Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report of the APPG for Hospice and End of Life care entitled Government funding for hospices, published in January 2024 and (b) plans to take steps in response to the findings in that report.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is already taking actions which will address many of the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hospice and End of Life Care report.
As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services that an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, which will ensure a more consistent national approach and support commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance and service specifications for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs in order to meet their legal duties. The guidance makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life, and their families. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the ICB footprint. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide. Consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.
Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population.
The Government have also provided additional funding to help deliver the one-off payments to eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations, who employ their staff on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts. Organisations were able to apply for the funding and needed to show they had been negatively financially impacted by the pay deal, and that their staff are employed on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of guaranteeing the children's hospice block grant for three years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the potential merits of ring-fencing the funding for children’s hospices, or of the potential merits of guaranteeing the children’s hospice funding for three years. Details of 2025/26 funding will, however, be confirmed in due course.
We recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in the availability and delivery of high-quality, personalised palliative and end of life care for people of all ages, and their loved ones.
As made clear in the Health and Care Act 2022, it is the statutory duty of integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission palliative and end of life care services in response to the needs of their population, including for children and young people.
NHS England currently supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.
NHS England has worked closely with sector experts and sector representatives in establishing the current prevalence-based approach to deciding allocations, as well as in determining the proposed mechanism for continued funding in 2024/25.
Funding in 2024/25 will be distributed via ICBs, in line with National Health Service devolution. All ICBs in England will be formally notified of the distribution method to be used very shortly. The Department and NHS England hope to be able to provide the greater clarity that the sector is seeking on this important funding stream to children’s hospices, in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing the block grant for children's hospices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the potential merits of ring-fencing the funding for children’s hospices, or of the potential merits of guaranteeing the children’s hospice funding for three years. Details of 2025/26 funding will, however, be confirmed in due course.
We recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in the availability and delivery of high-quality, personalised palliative and end of life care for people of all ages, and their loved ones.
As made clear in the Health and Care Act 2022, it is the statutory duty of integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission palliative and end of life care services in response to the needs of their population, including for children and young people.
NHS England currently supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.
NHS England has worked closely with sector experts and sector representatives in establishing the current prevalence-based approach to deciding allocations, as well as in determining the proposed mechanism for continued funding in 2024/25.
Funding in 2024/25 will be distributed via ICBs, in line with National Health Service devolution. All ICBs in England will be formally notified of the distribution method to be used very shortly. The Department and NHS England hope to be able to provide the greater clarity that the sector is seeking on this important funding stream to children’s hospices, in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to use (a) licensing and (b) planning powers to reduce the number of mini markets trading in illegal vapes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the increase in the number of illicit vapes in the United Kingdom’s market, as well as the access and availability of these vapes to children. In April of last year, we provided £3 million of funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in retail outlets and ports, upskilled trading standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.
Whilst there are no current plans to introduce a licensing scheme, we have also recently announced a further £30 million of additional funding per year to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vape products. This additional funding in England will boost agencies such as local trading standards, to enforce the new age of sale and vaping restrictions.
Alongside this package of funding, we are also taking assertive action to reduce youth vaping more generally. We recently published our response to the smoking and vaping consultation, which sets out plans to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children, through introducing restrictions on flavours, packaging, and point of sale display. Our response to the consultation is available at the following link:
We have also announced that we will ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes, and have set out plans to introduce a £100 fixed penalty notice for underage sales of tobacco and vaping products. The Government will introduce legislation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the (a) criminal, (b) health and (c) licensing issues arising from the sale of illegal vapes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the increase in the number of illicit vapes in the United Kingdom’s market, as well as the access and availability of these vapes to children. In April of last year, we provided £3 million of funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in retail outlets and ports, upskilled trading standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.
Whilst there are no current plans to introduce a licensing scheme, we have also recently announced a further £30 million of additional funding per year to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vape products. This additional funding in England will boost agencies such as local trading standards, to enforce the new age of sale and vaping restrictions.
Alongside this package of funding, we are also taking assertive action to reduce youth vaping more generally. We recently published our response to the smoking and vaping consultation, which sets out plans to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children, through introducing restrictions on flavours, packaging, and point of sale display. Our response to the consultation is available at the following link:
We have also announced that we will ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes, and have set out plans to introduce a £100 fixed penalty notice for underage sales of tobacco and vaping products. The Government will introduce legislation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 adequacy of availability of follow up MRI scans for women who have undergone mastectomies to tackle lobular breast cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
£2.3 billion was awarded at Spending Review 2021 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of community diagnostic centres up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. The remainder of the funding will increase capacity for imaging, including MRI scans, endoscopy as well as lung and mammography screening, and improve digital diagnostics.
Growth in the MRI asset base and increased use of MRI acceleration software is creating additional capacity for approximately 572,000 MRI examinations per annum within the NHS in England.
The Department and NHS England have taken steps to improve the treatment of invasive lobular breast cancer (ILBC) but are aware that more needs to be done. In September 2022, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre announced funding from NHS England and the Welsh Government of £5.4 million to support delivery of six new national cancer audits. Two of these focus on breast cancer, one on primary and one on metastatic, and include ILBC.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors. Over the last five years, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has supported 10 ILBC-related studies.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 30 January 2024 to Question 10927 on Mental Health Services: Children and Young People, what the average waiting time was from referral to assessment for a child referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the latest period for which data is available; and how many children are on a waiting list in each local authority within the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board area.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information regarding the average waiting time from referral to assessment for a child referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, in the latest period for which data is available, as well as how many children are on waiting lists in each local authority within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, is shown in the attached tables.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 29 January 2024 to Question 10925 on Liver Diseases: Darlington, how much and what proportion of the £30,000 for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust will be spent in Darlington.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The breakdown of funding requested is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the Government is funding on tackling lobular breast cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), with NIHR expenditure for all cancers being £121.8 million in 2022/23.
Current NIHR research into breast cancer includes a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, such as lobular breast cancer. The NIHR also supports research on lobular breast cancer through its research infrastructure, including Biomedical Research Centres which are undertaking research on early detection and genetic aspects of breast cancer. It is difficult to attribute research infrastructure funding allocations to specific disease and therapy areas as the staff and facilities funded through the NIHR infrastructure supports research across disciplines.
Additionally, the NIHR supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors through the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network (CRN). Over the last five years the CRN has supported delivery of 10 lobular breast cancer-related studies.
Research on the underpinning science to understand the mechanisms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer, is funded through the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Medical Research Council who spend £125 million annually on cancer research. The NIHR also works closely with research funding partners including Cancer Research UK, Breast Cancer Now, Medical Research Council, and other cancer charities.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to tackle liver disease in the North East.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Northern Cancer Alliance is supporting services to enable the early detection of liver disease across the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS). More than 80% of patients with liver cirrhosis, a type of liver disease, have been invited to monthly ultrasound surveillance. This investment has also included £30,000 for the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust who will be using their funds to improve systems in relation to call and recall of patients to their six-monthly checks.
Liver disease has several causes and can be associated with alcohol use or being overweight. The Government is investing significant amounts year on year in alcohol treatment through our 10-year drug strategy. In 2024/2025 the North East will receive a further £27 million, beyond funding provided by the Public Health Grant. Partners are also using a whole system approach to develop a healthy weight and treating obesity strategy for the North East and North Cumbria.
The Department is supporting people with alcohol dependency through the Drug Strategy and NHS Long Term Plan by facilitating more people in need of treatment into local authority commissioned alcohol treatment services. Additional treatment and recovery funding, made available through the Drug Strategy, can also be used to increase capacity for screening for liver fibrosis in treatment settings and to establish effective referral pathways into treatment for liver disease.