Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 raise awareness of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC); and whether there is a timeframe for information relating to SUDC to be included on the NHS website.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt hon. Member for Spelthorne to the answer I gave the Rt hon. Member on 19 February 2024, to Question 11788.
To further raise awareness of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), NHS England intends to update the When a Child Dies leaflet in collaboration with affected families, parents, and carers, as well as National Child Mortality Database colleagues and SUDC charities, including SUDC UK and relevant professional groups. The Department and NHS England also held a roundtable in July 2023, which brought together expert organisations to discuss possible ways to improve SUDC training and awareness, both collectively and within organisations.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of allowing people that are not currently eligible for covid-19 booster vaccines to (a) purchase them at an affordable price and (b) receive them free of charge if they are eligible for free prescriptions on levels of people returning to work.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a body of independent experts, advises the Government on who should be offered vaccination through the national programme for COVID-19. Vaccination for COVID-19 through the National Health Service is free for those eligible and there are no plans to introduce charges.
Current COVID-19 vaccines offer good protection against serious outcomes but only short-lived protection from mild symptomatic disease. The aim therefore is to offer vaccination to those the JCVI advises are at higher risk of hospitalisation and death. This risk is strongly linked to older age and some specified clinical conditions.
No recent general assessment has been carried out on the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on absences from work. However, a cost effectiveness assessment has been carried for the groups recommended by the JCVI for autumn 2023 vaccination which includes front line healthcare workers. The analysis for this group explored the potential impact on staff absences due to COVID-19. The available data was insufficient to allow formal conclusions but what data was available suggested that, due to the limited ability of current vaccines to prevent mild illness, vaccination would have only a very modest impact on staff absences. The analysis is published at the following link:
On the advice of the JCVI, NHS eligibility is focussed on those at higher risk of serious outcomes. However, all vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom may be prescribed by physicians privately as well as through the NHS. Currently COVID-19 vaccines are not available privately but as is the case for many other vaccines, manufacturers and providers are able to set up a private market alongside the NHS offer when they consider this viable and appropriate. The Government is supportive of the emergence of a private market for COVID-19 vaccines and is engaging with relevant parties on this.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the additional £1 billion per year for community mental health services has been spent; and if she will make an assessment of the impact of that funding on care pathways for people living with bipolar disorder.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan set out a minimum £2.3 billion real terms growth per year for expanding and transforming mental health services in England by 2023/24. This includes £1 billion for community mental health services for people with serious mental illness. However, the amount and proportion of this funding which has been distributed is not separately identifiable from the overall amount spent on mental health services. Neither is the impact of that funding on care pathways for people living with bipolar disorder separately identifiable.
The funding aims to increase access to high quality care and transform care pathways for people with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder, through: greater integration of primary and community services to provide care in the community driven by the needs of individuals, rather than based solely on diagnoses; physical health checks; and Individual Placement and Support schemes and Early Intervention in Psychosis services.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing GPs to prescribe a covid-19 booster vaccination to vulnerable patients not specifically listed as being in a clinical risk group.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises Government health departments on immunisations and the prevention of infectious disease. On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2023. This includes residents and staff in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years old and over, persons aged six months to 64 years old in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years old who are household contacts and persons aged 16 to 64 years old who are carers.
The clinical risk groups for COVID-19 vaccination are defined in the UK Health Security Agency’s ‘Green Book’ on vaccines and immunisation Chapter 14a tables 3 and 4. However, as stated in the Green Book, the examples of eligible conditions in these tables are not exhaustive. Within these broad groups, the prescriber may need to apply clinical judgment to consider the risk of COVID-19 exacerbating any underlying condition that a patient may have, as well as the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 itself. The fact that an individual condition is not explicitly cited in the Green Book should therefore not prevent vaccination being offered where clinically appropriate.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help tackle the growth of (a) gain-of-function research and (b) any other research that modifies a virus or other pathogen to make it more transmissible, virulent and pathogenic in (i) the UK and (ii) other countries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The United Kingdom has extensive legislative controls to ensure the safety and security of biological research into human, animal and plant pathogens. All life sciences companies operating in the UK must adhere to UK ethics standards, research codes of conduct and associated legal obligations.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead of 9 November 2022 and 12 January 2023, reference MP77327.
Answered by Will Quince
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) replied to the Rt hon. Member on 4 May 2023.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the agreements with Watford Borough Council and the property company Kier signed by the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in relation to the Watford Health Campus Partnership LLP, which runs until 2033 unless previously terminated by agreement, by what authority that Trust signed those agreements; what the legal basis is of that authority; and whether that authority has or had a start or end date.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts own their own land and buildings and are responsible for the sale or disposal of identified assets. Trusts work with integrated care boards, including the local authority and NHS England, on planning and optimising their estate.
The Watford Campus Agreement was signed in 2013 by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford Borough Council and the Local asset backed vehicle LABV, which comprises Watford Borough Council and the property company Kier. It was approved by the Trust Board. Regulatory authority is required at the point when expenditure exceeds the delegated £15 million limit. To date, the Trust has contributed £7 million towards the construction of the access road, which opened in 2016. The Watford Campus Agreement has an end date of 2033 unless previously terminated by agreement of all parties.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the start and proposed end dates are of the obligations incurred by the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust under the agreements with Watford Borough Council and the property company Kier signed in June 2013 in relation to the Watford Health Campus Partnership LLP.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts own their own land and buildings and are responsible for the sale or disposal of identified assets. Trusts work with integrated care boards, including the local authority and NHS England, on planning and optimising their estate.
The NHS has advised that the arrangement between West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Watford Borough Council and Kier was signed in 2013 and has a termination date of 2033 unless otherwise agreed by the parties. The housing regeneration is ongoing, and the hospital redevelopment is now part of the New Hospital Programme.
The Trust will make contributions to infrastructure costs as the work progresses and details of these will be made public in the normal way. To date, a £7 million contribution has been made by the Trust to the development of Thomas Sawyer Way, an access road which has an ambulance-only section, as well as access for staff, patients, and visitors to the new multi-storey car park. There have been no subsequent legal agreements which have changed either the original obligations or the rights applying to the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on potential benefits and costs (a) realised and (b) expected to be realised by the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as a result of the agreements with Watford Borough Council and the property company Kier signed in June 2013 in relation to the Watford Health Campus Partnership LLP.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally. National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts own their own land and buildings and are responsible for the sale or disposal of identified assets. Trusts work with integrated care boards, including the local authority and NHS England, on planning and optimising their estate.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on agreements in place under which the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is liable to pay for land that it is planning to acquire from Watford Borough Council in relation to the Trust's acute redevelopment scheme.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally. National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts own their own land and buildings and are responsible for the sale or disposal of identified assets. Trusts work with integrated care boards, including the local authority and NHS England, on planning and optimising their estate.