The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent meetings he and other Ministers of his Department have had with Miguel Ángel Moratinos.
Mr David Lidington
Neither the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) or I have had any recent meetings with Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of progress in diagnosing and treating cervical cancers more effectively in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
We recognise that cervical screening continues to play a key role in preventing women getting, and being harmed by, cervical cancer. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England offers screening to women aged 25 to 49 every three years, and women aged 50 to 64 every five years. Women aged over 65 should only be screened if they have not been screened since age 50 or if they have had recent abnormal results.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as triage for women with mild and borderline results and as a test of cure for women previously treated for cervical abnormalities became routine across the NHS Cervical Screening Programme from 1 April 2014. This makes cervical screening more targeted and significantly reduces the need for repeat testing. It is estimated that over 160,000 women a year do not need repeat tests due to mild or borderline results and around 400,000 women have been removed from ten year annual follow-up due to a previous abnormal result.
In April 2012, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation, gave its support for a pilot to assess the value of using HPV testing as primary screening for cervical disease, rather than the currently used cytology test. The pilot has been establishing the feasibility of using HPV as the primary screen for cervical disease in order to achieve better outcomes for women, while minimising over-treatment and anxiety, and whether it is practical to roll out nationally. The UK NSC opened a public consultation on this in July 2015. The consultation closes on 2 November 2015. Ministers expect to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC following the closure of the public consultation.
Earlier diagnosis and prevention is a key focus of the Independent Cancer Taskforce report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015-2020. It includes a recommendation that, assuming a positive recommendation by the NSC, Public Health England and NHS England should drive a rapid roll-out of primary HPV testing into the cervical screening programme. The Taskforce also made a number of recommendations on the early diagnosis of cancers more generally.
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a range of guidance on the treatment and screening of cervical cancer and further information is available at:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/cervical-cancer
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are the children of alcoholics.
Jane Ellison
The main source for estimates of children of alcohol-misusing parents comes from a 2009 research paper which provided new estimates of the number of children (under 16 years) of substance misusing parents. The report found:
– 6% living with a dependent drinker (over 700,000 children);
– Around 26,000 babies under the age of one in England living with a parent who would be classified as a ‘dependent’ drinker.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) his Department and (b) the NHS gives mental health parity of esteem with physical health.
Alistair Burt
We continue to take mental health as seriously as physical health and to hold the National Health Service to account for achieving the objectives set out in the NHS Mandate, ensuring that mental and physical health conditions are given equal priority. The Mandate makes clear that ‘everyone who needs it should have timely access to evidence-based services’.
We have legislated for parity of esteem between mental and physical health via the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
We have already expanded our world-leading psychological therapy services and we have invested over £120 million in order to introduce for the first time waiting times standards for mental health services from April 2015 – a very significant milestone on the road to parity. Next year we will invest £15 million into improving the provision of places of safety, in order to ensure that people in crisis receive assessments in appropriate premises, and not in police custody.
We have made clear that each clinical commissioning group’s (CCG) spending on Mental Health should increase in real terms.
NHS England’s published planning guidance for 2015/16 for commissioners made the expectation clear that each CCGs spend on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least the same percentage as each CCG’s allocation increase.
We will monitor this closely to ensure this happens.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to provide sufficient health services in Lancashire to meet increased demand from new residents of large housing developments in Fylde.
Ben Gummer
It is the responsibility of local commissioners to plan, develop and provide NHS services according to the healthcare needs of their local populations.
NHS England advises that both Fylde and Wyre borough councils have received feedback on their proposed housing development plans from the local clinical commissioning group (Fylde and Wyre CCG). We understand that this requested that planning policies acknowledge the need for existing primary care centres to expand to meet the needs of a growing local population. Should those existing sites not be capable of expansion, the CCG has requested support for new sites in those areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that sufficient doctors and nurses are trained in the UK to maintain safe staffing levels in the NHS.
Ben Gummer
The Government has established Health Education England (HEE) as the body responsible for workforce planning and the commissioning of education and training for the National Health Service and public health system with a budget of £4.9 billion.
The number of nurse training places has increased by 14% over the past three years, with currently over 50,000 nurses in training as at 31 March 2015.
HEE is forecasting that, based on their current training plans, there will be 23,121 more nurses available to work in the NHS by 2019 compared to 2014.
There are currently near record numbers of nurses and midwives in post in the NHS in England. The latest available figures from June 2015 show a total of 317,595 nurses and midwives in post.
Since May 2010, the number of doctors in the NHS has increased by 8,574 to just under 104,000.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to page 20 of the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, what recent assessment he has made of the compliance of NHS bodies with the requirement for the incorporation of NICE technology appraisal recommendations into local NHS formularies.
George Freeman
NHS England is specified in the 2014 Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme agreement as the body responsible for ensuring there are no local barriers to ensuring access to technologies recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance.
NHS England has advised that there are a range of initiatives which assist NHS England in this obligation:
– NICE technology appraisalrecommendations are required to be incorporated automatically into relevant local medicines formularies;
– providers are required to publish local medicines formularies;
– the NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) examines barriers to the prompt implementation of NICE guidance;
– an innovation scorecard is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and tracks uptake of many NICE-approved medicines by the NHS;
– a joint NHS England and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry work programme on medicines optimisation is ongoing, which seeks to improve outcomes and value from all medicines;
– NHS England works closely with Academic Health Science Networks to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of innovation.
The Department’s analysis of medicines spend for the first year of the PPRS shows that branded medicines spend grew by 8.2%, with new medicines on the Innovation Scorecard seeing growth of 18.4%. Further details have been published on the Government’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-growth-in-branded-medicines-2013-to-2014
Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. There is provision for this funding period to be extended where there are particular barriers to implementation within three months.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses are employed in NHS hospitals on salaries of £35,000 or more.
Ben Gummer
Information from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (England only) shows that 33% of qualified nurses earned more than £35,000 in the year ending 30 June 2015. 15% earned more than £35,000 in basic pay only for the same period. This includes only nurses who worked for the full 12 months. It reflects the actual earnings of each nurse and is not adjusted for part-time working. It excludes nurses in General Practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from the government of the Philippines on proposals that Tier 2 visa immigrants from outside the European Economic Area must be earning £35,000 or more to qualify for indefinite leave to remain in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Ben Gummer
The Department has had no recent discussions with, or received representations from, the government of the Philippines about the effects of proposals that Tier 2 visa immigrants from outside the European Economic Area must be earning £35,000 or more to qualify for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom.
However, on 15 October 2015 the Home Secretary announced that the Tier 2 restrictions will be temporarily changed for nurses so that they can be recruited from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to ensure safe staffing levels across the National Health Service.
Nurses will be added to the Government’s Shortage Occupation List (SoL) on an interim basis. The temporary rule change, which will apply to applications considered from December, will mean that nurses from outside the EEA who apply to work in the UK will have their applications for nursing posts prioritised.
While nurses remain on the SoL they will be exempt from the requirement to earn £35,000. The exemption will continue to apply whilst the role is on the SoL.
The Home Secretary has also asked the MAC to carry out a review of the evidence about whether nurses should remain on the SoL and to report back to the Home Office by 15 February 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times visa applications have been refused because of technicalities in each of the last four years; and how many such cases have been subject to a complaint or appeal.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office is unable to provide the information requested, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.