Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, If she will make an assessment of the potential impact on women's health of the Government's progress on implementing the recommendations of the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review entitled First Do No Harm, published on 8 July 2020.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Patient safety and women’s health is a top priority for this Government.
That’s why since the ‘First Do No Harm’ report we have:
o Appointed England’s first Patient Safety Commissioner
o Setup specialist centres for women impacted by mesh
o Piloted ways doctors can declare their interests
o And launched a national mandatory Medical Device Outcome Registry.
Beyond this, we published the first Women’s Health Strategy for England, which set out our plans for improving how the health and care system listens to women.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their policy paper 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what assessment they have made of any potential detrimental impact on women's health if the tax on the contraceptive implant Nexplanon is increased to 35 per cent.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG) introduces a new way of controlling the cost of older medicines that is explicitly pro-innovation and pro-competition. We do not anticipate this resulting in a detrimental impact on women's health or, given the available mitigations, on the supply of medicines.
Medicines for women’s health will be subject to the VPAG in the same way that all other medicines are. They will be subject to the top up payment percentage only when they have not seen a sufficient price decline since the active substance lost market exclusivity.
In exceptional circumstances, where a product would otherwise be uneconomic to supply, companies can apply to the Department for a price increase or for an adjustment to the top up payment percentage that applies.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Women's Health Strategy for England, published on 30 August 2022, what progress she has made in delivering the ambitions on fertility treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy was published on 20 July 2022 and contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. We have set out our long-term ambition to end the postcode lottery in NHS-funded in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and we expect the review to be published late in 2024.
We expect ICBs to be improving their broad offer to fertility patients in anticipation of implementing the new NICE guidelines. As part of the strategy’s commitments, NHS England will be assessing fertility provision across ICBs, with a view to removing non-clinical access criteria and assessing the challenge of implementing the new guidelines.
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published an IVF transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published ICB policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress and inform patients about comparative offers across ICBs.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on delivering the Women's Health Strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since publishing the Women’s Health Strategy, we have achieved a significant amount of progress. This includes launching a women’s health area and new women’s health pages on the National Health Service website, investing £25m in women’s health hubs, improving access to hormone replacement therapy and boosting research into women’s health. We have appointed Professor Dame Lesley Regan as the first ever Women’s Health Ambassador for England. Dame Lesley is focused on raising the profile for women’s health and supporting implementation of the strategy.
Future priorities will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 reduce waiting times for (a) treatment for and (b) diagnosis of (i) endometriosis, (ii) polycystic ovary syndrome and (iii) other women's health concerns; and what steps she is taking to help ensure young women seeking treatment for these conditions have their concerns taken seriously.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out the government’s plans for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls and ensuring they feel listened to and have their concerns taken seriously. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs which will play a key role in improving access to care. Menstrual problems assessment and treatment for conditions such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are core services in women’s health hubs.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are playing an important part in tackling the backlogs of people waiting for diagnostic tests, which includes checks, tests and scans for patients on gynaecological pathways, including those with endometriosis and PCOS. As of December 2023, there are 140 CDCs operational which have delivered over six million additional tests since July 2021.
Additionally, gynaecology is one of six specialties being prioritised through surgical hubs for planned procedures. Surgical hubs focus on providing high-volume low-complexity surgery, such as hysteroscopies for women not suitable for outpatient clinic procedures and laparoscopies for suspected endometriosis. There are currently 94 surgical hubs operational across the National Health Service in England, with 45 of these conducting gynaecological procedures.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps he has taken to support women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK's new White Paper on International Development sets out our commitments on educating girls, empowering women and girls, and championing their health and rights and ending gender-based violence. The UK is working with African partners to tackle gender inequality and stand up for the rights of women and girls. The UK will also spend up to £200 million on a new women's sexual and reproductive health and rights programme, focused on sub-Saharan Africa, which will reach up to 10.4 million women.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which non-governmental organisations receiving aid from the UK remain in (1) Mali, (2) Niger, and (3) Burkina Faso, in spite of the withdrawal of protection forces.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to provide aid through reputable non-governmental organisations in Niger, Burkina Faso, and in Mali, despite the withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping forces there. These organisations include the Danish Refugee Council, which is working with an NGO consortia to provide humanitarian aid in all three countries; Marie Stopes International, which provides women's sexual health services in Mali and Niger, and Mercy Corps which supports local land conflict prevention in Mali and Niger. The UK also funds the International Committee of the Red Cross who deliver humanitarian and protection work across the region.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, ahead of the 30-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, what progress they have made since 1994 on sexual and reproductive health and rights in their international work.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government continues to use its diplomatic and development levers to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally and the recently released White Paper on International Development reaffirmed the UK's commitment to deploy policy and investment to advance and strongly defend universal access to comprehensive SRHR.
As the largest donor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Programme, the Partnership averted 8 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortion and 170,000 maternal and child deaths in 2022 alone. Since 2018, UK aid support to the Women's Integrated Sexual Health Programme has supported 9.5 million women to use modern methods of contraception and, in 2021, over 12,000 maternal deaths and 1.8 million unsafe abortions were averted.
This year, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights ranked the UK highest in the region (91.3 per cent) for our commitment to achieving SRHR for all, including our domestic laws and policies, and our overseas development assistance dedicated to progressing comprehensive SRHR for all.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with (a) women's organizations, (b) community leaders and (c) influencers to amplify messages about (i) prevention, (ii) testing and (iii) de-stigmatization of HIV among women.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded at £3.5 million by the Department. The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women.
The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021-2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on women. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities through the delivery of public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, and evidence-based HIV prevention interventions in partnership with local organisations and charities, including women-led organisations.
HPE work with a wide range of models and their network of influencers. As part of HPE campaigns, a range of people share their stories and experiences on HIV, STIs and sexual health this includes women and other people who are likely to be recognisable to specific demographics.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
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 (a) measure and (b) assess the adequacy of the progress of integrated care systems in (i) establishing women’s health hubs and (ii) ensuring that hubs offer the full list of core services set out in the guidance entitled Women's health hubs: core specification, published on 22 July 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Every integrated care board (ICB) in England has been allocated £595,000 in total over 2023/24 and 2024/25. ICBs have been asked to use this funding to establish or expand at least one women’s health hub in their system in line with the core specification.
ICBs are accountable to NHS England (NHSE) for NHS spend and performance, including the funding for women’s health hubs. All ICBs have now submitted an initial return to NHSE setting out where their hub(s) will be, what services they plan to offer, their staffing model, and other information.
ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their local population and will determine the exact services that their women’s health hub will provide. NHSE will request further updates over the duration of the funding to enable DHSC and NHSE to monitor ICBs’ progress.