Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 4 and 11 November to Questions 11939 and 12740 on Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions, what estimate he has made of the indirect costs to his Department following the proposed increase in employer national insurance contributions on suppliers and contractors that support his Department.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
As individual suppliers and contractors will manage the increase differently, it is not possible for the Department to estimate the indirect costs relating to the change in Employer National Insurance Contributions.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 11 November 2024 to Question 11938 on NHS: Employers' Contributions, whether he has made a estimate of the cost of changes to national insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to (a) his Department, (b) NHSE, (c) general practices, (d) hospices, (e) charities delivering healthcare, (f) social care providers, (g) care homes, (h) air ambulance service providers, (i) each acute trust's direct costs, (j) each acute trusts indirect costs, (k) dental clinics providing NHS care, (l) opticians providing NHS appointments, (m) private healthcare providers providing NHS appointments or operations, (n) each mental health trust, (o) each ICB, (p) the cost of agency nursing staff, (q) the cost of locum doctors, (r) local pharmacies and (s) NHS suppliers and contractors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of the increase in the rate of employer National Insurance Contributions on the New Hospitals Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Autumn Budget Statement announced by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 30 October set out that we would continue to deliver the New Hospital Programme by placing it on a more sustainable and deliverable footing.
We expect that the potential impact of Employer National Insurance Contributions to individual schemes in the New Hospital Programme will be covered through the individual Full Business Cases submitted by the trusts, where the final costs will be reviewed through the business case process.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adults have received the respiratory syncytial virus vaccination in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency measures the coverage of vaccines against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The RSV adult vaccination programme in England began on 1 September 2024. Only data for the catch-up cohort, those adults aged 75 to 79 years old before the programme start date, has been published. This publication covers the first full month of the programme, and is available at the following link:
During the reporting period, from 1 to 30 September 2024, the total vaccination uptake among the catch-up cohort was 22.6%. Data for the routine cohort, those adults turning 75 years old from the programme start date, will be published in an annual RSV report in due course. NHS England publishes weekly data by region on the RSV vaccines administered, which offers further insight into the progress of the vaccination programme. The weekly data on vaccines administered is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/vaccinations
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding she has budgeted (a) overall and (b) for each Department to reimburse them for the increased costs they incur from the rise in employers national insurance contributions.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contributions costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way.
This is in line with the approach taken under the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.
As set out in the Autumn Budget, the Government has set aside £4.7 billion in 2025-26 and plans to update Parliament on allocations by department in the usual way as soon as possible.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11939 on Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions, whether the £216 million figure given is the (a) direct cost of his Department’s Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions national insurance contribution, (b) indirect cost to his department of higher contributions by suppliers and contractors and (c) total of direct and indirect costs.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The £216 million Employers' National Insurance cost provided in the previous answer is the estimated direct cost to the Department.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, what estimate he has made of the increased cost to the NHS (a) directly and (b) indirectly of the increase in employer national insurance contributions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken tough decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at Autumn Budget, this enabled the SR settlement of £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care from 2023-24 outturn to 2025-26.
The Employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, the Department of health and Social Care will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the increase in (a) direct and (b) indirect costs to his Department of the 1.2% rise in employer national insurance contributions announced in the budget.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The changes to employer national insurance contributions from April are expected to increase Departmental costs c.£216million in financial year 2025-26.
The Chancellor has agreed to provide funding to the public sector to support with the cost of employer national insurance contributions, which will be confirmed at a future date.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 cost to the NHS that would be incurred by an (a) 1% and (b) 2% rise in the rate of employers national insurance contributions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not comment on speculation around hypothetical situations. Any decisions that could be taken on National Health Service budgets for future years will be announced at fiscal events, including the Spending Review.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 ensure sex-based language is used in (a) NHS guidance and (b) NHS communications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service website aims to provide health advice and guidance that is clear and easy to understand, and that helps everyone who uses the website find the information they need, so they can make informed decisions about their own health.
The Government understands the need for health information to be as clear as possible and to use language that is grounded in biological sex. However, we recognise that for some people, their gender identity is different from their biological sex.