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431802

registered interest
date	23/11/2015
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Apprentices: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) disabled people aged (i) under 25 and (ii) under 30 who participated in apprenticeships and (b) apprenticeships undertaken by disabled people in each of those age groups in each of the last 10 years.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	17196
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2015 answer text <p>Information on Apprenticeship participation by learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities, broken down by age, is published in supplementary tables (first link) to a Statistical First Release (second link).</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-equality-and-diversity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-equality-and-diversity</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held</a></p> answering member constituency Grantham and Stamford answering member printed Nick Boles question first answered 26/11/2015 14:15:57 answering member 3995 label Biography information for Nick Boles
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

431411

registered interest
date	20/11/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the Government as an employer and commissioner to increasing rates of employment among disabled people.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	17106
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2015 answer text <p>All Government Departments have clear objectives to increase workforce diversity, including disabled people.<del class="ministerial"> I</del> <ins class="ministerial">We </ins>have been working with officials across Whitehall to assess the proportion of disabled people employed by Government, and to identify ways to improve those numbers.</p><br /><p>As at 31 March 2015, 8.9% of Civil Service employees declared their disability status, up from 7.6% in 2010 and 8.8% in 2014.</p><br /><p>With reference to commissioning, successful bidders for contracts in excess of 12 months are required to submit annual Diversity &amp; Equality Delivery Plans, workforce monitoring data and Contractor and any Sub-contractor’s policy/policies and procedures for preventing unlawful discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity in respect of a range of groups, including people with a disability. <del class="ministerial">We will continue to seek opportunities to encourage, and offer support to, employers to employ more disabled people.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This Government is committed to being an exemplar employer and will continue to support employers and disabled people to create opportinities and increase disability emplyment.</ins></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 26/11/2015 15:29:01 question first ministerially corrected 26/11/2015 16:59:18 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson previous answer version 32296 answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

428302

registered interest
date	16/11/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential financial benefits to the NHS of increased utilisation of biosimilar medicines.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	16399
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2015 answer text <p>A biosimilar sub group of the Pharmaceutical Market Supply Group was established in October 2012; composed of NHS procurement pharmacists and representatives of the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, to help the National Health Service achieve benefits from new biosimilar molecules by helping remove obstacles to successful market launches and to encourage uptake.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p>The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for NHS patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies, including biosimilar products, making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. This will cover products that may already be on the market and off patent but are being innovatively repurposed to treat conditions other than those in remit of the existing license.</p><br /><p>Given their system leadership role, NHS England has established a programme of work to increase awareness, understanding and confidence amongst decision makers, such as commissioners, clinicians, pharmacists, patients and others in their consideration of the appropriate use of biosimilar medicines.</p><br /><p>In January this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its methods for providing guidance and advice on biosimilar medicines and in August, it published a <a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">position statement on biosimilar medicines</a> which sets out its approach:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines</a></p><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf</a></p><br /><p>In addition, NICE’s health technology adoption programme has produced a specific resource about Infliximab biosimilars relating to the technology appraisal for infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis after the failure of conventional therapy (TA329). The resource which is presented as a series of examples of current practice, provides practical information and advice on the use of biosimilar versions of Infliximab and is intended for use by both clinical and non-clinical staff considering the introduction of these biosimilar medicines into the NHS:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman grouped question UIN 16400 16408 question first answered 23/11/2015 11:15:53 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

428303

registered interest
date	16/11/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of biosimilar medicines amongst NHS healthcare professionals.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	16400
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2015 answer text <p>A biosimilar sub group of the Pharmaceutical Market Supply Group was established in October 2012; composed of NHS procurement pharmacists and representatives of the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, to help the National Health Service achieve benefits from new biosimilar molecules by helping remove obstacles to successful market launches and to encourage uptake.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p>The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for NHS patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies, including biosimilar products, making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. This will cover products that may already be on the market and off patent but are being innovatively repurposed to treat conditions other than those in remit of the existing license.</p><br /><p>Given their system leadership role, NHS England has established a programme of work to increase awareness, understanding and confidence amongst decision makers, such as commissioners, clinicians, pharmacists, patients and others in their consideration of the appropriate use of biosimilar medicines.</p><br /><p>In January this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its methods for providing guidance and advice on biosimilar medicines and in August, it published a <a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">position statement on biosimilar medicines</a> which sets out its approach:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines</a></p><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf</a></p><br /><p>In addition, NICE’s health technology adoption programme has produced a specific resource about Infliximab biosimilars relating to the technology appraisal for infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis after the failure of conventional therapy (TA329). The resource which is presented as a series of examples of current practice, provides practical information and advice on the use of biosimilar versions of Infliximab and is intended for use by both clinical and non-clinical staff considering the introduction of these biosimilar medicines into the NHS:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman grouped question UIN 16399 16408 question first answered 23/11/2015 11:15:53 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

428305

registered interest
date	16/11/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support the uptake of (a) biosimilar products and (b) other innovative and clinically beneficial forms of medicine.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	16408
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2015 answer text <p>A biosimilar sub group of the Pharmaceutical Market Supply Group was established in October 2012; composed of NHS procurement pharmacists and representatives of the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, to help the National Health Service achieve benefits from new biosimilar molecules by helping remove obstacles to successful market launches and to encourage uptake.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p>The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for NHS patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies, including biosimilar products, making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. This will cover products that may already be on the market and off patent but are being innovatively repurposed to treat conditions other than those in remit of the existing license.</p><br /><p>Given their system leadership role, NHS England has established a programme of work to increase awareness, understanding and confidence amongst decision makers, such as commissioners, clinicians, pharmacists, patients and others in their consideration of the appropriate use of biosimilar medicines.</p><br /><p>In January this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its methods for providing guidance and advice on biosimilar medicines and in August, it published a <a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">position statement on biosimilar medicines</a> which sets out its approach:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/evaluating-biosimilar-medicines</a></p><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-technology-appraisals/Biosimilars%20position%20statement%20-%20updated%20June%202015.pdf</a></p><br /><p>In addition, NICE’s health technology adoption programme has produced a specific resource about Infliximab biosimilars relating to the technology appraisal for infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis after the failure of conventional therapy (TA329). The resource which is presented as a series of examples of current practice, provides practical information and advice on the use of biosimilar versions of Infliximab and is intended for use by both clinical and non-clinical staff considering the introduction of these biosimilar medicines into the NHS:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction" target="_blank">http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta329/resources/nice-technology-appraisal-adoption-support-for-introducing-biosimilar-versions-of-infliximab-inflectra-and-remsima-493818736/chapter/1-Introduction</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman grouped question UIN 16399 16400 question first answered 23/11/2015 11:15:54 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

428166

registered interest
date	13/11/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Primary Health Care
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of GP appointments and A&E visits each year for self-treatable conditions which could have been treated at home or with advice from a pharmacist; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	16254
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2015 answer text <p>NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review Phase 1 report (November 2013) estimated that 20% of general practitioner (GP) consultations relate to minor ailments which could largely be dealt with by self-care and support from community pharmacies.</p><br /><p>More recently, the NHS Alliance’s report, <em>Making Time in General Practice </em>(October 2015), found that around a sixth of patients covered by the study could potentially have been seen by someone else in the wider primary care team, such as clinical pharmacists, practice nurses or physician assistants, or by being supported to meet their own health needs.</p><br /><p>On 16 November 2015, the GP Workforce 10 Point Plan partners announced the pilots taking part in its new scheme to fund, recruit and employ clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries as part of efforts to promote new ways of working, improve patient access and reduce GP workload. NHS England has more than doubled funding from £15 million to £31 million for its clinical pharmacists in general practice pilot, this will be shared between the 73 successful applications which cover 698 GP practices and include 403 clinical pharmacists.</p><br /><p>The Department does not collate data nationally showing how many people who visit accident and emergency (A&amp;E) departments could have been treated elsewhere. As part of the implementation stage of the urgent and emergency care review, NHS England is piloting the national ED (emergency department) pharmacy initiative. The pilot will show the potential for pharmacists to work alongside A&amp;E staff as part of a joined-up, multidisciplinary workforce, to help ensure people with urgent care needs get the right advice in the right place, first time.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 23/11/2015 15:59:05 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

427714

registered interest
date	10/11/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Primary Health Care
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will encourage participation by NHS organisations and local authorities in Self Care Week.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	15949
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2015 answer text <p>Self Care Week 2015 is managed and promoted by the Self Care Forum, an organisation which seeks to embed approaches to self care it into everyday life and to educate and empower people to manage their own health and wellbeing. The Self Care Forum has been running its annual awareness campaign since 2011. This year, Self Care Week is taking place from 16-22 November and the theme is ‘self-care for life’.</p><p>The Self Care Forum has produced a range of promotional literature including posters, leaflets and a communication pack to help NHS services and other organisations raise awareness of self-care week locally. These materials are freely available from its website and can be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="http://www.selfcareforum.org/events/self-care-week-resources/%20" target="_blank">www.selfcareforum.org/events/self-care-week-resources/</a></p><p>As in previous years, NHS England has promoted Self Care Week and the ‘self-care for life’. Further information can be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/09/09/self-care-week/%20" target="_blank">www.england.nhs.uk/2015/09/09/self-care-week/</a></p><p>Members of the public are encouraged to find out more about local Self Care Week events through their clinical commission group or local authority.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 18/11/2015 16:53:35 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

425657

registered interest
date	03/11/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Defence Equipment: Spare Parts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the number of spare parts his Department has for equipment no longer in use; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that spare parts for such equipment are not held in storage.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	14530
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2015 answer text <p>Since the introduction of the Defence Equipment and Support Inventory Management Strategy (IMS) in 2012 the level of obsolete stock held has substantially reduced; currently, items identified as obsolete represent less than 0.2 per cent of the total value of inventory held by the Ministry of Defence. As at 1 April 2015 the IMS has achieved an overall stock reduction of £8.7 billion against a strategic target of £9.5 billion set for 31 March 2016. We are also working with industry to optimise inventory further and reduce the logistics footprint, while supporting operations and maintaining availability to the Front-line Commands.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 09/11/2015 16:13:01 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

418218

registered interest
date	10/09/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Radiology
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England's high cost device steering group has had with interventional radiologists on the proposed decision to remove the interventional radiology best practice tariff from the 2016-17 tariff proposals.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	9893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2015 answer text <p>The High Cost Devices Steering Group considers the list of devices that are to be reimbursed outside of national prices. It does not advise on changes to best practice tariffs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 17/09/2015 16:14:59 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

418219

registered interest
date	10/09/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Fibroids: Medical Treatments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve patient access to uterine fibroid embolisation.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	9891
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2015 answer text <p>Uterine fibroid embolisation is a treatment that is approved and recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A patient diagnosed with uterine fibroids requiring treatment will receive care and advice from their general practitioner (GP) in the first instance. If further treatment is required, the GP will refer the patient to a gynaecologist. It is the responsibility of specialist clinicians within clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to recommend appropriate treatment to treat this condition, and for the CCGs to ensure they commission appropriate services to meet local demand.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison question first answered 18/09/2015 10:01:35 answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma