Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of projects arising from the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge; and what plans they have to continue or expand upon these projects.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge funded eleven technologies in its first phase, all of which were completed successfully. Seven projects secured phase 2 funding to advance development of their technologies through testing with relevant populations. The UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Chief Scientist Office in Scotland, is monitoring the progress of these projects and will provide guidance to support commercialisation, spread and UK-wide adoption of the technologies to prevent drug overdose deaths. Future funding and initiatives through the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme are being explored to further encourage innovative research and the development of novel technologies to treat drug and alcohol addictions.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what incentives they are considering, if any, to encourage individuals to buy insurance policies to fund their social care costs in later years.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is committed to building consensus on the long-term reform needed to create a National Care Service. As the Health Secretary has previously said, we will set out next steps for a process that engages with stakeholders and across parties, and with people who draw on care and support. We will provide further information on this in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 11 December (HL Deb col 1760), what assessment they have made of the length of time taken to lay the Bread and Flour (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024; and what steps they intend to take in future to shorten the process for food supplements without compromising consumer and patient safety.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In England, the Department of Health and Social Care is responsible for nutrition legislation including food supplements, fortified foods, nutrition and health claims, foods for specific groups, and nutrition labelling.

The Government has been working closely across all four nations to implement the policy to fortify non-wholemeal flour with folic acid to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in babies. In England, this change has been implemented via amendments to The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 alongside other changes and will come into force in December 2026.

This is a complex policy, which has required careful consideration of the evidence, advice from scientific committees and involved much scientific debate. It has been taken forward as a measure across the United Kingdom and has involved two consultations and coordination across the four nations and across successive governments in each nation.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published responses to the second public consultation in January 2024. The Government has prioritised swift action to protect unborn babies and moved rapidly to reach agreement with the other nations and lay the legislation in England on 14 November 2024.

The length of time needed to develop policies varies depending on the complexity of the policy and other factors.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to exempting care providers from the increase in National Insurance contributions.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Raising the revenue required to fund public services and restore economic stability requires difficult decisions on tax, which is why we are asking employers to contribute more.

The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance costs. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government.

This is the established approach successive Governments have taken to supporting the public sector with additional Employer National Insurance contributions.

The government is providing a real terms increase in core local government spending power of 3.5%, in 2025-26. To support social care authorities to deliver these key services, in light of pressures, we announced at the provisional Settlement a further £200 million for adult and children’s social care. This will be allocated via the Social Care Grant, bringing the total increase of this grant in 2025-26 to £880 million and taking the total Social Care Grant funding to £5.9 billion in 2025-26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to assist care providers facing increased costs due to the increase in National Insurance contributions.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In response to the range of pressures facing local authorities, the Government will make available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing local authorities with specific additional funding to pass onto commissioned care providers to compensate them for the increased National Insurance contributions they face.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Raising the revenue required to fund public services and restore economic stability requires difficult decisions on tax, which is why the government is asking employers to contribute more. The government is providing over £515 million of new funding to support councils with the costs associated with the increase in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Local authorities will also have multiple funding sources available which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the adult social care sector and we will make available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025-26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of patient safety monitoring this winter.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department works closely with NHS England to monitor a variety of metrics relevant to patient safety, including four-hour accident and emergency performance, Category 2 ambulance response times, bed occupancy, and rates of seasonal infectious disease. NHS England publishes monthly statistics that can be found on the NHS.UK website.

Additionally, during the winter period, NHS England publishes additional weekly situational reports. This data can also be found on the NHS.UK website. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also recently met with hospital trusts and social care organisations to reiterate the importance of maintaining patient safety over winter.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the cut in the winter fuel payment on hospital admissions this winter.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

An impact assessment of the cut in winter fuel payment on hospital admissions this winter has not been produced. The Government has taken action to ensure low-income households are protected this winter.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people as of 1 December who were medically fit to be discharged from hospital had not been.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 1 December 2024, the number of patients in England remaining in hospital who were medically fit to be discharged was 12,086.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions on the ability of GP surgeries to prepare for winter pressures.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course.

We recently announced a proposed funding uplift for general practice for 2025/26 of £889 million, representing a 7.2% cash growth, estimated at approximately 4.8% real terms growth. This is the largest uplift to general practice (GP) funding since the beginning of the five-year framework and means we are reversing the recent trend with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs.

We committed to restoring the front door of the NHS by shifting the focus of the NHS out of hospitals into the community. We know when patients are not able to get a GP appointment, they end up in accident and emergency, which is worse for the patient, and more expensive for the taxpayer. That is why it is key that we increase the capacity of appointments for GPs. We have already committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs from this October through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which will increase the number of appointments delivered in general practice.

Primary care providers, including GPs, are valued independent contractors that provide almost £20 billion worth of services in the NHS. Every year we consult with each contracted sector about the services it provides, and the money providers are entitled to in return. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. We have recently begun discussions on the annual GP contract.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of any findings or outcomes of the exploratory work completed by NHS England that is described in the National Data Guardian’s Annual Report for 2023–2024 on the topic of adding a patient-facing function to GP Connect to enable people to see who has accessed their health records.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the initial discussion with the National Data Guardian, NHS England decided not to pursue the topic of adding a patient-facing function to GP Connect. It would have had a limited application and been technically and legally complex to implement, as noted in section 6.7.4 of the National Data Guardian 2023-2024 report, and would not have provided sufficient benefit, additional to the existing function of Subject Access Requests. There was, therefore, no exploratory work completed on this subject.

There are multiple ways for a patient’s record to be accessed. Any patient-facing feature needs to take all these different routes into account and, as noted by the National Data Guardian, NHS England is considering whether this functionality might be possible in the Government’s plans for a single care record.

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Found: Baroness Stowell of Beeston (The Chair); Lord Hall of Birkenhead; Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill; Lord Kamall

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Found: LORD STEVENS OF BIRMINGHAM BARONESS TYLER OF ENFIELD LORD KAMALL BARONESS NEUBERGER _ Clause 53,

Found: LORD STEVENS OF BIRMINGHAM BARONESS TYLER OF ENFIELD LORD KAMALL BARONESS NEUBERGER ★_ Clause 53,

Found: 3 (from 22/09/2022) - - - - - - - - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Full year equivalent Lord Kamall

Found: 3 (from 22/09/2022) - - - - - - - - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Full year equivalent Lord Kamall