Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage, through organised career structures, more people to enter roles in the care sector.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are developing a Care Workforce Pathway, which will set out the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure for the workforce. We intend to publish the first part of the pathway, focused on staff in direct care roles, in autumn 2023.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are working in social care roles in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
According to Skills for Care, there were 1.5 million people working in adult social care roles in England in 2021/22.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people residing in care homes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department collects data on the number of people residing in care homes on a monthly basis.
The Data reported in Capacity Tracker (CT) shows that in the week ending 14/05/2023 the number of people in younger and older adult care homes was 363,972. This figure is made up of both private and local authority funded clients. Data is from adult social care in England, monthly statistics, COVID-19 Vaccination statistics June 2023, Table 10.
The Short- and Long-Term collection (SALT) shows that at year end 2021/22 the number of people in care homes (residential and nursing) accessing long term support was 175,680. This figure only includes clients whose care is commissioned or funded by local authorities. Those who privately finance and organise their care are not included. Data is found in SALT Table 38.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many registered care homes there are in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are 14,858 registered care homes in England.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take, if any, to increase funding for social care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has already provided a historic increase in funding for social care. The Government announced at the Autumn Statement that up to £7.5 billion of additional funding would be available for Adult Social Care and discharge over the next two years. This historic funding boost should put the adult social care system on a stronger financial footing and help local authorities address waiting lists, low fee rates, and workforce pressures in the sector. We will keep working closely with local authorities and the adult social care sector to understand current pressures on service delivery and budgets.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) enhance, and (2) encourage, training in the care sector.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through Skills for Care, we are providing a range of resources for social care providers to attract, train and retain staff. This includes the Workforce Development Fund, which enables employers to bid for financial support towards the training and development of staff. New learning opportunities, training and online resources to build digital skills in the care sector, are also being provided.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hospital beds there were in England in (1) 2005, (2) 2010, and (3) 2019.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information is not held in the format requested. Prior to 2010/11, data on average bed capacity was collected by ward classification or sector. The following table shows the average daily bed capacity by sector in 2005/06.
All specialties | Average bed capacity |
General and acute | 132,826 |
Acute | 108,134 |
Geriatric | 24,692 |
Mental illness | 29,802 |
Learning disability | 3,927 |
Maternity | 8,881 |
Day only | 9,726 |
Source: Department of Health
From 2010/11, quarterly data is available from all National Health Service organisations which operate beds, open overnight or day only. The following table shows the average daily and occupied beds times series in each Quarter in 2010/11 and 2019/20.
Year | Quarter | Total |
2010/11 | 1 | 144,455 |
2010/11 | 2 | 141,477 |
2010/11 | 3 | 141,630 |
2010/11 | 4 | 142,319 |
2019/20 | 1 | 128,407 |
2019/20 | 2 | 127,186 |
2019/20 | 3 | 128,326 |
2019/20 | 4 | 128,943 |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made, if any, of the average cost of the purchase of a dental practice.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No estimate has been made of the number of different owners of dental practices nor of the average cost of purchase of dental practices.
Any person who provides regulated activity in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In order to obtain a registration with the CQC, a dental practice is assessed against the CQC’s registration assessment framework to assess if applicants will provide services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. As part of the registration process, checks are made on Directors listed in the application and any individuals nominated by the provider company to be held legally responsible for carrying on the regulated activities applied for. If a practice cannot meet the standards set out within the framework, the CQC will refuse the application. The Dentists Act 1984 lays out restrictions on carrying on the business of dentistry.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy regarding the ownership of dental practices.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No estimate has been made of the number of different owners of dental practices nor of the average cost of purchase of dental practices.
Any person who provides regulated activity in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In order to obtain a registration with the CQC, a dental practice is assessed against the CQC’s registration assessment framework to assess if applicants will provide services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. As part of the registration process, checks are made on Directors listed in the application and any individuals nominated by the provider company to be held legally responsible for carrying on the regulated activities applied for. If a practice cannot meet the standards set out within the framework, the CQC will refuse the application. The Dentists Act 1984 lays out restrictions on carrying on the business of dentistry.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of different owners of dental practices in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No estimate has been made of the number of different owners of dental practices nor of the average cost of purchase of dental practices.
Any person who provides regulated activity in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In order to obtain a registration with the CQC, a dental practice is assessed against the CQC’s registration assessment framework to assess if applicants will provide services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. As part of the registration process, checks are made on Directors listed in the application and any individuals nominated by the provider company to be held legally responsible for carrying on the regulated activities applied for. If a practice cannot meet the standards set out within the framework, the CQC will refuse the application. The Dentists Act 1984 lays out restrictions on carrying on the business of dentistry.