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Prostate Cancer
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote campaigns to tackle prostate cancer. [179043]
Jane Ellison: Campaigns are now the responsibility of Public Health England (PHE). Be Clear on Cancer campaigns (encouraging symptom recognition and earlier general practitioner (GP) presentation) have been running since early 2011 and have covered a number of cancers nationally and regionally; these include bowel, lung, kidney and bladder under the common symptom of “blood in pee”, breast, ovarian and oesophageal. There are no plans to include prostate cancer in the campaigns but the effect of the existing campaigns does help to encourage earlier presentation to GPs with any worrying symptoms. The “blood in pee” campaign is also relevant as this symptom can also be a sign of prostate cancer. Within PHE's screening programme there is a Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme for the prostate one. Although not a campaign as such, the programme also covers symptoms giving men an informed choice on whether to have a prostate-specific antigen test.
School Milk
Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's plans are for the Nursery Milk Scheme. [179948]
Dr Poulter: The Government published a consultation document entitled ‘Next Steps for Nursery Milk’ in June 2012 and undertook a survey of child care providers. This set out a number of options for how the scheme could be modernised. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library and is available online at:
http://consultations.dh.gov.uk/nurserymilk/nextsteps
The Department is conducting a comprehensive analysis of all the responses to the consultation, the impact assessment and the accompanying survey of child care providers and will publish a response on the future operation of the Nursery Milk Scheme after full consideration has been given to these and other relevant information.
Smoking: Yorkshire and the Humber
Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the smoking prevalence rate is in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber. [179995]
Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested.
The following table shows self-reported smoking prevalence rates by gender in the Yorkshire and the Humber region for adults (over 16 years) and children (aged 11-15 years).
| Cigarette smoking status by gender in Yorkshire and Humber region, 2011 (adults) and 2011-12 (children) | ||||||
| Current smokers | Non-smokers | |||||
| Gender and age | Heavy (20+ per day) | Moderate (10-19 per day) | Light (fewer than 10) | All smokers | Ex-regular smokers | Never or occasionally smoked |
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| Source (adults): General Lifestyle Survey 2011. The Office for National Statistics. Source (children): Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2012. | ||||||
Speech Therapy: Children
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children were referred for speech therapy in each of the last five years. [179039]
Dr Poulter: The Department does not collect data on how many children were referred for speech and language therapy. The following table gives the number of first out-patient attendances for children aged 0 to 17 years for speech and language therapy in England for 2008-09 to 2012-13.
| Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | |
| First out-patient attendances | |
| Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Health and Social Care Information Centre | |
Stress: Obesity
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the links between stress and obesity. [179007]
Jane Ellison: The Department has made no assessment of the links between stress and obesity.
Public Health England has investigated the relationship between obesity and mental health, but not specifically the relationship with stress.
Thalidomide
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to make a decision on the future of the thalidomide health grant. [178943]
Norman Lamb: On 20 December 2012 I announced a new 10-year grant to the Thalidomide Trust. The grant will be paid on an annual basis, uprated in line with inflation, which means that over the 10-year period it will be worth in the region of £80 million.
Tobacco: Smuggling
Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to ensure that the provisions of the revised European Union Tobacco Product Directive are in accordance with the provisions in the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control's Protocol to eliminate the illicit trade in tobacco products that govern implementation of control systems. [178921]
Jane Ellison: The Department's assessment is that Article 14 of the proposed European Tobacco Products Directive goes beyond the requirements of the Protocol. We will continue to work during the current Trilogue negotiations between member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission to make the tracking and tracing provisions as proportionate as possible.
USA
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what study trips to America (a) his Department and (b) the NHS undertook in 2008; which senior staff in (i) his Department and (ii) NHS London took part in each such trip; and what the cost to the public purse was of each such trip. [180371]
Dr Poulter: The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last had discussions on the future of Warrington and Halton NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement. [179797]
Jane Ellison: No such discussions have taken place.