high levels, they could activate such a campaign. Although PHE did not run a Catch It. Bin It. Kill It campaign during 2013-14, campaign materials e.g. print and digital resources were made available for local use.
PHE would engage key partners such as Transport for London in the preparation of any such initiative.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will discuss with the Mayor of London and the chief executives of the London Boroughs possible steps to reduce the spread of mosquitoes in London.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Entomologists at Public Health England (PHE), formerly the Health Protection Agency (HPA), have been working with colleagues in the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), local authorities and Port Health Officers to better understand the risk posed by mosquitoes in London.
PHE discusses the issues of mosquitoes with the CIEH who then provides advice (and contact) to Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) at the London Boroughs. PHE does work with local authorities directly for specific mosquito surveillance schemes, but this is always through the Principal EHO at CIEH.
PHE currently runs a mosquito surveillance scheme to monitor problem mosquitoes from EHOs and the public, and have been conducting surveillance of invasive species at airports and seaports across England, including London.