Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 (a) young and (b) vulnerable people have access to free contraception.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, openly accessible sexual and reproductive health services, which includes the provision of free contraception to meet local demand. Local authorities decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need, including the needs of young and vulnerable people. Contraception is also widely available free of charge through general practices (GPs).
The Government is committed to improving access to contraception, and reducing reproductive health inequalities. The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our 10-year ambition and the actions we are taking to improve disparities in access to services, experiences of services, and outcomes for all women and girls.
As part of our work to deliver the Women’s Health Strategy we have launched a dedicated women’s health area on the National Health Service website as a first port of call for women’s health information, including contraception. We have also worked closely with NHS Digital to create a new YouTube series on contraception, which has been designed to help answer common questions often found in search engines, as well as more detailed information on the range of contraceptive methods available.
In 2023 we also introduced the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service. This service offers greater choice in how people can access contraception services. It will also create additional capacity in GPs and sexual health clinics, to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.
We are working with the Women’s Health Ambassador and others to provide health information to diverse groups of women, across their life course. We know that young people who receive effective relationships and sex education are more likely to use contraception and condoms, and less likely to have an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager, and in later life.
The 2020 roll-out of statutory relationships and sex education in all schools means that more young people receive support to prevent early unplanned pregnancy through learning about the full range of contraceptive choices and sexual health services available. The statutory guidance is available at the following link:
As set out in the Women's Health Strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education are working to understand women’s health topics that teachers feel less confident in teaching, and we will work to improve provision of high-quality teaching resources.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NICE guidance entitled Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness, published on 16 March 2022, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have somewhere safe and secure to recover when discharged from hospital.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to promoting safe and timely discharge for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, to appropriate accommodation.
We have ensured every acute hospital has access to a care transfer hub to manage discharge for people with more complex needs. In January 2024, the Department published guidance on discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, to support staff involved in planning safe and supportive discharge of these patients from hospital. The guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 eliminate (a) cervical and (b) other cancer caused by human papillomavirus.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, alongside routine screening, is key to protecting people against strains of HPV that can cause some cancers including cervical, anal, head and neck cancer.
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme (CSP) provides all women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 years old with the opportunity to be screened routinely, to detect certain types of HPV infection which cause 99.7% of cervical cancer. An in-service evaluation is being commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to determine whether HPV self-sampling could be used to improve the NHS CSP.
The HPV vaccination is offered to all adolescents in Year 8 of school, and catch-up vaccinations are available to those up to 25 years old, those born on or after 1 September 2006, for both females and males who may have missed vaccination under the schools’ programme, providing an additional failsafe. The HPV vaccination is also recommended to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, up to and including those aged 45 years old.
NHS England’s vaccination strategy sets out a range of ambitions to improve uptake across the National Health Service’s vaccination programmes. This includes building on existing work and delivery to develop implementation plans for how HPV vaccinations, alongside cervical screening and pre-cancer treatment, can help achieve the NHS ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to tackle disparities in access to medical treatment for heart valve disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are committed to focusing on the six major groups, which includes cardiovascular disease. As part of the policy development process, the Major Conditions Strategy will consider the full range of health disparities that may be experienced by different groups, including ethnic and gender disparities.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to include additional material on heart valve disease in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are committed to focusing on the six major groups of conditions, which includes cardiovascular disease. Aligning work across several groups of conditions allows us to focus on where there are similarities in approach to ensure care is better centred around the patient, health and care resources are used most effectively, and that there is effective integration, both within and between treatment pathways.
This strategy does not seek to describe everything that is being done or could be done to meet the challenges of specific diseases within the major conditions. Instead, we are focusing on developing a strategic approach to inform the wide range of decisions health and care organisations make when determining how best to care for the people they serve.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an estimate of the number of heart valve disease patients treated in non-elective settings in the last 12 months; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of this treatment on (a) hospital capacity and (b) patient's quality of life.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Hospital Episode Statistics tell us that there were 11,581 non-elective hospital admissions for heart valve disease in 2022/23. There has been no specific assessment made of the potential impact of this treatment on hospital capacity or on patients quality of life. The National Health Service will, at all times, aim to provide patients with the care which responds to their needs. This includes patients who are admitted to hospital through non-elective routes for heart valve disease.
The NHS is also taking action to identify cardiovascular disease before a patient is admitted to hospital. The NHS has rolled out free blood pressure checks to people over the age of 40 in community pharmacies to detect thousands more people living with hypertension earlier. This means more people can access simple, low-cost treatments that will reduce their risk of death or serious illness from cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, 108 community diagnostic centres have opened that have delivered more than 3.9 million tests, including those that detect cardiovascular disease.
NHS England has included hypertension case-finding, optimal management, and lipid optimal management as one of its five clinical areas of focus requiring accelerated improvement within the Core20PLUS5 approach. The Core20PLUS5 informs action to reduce healthcare inequalities at both national and system level.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of classifying all territorial waters as Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has signed up to the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030 (30by30 target). Domestically, we have designated a comprehensive network of MPAs covering 40% of English waters, based on recommendations from our scientific advisors (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee). Our priority is to ensure all sites are managed appropriately to meet our statutory MPA target.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of bottom trawling on Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Slough, on 6 July 2023, PQ UIN 192154.
A byelaw restricting the use of bottom trawling in 13 Marine Protected Areas mentioned in that answer came into force on 22 March 2024.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to prohibit bottom trawling.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bottom trawls are used by all parts of the fishing fleet, from small day boats to large offshore vessels. In 2021, fishing with bottom towed gears in the UK Exclusive Economic Zone by the UK fleet represented approximately 30% of the total tonnage, by value this was 45%. The economic importance to coastal communities varies, but there are significant trawler fleets in the South West of England. There is currently no commercially viable replacement for bottom trawling to catch the high-value species targeted (e.g. cod, haddock, scallops). There is work underway to progressively address the environmental effects of bottom trawling, working alongside the fishing industry, academia, and other stakeholders including through Fisheries Management Plans, the first of which were published in December 2024. The issue needs to be approached carefully to ensure the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainability are balanced.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's timescale is for publishing a public consultation on potential proscribed activities in relation to the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.
Future decisions on which specific animal activities will fall in scope of the advertising ban will be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Sufficient, compelling evidence will be required to demonstrate why any specific advertising ban is needed.
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable.