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  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Burundian counterparts on its government (a) halting violence involving its security forces, (b) engaging in dialogue with opponents and (c) accepting the presence of 5,000 African Union peacekeepers within its borders; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The UK is playing a lead role in building a single, consistent international response to the crisis in Burundi. In mid-December, I visited Burundi and urged the Burundian Government in the strongest terms to take steps to end the violence that has gripped the country. I stressed that only an inclusive dialogue would foster the conditions for the people of Burundi to be able to live their lives in safety and security. On 5 January I wrote to the Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation, Alain Nyamitwe, urging him to do everything in his power to ensure that his government attends, without preconditions, the next round of the Inter Burundi Dialogue in Arusha. At the African Union Summit this week I will urge the Burundian Government to accept the deployment of troops being offered by the African Union to protect civilians, re-establish security and create the conditions on the ground for reconciliation to take place. I also regularly raise the issue of Burundi with Foreign Ministers and Envoys in the region, to encourage a regional response to the crisis.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mental health services take account of the experiences and needs of women (a) in general and (b) who have experienced extensive abuse.

    Alistair Burt

    The focus of our mental health service transformation is supporting increased equitable access to high quality care for all people. Local health economies consider the local populations needs, including access to services, when they commission and provide services and support.

    The Prime Minister recently announced a £290 million investment over the next five years to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services. This builds on the initial investment announced in the March 2015 Budget, making a total investment from 2015/16 to 2020/21 of £365 million. The settlement is expected to enable NHS England to build capacity and capability in perinatal mental health services, with the aim of increasing access to The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-concordant care for women in all areas of England by 2020/21.

    We know that vulnerable women can experience abuse and that abuse can also increase vulnerability. It can take many years, if at all, for women to disclose that they have been sexually or otherwise abused, whether as adults or children. The Department is exploring how enquiries can be routinely made of patients using a number of services such as substance misuse, adult mental health and sexual health clinics to help with early identification and support for women to get the services that they need, much earlier.

    Health care professionals are in a unique position to identify abuse and to intervene early with women to direct them to the most appropriate statutory and non-statutory services for support.

    Focussing health professionals on better identification and actions that will break the cycle of violence, means that health care staff can then enable those affected to access the therapeutic support they need, including counselling.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of alcohol misuse in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Figures of the cost to the National Health Service of alcohol misuse for each of the past five years is not available. The most recent estimate from 2014 is that alcohol costs the NHS around £3.5 billion per annum(1), just under half of which is due to alcohol related inpatient admissions to hospital.

    (1)Source: “Alcohol and drugs prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?”, Public Health England, http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/why-invest-2014-alcohol-and-drugs.pdf

    “

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on public health of rising levels of alcohol consumption in England.

    Jane Ellison

    There has been a reduction in overall consumption in recent years which is welcome, but there is no room for complacency. Harms such as liver disease remain much too high.

    To help people understand how to keep health risks from alcohol consumption low, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers published new low risk alcohol guidelines on 8 January 2016.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20039, on cancer drugs, if he will place in the Library a copy of the draft impact assessment for NHS England’s consultation on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund; for what reasons NHS England has not published the draft impact assessment alongside its consultation on those proposals; what guidance his officials have given on whether draft impact assessments should accompany NHS England consultations; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that it will not complete its assessment of the impact of the proposals on the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) until the outcomes from the current consultation on the future of the CDF are known. The formal consultation, as well as the wider engagement activity in progress, will be critical in helping to understand the potential impacts of the proposed changes.

    The Better Regulation requirements, including the preparation of impact assessments, apply to the regulation of business. Where an impact assessment is required to accompany an NHS England consultation, the Department and NHS England work closely to prepare this.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the number of bone marrow donors in the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has provided £19 million in additional funding to improve the provision of stem cells through the work of our delivery partners, NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan since 2011. This funding has supported a range of developments including the targeted recruitment of young male donors. To date over 75,000 young male donors have been recruited and evidence shows that these donors are approximately six times more likely to be requested to donate.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many National Clinical Directors will be appointed; and what areas those National Clinical Directors will cover after April 2016.

    George Freeman

    NHS England will be supported by 17 National Clinical Directors (NCDs) from 1 April 2016. 14 of these roles have been advertised and will be newly appointed. Three NCDs will continue in post into 2016/17; these are NCDs for Maternity and Women’s Health, Learning Disabilities and Innovation. The 17 roles are:

    National Clinical Director (Major Programmes):

    — Cancer

    — Mental Health

    — Diabetes and Obesity

    — Learning Disabilities

    — Urgent and Emergency Care

    — Maternity and Women’s Health

    — Innovation

    National Clinical Director (Service Improvement):

    ― Cardiac Services

    ― Stroke

    ― Respiratory

    ― End of Life Care

    ― Diagnostics, including Imaging and Endoscopy

    ― Musculoskeletal

    ― Dementia

    ― Emergency Preparedness and Critical Care

    National Clinical Director (Population Groups):

    — Children, Young People and Transition to Adulthood

    — Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12819, what progress he has made on introducing independent medical examiners to the death certification process.

    Ben Gummer

    We remain committed to the principle of medical examiners and will be setting out further information in due course.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support the implementation of the UK Chief Medical Officer’s proposed new alcohol guidelines, published in January 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    The guidelines are currently out for consultation. They are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-risks-from-alcohol-new-guidelines

    We will consider any next steps once we have feedback from the public on the guidelines.

    “

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the What About YOUth survey, published 8 December 2015, what assessment he has made of the findings of that survey; and if he will commission further research on the health behaviour of young lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

    Jane Ellison

    We want all young people to have healthy lives, and reducing inequalities is central to our work. We have increased the National Health Service budget by £10 billion and introduced legal duties to ensure inequalities are taken into account when planning health services.

    Further research on the health of young lesbian, gay and bisexual people has not been commissioned. The data collected through What About YOUth survey is available on a dedicated tool on the Public Health England (PHE) Public Health Profiles webpage. Key indicators on this page can be viewed partitioned by different factors, such as sexuality, gender, ethnic groups and deprivation deciles.

    PHE has developed an action plan to address the health and wellbeing inequalities experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. A strand of this work considers ways to reduce the risk of suicide experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and includes training for nurses in a range of health and community settings and in schools.

    The Department is aware of the difficulties experienced by some LGB patients in accessing primary care, in response to this the Department recently funded work by the Lesbian & Gay Foundation to develop a benchmarking tool to identify general practitioner surgeries that are fully committed to assuring that their surgery is fully accessible to lesbian, gay and bisexual people, including their young LGB patients.