Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the minutes of the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccinations meeting on 22 June 2021, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of delivering the second dose of the MMR vaccine at 18 months; 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 Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is currently considering whether there is sufficient evidence to recommend delivering the second dose of the MMR vaccine at 18 months. We will be guided by their advice.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccinations (JCVI) on 22 June 2021, when the modelling QALY meeting to discuss varicella is scheduled to take place.
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) relies on modelling work from a variety of sources to support its advice, including the UK Health Security Agency and academic groups.
Varicella is a ‘business as usual’ item that the JCVI will consider in the short to medium term. However, as modelling capacity is finite and resources are supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response, the JCVI are unable to provide an expected timeframe. The modelling Quality-Adjusted Life Year meeting to discuss varicella will be scheduled once evidence becomes available.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccinations (JCVI) on 22 June 2021, what the expected timeframe is for the JCVI to have the available modelling capacity to consider varicella.
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) relies on modelling work from a variety of sources to support its advice, including the UK Health Security Agency and academic groups.
Varicella is a ‘business as usual’ item that the JCVI will consider in the short to medium term. However, as modelling capacity is finite and resources are supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response, the JCVI are unable to provide an expected timeframe. The modelling Quality-Adjusted Life Year meeting to discuss varicella will be scheduled once evidence becomes available.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 encourage diverse participation in dementia research.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) delivers Join Dementia Research (JDR), an online platform recruiting people into dementia research studies, which is open to all who wish to participate. Through the Innovations in Clinical Trial Design and Delivery for the Under-served programme, the NIHR is actively seeking to improve participation in research by providing resources and examples of good practice to support researchers seeking to engage with and include under-served groups.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the shortfalls in the clinical oncology workforce as identified in the Royal College of Radiologists’ report, Clinical oncology: UK workforce census report 2020, published in July 2021.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made.
As of February 2021, the number of full time equivalent clinical oncologists has increased by 20.5% since February 2015 – an increase of 250 clinical oncologists working in the National Health Service. Health Education England funded an extra 50 places in clinical oncology and an extra 36 in medical oncology in 2021.
The next Spending Review will set out further details of the Government’s spending plans for non-NHS budgets for future years, which includes funding for the NHS workforce.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to allocate funding to the clinical oncology workforce.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made.
As of February 2021, the number of full time equivalent clinical oncologists has increased by 20.5% since February 2015 – an increase of 250 clinical oncologists working in the National Health Service. Health Education England funded an extra 50 places in clinical oncology and an extra 36 in medical oncology in 2021.
The next Spending Review will set out further details of the Government’s spending plans for non-NHS budgets for future years, which includes funding for the NHS workforce.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken towards delivering research funding to support the dementia moonshot.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Plans for increasing funding for dementia research and delivering a moonshot are subject to Spending Review settlements. We will be setting out our plans on dementia for England for future years in due course.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure long term monitoring of immunity in people who have received different covid-19 vaccines for each dose.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The National Institute for Health Research has commissioned the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium to undertake the Com-CoV trial. This trial is gathering data on the long-term immune response of using different COVID-19 vaccines for the first and second dose.
Public Health England has also undertaken follow up on people given mixed schedules as part of routine care to monitor self-reported side effects and antibody response. The antibody results will be published in due course.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for a covid-19 vaccine booster campaign in autumn 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) published interim advice on a potential Covid-19 booster vaccination programme on 30th June 2021, which can be found at the following link:
The JCVI’s interim advice is that COVID-19 boosters should first be offered to the most vulnerable. The JCVI advises a two staged approach, with individuals in Stage 1 offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine, and flu vaccine, as soon as possible from September, and individuals in Stage 2 offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine as soon as practicable after Stage 1, with equal emphasis on deployment of the flu vaccine where eligible.
Final decisions on the timing and scope and cohort eligibility, including the groups listed above, of any COVID-19 vaccine booster programme will be confirmed once the JCVI have provided their final advice, alongside considerations related to COVID-19 vaccine supply and approvals by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government is seeking to negotiate a bilateral arrangement with (a) the European Centre for Disease Control and (b) the Early Warning Response System, individually or as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy Agreements.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the United Kingdom may request access to the European Union’s Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) in respect of a serious cross-border health threat. The UK was given access to the EWRS for COVID-19 from 1 January 2021.
The TCA also provides for continued cooperation on scientific and technical matters between the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the UK body responsible for surveillance, epidemic intelligence and scientific advice on infectious disease. We are currently developing a Memorandum of Understanding with ECDC to formalise future cooperation.