Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent childhood obesity.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, and is particularly concentrated in the most deprived areas.
Supporting people to stay healthier for longer is at the heart of our Health Mission. We face a childhood obesity crisis and this government is taking action.
We have acted to end the targeting of junk food ads at children. We’ve also given local authorities stronger powers to block applications for unhealthy takeaways near schools to put children first.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to expedite implementation of the recommendations from the Hughes report, published on 7 February 2024; and whether he plans to prioritise establishment of (a) interim payments and (b) a valporate specialist unit to support those affected.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report. The report sets out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, including proposals for a financial scheme and for the establishment of a valproate specialist unit. The Government will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by what procedure central government funding is allocated to institutions providing hospice care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on the demand in that ICB area, but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.
From 2007/8 until 2023/24, children and young people’s hospices received funding via the Children’s Hospice Grant. While 2023/24 marked the final year of the Children’s Hospice Grant in its previous format, in 2024/25, NHS England provided £25 million of funding for children and young people’s hospices, maintaining the level of funding from 2023/24. For the first time, this funding was distributed to hospices by ICBs, on behalf of NHS England, rather than being centrally administered as before. Since 2022/23, individual allocations of this funding have been determined using a prevalence-based model, enabling allocations to reflect local population need.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to monitor the rise in cases in the more spreadable variant of mpox now detected in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
There are two distinct types of the mpox virus: clade I and clade II. The previous significant outbreak in the United Kingdom in 2022 was from clade II. Clade I is currently classified as a high consequence infectious disease. The risk to the UK population remains low. We expect to see the occasional imported case of Clade Ib mpox in the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to closely monitor mpox epidemiology and has well established surveillance systems to monitor the spread of mpox. This is supported by a robust contact tracing process that helps us to effectively contain any imported cases found in the UK.
The latest information about UK cases of mpox is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-detects-first-case-of-clade-ib-mpox
A full summary of the measures UKHSA is taking is summarised in the technical briefing, which is available at the following link:
This briefing will be reviewed and updated as more is understood about the disease.
UKHSA is engaged with international partners, including the World Health Organisation, European, US and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, ensuring we receive updates about international cases in a timely fashion.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.71 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, what support his Department plans to give to GP practices unable to access the fund for GP surgery upgrades.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no additional national funding for those not prioritised by their local systems to access the capital fund of £102m for GP upgrades allocated in the 2024 Autumn Budget.
This capital fund is in addition to annual capital allocations to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). Since 2022/23, the Department includes a substantial proportion of primary care business as usual estates and GP IT capital in ICB capital funding envelopes. This allows ICBs to take a more cohesive approach to capital investment decisions across all organisations within that system. In addition, ICBs are responsible for commissioning - planning, securing, and monitoring – GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the number of medical speciality training places (a) in total and (b) in anaesthesia.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS staff have been overworked for years, with staff being burnt out and demoralised.
We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
There is no quick fix, but through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan we will build a health service fit for the future.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of anaesthetists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS staff have been overworked for years, with staff being burnt out and demoralised.
We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
There is no quick fix, but through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan we will build a health service fit for the future.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of anaesthetic workforce shortages on the NHS’s ability to tackle the elective backlog.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. We have committed to getting back to the NHS Constitutional standard that at least 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment within our first term. As a first step to achieving this, we will deliver 2 million additional appointments, scans, and operations, or the equivalent to 40,000 per week.
Whilst no formal assessment has been made of the specific potential impact of anaesthetic workforce shortages on the National Health Service’s ability to tackle the backlog, the Government will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills, to deliver the care patients need.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the percentage of (a) doctors and (b) anaesthetists preparing to leave the profession; and what steps he is taking to improve retention.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the workforce crisis across the National Health Service. This will be achieved through better workforce planning, which will address the recruitment and retention challenges facing the NHS.
NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, with a strong focus on improving organisational culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities. It is continually reviewing the effectiveness of these, and their impact on the workforce.
No specific estimate of the future numbers of doctors and anaesthetists preparing to leave the profession has been made. The General Medical Council publishes annual information on the total number of doctors leaving their register of licenced professionals. This shows that in 2022, 11,319 doctors left the licenced register, the equivalent to 4% of the register. No information is available for anaesthetists specifically.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a National GP Retention Strategy backed by ring-fenced funding.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to increasing the number of general practitioners (GPs), and this includes doing more to address GP retention and the reasons why GPs leave the profession. The 10-Year Health Plan, which will be published in spring 2025, will set out a long-term vision to train and retain the staff the National Health Service needs to be fit for the future. The plan will be shaped by responses from the public, NHS staff, and experts to the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth, launched by the Department and NHS England in October.