Tag: Andrew Percy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to help establish an international agreement on surrogacy arrangements and harmonisation of the law and practice on surrogacy overseas.

Jane Ellison

The Hague Conference on Private International Law, of which the United Kingdom is a Member State, has set up an Experts’ Group to examine whether there is a realistic prospect of progress in this area. The Experts’ Group will report in March 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) identify and (b) support young people at risk of cardiac problems.

Jane Ellison

There are a number of inherited cardiac conditions. These include familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) (which leads to premature cardiac disease and reduction in life expectancy), and conditions which increase the risk of sudden cardiac death.

The responsibility for commissioning FH services lies with local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Provision of services will take into account the needs of the population overall.

NICE has published a guideline on the identification and management of FH which includes recommendations that children at risk because they have a parent with FH should have diagnostic tests before the age of 10. The national clinical director (NCD) for heart disease at NHS England is working to promote cascade testing for the relatives of people who have hypercholesterolaemia. NHS England’s NCD has also worked closely with the British Heart Foundation in their appointment of FH Nurses to undertake genetic testing, and with the other major charity in this field – HEART-UK.

NHS England is working closely with Public Health England (PHE) to identify the barriers to FH testing (and cholesterol management in general) with the support of the British Heart Foundation and a great deal is now being done to raise the profile of this condition, break down the barriers to genetic testing and provide better management of the condition.

With regards to those conditions which may raise the risk of sudden cardiac death, the National Screening Committee concluded that a national screening programme was not appropriate. However, children who are taken on by football clubs for formal youth training do undergo cardiac screening as do a number of professional sports participants.

A recent review concluded that childhood obesity not only increases cardiovascular risk in adulthood, but it is also associated with cardiovascular damage during childhood.

To identify and support children classified as obese and therefore at risk of cardiovascular disease, PHE oversees delivery of England’s National Child Measurement programme (NCMP). NCMP provides robust local and national data on child weight status to inform health service planning and engage families through the provision of feedback of results to parents. Local authorities are provided with guidance to support the delivery of the NCMP programme and encouraged to sign post parents to local weight management services where possible.

The programme covers children in Reception (ages 4-5 years) and Year 6 (ages 10-11 years), and is now a mandated public health function of local authorities.

There is also strong evidence for a positive association between physical activity and cardio-metabolic health among school aged children, with higher levels of physical activity associated with higher levels of cardiovascular and metabolic health.

PHE is working to support children to adhere to healthy eating guidelines and meet the Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines through a number of approaches including through its flagship Change4Life programme and the development and implementation of the framework, ‘Everybody Active, Everyday’ at national and local level. This framework sets out a long term, evidence-based approach to embed physical activity into daily life.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to the Palestinian Authority on recent comments related to the practice of honouring terrorists by Rami Hamdallah.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We condemn the glorification of terrorism and all incitement to commit violence, whichever side it comes from. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, urging them to use their influence to de-escalate the tensions. We regularly raise incitement with the Palestinian Authority, and have urged key figures to encourage calm and condemn violence. We continue to support the reinstatement of the Tripartite Committee as the appropriate channel to deal with allegations of incitement from either side.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.

Harriett Baldwin

HM Treasury manages 1 Horse Guard’s Road in which 6 defibrillators are located. On 29^th September 2015, 1 Horse Guard’s Road received Automated External Defibrillator Accreditation by the London Ambulance Service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that all staff with mental health facilities receive guidance on the implications for their work of the Mental Health Act and the Code of Practice on that Act, with its guiding principles, published on 15 January 2016.

Alistair Burt

The Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice, which came into force in April 2015, provides statutory guidance on how functions under the Mental Health Act 1983 (the Act) should be carried out. All providers of mental health services under the Act have a duty to abide by both the provisions of the Act and the detailed guidance on how implement those provisions contained in the Code of Practice. That includes the duty of all such mental health providers to ensure their staff know and understand their responsibilities under the Act.

Empowerment and the involvement of patients are key principles underpinning the Act, and the Code of Practice is clear that detained patients must be informed of their rights; that it is the responsibility of those treating them to ensure that patients understand their rights; and that patients are aware that they are entitled to ask for the assistance of an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) to help them understand this information.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) annual report Monitoring the Mental Health Act 2014/15 indicates that CQC have already taken action where providers are failing to effectively monitor the Act, train staff and support patients and recommends that services use the findings of that report to make sure staff have the right skills and knowledge and decide what action needs to be taken to improve the care and support available for patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure children and families created via surrogacy are treated equally.

Jane Ellison

A search of the Department’s central correspondence system shows that the Department received 22 representations that made direct or indirect reference to the report `Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform’ since it was published in November 2015.

The Government has no current plans to change the legislation in respect of surrogacy arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that bus operators have an incentive to invest in new vehicles when franchising is an option open to local authorities.

Andrew Jones

Local transport authorities with access to bus franchising powers will wish to ensure that local operators are aware of their intentions, so that investment decisions can be taken and services continue to be provided in the best interests of passengers.

Any authority that chooses to implement franchising will have the ability to specify its requirements of operators as part of any franchise contract. This could include requirements relating to the standards of vehicles to be used by operators.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to promote trade opportunities for UK business in high-growth markets.

Anna Soubry

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull (Julian Knight) on 25 February 2016 to Question 26214.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on healthcare of the introduction of a registry of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in England; and what support his Department has provided for that registry.

Jane Ellison

The IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) Registry provides a United Kingdom-wide repository of anonymised IBD adult and paediatric patient data for prospective audit and research purposes. Patients must consent for their data to be added to the registry. The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has allocated transitional funding this year to incorporate IBD audit data collection into the IBD Registry, providing an enhanced system for data capture and quality improvement that will be available to every hospital in the UK. This will allow the entry of data locally and support service improvement. Initially the focus will be for IBD patients receiving biologic treatments, but the system will address other key aspects of IBD care in the future.

The second step of data collection will be to focus on new patients with IBD to begin to understand the incidence of IBD in the UK. This picture will build up over a number of years and be dependent on the engagement of clinicians.

No specific assessment of the potential effects on healthcare due to the introduction of a registry of patients with IBD in England has been made. However, the data provided through the register can support National Health Service services in areas such as the assessment of local IBD populations as well as in measuring incidence and outcomes with services in other parts of the UK.

Although there is no direct Department funding, HQIP have given £290,000 for a year’s transition funding to join the audit data with the registry.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends faecal calprotectin testing as an option to help doctors distinguish between inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and non-inflammatory bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

The NICE IBD Quality Standard states that general practitioners (GP) and GP practices should ensure that testing is offered and clinical commissioning groups should ensure the diagnostic services are in place to support this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the campaign by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service to raise awareness of the importance of parental orders for new parents and surrogates.

Jane Ellison

Surrogacy is a complex issue, the legislation about which has not been significantly addressed by respective administrations since the Surrogacy Arrangements Act was introduced in 1985. The Government recognises the arguments for the need for a review, and we have therefore asked the Law Commission, as part of the consultation on its 13th work programme this summer, to consider including a project on surrogacy.

The Department has not issued guidance about surrogacy to professional groups or the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). The Government recognises surrogacy as an important option for some people wishing to start a family and is currently considering how best to clarify the current legal arrangements for intended parents, surrogates and their families. The CAFCASS campaign to increase awareness of Parental Orders is ongoing and targeted at health workers, local authority registration staff and surrogacy agencies. It will be evaluated in full upon completion in autumn 2016; in-campaign monitoring indicates its messaging is reaching the target audience.