Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she last met (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (b) the GMB union and (c) the Unite union to discuss industrial action balloting over the pay award in NHS Ambulance Service trusts.
Answered by Will Quince
The former Secretary of State, Thérèse Coffey, met Jeremy Hunt in a political capacity prior to his appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The former Secretary of State did not meet with the GMB union or the Unite union while in post.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ringfencing of a proportion of her Department's funding settlement for the training and development of maternity and neonatal staff.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No formal assessment has been made. However, NHS England has also invested £127 million in National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care. This includes approximately £50 million to increase staff in maternity and neonatal services, £34 million for culture and leadership development programmes and supporting staff retention and £45 million to increase the number of neonatal cots in England.
This is in addition to the £95 million investment made in 2021 to fund the establishment of a further 1,200 midwifery and 100 consultant obstetrician posts, with £26.5 million for training multidisciplinary teams. We have allocated £2.8 million to the Perinatal Culture and Leadership Development Programme to support multi-professional teams in maternity and neonatal services. In addition, £500,000 was provided training for NHS maternity and neonatal leaders to address poor workplace culture and facilitate collaborative working between nurses, doctors, midwives and obstetricians.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing nationally agreed minimum staffing levels for maternity and neonatal staff.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department of Health and Social Care have provided almost £450,000 to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to develop a new workforce planning tool to improve how maternity units calculate their medical staffing requirements, to better support families and babies.
The tool will be freely available to NHS trusts across the country in the next year and will provide maternity staff with a new methodology that calculates the numbers, skill sets, and grades of medical staff required within individual maternity units based on local needs. It will help identify ways of working to better utilise the current workforce and help gain a better understanding of the factors which promote safety and positive culture within maternity teams and how these can be rolled out nationally.
The NICE endorsed Birth Rate Plus tool similarly allows midwifery units to calculate their staffing with the acuity app assesses real time staffing needs based on clinical needs of women and babies.
We have also commissioned the Long Term Workforce plan which looks at short, medium and long term demand, including projections, and will set out actions to reduce supply gaps, improve retention and boost productivity.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, through which consultation process or processes, have (a) relevant stakeholders and (b) members of the public been given the opportunity to contribute to the UK’s position on the World Health Organization’s new international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response; and if he will publish a list of participants.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The United Kingdom is engaging with a range of stakeholders on the instrument, through roundtables with civil society and discussion with relevant groups. Non-state actors had the opportunity to present views on the working draft of the instrument at recent meetings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, the Member State-led process for drafting and negotiating the pandemic instrument. The World Health Organization (WHO) is holding public hearings seeking input from interested parties, including the public. We will continue engaging relevant stakeholders as it progresses.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the World Health Organisation on progress towards a new convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; whether the target for agreeing this remains May 2024; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The United Kingdom is working with international partners on an instrument on pandemic preparedness and responses, including at the most recent meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB). This is the Member State-led process for drafting and negotiating the pandemic instrument, held during the week commencing 18 July 2022. Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office participated in discussions with Member States and representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The next meeting of the INB is scheduled for the 5 to 7 December 2022, with the aim of agreeing this instrument in May 2024 at the World Health Assembly. The UK will use inter-sessional time between meetings to engage further with Member States and WHO officials, including at forthcoming WHO regional committees.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish the Tobacco Control Plan.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Following the Khan Review published in June 2022, the Department is considering its recommendations. The Review will inform the new Tobacco Control Plan, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2022 to Question 36739 on Endometriosis: Diagnosis and with reference to the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published on 20 July 2022, when her Department expects NICE to complete its review of guidelines on endometriosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is continuing its review of the guideline on endometriosis and is unable to confirm when this is expected to conclude.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recommendations in The Khan review: making smoking obsolete, published 9 June 2022, whether he has had discussions with the devolved Administrations on the proposals to increase (a) ringfenced funding specifically for stop smoking services and (b) the age of sale for tobacco.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Departmental officials regularly meet with the devolved administrations to discuss tobacco control matters in the United Kingdom. This includes discussions on the recommendations in the Khan Review on stop smoking services and the age of sale of tobacco.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
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 impact of pay on the retention and recruitment of NHS staff.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In reaching their recommendations the independent pay review bodies consider a number of factors, including recruitment and retention. Today I announced that the government would accept the NHS Pay Review Body and Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration recommendations in full.
Alongside pay we continue to invest in recruitment and retention, backed by our record £39 billion investment in the NHS over the next three years. There are over 4,000 more doctors and over 9,600 more nurses working in the NHS compared to last year.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to statistics published by the Office for National Statistics on 24 June 2022, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the fall in food store sales of 1.6 per cent in May 2022 on public (a) health and (b) nutrition.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities monitors the available data on population diets and nutrient intakes, including through the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Questions on food insecurity have been included in the NDNS since April 2022. The Food Standards Agency also reviews food insecurity and other consumer-related behaviours, through its Food and You survey.
However, the impact of increasing food prices and falls in food sales on population health and nutrition will not be known for some time, while sufficient data is collected and analysed.