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Written Question
Abortion: Telemedicine
Friday 17th November 2023

Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)

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 to ensure that telemedicine abortion providers are not able to supply abortion drugs to people over the legal limit for that procedure.

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

The Department continues to work closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure abortions are only performed in accordance with the legal requirements set down by Parliament in the 1967 Abortion Act.

Home use of early medical abortion pills is permitted if the pregnancy has not exceeded 10 weeks gestation at the time the first medicine in the course is administered. If there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the woman should attend an in-person appointment.


Written Question
Abortion: Telemedicine
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)

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 to ensure that telemedicine abortion providers are not able to supply abortion drugs to people over the legal limit for that procedure.

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

We have no plans to make an assessment of the adequacy of this policy’s operation.

Parliament decides the circumstances under which abortion is permitted. It would be for Parliament to decide whether to change the law on abortion. The Department continues to work closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure abortions are only performed in accordance with the legal requirements set down by Parliament in the 1967 Abortion Act.

Home use of early medical abortion pills is permitted if the pregnancy has not exceeded 10 weeks gestation at the time the first medicine in the course is administered. If there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the woman should attend an in-person appointment. If she does not attend in-person, the doctor would not be able to form an opinion in good faith that the pregnancy is below 10 weeks gestation and therefore would not be able to prescribe abortion pills for home use.


Written Question
Prescriptions: Pregnancy
Wednesday 14th June 2023

Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)

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 making maternity exemption certificates apply from the start of the pregnancy even if applied for later.

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

We have made no specific assessment. The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2015 provide that a maternity exemption certificate (Matex) must be backdated one month before the date on which the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA). NHS BSA then process applications for Matex certificates on behalf of the Secretary of State.

The application process requires that a health care professional such as a midwife or a general practitioner to authorise the application to confirm the patient’s pregnancy and expected due date, with NHS BSA then issuing the Matex on this basis.


Written Question
Epilepsy and Pregnancy
Friday 20th January 2023

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons epilepsy is allocated only one achievement point in the General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) Directions 2019; and what steps he is taking to ensure that GP's put women who are prescribed Valproate and able to have children on a pregnancy prevention programme.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

Epilepsy is allocated one achievement point within the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in the General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) (No.2) Directions 2022. QOF clinical indicators are subject to approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and are underpinned by NICE clinical guidelines and are subject to consultation with the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association.

Sodium valproate must not be used in any woman or girl able to have children unless she has a Pregnancy Prevention Programme in place. This is laid out in guidance issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, last updated in February 2021, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/valproate-use-by-women-and-girls.

The programme is designed to make sure patients are fully aware of the risks and the need to avoid becoming pregnant. It includes the completion of a signed risk acknowledgement form when their treatment is reviewed by a specialist, which must take place at least annually.

A Valproate Registry has been set up which, in line with a recommendation of the Cumberlege review, has been extended to other antiepileptic drugs taken during pregnancy. It includes all women in England who are taking National Health Service (NHS) prescribed valproate and identifies when they are pregnant and accessing NHS care for that pregnancy. The registry improves our ability to monitor implementation and compliance with the Pregnancy Prevention Programme.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Research
Monday 19th December 2022

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 79 of the policy paper entitled Women's Health Strategy for England, CP 736, published on 30 August 2022, whether his Department has taken recent steps to support research on the efficacy of (a) continuity of carer in pregnancy and (b) other practice models.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds a policy research unit on maternal and neonatal health and care. The NIHR funds a range of research on maternal and neonatal health focusing on the safety of services and the national maternity ambition to halve maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths and brain injury by 2025. The NIHR expects to recommission the policy research unit to continue this work. Applications are being reviewed and it is expected that the unit will be operational from 2024.

The NIHR has also funded research into care pathways in pregnancies occurring after stillbirth or neonatal death and evaluations of models of care, best practice and pathways for specific groups, such as those dependent on drugs and their infants and those with type 2 diabetes


Written Question
Prescriptions: Pregnancy
Wednesday 14th December 2022

Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to backdate maternity exemption certificates by more than one month from the date of the application.

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

There are no current plans.

The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2015 states that a maternity exemption certificate (Matex) must be backdated one month before the date on which the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA), who are delegated to process applications for Matex certificates on behalf of the Secretary of State. The application process requires that a health care professional such as a midwife or a GP must authorise the application to confirm the patient’s pregnancy and expected due date. The NHS BSA must then issue the Matex on this basis.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Drugs
Thursday 24th November 2022

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to hold discussions with representatives from the pharmaceutical industry on the findings of the report entitled Healthy Mum, Healthy Baby, Healthy Future published in May 2022.

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

While there are no plans for any specific discussions, the Department has noted the recommendations made in the report. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency recently completed a public consultation on legislative powers to support diversity in clinical trial populations, including pregnancy and individuals who are breast feeding. The responses are being analysed and the Government’s response will be published later this year.

The Clinical Practice Research Datalink is currently being developed to study the safety of medicines use in pregnancy via a new expanded Pregnancy Register. This includes anonymised data on 24.5 million pregnancy episodes in seven million women. The Registry will increase the ability to study rare exposures and outcomes and improve healthcare advice for women.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Drugs
Thursday 24th November 2022

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

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 implications for his Department's policies of the findings in the report entitled MBRRACE Missing Voices Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care: Lay Summary 2022 on the number of women dying from pre-eclampsia; and whether he is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the report by the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Health Partners entitled Healthy Mum, Healthy Baby, Healthy Future report, published in May 2022.

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

No specific assessment has been made. However, we have commissioned 14 maternal medicine networks in England, which will ensure access to specialist management and care for women with chronic and acute medical problems in pregnancy.

We welcome the report ‘Healthy Mum, Healthy Baby, Healthy Future’ and its recommendations on overcoming barriers to investment and participation in research into medications in pregnancy. The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027’ sets out how the NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation in clinical trials. The Strategy has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, including pregnancy and maternity.

The NIHR has published guidance from the INCLUDE project which aims to improve the inclusion of groups with lower representation in research and clinical trials, such as pregnant women. The NIHR has commissioned research into maternal and neonatal health, focusing on the safety of maternity services for women and babies. The Department is also hosting a meeting with researchers later this year to address the under-representation of women in research, including pregnant women.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Drugs
Thursday 24th November 2022

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

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 implications for his Department’s policies of the report entitled Healthy Mum, Healthy Baby, Healthy Future, published May 2022.

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

The Department has noted the recommendations of the report. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency recently completed a public consultation on legislative powers to support diversity in clinical trial populations, including pregnancy and individuals who are breast feeding. The submissions are being analysed and the Government’s response will be published later this year.

The Clinical Practice Research Datalink is currently being developed as a resource for studying the safety of medicines use in pregnancy via a new expanded Pregnancy Register. This includes anonymised data on 24.5 million pregnancy episodes in seven million women. The Registry will increase the ability to study rare exposures and outcomes and improve healthcare advice for women.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027’ has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, including pregnancy and maternity. The NIHR has published guidance to improve the inclusion of population groups with lower representation in research and clinical trials, such as pregnant women. The NIHR has commissioned research into maternal and neonatal health, focusing on the safety of maternity services. The Department will also host a discussion with researchers on addressing the under-representation of women in research, including pregnant women.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Drugs
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Healthy Mum, Healthy Future, Healthy Baby report published in May 2022 will be considered by the Maternities Disparities Taskforce.

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

We are developing future topics and agendas for Taskforce meetings and this report can be considered in those discussions.