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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Liam Byrne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liam Byrne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on steps to tackle alcohol misuse.

    Jane Ellison

    Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol prevention and treatment services and commissioning interventions and services based on that need. Public Health England (PHE) works closely with local authorities – via nine regional centres – by providing advice, support and evidence-based guidance in a range of public health issues, including alcohol misuse.

    An example of this is the support PHE gives to local authority commissioners with the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) process and their local joint health and wellbeing strategies. The annual JSNA support pack from PHE covers four topics including alcohol harm prevention, treatment and recovery. For more information, see the pack which is available online at:

    http://www.nta.nhs.uk/healthcare-JSNA.aspx

    “

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what comparative assessment he has made of uptake and use by the NHS of new treatments for people living with diabetes with health systems in other EU countries.

    Jane Ellison

    The Office of Health Economics (OHE) report International Comparison of Medicines Usage: Quantitative Analysis, published last year, showed that uptake of newer and more expensive drugs to treat diabetes was lower than comparator countries. However, uptake of more established therapies was considerably higher.

    It is important to note that high use of drugs does not mean more people are cured. There are a number of legitimate factors which influence usage, and therefore variation, such as populations with differing health needs. The Research and Development (RAND) Europe report International variation in drugs usage: an exploratory analysis, published at the same time as the OHE report – seeks to define some of these factors and can be found at the link below:

    http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR800/RR899/RAND_RR899.pdf

    Our focus is on tackling unjustified variation where it exists.

    “

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is on making the drug Keyruda available for cancer treatment in the NHS.

    George Freeman

    Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of advanced melanoma, which has spread or cannot be removed by surgery and has progressed after other treatments, is the first drug to be given a positive scientific opinion through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS). NHS England has undertaken to fund the use of EAMS products routinely within 30 days of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance being published.

    NICE published final guidance on pembrolizumab on 7 October 2015 which recommends its use for the treatment of advanced melanoma after disease progression with ipilimumab.

    NICE is also appraising pembrolizumab for advanced melanoma that has not been previously treated with ipilimumab and published final draft guidance which recommends its use on 9 October 2015. NICE’s final guidance is expected to be published in November 2015.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to tender for additional proton beam therapy treatment providers.

    Jane Ellison

    The decision to commission services from additional proton beam therapy (PBT) centres would likely be triggered by an existing supplier no longer being able to deliver services and/or NHS England having capacity requirements that could not be met by the existing providers.

    In the event NHS England required additional PBT providers, these would be selected through a procurement exercise.

    There is currently no indication that NHS England will need to seek additional providers but it will, of course, keep this position under review.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the update of the current Cancer Drugs Fund list published on 4 September 2015, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on survival rates for (a) breast cancer, (b) pancreatic cancer, (c) lymphoma and (d) leukaemia of the removal of treatments from that list.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that negotiations are continuing which may result in some drugs remaining in the Cancer Drugs Fund making it difficult to provide a meaningful estimate at this time.

    NHS England also advises that the planned removal of these drugs from the Fund will have no or minimal impact on survival rates for the cancers listed.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the mechanisms used by NHS England to collect information on patient experience include metrics on (a) shared decision-making and (b) self-management.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS England collects patient experience information through a programme of national patient experience surveys, which depending on the survey, are managed by either NHS England or the Care Quality Commission.

    National surveys containing questions that can be used to assess the extent to which patients feel they are being involved in shared decision-making include: the National Survey of Bereaved People, the Cancer Patient Experience Survey, the GP Patient Survey, and surveys in accident and emergency, maternity, mental health and inpatient settings.

    Questions asking patients about their view and support to self-manage are included in both the Cancer Patient Experience Survey and the GP Patient Survey and in addition, NHS England is testing the use of a Patient Activation Measure within the National Health Service, to support self-management and person centred care.

  • Stephen McPartland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Stephen McPartland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Obscene Publications Act 1959 to make possession of obscene publications an either way offence rather than summary only offence; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    The offence of publishing an obscene article under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 is triable either way, with a maximum custodial penalty of six months on summary conviction or five years on conviction on indictment. The Government has no current plans to amend it but is happy to consider relevant evidence.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the performance of (a) the police and (b) her Department in responding to human trafficking; and what steps she is taking to improve the way reports of human trafficking are dealt with.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government has set out its plan for responding to human trafficking in the Modern Slavery Strategy. The Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on Modern Slavery oversees implementation of the strategy, supported by a quarterly Strategy Board, a monthly stakeholder meeting, and a Modern Slavery Threat Group that is chaired by Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the National Policing Lead for Modern Slavery. The IDMG’s 2015 report will be published shortly and will provide a detailed assessment of the scale and nature of the threat, what the Government has done to respond and our priorities for future work. In addition, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner will each year publish a report on his work and on progress being made on tackling modern slavery. As part of our wider strategy, the Government is committed to strengthening the way in which we identify and refer potential victims of trafficking into the National Referral Mechanism. As part of this, the Home Office is piloting reforms to the National Referral Mechanism in West Yorkshire and the South West.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest recorded time is for which a person has been held in immigration detention since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    The longest time a person has been detained in the immigration estate – a foreign criminal who who left detention and was returned to Algeria in Q1 2012 – was 2,319 days.

    The individual in this case had accumulated 14 convictions from 32 offences committed between 1998 and 2004, including – but not limited to – convictions for firearms/ shotguns/offensive weapons, drug offences, offences relating to police/courts/prisons and theft. He was continuously non-compliant with the Home Office and Algerian authorities, using a false identity and nationality, which frustrated attempts to obtain travel documentation to facilitate his deportation. His continued non-compliance, deception and a history of absconding led to detention being prolonged.

    This information does not include those held in prisons solely under Immigration Act powers.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

  • Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for peace talks in Colombia of the on-going violence perpetrated by paramilitaries in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We strongly believe that the best way to achieve a sustainable peace in Colombia after decades of conflict is through the current Peace Process. We welcome the announcement by both sides on 23 September, on an agreement for justice and victims’ reparations. The agreement ends any notion of impunity, including those alleged to be involved in Paramilitary groups.

    Our Embassy in Bogotá receives regular reporting on the security and human rights situation in Colombia from a range of sources including non-governmental organisations operating in Colombia. This includes allegations of abuses by paramilitary groups such as attacks against leaders of land restitution claims and human rights defenders. The majority of such abuses continue to take place in areas affected by the ongoing conflict. We remain concerned about the ongoing activity of paramilitary forces operating in Colombia and we continue to raise this issue of Human rights regularly with the Colombian authorities.