Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what national guidance they have issued to NHS trusts regarding the roles and responsibilities of nursing associate apprentices.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Apprenticeship standards set out the roles and responsibilities of an apprentice, and the skills, knowledge, and behaviours an apprentice will need to have learned by the end of their apprenticeship. The Nursing Associate Apprenticeship standard has been developed by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, in partnership with employers, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The standard is publicly available, including to all National Health Service trusts.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the education of all prisoners in England.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service are committed to improving prison education across England. We have introduced key roles such as Heads of Education, Skills and Work, and Neurodiversity Support Managers, supported by regional leads and strengthened oversight of education contracts. Investment in digital infrastructure is expanding access to secure, flexible learning. Governors can commission enrichment and vocational courses through the Dynamic Purchasing System, while apprenticeships and the Future Skills Programme further support employment pathways. Ofsted feedback is closely monitored to drive improvements.
New Prison Education Service contracts have recently launched which aim to strengthen the quality of delivery, as well as standardising the assessment of prisoners and improving support for learners with additional needs. The Ministry of Justice is developing a strategy to evaluate prison education, and this will inform our plans for further improvements.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) men, and (2) women who are released from from prison on licence are recalled to prison on the first occasion for breaking licence conditions; and, of these, what proportion are sentenced for an additional period of (a) up to two weeks, (b) two weeks to four weeks, (c) four weeks to eight weeks, (d) eight weeks to twelve weeks, and (e) over twelve weeks.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information is not held in a readily reportable format and so could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 23 July (HL9674), how they determine the allocation of (1) capital and (2) revenue funding to hospices in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £100 million capital funding allocation for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England has been calculated by the Department, informed by Hospice UK, and is based on the care expenditure of each hospice.
Some of the organisations that are eligible for this capital funding for hospices in England are national charities, providing services across the United Kingdom. Therefore, a £5 million cap per organisation, of the total £100 million, was introduced to ensure that the Department was not indirectly funding hospice capital projects elsewhere in the UK, beyond England.
This is deemed the fairest model that can release funding to the hospice sector fastest, helping hospices to fully utilise the allocated funds, and doing so in a way which results in best value for money.
Regarding revenue funding for children’s hospices, the £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26 will be disseminated by integrated care boards on behalf of NHS England. As in previous years, individual allocations of the revenue funding have been determined using a prevalence-based model, enabling allocations to reflect local population need.
This is in line with the NHS devolution and promotes a more consistent national approach, supporting commissioners in prioritising the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the capacity of women's centres to support women who are serving community sentences.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Women’s centres provide vital information, advice and support to women in contact with the criminal justice system, including those serving community sentences.
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) currently funds specialist support for women on probation through Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) delivered by third sector organisations, including providers of women’s centres. HMPPS is committed to ensuring CRS contracts deliver holistic, gender-specific support that meets women’s needs, informed by service users, stakeholders and providers.
The Ministry of Justice is providing a further £7.2 million this year to support the women’s community sector. This funding is aimed at building sustainability, expanding interventions and increasing capacity, including residential provision where needed. Funding for future years is subject to internal allocations.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the NHS guidelines for the installation of defibrillators in (1) hospitals, and (2) community and primary care buildings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not directly commission installation of defibrillators in hospitals, community care buildings or primary care buildings. ICBs have responsibility for locally commissioned services and estate management. However, NHS England does provide public guidance on installing a defibrillator via the NHS England website.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to revise Ofsted guidance that reportedly states that children with autism are at increased risk of being susceptible to extremism.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the noble Lord directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the proposed population base for each Neighbourhood Health Service in the 10 Year Health Plan.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service that moves care closer to home. The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle, that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.
Neighbourhood Health Services will bring together teams of professionals closer to people’s home, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors and more, to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that meets the needs of local populations. Rather than applying a rigid, one-size fits all model, the population base for Neighbourhood Health Services is intentionally flexible and locally determined. The geography of a ‘neighbourhood’ will be determined locally by integrated care boards in partnership with their strategic partners, particularly local authorities.
The plan introduces two new contracts, including one to create multi-neighbourhood providers covering populations of approximately 250,000 people, that will unlock the advantages and efficiencies possible from greater scale working across all general practices and small neighbourhood providers in their footprint.
In the future, there will also be neighbourhood health plans drawn up by local government, the National Health Service, and its partners. The integrated care board will bring together these plans into a population health improvement plan for their footprint and use it to inform commissioning decisions.
To support the delivery and spread of neighbourhood health, we have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). The NNHIP will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many palliative care beds are currently provided by (1) the NHS, (2) charities and (3) the private sector, in each region of England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches provided through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the National Health Service, social care, and voluntary sector organisations. Therefore, the number of beds specifically used for palliative care is difficult to measure as relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as such.
We do not hold central data on the number of palliative care beds provided by the NHS, charities, or the private sector in any region of England. Charitable and private sector palliative care and end of life care providers, including most hospices in England, are independent and autonomous organisations, and as such, they are not legally required to share such information with the Department.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many palliative care beds are provided in (1) hospices, and (2) NHS Hospital Trusts, in each integrated care board area in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold data centrally on the number of palliative care beds provided by hospices and National Health Service hospital trusts in each integrated care board area in England.
Charitable and private sector palliative care and end of life care providers, including most hospices in England, are independent and autonomous organisations, and as such, they are not legally required to share such information with the Department.
Palliative care and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches provided through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the NHS, social care, and voluntary sector organisations. Therefore, the number of beds specifically used for palliative care within NHS hospital trusts is difficult to measure as the relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as such.