The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides to its managers on how many days training should be made available to staff.
Dr Daniel Poulter
The Department is committed to developing its staff and encourages staff to take five days learning a year. It does this in a variety of ways including staff communications; learning at work weeks and through line-managers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress NICE has made on establishing Quality Standards on adult hearing loss.
George Freeman
I refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr Roger Godsiff) on 4 February to Question 222487.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will delay the commencement of regulations on the standardised packaging of tobacco products for 12 months or until any legal challenges have been concluded.
Jane Ellison
Certain parts of the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations implement the European Tobacco Products Directive are required to be brought into force in May 2016. For those regulations that introduce further requirements, it is clear that there are benefits for business if the requirements of the Directive and the further standardised packaging requirements are implemented at the same time.
The Government will keep under close review all legal challenges that are relevant to standardised packaging of tobacco products. If legal challenges are made to the regulations, then it will promote certainty, and be better for all affected parties, that such challenges are determined in courts or tribunals as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in levels of eligibility for social care set by councils between 2005 and 2010.
Norman Lamb
During 2005/06 to 2009/10, the number of councils which set their local eligibility at the “substantial” banding within the existing guidance increased by nearly a third, and the number of councils setting their eligibility at “moderate” decreased by a similar proportion. This indicates councils making restrictions in access and eligibility over this period.
The following table sets out the percentage of councils in each of the bandings between 2005/06 and 2009/10. The bandings were set out in 2003 guidance and updated in 2010 by Prioritising Need in the Context of Putting People First: A whole system approach to eligibility for social care, which retained the same eligibility framework based on four bandings.
|
Percentage of LAs at Critical |
Percentage of LAs at Substantial |
Percentage of LAs at Moderate |
Percentage of LAs at Low |
|
|
2005/06 |
2.2% |
55.0% |
36.7% |
6.1% |
|
2006/07 |
1.4% |
62.2% |
33.2% |
3.2% |
|
2007/08 |
2.1% |
69.7% |
26.5% |
1.7% |
|
2008/09 |
2.1% |
70.5% |
25.7% |
1.7% |
|
2009/10 |
2.0% |
71.1% |
25.0% |
2.0% |
Source: The Care Quality Commission. This is provided as % as the total number of local authorities (LAs) providing social care changed over this period.
To resolve substantial and longstanding concerns from people with care needs that the existing framework is opaque and not applied consistently across England, the Government is introducing a national minimum eligibility threshold for adult care and support from 1 April 2015. This will provide more clarity on what level of needs are eligible for care and support. LAs will no longer be able to tighten the criteria beyond this threshold, but they will have the flexibility to meet other needs that are not eligible, if they chose to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received on the proportion of Government funding which is allocated to health and social care.
Norman Lamb
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has frequent discussions about the proportion of Government funding allocated to health and social care, both internal and external, and receives a large amount of correspondence on the issue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what analysis and research her Department has undertaken into the potential risk to human health of the transportation of animal carcasses and animal products in unsealed and unrefrigerated vehicles to rendering facilities.
George Eustice
Defra has not undertaken research into the potential risk to human health of the transportation of animal carcasses and animal products in unsealed and unrefrigerated vehicles to rendering facilities.
EU animal by-products (ABP) legislation, which is in force to protect public and animal health, requires animal carcasses and other ABP material to be collected and transported in sealed new packaging or covered leak-proof containers or vehicles at an appropriate temperature. Non-compliance with this requirement is a criminal offence under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013. In addition, the Government has been urging the rendering industry to consider what improvements can be made to current practice when transporting ABPs and on the issue of cooling carcasse material.
The Department understands that the rendering industry is currently undertaking and funding its own research into the costs and benefits of chilling ABPs during storage and transport.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the total amount spent from government sources on research into (a) stroke, (b) cancer and (c) coronary heart disease.
George Freeman
Spend on research funded directly by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is categorised by Health Research Classification System health categories. NIHR expenditure on research infrastructure and systems where spend cannot be attributed to health categories is excluded. In 2013/14, the NIHR spent £26.3 million in the category ‘stroke’, £129.9 million in the category ‘cancer’, and £46.3 million in the category ‘cardiovascular’ (including coronary heart disease – CHD).
Research Councils UK has provided the following information on expenditure in 2013/14.
£000s
|
Stroke |
Cancer |
CHD |
|
|
Arts and Humanities Research Council |
– |
34 |
– |
|
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
323 |
10,269 |
1,829 |
|
Economic and Social Research Council |
1,376 |
2,177 |
1,205 |
|
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
– |
– |
– |
|
Medical Research Council (MRC) |
4,140 |
79,900 |
26,300 |
|
Natural Environment Research Council |
– |
– |
– |
|
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) |
– |
395 |
– |
The BBSRC does not fund research directly relating to understanding/treating specific human diseases. The underpinning health research that the BBSRC supports seeks to provide a better understanding of what makes a healthy biological system – and the key moderators of this health (both positive and negative) – and also informs strategies to help maintain resilient health across the life-course and reduce the risk of emergence of diseases typically associated with age-related health decline. In the context of stroke/cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer this may include basic bioscience of angiogenesis/tissue repair, inflammation, cell cycle/signalling/molecular transport, and immune system functioning, and how these processes operate and are influenced (e.g. by genetics and environmental factors such as diet and exercise) across the lifecourse. The BBSRC figures provided are based on examples where specific linkages can be made from the basic bioscience to potential applicability to stroke/CVD and cancer research, but there will be a wider body of more indirectly linked bioscience that may also contribute to developing important baseline understanding.
The EPSRC invested £59 million in 2013/14 in research to develop new technologies that have applications across healthcare from diagnosis and treatment to rehabilitation, and also supports a much wider portfolio of research that underpins advances in medical science. The EPSRC supports basic research which delivers new techniques and technologies, ultimately delivering solutions that underpin the healthcare and life sciences sector, including the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries and the National Health Service. Around 25% of the £4 billion EPSRC portfolio is of relevance to healthcare and the life sciences.
MRC cancer research expenditure shown in the table is taken from National Cancer Research Institute data for 2013.
In addition to the expenditure shown in the table, the STFC also makes support available through its large facilities. For instance, cancer-related research is carried out using ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) in support of the University of Liverpool, who have an EPSRC grant. The grant pays the marginal staff cost and the running cost of the ALICE facility.
In 2013/14 Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency has invested in research concerning stroke, cancer and CHD. The following table details spend for each condition. Figures include research into detection technologies and post-surgery therapies.
£000s
|
Stroke |
Cancer |
CHD |
|
|
Innovate UK |
972 |
18,728 |
345 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many private prescriptions for (a) benzodiazepines, (b) z drugs and (c) antidepressants were issued in 2013; and whether such private prescriptions are included in the analysis by the NHS of prescription costs.
George Freeman
Information is held by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) on the numbers of original private prescriptions for controlled drugs that are listed in Schedules 2 or 3 to the Misuse of Drug Regulations 2001 (as amended) (“the 2001 Regulations”) and dispensed in the community in England by NHS community pharmacies. These pharmacies submit regular returns to the NHSBSA for monitoring purposes only with no cost information collected.
No benzodiazepine drugs are listed in Schedule 2 to the 2001 Regulations. The benzodiazepines, flunitrazepam, midazolam and temazepam are listed in Schedule 3 to the 2001 Regulations. In 2013, the NHSBSA recorded 3,021 private prescriptions for these drugs, as defined within the British National Formulary Section 4.1.1 Hypnotics, Section 4.8.2 Drugs used in status epilepticus and Section 15.1.4 Sedative and analgesic peri-operative drugs. Other benzodiazepine drugs are listed in Schedule 4 to the 2001 Regulations. No “Z” drugs or antidepressants are listed in Schedules 2 or 3 to the 2001 Regulations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average number of days training of full-time equivalent staff employed in his Department was in each of the last three financial years.
Dr Daniel Poulter
The Department is committed to developing its staff. Individuals and local teams arrange a variety of developmental activities, including formal training courses. The number of hours/days for each individual is not recorded centrally. To gather this information would incur disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s training budget was in each of the last three financial years.
Jane Ellison
Learning and development is funded from both a central departmental budget and from local directorate budgets.
The core Department’s annual central Learning and Development budget allocations for each of the last three financial years can be found in the table below.
|
Financial Year |
Annual Learning and Development Budget £ |
|
2011-12 |
804,673 |
|
2012-13 |
950,000 |
|
2013-14 |
1,115,000 |
Directorates have discretion in how they use their local budgets to support professional and technical training according to business need. These local budgets are not ring fenced specifically and therefore have been excluded in the table above.