Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the use of probiotics in treating COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The use of probiotics and prebiotics to treat COVID-19 are not currently our priority in trials. The Government is investing across the board in both basic genetic research and clinical studies to find a sustainable treatment or vaccine against COVID-19. More information can be found in Our plan to rebuild: the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy which is attached.
The Government has been at the forefront of the international response to the virus, co-hosting the Coronavirus Global Response Summit on 4 May, pledging £388 million in aid funding for research into vaccines, tests and treatment including £250 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their Green Paper on social care.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Social Care Green Paper remains a priority for this Government and the Department. We will be publishing the Green Paper at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate would be the cost of introducing a cap on social care costs along the lines proposed by the Dilnot report of (1) £35,000, (2) £75,000, or (3) £100,000.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government will work to address the challenges of social care for our ageing society to reach a longer-term sustainable settlement for social care. This is why the Government has committed to publishing a Green Paper later this year setting out its proposals for reform.
The Green Paper will bring forward ideas for including an element of risk pooling in the system, which will help to protect people from the unpredictability of care costs. An updated impact assessment and any relevant costings will be provided as part of the Green Paper publication.
Estimates of the cost of introducing a cap on social care costs, along the lines proposed by the 2011 Commission on Funding Care and Support, can be found in an Impact Assessment (IA) previously published by the Department in February 2015. A copy of the Social Care Funding Reform Impact Assessment IA No: 9531 is attached.
It is important to note that the IA does not represent current Government plans, which will be set out following the social care Green Paper consultation, but is the last available published data on the cap.
The IA shows that the cost of a £72,000 cap, together with the means test reforms planned at the time, would be £1.79 billion in 2025/26 (in 2016/17 prices and assuming implementation in April 2016).
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research from Reform indicating that the number of deferred payments issued by local authorities has not risen since 2012, whether they plan to widen access to the Deferred Payment Scheme by raising the £23,500 means threshold.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Care Act 2014 introduced universal Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs) so that people should not be forced to sell their homes in their lifetimes to pay for care. The eligibility criteria for DPAs are designed to ensure that they are available to those who would otherwise be at risk of having to sell their homes.
The Department is continuing to monitor the success of the scheme, and data on the uptake of DPAs across all local authorities will be available later this year.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the cost in a full year of the increase in the rate of NHS-funded nursing care to £156.25 per week.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department estimates that the total cost of the increase in National Health Service-funded Nursing Care to £156.25 per week in 2016-17, is approximately £190 million.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remark by Lord Newby on 5 February that for deferred payments, the "lump sum is income in the year taken" (HL Deb col 791), whether they will set out the accurate position with regard to the effect of taking a lump sum in excess of £23,250 instead of an annuity on a person’s eligibility to take a direct payment.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Further to the debate on the Pension Schemes Bill Third Reading (HL Deb col 791), I would like to clarify the point made by my Noble Friend Lord Newby, in response to a question raised by the Noble Lord, Lord Lipsey. In Lord Newby’s response, he set out the position in relation to how lump sums accessed under the new pension reforms would be treated under the tax rules. However, I understand that the Noble Lord, Lord Lipsey was referring to the treatment of such funds under the charging rules for social care.
The new pension reforms will come into force on 6 April and will allow people with defined contribution pensions to access their pensions more flexibly. Where someone chooses to take up this flexibility and withdraw a lump sum, this will be treated as capital. This will then be taken into account in calculating what a person can afford to contribute towards the cost of their care based on the social care charging rules for the product the funds have been moved to. To be treated as income, the resources would need to be in respect of a specified period or form part of a series of payments.
With regard to Deferred Payment Agreements (DPA), the universal scheme introduced under the Care Act will come into force on 1 April 2015 and sets out a national framework for whom a local authority must offer a DPA to. This is based on their level of non-housing assets which is assessed according to the charging framework for social care.
People will therefore need to be aware of how their pension choices may affect what they are asked to contribute towards the cost of their care and their options for meeting that cost.
The Government has committed to support the new pensions freedoms through free and impartial guidance from Pension Wise, to help people make informed and confident decisions about how they use their defined contribution pension savings in retirement. The service will encourage consumers to consider issues such as long term care needs in the context of their decision, signposting consumers to sources of further specialist information as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what adjustment they intend to make to the £23,250 non-housing capital asset limit for the deferred payment scheme when the capital limit for means-tested care benefits rises from £23,250 to £118,000 in April 2016.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We intend to raise the capital-related eligibility criterion, which currently requires a person to have less than £23,250 in non-housing assets, to £27,000 from April 2016. This mirrors the increased upper capital limit which will apply when a person’s property is disregarded from April 2016.
Local authorities will retain discretionary powers to offer deferred payments to people who do not meet the eligibility criteria but might otherwise benefit.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the (1) average and (2) median, earnings of a partner general practitioner in England and Wales.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The information in relation to salaried general practitioners (GP) (HL2015) is recorded in the following table:
Salaried GPs – Income before tax in Cash terms – England and Wales 2012-13 | ||||||
| Mean Earnings | Median Earnings | ||||
Gross Income | Expenses | Income before Tax | Gross Income | Expense | Income before Tax | |
England | £64,700 | £8,100 | £56,600 | Data not held
| £53,700 | |
Wales | £65,200 | £11,100 | £54,100 | Data not held
| £53,300 | |
The information relating to partner general practitioners (HL2016) is recorded in the following table:
Contractor GPs – Income before tax in Cash terms – England and Wales 2012-13 | ||||||
| Mean Earnings | Median Earnings | ||||
Gross Income | Expenses | Income before Tax | Gross Income | Expense | Income before Tax | |
England | £289,300 | £184,200 | £105,100 | Data not held | £102,100 | |
Wales | £233,800 | £142,800 | £91,000 | Data not held | £90,700 | |
Copyright © 2014 Health and Social Care Information Centre
Source: GP Earnings and Expenses Enquiries
Notes:
The tables are presented in cash terms of income before tax for contractor GPs (partners) and salaried GPs under a General Medical Services (GMS) or Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract and exclude expenses. This is taxable income before pension contributions are deducted, made up of gross earnings less total expenses, also known as net income. |
The data covers income from both NHS and private sources where a GP has at least some NHS income. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100.
The median earnings gross income and expenses data is not held, only the income before tax. |
Data is for GPs under a GMS or PMS contract only
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the (1) average, and (2) median, earnings of a salaried general practitioner in England and Wales.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The information in relation to salaried general practitioners (GP) (HL2015) is recorded in the following table:
Salaried GPs – Income before tax in Cash terms – England and Wales 2012-13 | ||||||
| Mean Earnings | Median Earnings | ||||
Gross Income | Expenses | Income before Tax | Gross Income | Expense | Income before Tax | |
England | £64,700 | £8,100 | £56,600 | Data not held
| £53,700 | |
Wales | £65,200 | £11,100 | £54,100 | Data not held
| £53,300 | |
The information relating to partner general practitioners (HL2016) is recorded in the following table:
Contractor GPs – Income before tax in Cash terms – England and Wales 2012-13 | ||||||
| Mean Earnings | Median Earnings | ||||
Gross Income | Expenses | Income before Tax | Gross Income | Expense | Income before Tax | |
England | £289,300 | £184,200 | £105,100 | Data not held | £102,100 | |
Wales | £233,800 | £142,800 | £91,000 | Data not held | £90,700 | |
Copyright © 2014 Health and Social Care Information Centre
Source: GP Earnings and Expenses Enquiries
Notes:
The tables are presented in cash terms of income before tax for contractor GPs (partners) and salaried GPs under a General Medical Services (GMS) or Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract and exclude expenses. This is taxable income before pension contributions are deducted, made up of gross earnings less total expenses, also known as net income. |
The data covers income from both NHS and private sources where a GP has at least some NHS income. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100.
The median earnings gross income and expenses data is not held, only the income before tax. |
Data is for GPs under a GMS or PMS contract only