Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish before 2025 an impact assessment of the effects of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions under the Autumn Budget on care homes, primary care providers and hospices.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, and this enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they produced an impact assessment on the effects of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions on care homes, primary care providers and hospices prior to the Autumn Budget.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, and this enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the report from the charity Breakthrough T1D, Access for all: The impact of technology on the lives of people with type 1 diabetes, published in October, which concluded that respondents from lower socio-economic groups, and those over the age of 65, were least likely to be aware of new technologies such as hybrid closed loop systems, what plans they have to raise awareness of the latest technologies available to type 1 diabetes patients of all ages and socio-economic groups across England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Diabetes Programme uses a range of communication channels, including mainstream and social media, to share information about the latest technologies that are available for people with Type 1 diabetes. NHS England works closely with its partners, including Breakthrough T1D, Diabetes UK and the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists Technology Network to amplify key messages.
A new decision support tool has been designed to support people to understand what diabetes treatment technologies are available on the National Health Service, supporting discussions between someone living with type 1 diabetes and their healthcare professional about the technology they are eligible for and supports shared decision-making about the person’s care in managing type 1 diabetes.
Furthermore, nationally commissioned self-management resources have been put in place, including DigiBete, designed for children and young people aged between zero and 25 years old with type 1 diabetes in ten languages and MyType1 Diabetes, which is available to all adults living with type 1 diabetes.
As part of NHS England’s focus on improving equity of access to diabetes technology, diabetes care is one of the five clinical areas of focus for integrated care boards to achieve system change and improve care within the Core20Plus5 for children and young people . Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort and identifies five focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. The aim of this work is to increase access to real-time continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps for people in the most deprived 20% of the national population and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the follow-up report to the independent review by Professor Sir Mike Richards, Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal, published in November 2020; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to produce or publish a follow-up report to the independent review by Professor Sir Mike Richards, Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal. The Department will publish a ten-year plan for the National Health Service in spring 2025.