Tag: Luciana Berger

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the prevalence and effect of unlicensed performance enhancing drugs (a) online and (b) in shops.

    Norman Lamb

    There are strict legal controls governing the sale and supply of medicinal products in the United Kingdom.

    Unlicensed medicines which claim to enhance performance generally claim to enhance either sexual, cognitive or athletic performance.

    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) works with domain name providers to shut down websites which are illegally trading in unlicensed erectile dysfunction medicines and which refuse to come in to compliance.

    A UK registered pharmacy may have a presence on the internet; however the requirements of legislation apply equally to both UK internet pharmacies and bricks-and-mortar premises. These legal controls also apply equally to medicines for human use sold or supplied via the internet or e-mail transactions. These restrictions do not apply to countries outside UK jurisdiction where medicines may be classified and regulated differently.

    Medicines most commonly associated with enhanced athletic performance are anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. These medicines are controlled as class C drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

    The MHRA has serious concerns about the availability of medicines being offered via the Internet and issues regular warnings to the public concerning the inherent risks of purchasing medicines online. MHRA advice is that medicines purchased from websites, particularly websites based overseas, cannot be guaranteed to meet set standards of quality, safety and efficacy and advises patients not to purchase medicines in this way.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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, what assessment his Department makes of the annual updates; and what estimate he has made of the number of hours of officials’ time spent assessing those updates.

    Jane Ellison

    Officials review annual updates to Responsibility Deal pledges on receipt and liaise with partners directly if any clarification is required.

    The Department does not record separately the spent on reviewing annual updates to the Responsibility Deal.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of teenage pregnancy co-ordinators in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not collect this information centrally. Efforts to tackle teenage pregnancy are led by local authorities, who will make local decisions on whether a teenage pregnancy co-ordinator is needed in their local area. There is no requirement for them to report centrally on whether they have a co-ordinator.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 178W, from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, on air pollution, for what reasons an assessment has not been made of the deaths caused by short-term exposures to elevated levels of air pollutants in the years since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Estimates of deaths attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution in United Kingdom local authorities in 2010 were published by Public Health England in April 2014. The mortality burden for the UK was estimated as an effect equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths.

    Public Health England does not routinely estimate the deaths associated with short-term exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants, as these effects are thought to overlap with the mortality effects of long-term exposure to air pollution. Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to be a contributory factor to deaths from respiratory and, particularly, cardiovascular disease, for example, unlikely to be the sole cause of deaths of individuals. This means that it is likely that air pollution contributes a smaller amount to the deaths of a larger number of exposed individuals rather than being solely responsible for a number of deaths equivalent to the calculated figure of ‘attributable deaths’.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2014, Official Report, column 101W, on the human papillomavirus, when the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will publish its conclusions into whether the human papillomavirus should be offered to males.

    Jane Ellison

    The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) human papillomavirus (HPV) sub-committee will report its findings to the JCVI following consideration of on-going studies by Public Health England on the impact and cost-effectiveness of extending HPV vaccination to men who have sex with men (MSM) and/or adolescent boys.

    It is expected that the MSM modelling study will be completed at the end of 2014 at the earliest, and the adolescent boys modelling study will be completed at the end of 2015 at the earliest. The JCVI will then consider the findings of the HPV subcommittee before deciding what advice or recommendations can be made.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are waiting for gender reassignment surgery; and what the average waiting time for such surgery was in each of the last four years.

    Norman Lamb

    Information about how many patients are waiting for gender reassignment surgery and average waiting times for such surgery is not held centrally.