Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take to help ensure adequacy of funding for cancer research over the next ten years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23 and the NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.
In terms of future funding, the NIHR funds research both in response to proposals received from scientists and by identifying areas, like brain cancer, where we want to see more research. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. All research applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.
Future investment in research and innovation is a priority for the Government. We know developments in areas including genomics and artificial intelligence have the potential to transform the experience of cancer, informed by research. The United Kingdom, with its extensive experience of delivering innovative cancer trials, is well placed to integrate research and treatment for the benefit of cancer patients. Innovative trials such as the Galleri blood test and cancer vaccines are already ongoing, and we are investing in crucial research into new treatments, diagnostics, and medical technologies through the NIHR and research funding partners to transform the future of cancer.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with Lynch Syndrome are (a) informed of their condition and (b) made aware of their increased risk of bowel cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England, through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, has launched a national transformation project to ensure more patients with Lynch syndrome are identified and benefit from regular check-ups, earlier interventions, and more targeted treatment, such as combinations of immunotherapy, chemotherapy and surgeries.
People aged between 25 and 75 years old identified as having Lynch Syndrome will be included in the surveillance arm of the National Health Service bowel cancer screening programme, and will be offered a colonoscopy every two years.
The national programme ensures all people diagnosed with bowel and endometrial are offered genomic testing, with a diagnosis for Lynch syndrome not only helping to guide more personalised cancer treatment but enabling their families and relatives to be offered testing too.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help encourage vaccine uptake for measles in Coventry; what plans she has to tackle gaps in measles vaccination coverage (a) generally and (b) among vulnerable populations; and how she will assess the effectiveness of those plans.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with NHS England, the Department, and wider health system partners which include Coventry, at national, regional and local levels, to improve uptake of routine childhood immunisations and catch-up children who missed out.
A range of information leaflets and promotional materials about the different vaccination programmes are available online, co-branded with the National Health Service. These include translations in a range of languages and braille, British Sign Language, large print and audio versions.
Communications on the benefits and associated risks of vaccination are managed through a multi-stakeholder approach involving NHS England, NHS England regional public health commissioning teams, local authority public health teams involving education, and UKHSA. NHS England regional teams are also working to improve access to the vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.
NHS England is changing how providers of school-aged vaccinations capture vaccination data to better allow providers to identify areas of low uptake and undertake targeted outreach to address inequalities. Coverage of childhood vaccines, including the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, are measured when children reach their first, second and fifth birthdays. Official childhood vaccine coverage estimates are published annually by UKHSA and NHS England.
Effectiveness will be monitored through the analysis of MMR activity using surveillance and operational databases. The National MMR catch-up programme will include an evaluation element. The school MMR approach includes evaluation using a standardised template and evaluation report from providers at the end of the programme.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that schools are providing adequate information to (a) students and (b) parents on the (i) merits and (ii) associated risks of measles vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency provides a range of publications in various languages and formats to provide information about the national immunisation programme including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination programme, for students and parents, which are available at the following link:
https://www.healthpublications.gov.uk/Home.html
These publications and those on the National Health Service website allow students and parents to understand the merits and associated risks of the measles vaccination to allow for informed consent. More information is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-vaccine/
NHS England regional teams are working closely with wider system partners within the local health economy to increase the uptake of all NHS routine and seasonal vaccinations, including those delivered in schools.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase the (a) accessibility of smear tests for working women and (b) coverage of cervical cancer screening in Coventry North West constituency; how many smear tests were provided by the NHS in Coventry North West constituency in each year since 2015; and what steps she is taking to help improve cancer survival rates.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Efforts are ongoing to make it easier for all women to attend their cervical screening appointments by expanding the number of settings for cervical screening and making more appointments available during evenings and on weekends.
The following table shows the number of eligible women who have attended their cervical screening appointment in Coventry in each year since 2015:
Screening year | Coverage: 25 to 49 years old (%) | Coverage: 50 to 64 years old (%) | Coverage: 25 to 64 years old (%) |
2014/15 | 68.8 | 79.2 | 71.7 |
2015/16 | 67.3 | 78.6 | 70.5 |
2016/17 | 67.0 | 77.8 | 70.1 |
2017/18 | 65.6 | 76.7 | 68.7 |
2018/19 | 65.7 | 76.1 | 68.7 |
2019/20 | 65.1 | 74.9 | 67.9 |
2020/21 | 63.2 | 73.9 | 66.3 |
2021/22 | 60.5 | 73.1 | 64.1 |
2022/23 | 57.1 | 72.5 | 61.4 |
Source: Cervical Screening Programme official statistics, NHS England
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to close the ethnicity pay gap beyond issuing guidance on ethnicity pay gap reporting.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Our comprehensive guidance for employers on ethnicity pay reporting, published in April 2023, sets out best practice on measuring, analysing and reporting ethnicity pay gaps. Since publication, we have engaged with employers and employer representative bodies to promote the guidance and provide support. We are seeking case studies in order to identify and highlight examples of good practice.
This work is part of our ambitious Inclusive Britain strategy, published in March 2022, which set out 74 bold actions to tackle entrenched ethnic disparities in employment, education, health and criminal justice. We also launched an Inclusion at Work Panel last year aimed at helping employers achieve fairness and inclusion in the workplace.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) CT scanners, (b) MRI scanning machines and (c) linear accelerators for radiotherapy were owned by her Department in the financial year 2021-22; how many and what proportion of the (i) CT scanners, (ii) MRI scanning machines and (iii) linear accelerators for radiotherapy used in the NHS were (A) leased and (B) operated through managed equipment services contracts in the financial year 2021-22; what the average age of the (1) CT scanners, (2) MRI scanning machines and (3) linear accelerators for radiotherapy used in the NHS was in the financial year 2021-22; and with reference to the Answer of 13 July 2022 to Question 31135 on Medical Equipment: Standards, what recent progress integrated care systems have made eliminating the backlog of diagnostic equipment over 10 years old by 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Government’s commitment to increase diagnostics services, £2.3 billion of funding was awarded to transform diagnostic services over three years. This funding is being used to increase the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. As of January 2024, there are 150 CDCs currently operational that have delivered over six million additional tests since July 2021.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve the treatment of Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department, and NHS England have taken steps to improve the treatment of invasive lobular breast cancer (ILBC) but are aware that more needs to be done. In September 2022, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre announced funding from NHS England and the Welsh Government of £5.4 million to support delivery of six new national cancer audits. Two of these focus on breast cancer, one on primary and one on metastatic, and include ILBC.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors. For example, over the last five years, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has supported 10 ILBC-related studies.
The Department and NHS England continue to work closely with research funding partners such as Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, and cancer charities who fund research into new scientific discoveries.
The Department urges researchers working on ILBC to submit bids for NIHR funding, including applications to fund the United Kingdom arms of international studies.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with NHS England on the potential merits of (a) lowering the thresholds for initiation of treatment for chronic hepatitis B and (b) expanding opt-out testing for blood borne viruses in areas estimated to have high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B relative to the rest of the country.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Management of care for patients with Hepatitis B (HBV) is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs). National clinical guidelines for monitoring HBV are published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
NHS England is identifying opportunities to build on the very successful programme to eliminate Hepatitis C by ensuring for example, that the Emergency Department opt-out testing programme, which has plans for expansion, includes testing for HBV as well as HIV and Hepatitis C.
NHS England will continue to seek to identify opportunities to align elimination strategies wherever possible in partnership with ICBs, who can respond to local differences in HBV prevalence.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle pavement parking where alternatives are available; whether he has had discussions with city councils on the potential merits of prohibiting pavement parking where it is feasible; what assessment he has made of the minimum width of footway needed to be accessible for all disabled people; and whether he is taking steps to help reduce the potential impact of pavement parking on bus journey times.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is fully aware that pavement parking can pose problems for all pedestrians, particularly for people with sight or mobility impairments. Local authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. We have undertaken a consultation on additional options to help councils tackle pavement parking outside London and it received views on many issues including minimum footway clearances and public transport. We will publish our formal response in due course.
The Department has produced good practice guidance on designing accessible public realm, in Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure. This includes recommendations on minimum footway widths. Inclusive Mobility can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mobility-making-transport-accessible-for-passengers-and-pedestrians