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 her Department is taking to ensure that PrEP is available in all parts of the UK.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain committed to achieving equitable provision of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, geographic area of residence, or socio-economic background. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG) published a roadmap in February 2024 to help guide efforts to improve access, uptake, and use of PrEP amongst key population groups at significant risk of HIV in England. An implementation working group of key delivery partners is being set up, which will monitor progress on actions and report back to the ISG.
Devolved administrations are responsible for developing and implementing their own public health strategies. Colleagues in England meet regularly with their counterparts in the devolved administrations, to share information and best practice on our response to HIV, including provision of PrEP.
Our commitment to PrEP as part of a combination approach is emphasised by our investment in the successful rollout of PrEP across England, where PrEP is routinely available in specialist sexual health services since March 2020, and we invested more than £34 million in PrEP in 2020/21 and 2021/22. PrEP funding has now been included within the Public Health Grant (PHG) since 2022/23, and funds appointments and testing in sexual health services, whilst NHS England covers the costs of the drug itself. The PHG is funded at £3.6 billion for 2024/25.
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 identify people that have been diagnosed with HIV but are not accessing treatment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the HIV Action Plan, we are committed to ensuring adequate support for those diagnosed and living with HIV. The most recent monitoring and evaluation report of the HIV Action Plan, published by the UK Health Security Agency, shows that in 2022, 76% of adults first diagnosed with HIV in England were linked to HIV care within two weeks, 87% within one month, and 93% within three months. This is an improvement compared to 2019.
NHS England’s specification for adult HIV services states that these services must have a policy describing how they aim to ensure retention in care, and re-engage those lost to care. A subgroup, Retention and Re-engagement in Care Task and Finish Group, of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG) is providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, which will be considered by the ISG in due course.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the NHS England HIV opt-out testing programme in emergency departments has identified 384 people previously diagnosed with HIV but who disengaged from care in the first 21 months, providing opportunities to re-engage those individuals in care. Given its success, the Department has recently committed an additional £20 million for new research, which will involve an expansion and evaluation of the programme in 47 additional emergency departments in local areas with high HIV prevalence, across England.
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 current levels of syphilis recorded; and what steps she is taking to tackle it.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both gonorrhoea and syphilis have returned to, and exceeded, the high levels reported in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2021 and 2022, gonorrhoea increased in all age-groups, with the largest rise among young people aged 15 to 24 years old. Over the same period, infectious syphilis increased among gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, and heterosexuals.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) conducts comprehensive surveillance of sexually transmitted infections and supports local authorities and sexual health services in using this data to inform sexual health service delivery. The UKHSA is undertaking work with partner organisations to identify the best use of existing and emerging preventative interventions, to address the increase in gonorrhoea and syphilis.
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 levels of Gonorrhea recorded; and what steps she is taking to reduce it.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both gonorrhoea and syphilis have returned to, and exceeded, the high levels reported in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2021 and 2022, gonorrhoea increased in all age-groups, with the largest rise among young people aged 15 to 24 years old. Over the same period, infectious syphilis increased among gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, and heterosexuals.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) conducts comprehensive surveillance of sexually transmitted infections and supports local authorities and sexual health services in using this data to inform sexual health service delivery. The UKHSA is undertaking work with partner organisations to identify the best use of existing and emerging preventative interventions, to address the increase in gonorrhoea and syphilis.
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 her Department is taking to collect data on people admitted to hospital for palliative care in order to understand the (a) demand and (b) needs for palliative care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England collects data on the number of people admitted to hospital with a palliative care diagnosis. However, this does not clearly indicate the reason for admission. The following table shows the numbers of patients identified as being admitted to hospital and having a palliative care diagnosis, for each of the past five years:
Year | Palliative care diagnosis |
2018/19 | 94,000 |
2019/20 | 98,052 |
2020/21 | 98,736 |
2021/22 | 102,032 |
2022/23 | 102,795 |
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review current practices for commissioning of foster care services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommended that the government introduces a network of Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements in fostering, children’s homes and secure homes on a regional basis. The department has committed to trialling this approach with two RCC pathfinders to build an evidence base before future rollout.
The department’s long-term vision is that RCCs will help improve commissioning and sufficiency, and better enable local authorities to meet the needs of the children in their care, whilst reforming foster parent recruitment and retention.
In addition, the department is investing £36 million to deliver a fostering and retention programme so foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain existing foster carers. Darlington local authority, as part of the North East pathfinder, were one of the first local authorities to take part in this programme.
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, how many patients were admitted to hospital for palliative care in each of the last five years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested data is not available.
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 her Department is taking to reduce levels of liver disease in Darlington constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the 2021 Drugs Strategy we are making the largest ever single increase in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding, with £780 million of additional investment. Of this, £532 million is being invested to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. As alcohol and drug services are commissioned together, this will benefit people seeking treatment for alcohol use.
In the financial years 2022/23 to 2024/25, Darlington has been allocated just over £1.9 million through the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant and Inpatient Detoxification Grant, to increase the number of people benefiting from alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services, and the outcomes they achieve. This is additional to the amounts invested through the Public Health Grant.
Work in the National Health Service, specifically piloting early diagnosis and prevention through 19 community diagnostic hubs, is identifying undiagnosed liver disease. The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is enrolled in a Community Liver Health Check pilot in Newcastle, being delivered by the system’s Hepatitis C Operational Delivery Networks. This will provide FibroScans in one-stop community clinics, where patients also have other investigations, as required. The pilot has expanded into North Tyneside, and when resources allow, they intend to develop clinics elsewhere.
Beyond treatment, we are committed to tackling alcohol harms including reducing consumption levels, and in 2023 the Government introduced reforms to alcohol duty, meaning products are taxed directly in proportion to their alcohol content.
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, if she will make an estimate of average weekly expenditure on the NHS in real terms in each year since 2016.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The below table shows the average weekly and yearly expenditure on the National Health Service in real terms and nominally, each year since 2016, including spending against the Revenue Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) by NHS England, the integrated care boards, and providers:
Year | RDEL spend per year in nominal terms | RDEL spend per year in real terms | RDEL spend per week in real terms |
2016/17 | £105,735,000,000 | £125,293,000,000 | £2,409,000,000 |
2017/18 | £109,605,000,000 | £127,879,000,000 | £2,459,000,000 |
2018/19 | £114,331,000,000 | £130,634,000,000 | £2,512,000,000 |
2019/20 | £123,750,000,000 | £138,145,000,000 | £2,657,000,000 |
2020/21 | £143,367,000,000 | £151,775,000,000 | £2,919,000,000 |
2021/22 | £149,322,000,000 | £159,379,000,000 | £3,065,000,000 |
2022/23 | £158,347,000,000 | £158,347,000,000 | £3,045,000,000 |
Source: table 66 of the Department of Health and Social Care’s annual report.
Note: figures have been adjusted for inflation using HM Treasury’s gross domestic product deflators, as of April 2024.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that universities are following English proficiency requirements for foreign students.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), as part of their compliance activities, conduct on-site audits of sponsors and check what assessment methods sponsors have used and their relevant evidence. Where there are any compliance breaches, UKVI take compliance action which can include formal action plans or revocation of the sponsor licence. English language assessments are also considered as part of the Basic Compliance Assessment which sponsors are required to pass on an annual basis.