Asked by: John Baron (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on (a) generic and (b) branded cancer medicines for each of the last five years.
Answered by George Freeman
Information on National Health Service expenditure and expenditure on branded and generic cancer drugs is provided in the table. Information on the cost of other non-drug treatments for cancer is not held in the format requested.
Proportions have not been provided as the information on cancer drug expenditure may not represent what was actually paid for the drugs by the NHS. The net ingredient cost shown for drugs in primary care is the basic cost of a drug. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income. The cost of secondary care drugs is the cost at NHS list price and will not necessarily be the price the hospital paid.
Year | Total NHS revenue expenditure – outturn (£ million) | Cancer drugs expenditure – primary care (£ million) 1 | Cancer drugs1 expenditure – secondary care (£ million) 1 | Total cancer drugs1 expenditure (£ million) 1,2 | ||||
Branded | Generic | Total | Branded | Generic | Total | |||
2010-11 | 97,469 | 207 | 21 | 228 | 640 | 206 | 846 | 1,074 |
2011-12 | 100,266 | 136 | 54 | 190 | 710 | 247 | 957 | 1,148 |
2012-13 | 102,570 | 122 | 20 | 142 | 874 | 245 | 1,118 | 1,260 |
2013-14 | 106,495 | 121 | 22 | 143 | 1,078 | 262 | 1,340 | 1,483 |
2014-15 | 110,554 | 120 | 27 | 147 | 1,314 | 300 | 1,614 | 1,761 |
Source: Department of Health: Prescription Cost Analysis and IMS Health: Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Notes:
1 as classified in British National Formulary section 8.1 Cytotoxic drugs, section 8.3 Sex hormones and hormone antagonists in malignant disease, paragraph 8.2.3 Anti-lymphocyte monoclonal antibodies (but also used in other indications) and paragraph 8.2.4 Other immunomodulating drugs (interferon-alfa, aldesleukin, bacillus calmette-guerin, lenalidomide, pomalidomide, thalidomide and mifamurtide only).
2 Total figures may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: John Baron (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on (a) cancer drug treatments and (b) other treatments in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Freeman
Information on National Health Service expenditure and expenditure on branded and generic cancer drugs is provided in the table. Information on the cost of other non-drug treatments for cancer is not held in the format requested.
Proportions have not been provided as the information on cancer drug expenditure may not represent what was actually paid for the drugs by the NHS. The net ingredient cost shown for drugs in primary care is the basic cost of a drug. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income. The cost of secondary care drugs is the cost at NHS list price and will not necessarily be the price the hospital paid.
Year | Total NHS revenue expenditure – outturn (£ million) | Cancer drugs expenditure – primary care (£ million) 1 | Cancer drugs1 expenditure – secondary care (£ million) 1 | Total cancer drugs1 expenditure (£ million) 1,2 | ||||
Branded | Generic | Total | Branded | Generic | Total | |||
2010-11 | 97,469 | 207 | 21 | 228 | 640 | 206 | 846 | 1,074 |
2011-12 | 100,266 | 136 | 54 | 190 | 710 | 247 | 957 | 1,148 |
2012-13 | 102,570 | 122 | 20 | 142 | 874 | 245 | 1,118 | 1,260 |
2013-14 | 106,495 | 121 | 22 | 143 | 1,078 | 262 | 1,340 | 1,483 |
2014-15 | 110,554 | 120 | 27 | 147 | 1,314 | 300 | 1,614 | 1,761 |
Source: Department of Health: Prescription Cost Analysis and IMS Health: Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Notes:
1 as classified in British National Formulary section 8.1 Cytotoxic drugs, section 8.3 Sex hormones and hormone antagonists in malignant disease, paragraph 8.2.3 Anti-lymphocyte monoclonal antibodies (but also used in other indications) and paragraph 8.2.4 Other immunomodulating drugs (interferon-alfa, aldesleukin, bacillus calmette-guerin, lenalidomide, pomalidomide, thalidomide and mifamurtide only).
2 Total figures may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual cost is of the health needs of UK thalidomide survivors.
Answered by George Freeman
In addition to using NHS services, thalidomide survivors have access to health grants in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The grants are administered by the Thalidomide Trust and allocations in 2015 are set out in the following table.
Allocations under the Thalidomide Health Grants in 2015
Country | Total Allocation (£000s) | Number of beneficiaries |
England | 7,454 | 325 |
Scotland | 1,254 | 55 |
Wales | 782 | 31 |
Northern Ireland | 472 | 19 |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the German government on meeting with the Thalidomide Trust's National Advisory Council on financial compensation for people with thalidomide.
Answered by David Lidington
Following representations by the Government, senior representatives from the German government travelled to London to meet with the Trust in July. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to provide support to the Thalidomide Trust’s National Advisory Council to enable them to further their dialogue with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens and Youth, including through another meeting.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the German government urging it to follow up on the meeting between German officials and the National Advisory Council of the Thalidomide Trust in July 2015 and work towards its making financial contributions to those affected by Thalidomide.
Answered by David Lidington
We continue to support the Thalidomide Trust in making their own representations directly to the German Government. Officials in London and at the British Embassy in Berlin remain in contact with both the National Advisory Council and the German authorities following their July meeting, including to encourage further meetings.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage the German government to make a financial contribution to the UK survivors of thalidomide at their meeting with the Thalidomide Trust on 7 July.
Answered by David Lidington
None. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has provided assistance to the Thalidomide Trust in arranging meetings with the appropriate German officials so that the Trust can make their own representations directly. In 2012, the Department of Health made a grant of £80 million payable over ten years to help meet the health needs of thalidomide survivors.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his German counterpart on securing financial contributions towards the cost of UK thalidomide survivors' health needs.
Answered by David Lidington
The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), discussed the Thalidomide Trust’s campaign in March with Chancellor Merkel. We have since been informed by the Chancellery that officials from the relevant German Ministry will travel to London in July to meet representatives of the Trust.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2015 to Question 224295, what progress his Department has made on securing a meeting between the Thalidomide Trust and the German authorities on financial compensation for British victims of thalidomide.
Answered by David Lidington
During his visit to Berlin in February, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences at the Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (Mr Freeman), raised the matter with Caren Marks, State Secretary in the Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth. They agreed that such a meeting was needed. We are currently in correspondence with the Ministry and the Trust to make the necessary arrangements and stand ready to give further support, if needed.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the German government urging it to make appropriate financial contributions to British victims of thalidomide.
Answered by David Lidington
This Government remains a strong supporter of Thalidomide survivors. Her Majesty's Government is supporting the Thalidomide Trust’s National Advisory Council in their efforts to engage the German government in order to seek compensation for British Survivors of Thalidomide. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently working with the National Advisory Council in its efforts to secure a meeting with the relevant German authorities.
The British Ambassador to Berlin has raised the National Advisory Council’s campaign with the German Families Minister, Manuela Schwesig.
In addition, the Minister for Life Sciences at the Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (Mr Freeman), raised the issue of Thalidomide with the German government when visiting Berlin on 23 February.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Germany on financial contributions for British victims of thalidomide.
Answered by David Lidington
The British Ambassador to Berlin has recently raised the issue of compensation for British survivors of Thalidomide with the German Families Minister Manuela Schwesig. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently working with the Thalidomide Trust to secure a meeting between the Trust and the relevant German authorities in support of their campaign to seek compensation for British survivors of Thalidomide.