Tag: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the design and running of early phase clinical trials and all phases of drugs development of the reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologist posts being held in the NHS.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that there has not been a reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologists employed in the National Health Service in England.

As part of its workforce planning, Health Education England (HEE) take account of a range of factors including forecast rates of retirement. HEE has recently undertaken a review of the clinical pharmacology and therapeutics workforce, the findings of which will contribute to future workforce planning for this specialty in England.

It is for the respective Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider workforce planning for their health system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the final report of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group to be published, and whether its recommendations will be subject to public consultation.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government expects to receive the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement report shortly and will consider its recommendations once received. Until then, it would not be appropriate to speculate on possible recommendations or the impact they might have. We are committed to publishing their report. We will decide when to publish, and whether to consult, once we have had time to consider the report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) operating differently to other health technology assessment bodies, such as NICE, as stated in the minutes of the June JCVI meeting, in the event that the recommendations of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group are adopted.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The report of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement (CEMIPP) review was received in the Department on 20 July. The Department is considering this report and its potential implications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that Clinical Commissioning Groups do not arbitrarily restrict treatments for obese people and smokers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Arbitrary restrictions on treatment by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are unacceptable. Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs. For instance, major surgery poses much higher risks for severely overweight patients and those who smoke. So, where it is clinically appropriate, local general practitioner-led CCGs are right to ensure these patients first get support to lose weight and try to stop smoking before their operation.

NHS England must ensure that CCGs are not breaching their statutory responsibility to provide services that meet the reasonable needs of the local population, including obese people and smokers. In doing so, CCGs need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population and are based on the available evidence and take into account national guidelines.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what surplus they forecast for the NHS Pension Scheme in 2015–16 and 2016–17.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The NHS Pension Scheme is a ‘pay as you go’ pension scheme without financial assets. The last valuation in 2012 identified a deficit of £10.3 billion in the notional fund which is met by contributions from employers.

No additional contribution is expected from the National Health Service in 2016-17. NHS employers will continue to pay the standard employer contribution rate of 14.3%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the finding by The Times and the British Medical Journal that the board of a Clinical Commissioning Group in Birmingham awarded a £1.7 million contract to a company in which a number of its board members were shareholders or held a senior position.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We are aware of the reports in The Times and The British Medical Journal.

Birmingham South Central CCG has provided assurances that it has robust and transparent governance arrangements in place that are in line with NHS England guidelines.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the running costs of existing and future fluoridation schemes will continue to be funded when the ring-fenced public health grant is removed; and if so, how.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Since April 2013 Public Health England (PHE), on behalf of the Secretary of State, has recovered the operational costs of water fluoridation from local authorities served by these arrangements. The Secretary of State is required to meet the reasonable fluoridation capital and operating costs incurred by water undertakers in England and has the power to require local authorities to make payments to the Secretary of State to meet any such costs he has incurred. There are no proposed changes to the legislation affecting these arrangements.

Funding arrangements for the capital costs of new fluoridation schemes in England will need to be agreed between local authorities and PHE, on behalf of the Secretary of State, as part of the preparatory work before the scheme can commence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current membership of the care.data Advisory Group.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The care.data Advisory Group met between March 2014 and October 2015 and has now been disbanded. The group was Chaired by Ciarán Devane, who at the time was a non-executive director of NHS England, and included representatives from the following organisations:

– Academy of Medical Royal Colleges;

– Association of Medical Research Charities;

– Big Brother Watch;

– British Heart Foundation;

– British Medical Association;

– HealthWatch England;

– Hurley Group;

– Kings College London;

– Kings Fund;

– medConfidential;

– MIND;

– National Institute for Health Research;

– National Voices;

– Patients4Data;

– Royal College of General Practitioners;

– Royal College of Psychiatrists;

– Clinical Commissioning Groups;

– UCL Partners; and

– Wellcome Trust.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the risk of a conflict of interest when members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers both provide the reference prices from which to set the NHS tariff prices for specials in the primary care sector and supply those specials to community pharmacists.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers do not provide the Department with reference price data for their products. Individual manufacturers provide data on their sales volumes and selling prices to the Department under a memorandum of understanding between manufacturers and the Department. This data is then used to set a reimbursement price which reflects the price at which community pharmacies purchased these products in the quarter before.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as a result of the review of the NHS Commissioning Board’s policy on the autonomy of Commissioning Support Units (CSUs), CSUs that want to become staff enterprises or staff mutuals will have access to working capital on the same basis as other options open to CSUs.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It will be for NHS England’s Commissioning Committee to decide, in due course, whether to offer Clinical Support Units (CSUs) who apply to become autonomous, access to working capital and if so, on what terms.