Ambulance Response Times
Debate between Ashley Dalton and Caroline Johnson(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Ashley Dalton
The hon. Member will be delighted to know that I am coming to that point next.
We are working on reducing delays and getting hospital handovers back to within 15 minutes, ensuring that no handover between hospital and ambulance services takes longer than 45 minutes. We want to improve the range and co-ordination of services to avoid unnecessary ambulance conveyances, including through improving access to urgent community response and hospital at home services, and continuing to build on ambulance services and the great work that they do to increase the hear and treat rates so that people can be advised on what they can do and what services they can access that might mean they do not need that ambulance. We will also be driving consistency and commissioning practices across England for ambulance services. I will say a little more about the rurality element in a moment.
We are taking the first steps in the reform and improvements that we want to see in services, and we will shortly set out further plans in the urgent and emergency care services plan. We know that there is no solution for ambulances that does not include tackling the challenges facing adult social care. Health and care services need to be more joined up.
Today, there are approximately 12,000 patients in hospital beds who have no criteria to reside. They do not need to be there but cannot be discharged for reasons of capacity. Over the last month, on average, 276 of the patients with no criteria to reside were in the Somerset integrated board area. That is why the Government are making available up to �3.7 billion of additional funding for local authorities that provide social care. We are funding more home adaptations through the disabled facilities grant this year and next, so that people�s homes can be safer, reducing the risk of their needing an ambulance. We are reforming the better care fund to ensure that the pooled NHS and local authority funding spent on social care contributes to wider efforts to reduce emergency admissions and delayed discharges.
Dr Caroline Johnson
Social care is clearly very important, but what assessment has the Department made of the effect of national insurance contributions on social care provision as a whole?
Ashley Dalton
The hon. Member will be aware, because we have discussed the matter many times in Westminster Hall and the main Chamber, that the funding has been made available to the statutory sector bodies for employer national insurance contributions for public sector pay, and the negotiations for the delivery of commissioned services locally and within the NHS will take place locally. I am sure that we will be able to point her to some more detail on that issue, which has been discussed at length by colleagues.
We have announced the largest ever increase in the carer�s allowance earnings limit since the benefit was introduced in 1976. It is worth approximately �2,000 a year for unpaid carers. We are also introducing fair pay agreements to empower worker representatives, employers and others to negotiate pay and terms and conditions in a responsible manner. That will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector. It is not all about ENICs; it is about making sure that our social care service is resourced in order to make sure that social carers are recognised for the powerful and important work that they do. We have appointed Louise Casey to help to build a national consensus on the long-term solution for social care.
The social care cross-party talks, to which the Liberal Democrat spokesperson referred, have not been called off; they have been merely delayed. As I told her in the Chamber just yesterday, it is very much about making sure that we have the right people in the room and that they can attend. It is our intention for the talks to go ahead very soon. They have not been called off; they have been merely postponed.
Of course, we need further reform. We are bringing it forward through the 10-year plan this spring to accompany the additional investment in the NHS. The Government will publish that plan for radical reform in the NHS, with those three big reform shifts: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention. The reforms will support putting the NHS on a sustainable footing so that it can tackle the problems of today and of the future.
The shadow Minister asked about the configuration of ambulance services. As I am sure she is aware, decisions on service configuration must be made by those who are experts in delivering it.
We have also talked about the key issues of rurality. A range of adjustments are made in the core ICB allocations formula to account for the fact that the costs of providing healthcare may vary between rural and urban areas. Some of the differences, such as the tendency for rural populations to be older, are naturally captured within the formula. We continue to review the formula for the impact of the characteristics of local areas, such as rural, urban and coastal, in the development programme.
I encourage all hon. Members to raise these matters with their local ICBs, which are responsible for commissioning the right configuration of local services. The NHS has increased the availability of local data on ambulance response times performance, with category 2 ambulance performance now published at ICB level, which has increased the transparency of the important data. I encourage hon. Members to use that data to direct conversations with their ICBs.
We have also talked about air ambulances. I am sure that all hon. Members recognise the contribution that they make, as the Government do. The Government support the long-standing independent air ambulance charities model for the successful operation of helicopter emergency medical services in England, which gives the sector the independence to raise funds through commercial activity and sponsorship from corporate partners. The NHS continues to support air ambulance services, including through thorough training and the provision of NHS clinicians.
Communities right across the country, including the constituents of the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton, are struggling with poor services and crumbling NHS estates. We are putting record capital into the NHS. We will bring down ambulance response times. We will get waiting lists back down to what they were in 2010. It will take time, but we will deliver an NHS and a national care service that provide people with the care they need, when and where they need it.
Draft Food and Feed (Regulated Products) (Amendment, Revocation, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025
Debate between Ashley Dalton and Caroline Johnson(3 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Ashley Dalton
I thank hon. Members for their valuable contributions to the debate. Removing renewals and statutory instrument requirements will not lower food and feed safety or standards.
On scrutiny, removing SI requirements for authorisations will not change the FSA’s or the FSS’s robust risk analysis and public consultation process. Public consultations will remain open to all for scrutiny, and recommendations to Ministers for all authorisations of products will take those responses into account.
The shadow Minister asked how Ministers will be able to keep track of decisions. Of course, whether decisions come under this new proposal or the existing process, they will need to be assessed. Under this new process, Ministers can take advice from the FSA and the FSS, and we will then lay those decisions in the public register. If we did not bring this proposal forward, everybody would be involved in multiple SIs, which I am sure the shadow Minister will agree is a far more onerous process.
In response to concerns about divergence with Northern Ireland, our priority is to ensure that Northern Irish consumers benefit from the same robust public health protections as the rest of the UK, while also facilitating the smooth movement of goods to consumers. The robust system of controls that applies across the UK enables all consumers to trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and is what it says it is. Any differences in approach are managed through the relevant common frameworks.
As has been stated, the current requirement for renewals applies only to three regulated product regimes: feed additives, food or feed containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified organisms, and smoke flavourings. No other regulated products, including novel foods and food additives, have this requirement at the moment. These reforms introduce a consistent, proportionate and evidence-based approach.
The FSA and FSS will focus on horizon scanning and risk assessment so that they can respond to new safety evidence as it emerges. We are not going to ask businesses to bring their products routinely for review. However, if there are any changes in a product’s make-up, or it comes to light that the product has any new impacts, that will trigger the FSA and the FSS to look into those.
Dr Johnson
I did not quite understand the Minister’s point regarding Northern Ireland. At the moment, under the new regulations, it is clear what will be done in Great Britain to approve new products. However, if a new product has been produced in another part of the United Kingdom—that is, Northern Ireland—how will it be assessed? How will products that have been assessed under the system in GB be able to be sold in Northern Ireland? Will they require further investigation?
Ashley Dalton
Businesses in Northern Ireland that develop new regulated products and wish to place them on the market in the EU must apply to the EU for authorisation—that is all within the Windsor framework, and the reforms in this SI do not affect the operation of the Windsor framework in any way. Regulated products that are approved in Great Britain can be placed on the Northern Ireland market if moved via the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme. I think that that answers the question.
To return to the safety concerns, by carrying out horizon scanning and risk assessment, the FSA and the FSS will consistently provide insights into whether already authorised products are safe to remain on the market, instead of working arbitrarily to renew authorisations on fixed timetables. The burden on industry and the public sector of having a comprehensive review for all products, even if there is no evidence to suggest that a review is needed, will be removed. We are looking for an evidence-based review system to help focus resources on new and innovative products and on where there may be problems.
The reforms build on existing powers under which the FSA and the FSS can request information for review, and it is in the interests of businesses to proactively provide it. The reforms ensure that the regulatory framework remains comprehensive and adaptive, and enables regulators to respond swiftly and effectively to the emerging risks we have discussed. Where necessary, approvals can be modified, suspended or revoked if a safety concern is identified.
The FSA and FSS, along with the independent scientific advisory committees, have the expertise to assess all applications for authorisation. Ministers must provide reasoning if they disagree with the advice from the FSA and FSS when making authorisation decisions. So there are appropriate tools and resources to allow hon. Members and the public to scrutinise regulated product applications and authorisations. The reforms will speed up the process, use resources more productively, efficiently and effectively, and align with other UK regulatory systems.
In summary, the reforms will remove requirements for the periodic renewal of authorisations for the three regulated product regimes I mentioned, and will allow authorisations to come into effect following ministerial decisions. The changes will streamline the process, allow regulators to keep pace with innovation, and support economic growth without compromising consumer safety. I am grateful for all the contributions today.
Question put and agreed to.