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  • Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of Faisal bin Hassan Trad’s appointment as Chair of a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia has served on the United Nations Consultative Group since 1 January 2015. His appointment as Chair was an internal decision made by the United Nations Consultative Group, which is a subordinate body of the Human Rights Council. The group is currently made up of five ambassadors, serving in their personal capacity, from each of the five regional groups in the UN. The UK’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva is not part of this Consultative Group and the appointment was not a decision of the Human Rights Council. It is standard procedure for the chairmanship of the Group to rotate during the course of the year.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism in enabling the construction and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) over 95,000 people have now been able to buy materials to repair homes that were damaged during the conflict. However, we are concerned that none of the homes destroyed have been rebuilt yet. We therefore welcome the June 2015 agreement between the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities on the Residential Stream of the GRM to support the reconstruction of homes that were completely destroyed. DFID is providing £700,000 to the Materials Monitoring Unit which monitors the import, storage, supply and use of construction materials into Gaza under the GRM. The UK is also calling on all donors to disburse pledges made at the October 2014 Cairo Gaza Reconstruction Conference without delay.

  • David Mowat – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Mowat – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mowat on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he has received from the Israeli authorities about progress in prosecuting the perpetrators of the arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma in July 2015.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware of reports that Israel’s Defence Minister said Israel knows that the Duma terror attack was committed by extremist Jews, but that legal investigations are stuck because of insufficient admissible evidence. We have called on the Israeli authorities to ensure that those responsible for this crime are brought swiftly to justice. Officials at our Embassy in Tel Aviv are closely following Israel’s actions to introduce additional measures to combat settler violence.

  • Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to ensure that the boards of all relevant NHS organisations are responsible for ensuring adherence to the mandatory funding direction for NICE appraisals.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is specified in the 2014 Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme agreement as the body responsible for ensuring there are no local barriers to ensuring access to technologies recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance.

    NHS England has advised that there are a range of initiatives which assist NHS England in this obligation:

    – NICE technology appraisalrecommendations are required to be incorporated automatically into relevant local medicines formularies;

    – providers are required to publish local medicines formularies;

    – the NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) examines barriers to the prompt implementation of NICE guidance;

    – an innovation scorecard is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and tracks uptake of many NICE-approved medicines by the NHS;

    – a joint NHS England and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry work programme on medicines optimisation is ongoing, which seeks to improve outcomes and value from all medicines;

    – NHS England works closely with Academic Health Science Networks to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of innovation.

    The Department’s analysis of medicines spend for the first year of the PPRS shows that branded medicines spend grew by 8.2%, with new medicines on the Innovation Scorecard seeing growth of 18.4%. Further details have been published on the Government’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-growth-in-branded-medicines-2013-to-2014

    Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. There is provision for this funding period to be extended where there are particular barriers to implementation within three months.

    “

  • Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of recent requests by NHS England to delay implementation of NICE guidance with his Department’s commitment to the three month funding requirement in the latest iteration of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme; what steps he is taking to ensure that all positive NICE recommendations are funded within three months; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is specified in the 2014 Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme agreement as the body responsible for ensuring there are no local barriers to ensuring access to technologies recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance.

    NHS England has advised that there are a range of initiatives which assist NHS England in this obligation:

    – NICE technology appraisalrecommendations are required to be incorporated automatically into relevant local medicines formularies;

    – providers are required to publish local medicines formularies;

    – the NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) examines barriers to the prompt implementation of NICE guidance;

    – an innovation scorecard is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and tracks uptake of many NICE-approved medicines by the NHS;

    – a joint NHS England and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry work programme on medicines optimisation is ongoing, which seeks to improve outcomes and value from all medicines;

    – NHS England works closely with Academic Health Science Networks to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of innovation.

    The Department’s analysis of medicines spend for the first year of the PPRS shows that branded medicines spend grew by 8.2%, with new medicines on the Innovation Scorecard seeing growth of 18.4%. Further details have been published on the Government’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-growth-in-branded-medicines-2013-to-2014

    Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. There is provision for this funding period to be extended where there are particular barriers to implementation within three months.

    “

  • Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of progress in diagnosing and treating cervical cancers more effectively in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    We recognise that cervical screening continues to play a key role in preventing women getting, and being harmed by, cervical cancer. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England offers screening to women aged 25 to 49 every three years, and women aged 50 to 64 every five years. Women aged over 65 should only be screened if they have not been screened since age 50 or if they have had recent abnormal results.

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as triage for women with mild and borderline results and as a test of cure for women previously treated for cervical abnormalities became routine across the NHS Cervical Screening Programme from 1 April 2014. This makes cervical screening more targeted and significantly reduces the need for repeat testing. It is estimated that over 160,000 women a year do not need repeat tests due to mild or borderline results and around 400,000 women have been removed from ten year annual follow-up due to a previous abnormal result.

    In April 2012, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation, gave its support for a pilot to assess the value of using HPV testing as primary screening for cervical disease, rather than the currently used cytology test. The pilot has been establishing the feasibility of using HPV as the primary screen for cervical disease in order to achieve better outcomes for women, while minimising over-treatment and anxiety, and whether it is practical to roll out nationally. The UK NSC opened a public consultation on this in July 2015. The consultation closes on 2 November 2015. Ministers expect to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC following the closure of the public consultation.

    Earlier diagnosis and prevention is a key focus of the Independent Cancer Taskforce report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015-2020. It includes a recommendation that, assuming a positive recommendation by the NSC, Public Health England and NHS England should drive a rapid roll-out of primary HPV testing into the cervical screening programme. The Taskforce also made a number of recommendations on the early diagnosis of cancers more generally.

    In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a range of guidance on the treatment and screening of cervical cancer and further information is available at:

    www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/cervical-cancer

    “

  • Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many women under 25 have been diagnosed with cervical cancer in each of the last five years.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on (a) nurses and (b) doctors employed through an agency in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The information that has been requested is not recorded centrally by the Department.

    2013-14 was the first time that the Department collected financial data from National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in respect of net temporary and agency staffing costs. Available data on spending nationally on all agency staff is set out in the table below. We are not able to separately identify total spending with agencies on nurses and doctors from centrally held data.

    Total cost to the NHS of temporary staff in 2013-14 and 2014-15

    2013-14 £000s

    2014-15 £000s

    Total NHS Providers

    2,605,378

    3,355,723

    Source: Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of (a) the total NHS staff budget, (b) spending on doctors and (c) spending on nurses was spent on agency staff in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not held centrally. The annual National Health Service budget does not specifically identify for a budget for staff costs. While the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts record the total amounts spent on agency staff from 2013-14, these data do not permit the proportion spent on doctors or nurses to be calculated.

    2013-14 was the first year for which the Department collected financial data from NHS trusts and foundation trusts in respect of net temporary and agency staffing costs.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contingency plans he has prepared to ease pressures on A&E services during winter 2015-16.

    Jane Ellison

    This year winter planning has been integrated into the overall planning process for the National Health Service with winter monies put into clinical commissioning group baseline funding. As part of planning for the winter, each local system has been asked to implement eight high impact interventions to improve patient flow, the key driver of performance.

    To support the systems under the most pressure, the Emergency Care Improvement Programme will provide intensive expert support over winter to drive improvements in performance.