Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many free covid-19 rapid lateral flow tests were provided by the NHS for people who work in healthcare or adult social care in each month since 1 April 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The following table shows the monthly breakdown of how many free COVID-19 lateral flow tests were provided in England only for National Health Service workers and adult social care.
LFD test volume | Adult social care workers (millions) | NHS workers (millions) |
April 2022 | 9.8 | 4.9 |
May 2022 | 3.7 | 1.8 |
June 2022 | 3.0 | 2.2 |
July 2022 | 4.8 | 3.9 |
August 2022 | 3.6 | 2.0 |
September 2022 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
October 2022 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
November 2022 | 0.9 | 1.2 |
December 2022 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
January 2023 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
February 2023 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
March 2023 | 1.6 | 1.1 |
Financial year 22/23 | 33.7 | 23.6 |
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is the policy of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to require pre-market testing of e-cigarette products from any manufacturer who has been found to breach the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 and who wishes to bring a new product to market.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The notification obligations of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 require producers of E-cigarette products to carry out testing of their products prior to the submission of their notification. This data is submitted as required by the legislation and reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for compliance with the regulations. Where the data provided is compliant with the regulations, the MHRA is required to publish the product on its website. Once published the product can be legally supplied to the United Kingdom. Post market non-compliance is enforced by the Trading Standards authorities.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is the policy of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to allow e-cigarette manufacturers to bring e-cigarette products to the UK market using a pre-existing notification that was used for a non-compliant e-cigarette product that was removed from sale.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
It is not the policy of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to allow submitters to modify an existing publication in order to bypass the requirements of notification. Therefore, MHRA policy does not permit e-cigarette manufacturers to bring e-cigarette products to the United Kingdom market using a pre-existing notification that was used for a non-compliant e-cigarette product that was removed from sale. The MHRA will review intelligence linked to non-compliant activities on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to conduct pre-implementation consultation with relevant stakeholders on the (a) Health Disparities White Paper and (b) new Tobacco Control Plan for England.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We will publish the health disparities white paper later this year and the specific content will be confirmed in due course. We will undertake pre-implementation engagement or consultations where appropriate. In advance of the Tobacco Control Plan, the Government is considering the recommendations of the recent review led by Dr Javed Khan. This includes consideration of how policies will be implemented, including through pre-implementation consultations.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make it his policy to recommend vaping as a substitute for smoking in the (a) Health Disparities White Paper or (b) Tobacco Control Plan for England.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government’s aim is to maximise the opportunities for smokers to switch to vaping whilst preventing non-smokers and young people from starting to vape. We are considering the recommendations of the recent review led by Dr Javed Khan, which will inform the health disparities white paper and the Tobacco Control Plan.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ring-fenced revenue commitment in the NHS budget for primary care estate rental costs for the purposes of unlocking private sector investment in developing modern purpose-built primary care buildings.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made. NHS England and NHS Improvement have an existing revenue budget for general practice premise reimbursements. Currently, general practitioner (GP) contractors are eligible for rental reimbursements. The type of reimbursement applicable depends on who owns the building, and entitlements are set out in The National Health Service (General Medical Services - Premises Costs) Directions 2013. Where GPs are tenants in a building owned by a National Health Service landlord or a private owner, they receive leasehold cost reimbursements.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of current low levels of covid-19 infection in the Azores on its status as a red list country.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Azores was removed from England’s red list on 19 March. The flight and maritime ban from Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, has also been removed, following evidence that shows the risk of importing a variant of concern from these destinations has reduced.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
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 prioritising kinship carers in the covid-19 vaccination programme.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Imuunisation (JCVI) have advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, to those aged 50 and above, in order of age and clinical risk factors, and those with underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality.
Unpaid carers, including kinship carers, who are the sole or primary carer of an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable, are included in the JCVI’s priority group 6 for phase 1 of the rollout.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Rule of Six restriction on social contact that will come into place on 29 March 2021, as part of the easing of covid-19 restrictions, includes infants and children.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021, the ‘rule of six’ will apply to children of all ages. In recognition of the need for greater flexibility for families, the Regulations provide for people to meet outdoors in a group larger than six people if everyone present is from the same two households.
The Government will keep the rule of six restrictions under review in keeping with its commitment to remove current restrictions based on the data.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of patients that will require dental treatment in the next six months; and what the average number of patients requiring dental treatment was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data is not currently available on the number of patients that accessed emergency dental services during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data is collected in the format requested on the number of patients requiring dental treatment. Data is collected on the number of patients see by a National Health Service dentist in, for adults, a 24-month period and, for children, a 12 month period. This data is published every six months. The latest data for the period ending 31 December 2019 is available at the following link:
NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet local need and as such are responsible for assessments of need. NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that NHS dentistry outside urgent care centres would begin to restart from 8 June with the aim of increasing levels of service as fast as is compatible with maximising safety. The letter provided guidance on prioritisation of services to meet need. The letter can be found at the following link: