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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical bodies on ensuring that drug dosages for stroke patients on the basis of the weight of the patient are calculated appropriately.

Jane Ellison

The Secretary of State has a wide range of discussions with a number of clinical bodies.

We understand that this is a matter which will be considered in the review of evidence for the 5th edition of the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party National Clinical Guidelines for stroke, which are due to be published next year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each gender had single-sided deafness in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

The information requested on the number of people with single-sided deafness is not available in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of single-sided deafness in the last five years in England.

This data may include the same person being admitted to hospital on more than one occasion and the data excludes diagnoses that were made outside of secondary care.

The Action Plan on Hearing Loss was jointly published in March 2015 by the Department and NHS England. It sets out the case for taking action on the rising prevalence and personal, social and economic costs of uncorrected hearing loss and the variation in access and quality of services experienced by people with hearing loss.

Transfer devices are available through the NHS. NHS England is developing commissioning guidance on the provision of hearing loss services, as part of its commitments in the Action Plan on Hearing Loss. The guidance will support clinical commissioning groups when making local decisions and help improve equality of access and patient experience.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects transfer devices that enable people with single-sided deafness to hear sounds from their deaf ear in their other ear to be available through the NHS.

Alistair Burt

The information requested on the number of people with single-sided deafness is not available in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of single-sided deafness in the last five years in England.

This data may include the same person being admitted to hospital on more than one occasion and the data excludes diagnoses that were made outside of secondary care.

The Action Plan on Hearing Loss was jointly published in March 2015 by the Department and NHS England. It sets out the case for taking action on the rising prevalence and personal, social and economic costs of uncorrected hearing loss and the variation in access and quality of services experienced by people with hearing loss.

Transfer devices are available through the NHS. NHS England is developing commissioning guidance on the provision of hearing loss services, as part of its commitments in the Action Plan on Hearing Loss. The guidance will support clinical commissioning groups when making local decisions and help improve equality of access and patient experience.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups improve (a) screening, (b) vaccination and (b) symptom awareness in order to address geographical inequalities in cancer outcomes.

Jane Ellison

The NHS public health functions agreement, between the Secretary of State for Health and NHS England, enables NHS England to commission certain public health services, including national immunisation and screening programmes that will drive improvements in population health.

Through this agreement, NHS England commissions services from a variety of providers across England. It strives to reduce variation in local levels of performance between different geographical areas using contracting and commissioning levers, while national and local levels of performance are improved or maintained.

The Independent Cancer Taskforce published its report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, in July this year, and recognised the importance of early diagnosis and symptom awareness to improve both patient outcomes and experience. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director. She will lead the implementation of the strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to walk for up to 30 minutes a day.

Jane Ellison

The Government recognises that walking is a key part of being active. The UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines for adults recommending 150 minutes of physical activity every week, identify walking as the easiest way of building physical activity into everyday life. To raise awareness of the guidelines, we have recently created an infographic for health professionals to use when they discuss physical activity with their patients. We have made walking a key part of the recommended activity.

Following the Infrastructure Act 2015, the Department of Health has also been working closely with Department of Transport on plans which will underpin the first Cycling and Walking Delivery Plan to be published in the summer. This will take forward the vision set out in the Cycling Delivery Plan 2014, to make walking and cycling the natural choices for short journeys or as part of a longer journey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to strengthen regulation of marketing of alcoholic drinks; and what the Government’s policy is on introducing minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

Jane Ellison

UK controls (regulatory and self-regulatory) control both the placement and content of alcohol advertising to prevent advertisers targeting young people.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) police and promote the rules, which were strengthened in October 2005 and part of a general review of all the ASA codes in late 2009.

The Government is committed to working with industry to address concerns over any irresponsible promotions, advertising and marketing relating to alcohol, particularly to ensure that children and young people are suitably protected.

Material in the Committee of Advertising Practice and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice Codes relating to the advertising and marketing of alcohol products is exceptionally robust, recognising the social imperative of ensuring that alcohol advertising is responsible and in particular that children and young people are suitably protected.

If new evidence emerges that clearly highlights major problems with the existing Codes, then the Advertising Standards Authority has a duty to revisit the Codes and take appropriate action.

The Government has no plans to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing although the evidence for all policy approaches is kept under review.

We have noted the recent opinion of the EU Advocate General. We await a final ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union and we will continue to monitor developments.

In the meantime we are pursuing targeted action to reduce alcohol-related harms.