Tag: Heidi Alexander

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on public health of rising levels of alcohol consumption in England.

Jane Ellison

There has been a reduction in overall consumption in recent years which is welcome, but there is no room for complacency. Harms such as liver disease remain much too high.

To help people understand how to keep health risks from alcohol consumption low, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers published new low risk alcohol guidelines on 8 January 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in the last three months.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for collecting cancer data to support national cancer registration in England and recognises the importance of collecting data on recurrent breast cancer.

At present pilot work in acute trusts has improved the reporting for breast cancer recurrence and metastasis to the National Cancer Registration Service but the uptake has been slow and the data is not complete. Further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.

Data on the number of people diagnosed with secondary breast cancer is not currently available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 36036, for what reason the awareness campaign on the symptoms of serious infections in children is not being extended to all adults including those who are not parents.

Jane Ellison

Infections can be serious in both adults and children. Public Health England has been commissioned to develop a public awareness campaign for parents and families about serious infections in children, including meningitis, septicaemia and sepsis. Health Education England have been asked to work with National Health Service organisations to develop parallel professional awareness materials for healthcare professionals who work with both children and adults who have serious infections, including sepsis. A range of information materials for the public are also available on the UK Sepsis Trust website and NHS Choices.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the total amount that will be spent on pay for junior doctors in 2015-16; and how many junior doctors will be employed in that year.

Ben Gummer

Data on the junior doctor paybill for 2015/2016 and those that will be employed over this financial year is not yet available.

The latest data available relates to the financial year 2014/2015. For that year the substantive junior doctor paybill was £3.1 billion; and there were an average of around 53,000 full-time-equivalent junior doctors employed over the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20039, on cancer drugs, if he will place in the Library a copy of the draft impact assessment for NHS England’s consultation on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund; for what reasons NHS England has not published the draft impact assessment alongside its consultation on those proposals; what guidance his officials have given on whether draft impact assessments should accompany NHS England consultations; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

NHS England has advised that it will not complete its assessment of the impact of the proposals on the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) until the outcomes from the current consultation on the future of the CDF are known. The formal consultation, as well as the wider engagement activity in progress, will be critical in helping to understand the potential impacts of the proposed changes.

The Better Regulation requirements, including the preparation of impact assessments, apply to the regulation of business. Where an impact assessment is required to accompany an NHS England consultation, the Department and NHS England work closely to prepare this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23092, how the figure of 10,000 for the number of additional training places universities will be able to provide by the end of the current Parliament was calculated.

Ben Gummer

As announced by the Chancellor in the Spending Review in November 2015, the Government has committed to remove the cap on the number of students studying nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions from 1 August 2017. This will enable universities to offer up to 10,000 new training places for students to start these courses in this Parliament.

This reflects estimates on the level of unmet demand for places in the current system where, as an example, for nursing, around two out of three nursing applicants who currently apply for a place are turned down.

The Government is working with health and higher education delivery organisations to determine an appropriate baseline as part of implementing the reforms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department exceeded its expenditure limit in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt

Confirmation of the spending outturn against all expenditure limits will be provided in the Department of Health’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16, due to be published in July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of junior doctors currently not working weekends.

Ben Gummer

This information is not held centrally.

Data gathered by NHS Employers for the purposes of developing proposals on junior doctors’ contract reform (and published in evidence to the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration) suggested that junior doctors are rostered to work an average of 63% fewer total hours on a weekend day compared to a week day.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support the implementation of the UK Chief Medical Officer’s proposed new alcohol guidelines, published in January 2016.

Jane Ellison

The guidelines are currently out for consultation. They are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-risks-from-alcohol-new-guidelines

We will consider any next steps once we have feedback from the public on the guidelines.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 26002, on NHS: training, when Health Education England will publish the local plans.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) published its HEE commissioning and investment plan for 2016/17 in December 2015 and HEE local team plans will be published by the end of March 2016.