Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a non-urgent GP appointment in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments, including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, although this is not a proxy for waiting times. There are several factors which can influence the timing of appointments, and it is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.
In England, in November 2023, 42.6% of appointments took place on the same day as they were booked, and 82.7% took place within two weeks of booking. In the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, 45% of 257,650 general practitioner appointments in November 2023 occurred on the same day and 83.6% within 14 days. NHS England does not, however, publish appointment data at United Kingdom or constituency level or include information on rurality in this publication.
We have set an expectation that everyone who needs an appointment at a general practice should get one within two weeks, with the most urgent patients being seen on the same day.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of removing restrictions on use of the term probiotic (a) on food labels and (b) in marketing for foods containing probiotic microorganisms.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
‘Probiotic’ is a term commonly used to describe the effect of one or other strains of live bacteria used in food and food supplements. Food information rules require that the name given to a food, or an ingredient of a food, should be its legal name or, in the absence of this, its customary name. In the case of ingredients described as ‘probiotic’ this will be the specific strain of live bacteria used. There are no other specific restrictions within general food information rules.
Regulations governing the use of nutrition and health claims on foods, for which the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has responsibility, protect consumers from being misled by ensuring that any health claims made are backed by substantiated scientific evidence. A health claim is any claim that states, suggests or implies a relationship exists between the product or one of its constituents and health.
Under the Regulation, the term ‘probiotic’ can be considered a non-specific health claim. It can already be used, providing it is accompanied by an approved health claim for the specific strain of live bacteria. No further assessment of merit has been undertaken although the Department for Health and Social Care continues to engage with industry on any potential future application for new assessment. To date DHSC has not received any application for approving claims on specific strains of live bacteria. Companies would be required to include the specific strain in the ingredient listing.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to encourage the use of refillable rather than disposable vapes.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 12 October 2023 the Government launched a consultation on smoking and youth vaping, which has now closed. As part of this consultation, we are considering restrictions on the sale and supply of disposable vape products (including non-nicotine vapes) due to the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. We are currently analysing responses to this consultation and are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to publish a Government response in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance in humans arising from the overuse of antibiotics on farms.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes a ‘One-Health’ approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as set out in the ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’, which is underpinned by the UK’s 20-year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040. Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care on the 5-year National Acton Plan (NAP) and 20-year vision on AMR, and Defra leads on delivering the animal, plant and environment elements. The AMR NAP lays out the UK Government’s commitment to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals to reduce the risk of development and spread of AMR in animals and humans, while safeguarding animal health and welfare. A key component of this plan is to reduce the need for antibiotics, which is achieved through good farm management, biosecurity and disease prevention.
In the UK, we have a well-established antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance programme, which includes monitoring of sales and use of antibiotics in animals as well as routine monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species, healthy pigs and poultry. These surveillance programmes allow us to monitor progress and results are published every year in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance Sales and Surveillance (UK-VARSS) report.
The recently published UK-VARSS report shows that sales of antibiotics in food-producing animals are at their lowest ever level, with a 59% reduction since 2014. This highlights the success of the UK’s voluntary and collaborative approach between the Government and the farming and veterinary sectors to make sustainable reductions in antibiotic use while ensuring high animal health and welfare. The report also highlights that sales of highest priority, critically important antibiotics have reduced by 82% since 2014 and account for less than half a percent of total sales. This is to ensure that these medically important antibiotics are protected for use in humans.
The newly published third edition of the UK’s One Health report, a joint report from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the UK Health and Security Agency, brings together antibiotic use and resistance data for people and animals. Sales of antibiotics in 2019 show that approximately two thirds of antibiotics are used in people while one third are used in animals. This report demonstrates the Government’s One Health approach to tackling AMR to keep antibiotics working in both people and animals.
The UK is now in the process of developing the second five-year NAP, which will run from 2024-2029. This will build on progress made in the 2019-2024 NAP and set out challenging ambitions and actions for the next five years, which will set us on course for achieving our long-term national and international ambitions.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 access whether social prescribing can assist people with (a) physical and (b) mental health optimisation for patients on clinical waiting lists.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Social prescribing is a whole population and universal approach that can work particularly well for those managing conditions, which a non-clinical intervention can support.
Whilst no quantitative evaluation has yet been carried out, the National Academy of Social Prescribing has recently released an evidence summary, which is available at the following link:
https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/read-the-evidence/the-economic-impact-of-social-prescribing/
The Department as part of its commitment with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs led Green Social Prescribing Programme commissioned and funded four research studies through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which has initially shown positive impact on mental health outcomes.
We do not hold data on social prescribing for patients on clinical waiting lists.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 assessment of the economic impact of social prescribing.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Social prescribing is a whole population and universal approach that can work particularly well for those managing conditions, which a non-clinical intervention can support.
Whilst no quantitative evaluation has yet been carried out, the National Academy of Social Prescribing has recently released an evidence summary, which is available at the following link:
https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/read-the-evidence/the-economic-impact-of-social-prescribing/
The Department as part of its commitment with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs led Green Social Prescribing Programme commissioned and funded four research studies through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which has initially shown positive impact on mental health outcomes.
We do not hold data on social prescribing for patients on clinical waiting lists.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of closures of community ambulance stations on people living in rural areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made by the Department. Decisions on the provision of local services, including the location of ambulance stations, are a matter for local National Health Service commissioners working with NHS providers and must be taken in the best interests of patients and the local population.
Ambulance trusts will regularly meet with their commissioners to discuss performance within their localities including ambulance response times.
We recognise the significant pressure the ambulance service is facing which is why we published our Delivery Plan for Recovering Urgent and Emergency Care Services. This aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest sustained improvements in waiting times in the NHS's history, with an ambition to reduce Category 2 response times to 30 minutes on average this year, with further improvements down towards pre-pandemic levels next year.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which Ministers will attend COP28.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt hon Friends the Prime Minister and Secretary of State will attend COP28, as well as Ministers from the following departments: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, HM Treasury, Department for Transport, and Department for Health and Social Care.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 support people with dementia in rural areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of dementia care services. NHS England expects ICBs to commission services based on local population needs.
NHS England has commissioned the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Dementia Intelligence Network to investigate the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. This includes the assessment of underlying population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. The aim of this work is to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the threat of antimicrobial resistance to human health from overuse of antibiotics on industrial farms.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes a ‘One-Health’ approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as set out in the ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’, which is underpinned by the UK’s 20-year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040 . Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care on the 5-year National Acton Plan and 20-year vision on AMR, and Defra leads on delivering the animal, plant and environment elements.
The UK is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals to reduce the risk of development and spread of AMR in animals and humans. In the UK, we have a well-established antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance programme, which includes monitoring of sales and use of antibiotics in animals as well as routine monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species, healthy pigs and poultry. These surveillance programmes allow us to monitor progress and results are published every year in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance Sales and Surveillance (UK-VARSS) report.
The recently published UK-VARSS report shows that sales of antibiotics in food producing animals are at their lowest ever level, with a 59% reduction since 2014. This highlights the success of the UK’s voluntary and collaborative approach between Government and the farming and veterinary sectors to make sustainable reductions in antibiotic use whilst ensuring high animal health and welfare. The report also highlights that sales of highest priority, critically important antibiotics (HP-CIAs) have reduced by 82% since 2014 and account for less than half a percent of total sales. This is to ensure that these medically important antibiotics are protected for use in humans.
The newly published third edition of The UK’s One Health report, a joint report from Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA), brings together antibiotic use and resistance data for people and animals and sales of antibiotics in 2019 show that approximately two thirds of antibiotics are used in people whilst one third are used in animals. This report demonstrates the UK Government’s One Health approach to tackling AMR to keep antibiotics working in both people and animals.