Tag: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the database created by the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 is intended to supersede the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s hierarchy for the use of unlicensed medicines.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The database will not supersede the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) guidance on the hierarchy for the use of unlicensed medicines, which is set out in the MHRA’s ‘Guidance Note 14’. The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 seeks to facilitate access to innovative medical treatments including the off-label use of medicines and the use of unlicensed medicines, such as in schemes like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS). The Act provides for the establishment of a database of innovative medical treatments, which doctors can access to search for innovative treatments in schemes like the EAMS, including unlicensed or off-label medicines for which there is evidence that a patient might benefit. Where appropriate they can also search for clinical trials that are underway and discuss their findings with their patients to establish if they would benefit from being part of a clinical trial. There will be a full consultation on the database in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulations protect the contact details of vulnerable people being passed to other commercial agencies when purchasing a product online or having one purchased on their behalf.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

The UK Government takes the protection of people’s personal data very seriously. The handling and sharing of personal data is primarily governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), which establishes a legal framework of rights and obligations that protect individuals’ personal information.

The Information Commissioner’s Office, who is the independent regulatory body responsible for enforcing the DPA in the UK, has produced the guidance for the general public on such matters. This guidance can be found on its’ website at; www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my- information-being-handled-correctly/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the costs of road traffic accidents associated with alcohol to (1) the NHS, (2) the emergency services, (3) the police, (4) the justice system, (5) the benefits system, and (6) individual victims.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Department for Transport publishes estimates of the average cost to society of road traffic accidents as part of the Transport Analysis Guidance (called WebTAG). The cost is broken down into six elements. Three of these elements are casualty-related:

• lost output/cost to the economy
• medical and ambulance costs
• human costs

The remaining three are accident-related:

• police costs
• insurance and administration costs
• damage to property

The human cost element is estimated using evidence of individuals’ willingness to pay for a marginal reduction in their risk of suffering a road traffic accident. The other components are estimated using official data sources.

The Department has not made any estimate of the costs of road traffic accidents to the justice system or the benefits system. However, it is likely that these will be small in comparison with human and lost output costs.

The table below gives an estimate of the costs for each of the six WebTAG elements for all reported personal-injury accidents in Great Britain where at least one driver was over the alcohol limit. The figures are based on accidents that occurred in 2014 as this is the most recent year for which final drink drive accident statistics are available. The totals are in 2016 prices.

Total value of prevention of reported accidents when at least one driver is over the alcohol limit, Great Britain, 2014

£million in 2016 prices
Accident severity	Police costs	Insurance and admin	Damage to property	Lost output	Human costs	Medical and ambulance	Total
Fatal	4.4	0.1	2.7	150.6	287.3	0.3	445.4
Serious	2.1	0.2	4.9	25.9	178.0	15.7	226.7
Slight	2.7	0.6	15.0	17.6	84.0	7.5	127.4
							799.5

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the last meeting of the Public Health Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network was held, what actions have been taken since that meeting, and when the next meeting is scheduled to take place.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The last meeting of the Public Health Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network was held on 5 November 2014. A copy of the minutes from the meeting is attached.

Following that meeting, on 6 November 2014, the Department published the results of the independent Campden BRI report on the Responsibility Deal labelling pledge. This showed that by the end of 2013, 79.3% of labels of bottles and cans of alcoholic drinks displayed unit content, the previous Chief Medical Officer’s lower-risk drinking guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant. On 19 December 2014 the Department also published the results of the monitoring of the Responsibility Deal pledge to remove 1 billion units of alcohol from the market by the end of 2015. This showed that the target had been exceeded by 0.3 billion units and was met two years ahead of schedule.

There are currently no plans for a further meeting of the Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network. However, the Government remains committed to partnership working.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to provide guidance to Clinical Commissioning Groups on working with charities to provide comprehensive palliative care services for patients of all ages; and if so, when.

Lord Prior of Brampton

In April 2016, NHS England updated its guidance Commissioning Person Centred End of Life Care: A Toolkit for Health and Social Care. This document highlighted that fundamental to any commissioning plan for end of life care is a local strategy, jointly developed with local people and key partners, clearly setting out a vision for end of life and palliative care. Included in this are examples of how working with third sector organisations can benefit service provision for palliative care services, as well as links to guidance from these organisations. A copy of the toolkit is attached.

In addition, Our Commitment to you for end of life care published on 5 July 2016, highlighted that the Department will work with the National Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care and the End of Life Care Coalition of charities to promote the implementation of the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care Framework in local areas. A copy of the report is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to change the current duty structure for cider in the light of their statement that alcohol duties should be directly proportional to alcohol content.

Lord Young of Cookham

Current rules require that cider duty is structured in bands according to the strength of the product.

The government continues to keep all taxes under review, and in that context is considering the views of stakeholders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when and by which ministerial department the decision was taken to cancel the transfer of police custody healthcare services to the NHS; when that decision was announced; and what were the reasons for that change of policy.

Lord Bates

My rt hon Friend the Home Secretary has decided that a reallocation from the overall police settlement in respect of custody healthcare costs would not be appropriate at this time. This decision was communicated to Police and Crime Commissioners on 17 December 2015 in correspondence on the provisional police funding settlement. Police and Crime Commissioners will therefore retain responsibility for commissioning such services, and have flexibility to prioritise resource towards police custody healthcare, based on local needs.

In most areas police forces and NHS Commissioners have already developed close effective partnerships in respect of custody healthcare provision and we expect that they will continue to build on these.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Health Education England to ensure that the number of physiotherapy student commissions for 2016–17 supports the goal of increasing the number of student places outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review, in the light of the current annual shortfall of 500 physiotherapists required to meet demand reported by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Lord Prior of Brampton

As set out in the Spending Review, from 1 August 2017, new nursing, midwifery and allied health students will no longer receive National Health Service bursaries. Instead, they will have access to the same student loans system as other students.

We intend that students studying nursing, midwifery and the allied health subjects as a second degree will also be able to get student loans.

The change will only affect new students commencing their courses from 1 August 2017.

We plan to publish a consultation at the end of February 2016, to ask how we can successfully deliver the reforms.

Under the loans system, students on nursing, midwifery and allied health courses will receive around a 25% increase in the financial support available to them for living costs. The precise change for individuals will be dependent on their circumstances – for example, where they study, the length of the course, income and residency.

This will build on the success of wider higher education funding reform, enabling universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this parliament, so more applicants will have the chance to become a health professional.

As set out in the Health Education England (HEE) commissioning and investment plan for 2016-17, HEE plans to commission 1,439 physiotherapy training places.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held in the last year with Health Education England about ensuring that all GPs gain experience in children and young people’s health during their initial training, as suggested by CLIC Sargent’s report The best chance from the start: improving support to identify cancer in children and young people.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Health Education England’s (HEE) mandate sets out the Government’s strategic priorities for workforce planning, education, training and development in the health and public health system. These objectives and priorities are published on an annual basis. Officials are currently discussing the next HEE mandate.

Within their three year training programme, about half of all General Practitioner (GP) trainees undertake a dedicated hospital placement in paediatrics. In addition, there are various initiatives around the country to increase access to child health training. These include clinics jointly staffed with paediatric and GP trainees, paediatric outreach clinics and multi-disciplinary meetings in GP surgeries led by paediatric consultants. A variety of e-learning, including the MindEd package – a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health, is available.

It is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC) to set the standards and outcomes for the education and training of doctors and to approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. HEE will work with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the Royal College of General Practitioners to seek to ensure general practice training meets the needs of patients.

The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes in July last year, which recognised the importance of earlier diagnosis for patients of all ages and contains specific recommendations for children, teenagers and young adults. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director to lead the implementation of a five year Strategy based on the recommendations in the report. Whilst the Taskforce was independent, the Department of Health and all of its Arm’s Length Bodies were represented on it and contributed to development of the Strategy.

NHS England is now developing its work programme to take forward the recommendations in the Strategy. There have been no discussions with Monitor as this falls outside their remit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Monitor and with NHS England about ensuring that GPs are able to access specialist expertise in children and young people’s health, and what mechanisms they have to audit provision of specialist services and hold commissioners to account.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Health Education England’s (HEE) mandate sets out the Government’s strategic priorities for workforce planning, education, training and development in the health and public health system. These objectives and priorities are published on an annual basis. Officials are currently discussing the next HEE mandate.

Within their three year training programme, about half of all General Practitioner (GP) trainees undertake a dedicated hospital placement in paediatrics. In addition, there are various initiatives around the country to increase access to child health training. These include clinics jointly staffed with paediatric and GP trainees, paediatric outreach clinics and multi-disciplinary meetings in GP surgeries led by paediatric consultants. A variety of e-learning, including the MindEd package – a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health, is available.

It is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC) to set the standards and outcomes for the education and training of doctors and to approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. HEE will work with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the Royal College of General Practitioners to seek to ensure general practice training meets the needs of patients.

The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes in July last year, which recognised the importance of earlier diagnosis for patients of all ages and contains specific recommendations for children, teenagers and young adults. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director to lead the implementation of a five year Strategy based on the recommendations in the report. Whilst the Taskforce was independent, the Department of Health and all of its Arm’s Length Bodies were represented on it and contributed to development of the Strategy.

NHS England is now developing its work programme to take forward the recommendations in the Strategy. There have been no discussions with Monitor as this falls outside their remit.