Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 letter dated 9 February 2022 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire regarding cervical cancer screening, reference ZA58852.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 22 April 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he intends to respond to a letter dated 02/03/2022 from the Hon. Member for West Lancashire reference ZA59051 regarding covid-19 policy in care homes.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 22 April 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of the 2006 study by McNeill and West in the British Medical Journal that South Asian chewed tobacco is a major cause of oral cancer, what assessment his Department has made of the safety of chewing tobacco; and whether his Department has plans to set product standards.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Although no official assessment of the safety of chewing tobacco has been made, traditional smokeless tobacco products are harmful to health by causing oral, oesophageal and pancreatic cancers. It remains the Government’s policy to help people to quit all forms of tobacco use through behavioural support from stop smoking services, nicotine replacement therapy or e-cigarettes.
There are no plans to set a product standard on chewing tobacco. Product standards for tobacco are contained in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 letter dated 2 February 2022 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire regarding dementia care and access to face to face GP appointments, reference ZA58786.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 5 April 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 letter dated 10 December 2021 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire regarding vaccination of NHS staff against covid-19, reference ZA58449.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 28 March 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide assistance to the hon. Member for West Lancashire in gaining a response to her letter to NHS England and Improvement Chief Executive Amanda Prichard, regarding FOI responses, dated 10 November 2021, ref ZA55419.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement have apologised for the delay in responding to the hon. Member’s letter dated 10 November 2021. Officials have been advised that a response has been sent to the hon. Member on 30 March 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information he holds on (a) the reasons for the Cheshire/Mersey integrated care system's (ICS) appointment of an assistant Medical Director without advertising that post and (b) the human resources arrangements for that ICS; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that ICS's follow best practice in relation to human resources and governance matters.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The national human resources framework for establishing integrated care boards (ICBs) sets out the process to be followed in each integrated care system (ICS) for making appointments to their executive roles. Appointments can be made via an organisational change process or by a recruitment process. If posts are filled by an organisational change they will not be advertised.
The Department is advised that for the Medical Director post of Cheshire/Merseyside ICS, the panel agreed to appoint two candidates, one as Executive Medical Director and the other as Associate Medical Director. These appointments are on a designate basis, subject to the successful passage of the Health and Care Bill. The individuals were also appointed on the basis that both candidates will continue to undertake some clinical work and fulfil their roles on a less than full time basis. The human resources support to the ICS is provided by the Midland and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit with a small internal Health and Care Partnership resource.
The Department is working on overall implementation plans with NHS England. The Health and Care Bill proposes that the chair of an ICB be appointed by NHS England, with the approval of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. However, the Department does not have a role in relation to other appointments that will be made to ICBs.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire dated 13 October 2021 and transferred to his Department from the Department for Education on 30 November 2021, reference ZA57966.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 10 March 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire dated 13 October 2021 regarding student nursing funding, reference ZA57966, which was transferred to his department from the Department for Education.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 10 March 2022.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made on the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances' 2021 annual report.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances is independent of Government. The Committee does not publish a separate annual report. The Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees sets out the information which should be published. These are the Committee’s purpose and activities, its membership and members’ interests and a financial statement. With the exception of a financial statement, these are published in the minutes of its meetings, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/advisory-committee-on-borderline-substances
No financial statement is published because there is negligible financial activity to report. Members are not paid any fees or honoraria for their services and are entitled to claim repayment of expenses.