Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many alcohol industry representatives Ministers in his Department have met since July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Details of ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK website. Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to tackle alcohol harms.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. For too long there has been an unwillingness to lead on issues like smoking, alcohol harm, and obesity. It is unacceptable that alcohol deaths are now at record high levels. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Health Mission Board has taken to tackle rates of alcohol harm.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. For too long there has been an unwillingness to lead on issues like smoking, alcohol harm, and obesity. It is unacceptable that alcohol deaths are now at record high levels. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to meet (a) the Alcohol Health Alliance and (b) other public health representatives to discuss rates of alcohol harm.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. For too long there has been an unwillingness to lead on issues like smoking, alcohol harm, and obesity. It is unacceptable that alcohol deaths are now at record high levels. I can confirm that Department ministers plan to meet representatives from the Alcohol Health Alliance in the new year.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will meet the Alcohol Health Alliance to discuss what steps the Government can take to reduce alcohol related deaths.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. For too long there has been an unwillingness to lead on issues like smoking, alcohol harm, and obesity. It is unacceptable that alcohol deaths are now at record high levels. I can confirm that Department ministers plan to meet representatives from the Alcohol Health Alliance in the new year.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to announce the future funding for drug and alcohol treatment provision as part of the Drugs Strategy in time for services to avoid commencing redundancy consultations; and if he will change future treatment funding announcement cycles to give local authorities more time to (a) plan and (b) commission such services.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government supports investment in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, to ensure that those people with a substance use need get appropriate help and support. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve employment and housing support.
My Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced updates to the fiscal framework, and earlier this year launched the Spending Review which has now settled the 2025/26 departmental budgets. She has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.
Now that the Autumn Budget has been completed, the Department is working to be able to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems. We will communicate with the sector about this as soon as we are able to, as we recognise the importance of this information in maintaining delivery and planning for 2025/26.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce (a) whether Drug Strategy funding for drug and alcohol treatment providers will be renewed and at what levels and (b) the length of the funding cycle; and if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities have adequate notice of alcohol and drug treatment funding.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government supports investment in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, to ensure that those people with a substance use need get appropriate help and support. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve employment and housing support.
My Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced updates to the fiscal framework, and earlier this year launched the Spending Review which has now settled the 2025/26 departmental budgets. She has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.
Now that the Autumn Budget has been completed, the Department is working to be able to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems. We will communicate with the sector about this as soon as we are able to, as we recognise the importance of this information in maintaining delivery and planning for 2025/26.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce (a) allocations of public health grants to local authorities and (b) the length of the funding cycle; and if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities have adequate notice of public health grants.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish local authority public health grant allocations for 2025/26 in due course, with the aim of giving local authorities as much notice as possible to plan.
We will aim to confirm future multi-year allocations later in 2025, following the next phase of the Spending Review in spring.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) business case status and (b) RIBA stage is of the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
There are two New Hospital Programme schemes in Lancashire and South Cumbria, the scheme for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Preston Hospital, and the scheme for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Up to the end of the 2023/24, both trusts received £6.7 million each for their new hospital schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trusts received for their new hospital schemes is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
Both schemes are at Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding had been allocated by the Treasury for the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme scheme by 2 July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
There are two New Hospital Programme schemes in Lancashire and South Cumbria, the scheme for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Preston Hospital, and the scheme for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Up to the end of the 2023/24, both trusts received £6.7 million each for their new hospital schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trusts received for their new hospital schemes is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
Both schemes are at Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.