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  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department has provided for public information campaigns on brain tumours in children and young people in each year since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England’s ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns do not currently include brain tumours. The campaigns aim to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly. The decision on which cancers should be the focus of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, and key voluntary sector organisations.

    A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise.

  • Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that clinical commissioning groups implement the NICE guideline on diagnosis of food allergy in children and young people in a primary care setting.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline, ‘Food allergy in children and young people’, published in 2011, sets out best practice on the care treatment and support for children and young people with food allergy. NICE clinical guidelines are designed to support health care professionals in their work, and commissioners should consider them when developing local services, but they do not replace the knowledge, skills and experience of clinicians in deciding how best to manage patients.

    Immunotherapy for the long-term management of allergic disease may be provided as part of the NHS England’s nationally commissioned specialised allergy service. NHS England has set out what these providers must have in place to offer high quality specialised allergy care, ensuring equity of access to patients wherever they live. Around 0.1% of people with allergies in the United Kingdom, some 20,000 people, are likely to require referral to a specialist centre. NHS England’s allergy service specification, which provides more information about specialised allergy services, can be viewed at the following link:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/b09-spec-allergy.pdf

    “

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is provided to GPs to inform them of the research related to and treatments for people with mental health conditions.

    Alistair Burt

    The Health Education England (HEE) Mandate for 2015-16 reported that “HEE, working with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of General Practitioners has developed an e-learning package to support continuing professional development for GPs in mental health ensuring that GPs have ready access to the most up to date knowledge available in this vitally important area of health care. This will enable recognition of mental illness and access to the right care pathway including improving access to psychological therapies and specialist mental health services.”

    Further information can be found at:

    http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/mental-health-awareness-programme/more-information/

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of first stake free offers on (a) the incidence of gambling addiction amongst (i) children and young people and (ii) other people and (b) people who already have such an addiction.

    David Evennett

    The Government remains committed to ensuring that people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling. As part of this, following a review of its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, last year the Gambling Commission introduced a range of measures to ensure that marketing and advertising is socially responsible. This included a new requirement that the marketing of ‘free bet’ offers is open, transparent and not misleading.

    The Government remains alive to concerns in this area and continues to make clear to the gambling industry that it expects them to demonstrate that they are improving existing player protection initiatives and evaluating the effects of previous initiatives.

    Looking ahead, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board have identified this as a priority area for research. The Responsible Gambling Trust is therefore preparing to conduct research into the impact of marketing and advertising on young people’s gambling perceptions, attitudes and behaviour.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to Health Education England funding on training in (a) child psychotherapy, (b) clinical psychotherapy; and on the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

    Ben Gummer

    Higher Education training in child psychotherapy, clinical psychotherapy and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies is not currently eligible for NHS Bursary funding and, as such, is not subject to the healthcare education funding reforms.

    The Government will be consulting shortly on healthcare education funding reform as announced in the November 2015 Spending Review and respondents to the consultation may wish to raise issues relating to courses operated outside of the remit of these reforms. The Government will consider these in the context of its consultation response.

    Health Education England (HEE) funding for psychological therapy training is currently determined at a local level based on local need. For 2016-17 HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17 which was published in December 2015. HEE’s plans for training child psychotherapists, clinical psychotherapists and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (low intensity and high intensity practitioners) remain unchanged from 2015-16, with 43, 526 and 946 proposed commissions respectively.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that all applications to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for a licence to carry out research using human admixed embryos are published on the HFEA website with a description of the research proposed.

    Jane Ellison

    It is for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to decide what information it places on its website. The HFEA has advised that it is reviewing its publication policy in readiness for the launch of its new website in summer 2016.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps Public Health England has taken in conjunction with the National Public Health Workforce Advisory Group to implement the public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, published in March 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    Since publication, Public Health England (PHE) has worked with national partners and with local authorities to co-ordinate implementation of the public mental health leadership and workforce development (PMHLWD) framework. Twenty national partners have signed the Call to Action to implement the framework.

    PHE is working closely with Health Education England (HEE) to incorporate the PMHLWD framework into the forthcoming Mental Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (commissioned by the Department). It has been cited in the Mental Health Task Force report and PHE will continue to work with HEE to implement the PMHLWD framework’s priorities via the Task Force and Future in Mind working groups.

    PHE has incorporated the PMHLWD framework into the revised Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework, the review of the future workforce and its wider workforce programme. This has included integrating mental health and wellbeing into the Making Every Contact Count programme.

    PHE has supported delivery via local public mental health networks joint commissioning of training, collating examples of training programmes, developing e-learning modules and delivering local workshops and presentations.

  • Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on the rebuilding by Hamas of its cross-border tunnel infrastructure into Israel.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware of reports of Hamas rebuilding tunnels and we remain deeply concerned by Hamas’ attempts to rearm and rebuild infrastructure, including the tunnel network in Gaza. Any Hamas rearmament undermines efforts to improve the situation in Gaza and harms prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East.

  • Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to the Palestinian Authority on allegations of its schools naming sports tournaments after terrorists.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    While we have not raised this specific issue with the Palestinian Authority (PA). We regularly raise the issue of incitement with the PA. Most recently, on 9 March, our Consul General in Jerusalem met Prime Minister Hamdallah and raised our concerns on incitement. I also raised the issue with the PA during my visit on 17 February.

  • Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of recent reports of Iran testing a new long-range ballistic missile.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Reports that Iran carried out ballistic missile tests earlier this month are of great concern. These tests are inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and the UK is raising these concerns in writing with the UN Security Council. The UK continues to urge Iran to refrain from further tests.