The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what incentives are in place to improve the uptake of hepatitis C treatment nationally.
Jane Ellison
Clinical commissioning groups have considerable local flexibility to introduce incentives where they wish to prioritise a particular issue, based on their population needs. There are no national incentives in place to support improved uptake of hepatitis C treatment in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2014, Official Report, column 293W, on sugar, what discussions he has had and what representations he has received on including sugar in the list of ingredients that companies should work with caterers to reformulate in meals as part of the H4 pledge on Healthier Staff Restaurants; and what response his Department gave in each such case.
Jane Ellison
There have not been any discussions or representations made to the Secretary of State for Health or any Departmental officials, on including sugar in the list of ingredients that companies should work with caterers to reformulate in meals as part of the H4 Responsibility Deal pledge on Healthier Staff Restaurants.
There are 169 organisations currently signed up to the H4 pledge which includes a requirement for employers to work with caterers to reformulate recipes to ensure staff meals are lower in fat, salt and energy.
In addition, 11 catering companies have signed up to take a range of actions to help people consume fewer calories, including through reformulation to reduce sugar content.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department intends to create a strategy to mitigate the effect of air pollution on public health.
Dan Rogerson
The Government recognizes the impact poor air quality can have on human health and the environment and has put in place a framework for delivering improvements via the Air Quality Strategy and Local Air Quality Management. The European Commission also has requirements for Member States to meet legally binding limits for key pollutants to protect public health and ecosystems.
The Government is committed to ongoing work to reduce this impact and has invested many billions of pounds in measures that will help to reduce air pollution from transport, energy and industrial sources, including over £1 billion in ultra-low emission vehicles and sustainable transport measures, incentives and infrastructure projects for electric and hybrid vehicles, a Local Sustainable Transport Fund of £490 million, a fund of around £100 million for less polluting bus services and investment in measures to promote cycling and walking. All these measures are helping to reduce transport emissions, which are the main contributor to air pollution in towns and cities.
In addition to these national measures, local authorities have a responsibility to manage local air quality and to put in place plans to improve air quality where national objectives are not met. Local action is also supported by the Government’s air quality grant programme, which has provided over £50 million since 1997 for innovative projects.
Defra works with Public Health England, the Department of Health and other Government departments to maintain and develop methodologies for assessing air quality impacts on health and the environment, and to develop evidence-based measures to ensure air quality is appropriately prioritised and integrated into local strategies. For instance the Government has established an Air Quality Indicator as part of the new Public Health Outcomes Framework. Local authorities will be expected to deliver against 68 measurable outcomes (indicators) for health, including for air quality.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the running costs are for each of the academic health science networks.
Norman Lamb
The information requested is not available.
NHS England advise us that individual funding levels and programme costs vary between Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). NHS England budget allocations are not their sole source of income and AHSNs are seeking to supplement this funding through participation in strategic investment programmes and match-funding initiatives. Core running cost are for AHSNs to determine independently and may also be subject to change through the year.
Further information on AHSN work programmes and business plans can be found on their websites:
|
AHSN |
Website |
|
East Midlands |
www.emahsn.ac.uk |
|
Eastern |
www.eahsn.org.uk |
|
Imperial College Health Partners |
www.imperialcollegehealthpartners.com |
|
Greater Manchester |
www.gmahsn.org |
|
Kent, Surrey and Sussex |
www.kssahsn.net |
|
North East and North Cumbria |
www.ahsn-nenc.org.uk |
|
North West Coast |
www.nwcahsn.nhs.uk |
|
Oxford |
www.oxfordahsn.org |
|
South London |
www.kingshealthpartners.org/info/southlondonahsn |
|
South West Peninsula |
www.swahsn.com |
|
UCL Partners |
www.uclpartners.com |
|
Wessex |
www.wessexahsn.org |
|
West Midlands |
www.wmahsn.org |
|
West of England |
www.weahsn.net |
|
Yorkshire and Humber |
www.yhahsn.org.uk |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the importance of psychological support services for patients suffering from cancer of the unknown primary.
Jane Ellison
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance manual: Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer (www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/csgspmanual.pdf) provides a framework for the provision of psychological support in people with cancer – including cancer of unknown primary.
The NICE clinical guideline for Depression with a chronic physical health problem (CG91) is also a useful resource.
All patients should have systematic psychological assessment and have access to an appropriate psychological intervention from professionals competent to provide them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to include a specific hepatitis C indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
Jane Ellison
The Public Health Outcomes Framework for 2013-16 (PHOF) already includes an indicator on under 75 mortality rate from liver disease (PHOF indicator 4.6), which is shared with the NHSOF (indicator 1.3) and an indicator on mortality from communicable diseases (Indicator 4.8). Both of these indicators cover hepatitis C.
In support of these indicators, Public Health England is working to reverse the current trend in hepatitis C, so that the rates of death and disability are reduced, including working with local authorities and the NHS in those areas with high levels of hepatitis C to put effective strategies in place.
The Department is not planning to add new indicators to the PHOF until April 2016 to provide local authorities with stability in planning and commissioning public health interventions. The Department is planning to begin a review of the current PHOF in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 486W, on health: business, whether he plans to make an assessment of the overall (a) number and (b) proportion of those companies which are meeting all of the pledges they have signed up to.
Jane Ellison
Details of our Responsibility Deal partners, the pledges they have committed to taking action on, their delivery plans and annual updates are all readily available on the Responsibility Deal website at:
https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/partners/
This information is published in full and the Department does not therefore publish an assessment of partners’ achievements under the pledges.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many financial bonuses of what amount have been paid to employees of Public Health England since April 2013; and on what criteria such bonuses were awarded.
Jane Ellison
Financial bonuses have been paid to 20 employees of Public Health England since its establishment on 1 April 2013, all of which relate to their performance in predecessor organisations in the 2012-13 reporting year. The criteria used for the performance assessment and subsequent payments for which they were eligible were those of their former employer.
Of these, 18 were to former employees of the Department of Health, all of which were non-consolidated. The number of payments and amounts were as follows:
|
Number of payments |
Amount (£) |
|
1 |
210 |
|
1 |
250 |
|
1 |
380 |
|
1 |
480 |
|
1 |
630 |
|
1 |
750 |
|
1 |
825 |
|
4 |
900 |
|
1 |
1,000 |
|
4 |
1,200 |
|
1 |
10,000 |
|
1 |
12,500 |
The remaining two were to former employees of the Health Protection Agency, which were also non-consolidated, and amounted to £10,000 each.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS-funded cosmetic surgeries have been performed in each of the last four years; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of those surgeries which were not based on a mental health need.
Dr Daniel Poulter
This information is not available in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who will have responsibility for cervical screening under the forthcoming Public Health England commissioning framework.
Jane Ellison
The National Health Service (NHS) Cervical Screening Programme is commissioned by NHS England under the NHS public health functions agreement 2014-15 (the Section 7a agreement, covering public health functions to be exercised by NHS England on behalf of the Department). Public Health England is responsible for the piloting and roll-out of new screening programmes or improvements to existing programmes, including the current pilot of human papillomavirus testing as primary screening.