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  • Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the large number of procedures in the direct diagnosis category.

    Norman Baker

    The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 52,444 procedures were conducted on 6,725 animals with ‘Direct diagnosis’ as the primary purpose. This represents a 3% increase on the total number of procedures, in this category, in 2012 and a 1% increase on the number of animals, in this category, in 2012. Most procedures reported under the category ‘Direct diagnosis’ involve the collection of blood or blood products from either non-immunised animals or animals immunised against various antigens. The procedure of blood collection is classified as being of low severity and, with appropriate licence authority, may be repeated
    many times in the same animal. The products from these procedures, including whole blood and antisera, are used in diagnostic tests.

  • Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the changes in the number of procedures in the fundamental biological research category.

    Norman Baker

    The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 1.16 million procedures were conducted on animals with ‘Fundamental biological research’ as the primary purpose. This is a reduction of 11% over the figure for 2012. The change in the number of procedures carried out in this category, in any particular year, depends on many factors. These factors include: investment in fundamental biological research; strategic decisions taken by funding bodies; global economic trends; scientific innovation; and, the development and uptake of validated alternative technologies.

  • Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what procedures are included in the direct diagnosis category.

    Norman Baker

    The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 52,444 procedures were conducted on 6,725 animals with ‘Direct diagnosis’ as the primary purpose. This represents a 3% increase on the total number of procedures, in this category, in 2012 and a 1% increase on the number of animals, in this category, in 2012. Most procedures reported under the category ‘Direct diagnosis’ involve the collection of blood or blood products from either non-immunised animals or animals immunised against various antigens. The procedure of blood collection is classified as being of low severity and, with appropriate licence authority, may be repeated
    many times in the same animal. The products from these procedures, including whole blood and antisera, are used in diagnostic tests.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many meetings Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of (a) the tobacco industry and (b) tobacco control charities to discuss proposals for legislation on plain packaging of cigarettes in the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2012-to-2013

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his assessment is of the trial publication online of the Red Book for expectant mothers.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Personal Child Health Record, commonly known as the Red Book, is not a Departmental publication but has been part of children’s services in the National Health Service for the last 20 years. Its content and format are overseen by a multi-disciplinary group hosted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). The RCPCH is working in partnership with Sitekit Ltd, the developers of the online Red Book, and will undertake an assessment of the product on its completion.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has an infant feeding coordinator.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Department does not employ an infant feeding co-ordinator, but works collaboratively with the National Infant Feeding Steering Group, which brings together key partners including Public Health England, NHS England and UNICEF UK.

    In December 2013, the Department provided £80,000 to UNICEF for two projects to maintain and develop the National Infant Feeding Network and to promote care and compassion through infant feeding as part of universal midwifery and health visiting services, including those services delivered in neonatal units and children’s centres.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department allocated to National Breastfeeding Week in each year since 2010.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The last year for which the Department provided funding for National Breastfeeding Week was 2010, when the contribution was £110,000.

    Since 2011 the Department has collaborated with key partners including the Royal College of Midwives, Public Health England and UNICEF UK to promote National Breastfeeding Week through material and information on the NHS Choices website that can be used locally.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of (a) eating disorder beds and (b) eating disorder services have been delivered by the private sector in each year since 2010.

    Norman Lamb

    In April 2013, NHS England became responsible for commissioning specialised Eating Disorder Services. There are currently 460 beds available across England. 255 of these beds are provided by the National Health Service and the remainder by the Independent sector. Therefore 55.4% are provided by the NHS. Historical figures are not available as this data is maintained as a real-time list.

    NHS England does not hold data on services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) which include non-specialised and community eating disorder services. CCG’s commissioning decisions are based on the needs of the local population and they are expected to take account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of doctors against whom allegations of abuse made by patients have been in each year since 2010.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

    The information requested is held by the General Medical Council, an independent body responsible for dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt.

  • Yvonne Fovargue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Yvonne Fovargue – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvonne Fovargue on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have suffered complications following knee and hip operations related to osteoarthritis in the last five years.

    Norman Lamb

    This information is not available. Although some information on post-operative complications experienced by osteoporosis patients following surgery of the hip and knee is available via the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) data collection, this only covers hip and knee replacement, and not the full range of surgical interventions. In addition to this, as PROMs is a voluntary reporting system the data published does not reflect the total number of osteoporosis patients having complications for all hip and knee replacements. More information on PROMS data can be found at the following link:

    www.hscic.gov.uk/proms

    “