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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Albumin Bound Paclitaxel, Bevacizumab and Cabozantinib since the introduction of those drugs; and what discussions on this matter he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Assemblies.

Norman Lamb

We have had no such discussions.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has appraised the use of bevacizumab (Avastin) for a number of cancers including colorectal, breast, ovarian, non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer and has not been able to recommend the drug’s use as a clinical and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources in any of these appraisals.

NICE is currently appraising the use of paclitaxel albumin-bound nanoparticles (Abraxane) in treating advanced pancreatic cancer with final guidance expected in January 2015. NICE is also appraising this technology for use in the first-line treatment of metastatic melanoma, with final guidance expected in May 2015.

There are no plans for NICE to appraise cabozantinib (Cometriq) for the treatment of thyroid cancer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that ambulance crews and dispatch staff are able to access meaningful supervision; and if he will assess the merits of introducing rapid response units similar to those operating in Northern Ireland.

Jane Ellison

Decisions about workforce issues, such as the supervision of ambulance staff, are a local matter and it remains up to ambulance trusts to decide how this is managed.

However, the Department expects trusts to ensure all their staff are supported in their roles and for there to be effective management arrangements.

Ambulance services, including emergency response services, are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups, which have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate services are provided to their populations.

It is the decision of individual ambulance trusts as to how resources are used to meet local demand.

The Department recognises that having a rapid response vehicle (RRV) to carry clinical equipment and get a clinician to the patient as quickly as possible is beneficial to the care of a patient.

In addition, clinicians using RRVs to arrive first on the scene are able to conduct an assessment of the patient to determine how they should be managed or may be in advance of an ambulance to begin treatment and stabilisation prior to transport.

We are aware that most ambulance trusts utilise RRVs daily as part of their emergency response.

As part of the Urgent and Emergency Care Review, being led by Sir Bruce Keogh, an Ambulance Task Group has been established to look at new models of delivery of care. The first phase of the Review was published last November; and we expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that hospitals do not discourage whistleblowing by staff; and if he will take steps to issue a UK NHS-wide policy on that matter.

Dr Daniel Poulter

We have been absolutely clear that National Health Service staff who speak out in the interests of patient safety must be protected and listened to and that we expect all NHS organisations to have whistleblowing policies in place that are compliant with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. On 5 March this year, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to Chairs in NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England to express his strong views on this matter and to reiterate the vital importance of fostering a culture of openness and transparency in the NHS.

In addition, the Department recently commissioned the Whistleblowing Helpline to update whistleblowing guidance for the NHS. This revised guidance “Raising Concerns at Work – Whistleblowing Guidance for workers and employers in Health and Social Care” was published on 17 March 2014. This guidance transparently sets out the policies and processes for staff and employers in a single document and is available via their website or as a hard copy. This guidance can be found on their website.

www.wbhelpline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Raising-Concerns-at-Work.pdf

Employment law and policy (of which whistleblowing law and policy is a part), and health law and policy, are devolved matters in Northern Ireland. In Scotland and Wales employment law is not devolved, but health law is. Decisions about implementation of whistleblowing policy in the NHS in each part of the United Kingdom are therefore a matter for each of those areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports were processed by the Belfast Passport Office in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those passports were processed within three weeks.

James Brokenshire

Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) does not collect performance data at this
level. HMPO monitors performance at national level as it distributes work across the
UK estate to manage any variation in local levels of passport demand.
The cost of identifying information in the format requested would be disproprtionate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff were employed in the Passport Office in Belfast in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire

The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed
in the Belfast Passport Office in each of the last five years.