Tag: David Amess

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with NHS England and NICE on the Cancer Drugs Fund consultation; and whether he discussed with those bodies whether proposals on the future of that fund would (a) increase and (b) restrict access to cancer medicines.

George Freeman

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has been kept informed as this work has been progressed.

NHS England has advised that it envisages, under the new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund, that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of whether his target of implementing opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses in every adult prison in England by the end of financial year 2016-17 will be met.

Ben Gummer

The blood-borne virus (BBV) opt-out testing programme for people in prisons in England is a shared priority for Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Offender Management Service. Programme implementation is overseen by a ‘tripartite’ Task-and-Finish Group which includes third sector and patient voice representation. The roll-out of the programme is informed by phased implementation and evaluation of ‘pathfinder prisons’ over three phases. Phase 1 began on 1 April 2014 and the formal evaluation was published on May 21 2015. Phase 2 pathfinder prisons began implementation from April 2015, with Phase 3 Pathfinders implementing from September 2015. BBV opt-out testing is not limited to only those prisons formally in the pathfinder programme.

NHS England estimates that currently 60% of the adult prison estate in England are offering opt-out testing and are confident that the target of implementation in every adult prison in England will be achieved by the end of the financial year 2016-17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the effect on children’s fitness and activity levels of the Primary PE and Sport Premium.

Edward Timpson

We want all pupils to be healthy and active. We have ring-fenced over £450 million to improve PE and sport in primary schools (2013/14 – 2015/16), and committed to doubling the primary PE and sport premium to £320 million a year from September 2017 using revenue from the soft drinks industry levy. Schools have the freedom to decide how to use the funding based on the needs of their pupils, and can choose to target funding on the least active and children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds. Schools are accountable for their spending through Ofsted inspections and are required to report plans and impact online.

We have evaluated the impact and schools’ use of the premium through the independent research company, NatCen. Evidence indicates the funding is having a positive impact and schools reported almost universally that the PE and sport premium had had a positive impact on physical fitness (99%), healthy lifestyles (99%), skills (98%) and behaviour of pupils (96%).[1].

We are currently exploring options for future evaluation once the premium is doubled. Further details will be announced in due course.

[1] Evidence from the 2015 report, based on findings of a two year study between 2013 – 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-an-investigation-in-primary-schools

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether standard patient health assessments by GPs include assessing eye health.

Alistair Burt

The Government recognises that regular sight tests are an important measure in preventing avoidable sight loss.

Free National Health Service sight tests are available to many, including children, people aged 60 and over, people on benefits and those people at particular risk of developing eye disease.

We do not determine what should be included in health checks or consultation between general practitioners (GPs) and their patients. This is for GPs to decide, taking into account the individual needs of patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of implementation of the NICE quality standards for rheumatoid arthritis.

Jane Ellison

Quality standards (QS) are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) QS in planning and delivering services, however they are not mandatory.

The QS for rheumatoid arthritis states that services should be commissioned from and coordinated across all relevant agencies encompassing the rheumatoid arthritis care pathway. A person-centred approach to provision of services is fundamental to delivering high-quality care to adults with rheumatoid arthritis. NHS England continues to champion their use with providers and commissioners.

NHS England is working with patients, the pharmaceutical industry, royal colleges and others to encourage a range of improvements aimed at ensuring that all patients, including those with inflammatory arthritis, get the support they need to get the most from their medicines. The development of the four principles to support medicines optimisation offers a step change to the way we think about medicine use in the NHS. The four guiding patient-centred principles: aim to understand the patient’s experience; evidence-based choice of medicines; make medicines optimisation part of routine practice; ensure medicines use is as safe as possible are applicable to all patients, conditions and disease states.

The medicines optimisation best practice guidance, published in May 2014 is available at:

www.rpharms.com/promoting-pharmacy-pdfs/helping-patients-make-the-most-of-their-medicines.pdf.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with hepatitis C have commenced treatment under the commissioning policy for the treatment of patients with cirrhosis since June 2015.

Jane Ellison

At 10 November 2015, NHS England had received 2,667 applications to treat from clinicians. Applications relate to patients who either meet NHS England’s commissioning policy for the treatment of hepatitis C patients with cirrhosis or who meet the NICE Technology Appraisal guidance for sofosbuvir and simeprevir. The number of applications is likely to be slightly higher than the number starting treatment, as some patients may have decided not to proceed. NHS England expects to have an automated system in place by April 2016 to collect data on treatment referrals and treatment history, including clinical outcome data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has accrued to the public purse from Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

Total Machine Games Duty (MGD) receipts for the years ending 31 March 2015 and 2014 were £562 million and £502 million. Total Amusement Machine Licence Duty receipts for the year ending 31 March 2013 were £151million.

Receipts from fixed odds betting terminals are not separately identified in the figures published in HMRC’s Tax & Duty bulletin. The bulletin can be found here:

https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutyBulletins.aspx

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with NICE and NHS England on the availability of Erbitux for metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

George Freeman

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 February 2016 to Question 27585.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has taken steps to provide national guidance to ensure that healthcare and wider staff in prisons are given adequate levels of training around blood-borne viruses as recommended by The Hepatitis C Trust’s recent report, The blood-borne virus opt-out testing policy for prisons in England: An analysis of need towards full implementation, published on 3 March 2016.

Ben Gummer

Implementation of opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) in all adult prisons in England in a shared priority for Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Offender Management Service as published in our second National Partnership Agreement for 2015-16.

To support implementation, PHE and its partners, including The Hepatitis C Trust among other third sector organisations, have developed a broad range of range of resources to support prison healthcare teams. These include information leaflets and posters, testing algorithms, web-based and DVD resources which cover all aspects of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Hepatitis C and other BBVs to support prison healthcare teams in offering testing, managing both positive and negative results, providing advice on harm minimisation and supporting people into treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if Sport England will take steps to ensure that children’s fitness and activity levels do not decline from their term-time levels in the summer holidays.

Tracey Crouch

We want to ensure that all children, regardless of background, ability or where they live, are able to engage in sport and physical activity in a way that interests and benefits them. Through the Government’s sports strategy Sporting Future, published in December 2015, Sport England will now invest in sporting provision for children aged five and over – previously the starting age was 14 years old.

In addition, Sport England’s new strategy, Towards an Active Nation, published in May 2016, sets out their plans to make a major new investment of £40 million into projects which offer new opportunities for families with children to get active and play sport together. Sport England will continue to work with organisations across the sport sector as it implements its strategy.