The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many public relations and communications staff have been hired directly by the NHS in each of the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold the requested information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on public relations and communications in each of the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold the requested information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on public relations consultancy firms in each of the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold the requested information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of employees of mining companies that are registered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of mining companies that are registered in the UK.
Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ensure that any agreement on a central registry of beneficial ownership in Bermuda includes access for the public with legitimate reason.
James Duddridge
In March the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and I wrote to the Premier of Bermuda asking him to set out plans and a timetable for the implementation of a central register of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective system, to meet three criteria, including law enforcement access. Bermuda has had a central registry of company and trust beneficiaries since 1939. It includes all shareholdings above 10% compared to the 25% which is the threshold for the UK’s register. The information is updated in real time and is already shared with law enforcement and tax authorities on request. We remain of the view that a public central register is the best approach to improve company transparency.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for colonoscopy to detect bowel cancer.
Jane Ellison
Helping more people survive cancer is a key priority for this Government.
We expect the National Health Service to look urgently at any dips in local performance and take action to make sure all patients get access to cancer treatment as quickly as possible. NHS England has set up a taskforce to look at what should be done to ensure cancer waiting times standards are met.
Specifically for colonoscopy for bowel cancer, the NHS has committed to train an extra 250 gastroenterologists by 2020. In addition, Health Education England has pledged to fund the training of 200 non-medical endoscopists to significantly increase endoscopy capacity in England. The first cohort will begin training at the end of January 2016. NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team (formerly NHS Improving Quality) is working intensively with trusts that have significant endoscopy waiting lists, in order to improve performance. The learning from this will be shared widely.NHS England is also exploring ways to improve endoscopy performance through pricing changes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2015 to Question 18808, what assessment he made of the conclusion by the Independent Cancer Taskforce in its 2015 report entitled Achieving world class outcomes for cancer: A strategy for England 2015-2020 that faecal immunochemical testing has extremely poor rates of detection for precancerous polyps.
Jane Ellison
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recently consulted on the use of Faecal Immunochemical testing (FIT) as an alternative screen test for bowel cancer. Both the UK NSC and the Independent Cancer Taskforce are supportive of the initial results of the FIT pilot, which indicates that this test is more acceptable to the screened population with a significant increase in participation (10%). The UK NSC has published its minutes from the November meeting and recommends a change to use FIT as the primary test to be used in the National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
We are considering the UK NSC’s recommendation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve GP education on skin cancer and dermatology.
Jane Ellison
In 2011, the Department of Health funded Cancer Research UK to work in partnership with the British Association of Dermatologists, to develop a Skin Cancer Toolkit for general practitioners (GPs). The toolkit was launched in 2012 and is currently available to GPs via doctors.net.
In June 2015, the National Institute for Care Excellence published new cancer referral guideline for GPs, including guidance for GPs on investigating patients with signs suggestive of skin cancer. The guideline will continue to support GPs to identify patients with signs and symptoms of suspected cancer, including skin cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in collaboration with Cancer Research UK has worked on a programme of regional update events for GPs to enable GPs to adopt the new guidelines.
More generally, it is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC) to set the standards and outcomes for the education and training of doctors and to approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.
The royal colleges, for example the RCGP have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors, in particular postgraduate curricula. Health Education England will work with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the RCGP to seek to ensure general practice training meets the needs of patients.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-14.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include the removal of VAT on sun safety products in his negotiations on VAT on sanitary products with his counterparts in the EU.
Mr David Gauke
EU VAT rules do not currently allow for the application of a zero rate of VAT to sanitary products. That is why I have written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products.
Drugs and medications that are dispensed by a registered pharmacist against a prescription issued by a qualifying health professional are zero rated for VAT.
High-factor sunscreen is on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and is therefore provided VAT free when dispensed by a pharmacist to patients.