Regulator patient safety alerts

Recommendation: We recognise that there is some dissatisfaction among stakeholders concerning the effectiveness and scope of the Groceries Code Adjudicator. There remain concerns about whether the Groceries Code Adjudicator has sufficient powers to address the full spectrum of challenges facing the …

Recommendation: We will continue to monitor access to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland and scrutinise the effectiveness of both the Veterinary Medicines Internal Market Scheme and the Veterinary Medicines Health Situations Scheme. (Conclusion, Paragraph 59)

Gov response: We have now moved beyond the end of the veterinary medicines grace period. No significant issues have been reported: medicines supply remains stable. However, we will continue to monitor the situation closely. The Veterinary Medicine …

Recommendation: The Department and Ofgem are not doing enough to ensure people falling into debt with their energy bills receive the advice and support they need from their energy supplier. At the same time as energy prices have risen significantly so …

Gov response: The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. To address the Committee’s concerns, the department proposes an alternative approach, recommending that Ofgem, as the market regulator, is better suited than DESNZ to collect pertinent information and …

Recommendation: In their response to this report, the Government should set out what impact it believes National Patient Safety Alerts have on private prescribing and what scrutiny and enforcement measures are in place to ensure private prescribers adhere to these alerts.

Gov response: The committee raises an interesting and valuable point. HIV is a key priority for the Government, and we have commissioned a new HIV Action Plan for 2025-30, to achieve no new HIV transmissions with England …

Recommendation: Addressing some of these barriers will require legislative changes, for example, creating new obligations on landlords to remediate, and new enforcement powers for regulators to compel remediation or impose penalties. The Plan did not mention other barriers to pace highlighted …

Gov response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 The government is working to publish an update of the Remediation Acceleration Plan in Summer 2025; however, this is dependent on the outcome …

Recommendation: We recommend that a single set of stretching safety training targets should be established by the Maternity Transformation Programme board, working in conjunction with the Royal Colleges and the Care Quality Commission. Those targets should be enforced by NHSE&I’s Maternity …

Gov response: 41. We accept this recommendation. 42. In collaboration with national maternity partner organisations including the Royal Colleges, HSIB, NHS Resolution and the CQC, the MTP’s Recommendation’s Group has undertaken a review of training recommendations from …

Recommendation: An outcomes-focused approach, however, can present a challenge for regulators and policymakers in measuring the influence or impact of regulation and the level of compliance by industry. A regulator’s influence over the industry it regulates—for example, how well businesses comply …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2021 5.2 Key to ensuring a proportional approach is recognising what is necessary in each instance. There will be sectors and circumstances where …

Recommendation: An outcomes-focused regulatory approach is one characterised by setting overall outcomes or principles expected of the regulated industry, rather than specifying rules. This has the benefit of often being more responsive to change because the regulatory objective or outcome remains …

Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2021 5.2 Key to ensuring a proportional approach is recognising what is necessary in each instance. There will be sectors and circumstances where …

Recommendation: Rapid technological development is altering traditional business and commerce, the climate emergency is driving changes in business and consumer behaviour, and changing social attitudes are shifting citizens’ expectations of regulators. The UK’s exit from the EU has also created both …

Gov response: 3: PAC conclusion: Regulators may fail to protect citizens, businesses and the environment if they do not successfully adapt to major changes in their sectors. 3: PAC recommendation: Government and regulators should work together to …

Recommendation: The Department told us that the UK is ranked highly in terms of regulatory policy and competitiveness by international bodies such as the OECD, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum (WEF). We heard that the Department seeks to …

Recommendation: The Government’s 2019 White Paper ‘Regulation for the 4th Industrial Revolution’ found that only 29% of businesses believed that “government’s approach to regulation facilitates innovative products and services being efficiently brought to market”.9 The Department explained that enabling innovation and …

Gov response: 2: PAC conclusion: The Department and regulators have been slow to follow best practice in facilitating innovation. 2: PAC recommendation: Government should require regulators to engage meaningfully with businesses to explore potential new ideas and …

Recommendation: We asked the Department how lessons from the regulatory response to the pandemic, including effective cooperation between regulators, could be embedded in the regulatory system. It told us that encouraging dialogue between regulators and with ministers was important, and highlighted …

Gov response: 1: PAC conclusion: The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown what can be achieved when regulatory bodies work effectively together with a clear focus on outcomes. 1: PAC recommendation: The Department should identify what …

Recommendation: Outcomes-based regulation comes with benefits, but also presents challenges for regulators in measuring their influence and compliance by industry. In general, setting goals and facilitating business to meet them can be both a more effective and a less burdensome approach …

Gov response: 1. The BBC appears complacent about the threat it faces from declining audiences. Each year people spend less time watching BBC TV and 200,000 more households choose to opt out of paying for the licence …

Recommendation: Regulators may fail to protect citizens, businesses and the environment if they do not successfully adapt to major changes in their sectors. To remain effective, 6 Principles of effective regulation regulators must adapt and respond to change. Rapid technological development …

Gov response: 3: PAC conclusion: Regulators may fail to protect citizens, businesses and the environment if they do not successfully adapt to major changes in their sectors. 3: PAC recommendation: Government and regulators should work together to …

Recommendation: Local authority Trading Standards services have experienced significant resourcing challenges, including a 39% real-terms reduction in funding in the past 10 years. The OPSS told us that services’ funding varies enormously throughout the UK, as some Trading Standards are very …

Gov response: 3: PAC conclusion: There is insufficient coordination between the OPSS, local authorities and other parts of government. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 3.2 OPSS recognises the fundamental …

Recommendation: The OPSS is still quite a new regulator with only a £14 million budget for product safety operations. The Department told us that it is providing additional funding for goods checking at the border, while the OPSS noted that additional …

Gov response: 5: PAC conclusion: The regulatory system is lacking capacity and skills to meet the challenges it faces. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 5.2 OPSS is currently reviewing …

Recommendation: The OPSS has struggled to reach some businesses and consumers to prevent harm being caused by unsafe products. Businesses are responsible for ensuring that the products they make and sell are safe. The OPSS and local regulators therefore rely on …

Gov response: 2: PAC conclusion: The OPSS has struggled to reach some businesses and consumers to prevent harm being caused by unsafe products. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 2.6 …

Recommendation: More significantly, we are concerned by the Government’s apparent lack of understanding of the extensive failings of the regulator and the consequences that this would have on the market in the event of any demand or supply-side shocks. 76 Energy …

Gov response: This is a matter for Government.

Recommendation: We expect Ofgem, as the independent regulator, to clearly outline to Ministers and Parliament the risks and consequences associated with the delivery of Government objectives. We do not believe that Ofgem properly raised the risks to Government, or Parliament, that …

Gov response: failure, including ensuring timely return of credit balances and that customers in debt are supported. There are limits to Ofgem’s ability to act in this area, as it does not have powers over Insolvency Practitioners. …

Recommendation: The Department recognised this as a serious issue. It made clear that, because in the first instance consumers facing energy debts should contact their energy supplier, the regulatory regime should that require suppliers to offer “good, accurate and helpful advice” …

Gov response: 4.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 4.2 To address the Committee’s concerns, the department proposes an alternative approach, recommending that Ofgem, as the market regulator, is better suited than DESNZ to collect pertinent …

Recommendation: We acknowledge that a large part of the success to date into the development of covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics can be credited to lessons learned from previous outbreaks and efforts made to prepare for future crises. As further promising vaccine …

Recommendation: The development of vaccines and therapeutics is a policy area in which it is right that science must lead the way, so that there may be a high level of confidence that a rigorous approach has been taken towards safety …

Recommendation: We are aware that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government’s regulatory body which approves medical devices, approved 51 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/staggered-rollout-of-coronavirus-testing-for-secondary-schools- and-colleges; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-asymptomatic-testing-in- schools-and-colleges/coronavirus-covid-19-asymptomatic-testing-in-schools-and-colleges; https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/all-students-offered-testing-on-return-to-university 52 Qq 13, 16–17, 118 53 C&AG’s Report paras 1.28–1.29 54 Q …

Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2021 4.2 Regular rapid tests are a vital tool in helping to identify cases of coronavirus that would otherwise not be found. Around …

Recommendation: A number of significant commentators, including the British Medical Association and British Medical Journal, have raised concerns about the effectiveness and risks of mass testing with LFD tests.55 A particular issue raised is the relative accuracy of LFD tests compared …

Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2021 4.2 Regular rapid tests are a vital tool in helping to identify cases of coronavirus that would otherwise not be found. Around …

Recommendation: On the basis of a report by the National Audit Office, we took evidence from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (the Department), and from the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Office of …

Gov response: Based on a report by the National Audit Office, the Committee took evidence on 14 June 2021 from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The Committee published its report on 15 September 2021. …

Recommendation: The Government should assess whether outlets in the UK that are recruiting patients for medical treatment overseas should be brought into a regulatory regime and be subject to investigation and, where necessary, sanction. (Recommendation, Paragraph 97) Body image

Recommendation: We welcome Government action on educating the public on the risks of travelling abroad for cosmetic procedures and providing guidance on how to do so as safely as possible and its use of social media channels to do so. With …

Recommendation: The Government should review the need for the NHS to systematically record data on complications arising from cosmetic procedures performed abroad. Publishing such data in an annual release would enable a comprehensive assessment of the financial impact on the NHS …

Recommendation: The increasing number of cases requiring medical treatment after cosmetic surgery abroad raises serious concerns for patient safety and places additional financial strain on the NHS. However, the true extent will remain unknown until comprehensive data is collected. (Conclusion, Paragraph …

Recommendation: The Government should work with the devolved administrations to ensure regulatory alignment across all UK nations on legislation governing non- surgical cosmetic procedures. (Recommendation, Paragraph 82) Cosmetic tourism

Recommendation: While Scotland has taken steps to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to announce similar plans. This lack of regulatory alignment across the UK creates significant risks, including inconsistent safety standards and …