Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the Football Governance Bill.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This Government is committed to introducing a new independent regulator for English football, to protect and promote the sustainability of English football for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

The Government is working at pace to establish an Independent Football Regulator on a statutory footing as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to introduce the shingles vaccine for adults aged over 65.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The current policy is to offer the shingles vaccine to anyone who turned 65 and 70 years old after 1 September 2023, as well as to anyone aged 50 years and older who is at higher risk of serious complications. This policy has significantly improved the already very successful programme.

People aged 66 to 69 years old on 1 September 2023, who do not have a severely weakened immune system, will become eligible for shingles vaccination when they turn 70 years old. Those with a severely weakened immune system are eligible for the shingrix vaccine from 50 years old, due to their increased risk. Anyone who is unsure if they are at higher risk of complications from shingles should speak to their general practitioner. It is important that anyone eligible takes up this offer to protect themselves.

The Government’s policy on groups eligible for the shingles vaccination programme is based on recommendations by the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the scope and speed of any expansion of a programme is decided between the UK Health Security Agency, the Department, and NHS England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the shingles vaccine to adults aged 65 and over.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Shingrix programme was recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), to provide better and longer lasting population-level protection from a younger age than the previous Zostavax programme. The Shingrix shingles vaccination programme was introduced from September 2023, to offer two doses of the vaccine to immunocompetent individuals turning 65 and 70 years old, and severely immunosuppressed adults over 50 years old.

A cost-effectiveness review by the JCVI concluded that although the highest monetary benefit would be to provide the Shingrix vaccination at 65 years old, by offering it at 60 years old the highest number of cases would be prevented. For immunosuppressed individuals, Shingrix was determined to be cost-effective between the ages of 50 to 90 years old.

To avoid undue additional pressure on National Health Service delivery services, the Shingrix vaccine will be delivered in a phased approach over 10 years, after which the vaccine would then be offered routinely from 60 years old.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many shingles cases have led to complications requiring treatment in the last five years.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) does not collect data on shingles cases that have led to complications requiring treatment. NHS England has provided the number of hospital admissions, with and without complications, from 2018/19 to 2022/23:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England

This should not be described as counts of people, however, as the same person may have more than one admission within any given time period. In addition, the UKHSA has published a paper showing the impact of the zostavax vaccine on the number of hospital admissions, which is available at the following link:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641364/