Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on investigation of the human case of influenza A(H1N2)v.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) identified a confirmed case of influenza A(H1N2)v, surveillance has been increased in parts of Northern Yorkshire, including expanding monitoring programmes in primary care and hospitals.
UKHSA and partner organisations are tracing contacts of the case and are offering testing. The source of their infection has not yet been ascertained. The individual concerned experienced a mild illness and has fully recovered.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to restrict the sale of high-strength nicotine pouches to people under 18.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Prevalence of nicotine pouches remains low, and whilst there is currently no age of sale restrictions on nicotine pouches, manufacturers do print age restrictions on their packs.
The UK Government and devolved administrations recently launched a consultation on our proposals for a smokefree generation. This includes whether the government should regulate other consumer nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches, under a similar regulatory framework as nicotine vapes. The consultation can be viewed at the following link:
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of restricting the supply of vape products to be only available through pharmacies to people with a prescription.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No formal assessment has been made. There are no medicinally licensed vaping products approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As such, the Government is not currently considering making vaping products prescription-only.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
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 3 July to Question 191416 on Electric Scooters: Injuries, if his Department has plans to collect data centrally on the number of injuries caused by e-scooters.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no specific plans to collect data centrally on the number of injuries caused by e-scooters.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many injuries have been recorded by the NHS related to e-scooters.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the dementia diagnosis rate in Penrith and The Border constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the National Health Service priorities and operational planning guidance 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.
North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is undertaking a number of actions to improve the dementia diagnosis rate in Penrith and the borders. This includes ensuring every individual with a diagnosis of dementia is accurately coded on their patient record and streamlining dementia pathways across the area.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the harmfulness of (a) cinnamaldehyde and (b) other chemicals found in vaping products.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made of the estimated levels of nickel, 9B0 chromium or lead in vaping products. However, the Government recently announced £3 million of funding for a new national illicit vaping enforcement unit to tackle illicit and underage vape sales across the country. This includes the testing of products thought to be non-compliant.
The Office of Health Improvements and Disparities has published detailed evidence updates on vapes (e-cigarettes) since 2014. These reports include systematic reviews of the respiratory, cardiovascular and cancer risks as well as reports on the risks from fires, explosions and poisonings, including relating to the harmfulness of cinnamaldehyde and other chemicals. The full report is available at the following link:
Businesses supplying vapes and e-liquids to the United Kingdom market must ensure their products comply with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, including relating to the safety of their products. Local trading standards have enforcement powers to remove non-compliant products.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has produced guidance on ingredients and emission testing that companies making or importing e-cigarettes and e-liquids are required to follow, Chapter 3 - Emissions Guidance and Chapter 6 - Ingredient Guidance. This states that companies wishing to place their products on the UK market must submit information on key emissions and ingredients to the MHRA.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department Has made an assessment of the potential impact on demand for vaping products of making such products available by prescription only.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made. There are no medicinally licensed vaping product approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As such, the Government is not currently considering making vaping products prescription only.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the levels of (a) nickel, 9B0 chromium and (c) lead in vaping products.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made of the estimated levels of nickel, 9B0 chromium or lead in vaping products. However, the Government recently announced £3 million of funding for a new national illicit vaping enforcement unit to tackle illicit and underage vape sales across the country. This includes the testing of products thought to be non-compliant.
The Office of Health Improvements and Disparities has published detailed evidence updates on vapes (e-cigarettes) since 2014. These reports include systematic reviews of the respiratory, cardiovascular and cancer risks as well as reports on the risks from fires, explosions and poisonings, including relating to the harmfulness of cinnamaldehyde and other chemicals. The full report is available at the following link:
Businesses supplying vapes and e-liquids to the United Kingdom market must ensure their products comply with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, including relating to the safety of their products. Local trading standards have enforcement powers to remove non-compliant products.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has produced guidance on ingredients and emission testing that companies making or importing e-cigarettes and e-liquids are required to follow, Chapter 3 - Emissions Guidance and Chapter 6 - Ingredient Guidance. This states that companies wishing to place their products on the UK market must submit information on key emissions and ingredients to the MHRA.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to support research into the causes of baby loss.
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 is the largest public funder of health research in the United Kingdom.
The NIHR funds a range of research in maternal and neonatal health focussing on the safety of maternity and neonatal services, and the national maternity ambition to halve maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths and brain injury by 2025.
Since 2011, NIHR Research Programmes have invested £21.5 million on 27 awards conducting research into miscarriage and stillbirth. Additionally, the NIHR Policy Research Programme funds a Policy Research Unit dedicated to Maternal & Neonatal Health & Care research which is based at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, and led by Professor Jenny Kurinczuk.