Sarah Bool

The Secretary of State for Transport’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on driving and diabetes mellitus, has recommended that continuous or flash glucose monitoring systems, may be used to monitor glucose for the purpose of driving.

Following a consultation with stakeholders in 2018, it was decided that the testing of interstitial fluid can be permitted for driving licensing purposes for people with diabetes and Group 1 licences (cars or motorcycles).

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is in the process of assessing the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to extend the use of this technology to Group 2 licences (bus and lorry drivers) with diabetes. A targeted consultation was launched on 18 November 2024 and will run for a period of four weeks.

Land and property assets that have been acquired for HS2 via Compulsory Purchase Order or Statutory Blight, and that are no longer required, will be sold subject to the Crichel Down Rules.

These require Government departments, under certain circumstances, to offer back surplus land to the former owner or the former owner’s successors at the current market value.

As she/the Honourable Member will appreciate, this Government is still in its early stages, and is carefully considering next steps in this policy area.

War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Payments are not taken into account in Universal Credit. Guaranteed Income Payments, Service Attributable Pensions and service-attributable, non-taxable Service Invalidity Pensions are also not taken into account. New Style Employment Support Allowance (ESA) disregards any guaranteed income scheme payable under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

In the legacy income-related benefits, e.g. income-related ESA, there is a statutory £10 weekly disregard. However, Local Authorities have discretionary powers fully to disregard ‘war pension’ income in the assessment of Housing Benefit.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.

The NICE has evaluated and been able to recommend a number of CAR-T therapies, a type of cell therapy for the treatment of blood cancers, that are now available to NHS patients.

The NICE is responsible for the methods and processes it uses to develop its recommendations and concluded a comprehensive review of the methods and processes it uses for health technology evaluation in January 2022. The NICE carried out the review through extensive engagement with stakeholders, including Department officials. The NICE introduced a number of changes that make its methods fairer, faster, and more consistent, and appropriate to the evaluation of emerging new technologies, such as cell and gene therapies.

The NICE is monitoring the impact of the changes following the methods review and has committed to considering modular updates to its methods and processes in the future.

The National Health Service in England is required to fund medicines and treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NHS England has undertaken considerable activity to support NICE-recommended CAR-T therapies which are currently commissioned and those that may be available in the future.

There are 3 CAR-T products currently available for four types of blood cancer which have treated over 1,500 people to date: these products were made available via the Cancer Drugs Fund which provides early access to promising new cancer medicines. Two additional CAR-T products are currently being evaluated by NICE.

NHS England uses horizon scanning to see what is coming and has a dedicated team to support the adoption of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) that are recommended by NICE into the NHS. The team works with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to ensure timely patient access to ATMPs that are on the NICE technology appraisal and highly specialised technology workplan. NHS England regularly engages with clinicians who provide CAR-T therapy in order to ensure that there is sufficient capacity within the service to deliver this.

The Department has not undertaken a formal assessment of blood cancer outcomes in the United Kingdom and international comparators for the four most common cancers. As noted by Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the National Health Service, the rate of improvement for cancer survival slowed substantially during the 2010s. While survival rates have improved more quickly than many peer countries, they have done so from a low base. This means that the UK is still behind the Nordic countries for all major cancers.

Cancer death rates in the UK have fallen by more than a fifth between 1990 and 2011 and are predicted to drop by a further 17% between 2010 and 2030.

It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS in catching cancer, including blood cancers, as early as possible, to treat these diseases faster and more effectively, and thereby improve outcomes.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with blood cancer. We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be and will provide updates in due course.

The Government is clear that patients should expect and receive the highest standard of service and care from the National Health Service, and that people should be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect. Patients attending emergency departments will always be prioritised based on clinical need.

My Department has no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing water reed as an alternative thatching material for historic buildings.

Any works to demolish any part of a listed building or to alter or extend it in a way that affects its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest require listed building consent. It is for local planning authorities to decide whether to grant listed building consent depending on the particular circumstances of each case.