Tag: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the fair-share Transformation Fund for Greater Manchester was calculated.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has allocated £450 million to Greater Manchester, representing their fair share of available transformation budgets over the five year period.

The Greater Manchester share is calculated by applying Greater Manchester’s total target Clinical Commissioning Group allocation as a percentage of the national amount to the relevant national policy and transformation funding. The Transformation Fund is being deployed in accordance with the priorities set out in the Greater Manchester Strategic Plan. A copy of the Plan is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to replace direct funding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency by fees paid by industry.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) operates as a government trading fund and recovers 92% of its total regulatory costs from fees and charges. In addition it receives income from the Department in recognition for the Agency providing both a devices service and a biologicals service from the National Institute for Biological Standards Control.

In 2016/17 the Department is purchasing a devices service of £8.1 million plus capital funding of £1 million which covers the remaining 8% of its regulatory costs.

The MHRA and the Department are considering charging the devices service directly to industry by fees.

The MHRA is also looking at the potential for increasing fees from international work over the coming years.

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 UK’s research capacity of the reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologist posts within 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 what was the total combined overall spending on vaccines procurement and administration (1) nationally, and (2) locally, including awareness campaigns, in each year from 2012–13 to the current financial year.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England were formed on 1 April 2013, therefore spend information can only be provided from 2013/2014 financial year onwards. Total combined spend for 2015/16 is not yet available.

Overall spend on procurement and the administration of vaccines, including communications spend for campaigns, is split between PHE and NHS England. The total combined overall spend can only be provided at a national level. Local level information is not readily available. Spend information is provided in the following table.

Approximate combined vaccine procurement and vaccine administration spend for England

Financial Year	2013/2014	2014/2015
Vaccine procurement and vaccine administration spend (£ million)	578	616

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group’s recommendations will be subject to public consultation, and if so, when.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department received the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements report on 20 July 2016. The report will be published in due course. A decision on consultation has not yet been made.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of NHS England having secured lower prices for the latest Hepatitis C drugs, whether they expect that progressively more patients will be treated in 2016–17 and future years.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit has recently concluded a tender which has resulted in some reductions in the cost of new hepatitis C drugs. These, and future reductions, support NHS England’s plans to increase treatment rates. NHS England has funded providers to treat 10,000 patients in the financial year 2016-17, and is expecting to treat more patients in the second half of the financial year. NHS England is already planning to increase treatment in 2017-18 to 12,500 patients, and is working with stakeholders to develop plans for a Strategic Multi-Year Procurement which aims to further improve the cost of these treatments and the opportunity to roll out treatment further.

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 whether they will take steps to investigate potential conflicts of interest when Clinical Commissioning Groups enter into contracts with companies in which one or more of their board members has a financial interest.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England is responsible for ensuring that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are effective and well led, including ensuring that conflicts of interest are properly managed in such a way as to ensure they do not undermine the integrity of commissioning decisions.

To do this, NHS England has developed an assurance framework for CCGs. CCGs are now required to complete a quarterly self-certification, which askswhether:

– Any potential conflicts of interest have arisen during the last quarter;

– The public register has been updated; and

– There is a record in each case of how the conflict of interest has or is planned to be managed.

This certification then forms the basis of an assurance conversation between the CCG and NHS England.

Work is currently underway to develop the 2016/17 CCG assessment framework and this will maintain the focus on conflicts of interest.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to ensure that a proper distinction is made between the role of the contractor appointed by the local authority to enable local healthwatches to be established and run, and that of the local healthwatch organisation itself.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department currently has no plans to undertake an investigation in to the performance of local Healthwatch organisations. In March 2015 the Department published a report commissioned from the King’s Fund – Local Healthwatch: Progress and promise – which set out the progress that local Healthwatch have made since being established in 2013. Transparency about the performance of local Healthwatch organisations is provided through the annual reports which they are required to publish. Reports on how the local Healthwatch network as a whole is operating and the nature of the support needed to deliver their activities effectively are discussed at quarterly public meetings of the Healthwatch England Committee.

Arrangements for ensuring local Healthwatch statutory activities are delivered in each area are a matter for local authorities. The Local Government Association has published guidance to support local Healthwatch and local commissioners in putting in place good governance arrangements, which includes clarity about the roles of all parties involved.

Neither the Department nor Healthwatch England are aware of local Healthwatch contractors refusing to engage with the public in their area. Where Healthwatch England is made aware of concerns in relation to local Healthwatch around governance or local relationships with specific individuals or organisations, it seeks to provide support to resolve these where appropriate. Members of the public are able to raise concerns though the complaints process of the local Healthwatch or the commissioning local authority.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the training scheme to create a career ladder for care workers by developing the role of care practitioners has been cancelled.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government is spending significant sums this year (circa £130 million) to train and develop the adult social care workforce; this includes £12m for the Workforce Development Fund for training to develop the workforce.

Whilst pre-contract discussions had taken place, no formal financial commitment was made to this specific project by UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the project has been informed that funding is not available.

In order to prioritise funding on the adult skills participation budgets, savings are being made from supporting budgets such as the UKCES.

The Government is working closely with its delivery partners, Skills for Care and National Skills Academy Social Care to improve the level of skills of the adult social care workforce.

The adult social care workforce has a key role to play as service users experience of care depends heavily on the sensitivity and compassion of care workers. Better skills and training are an important part of raising standards overall.