Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to increase access to NHS dentistry in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care. The changes that have been implemented include improvements to ensure dentists are remunerated more fairly for more complex work.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment. Coventry and Warwickshire ICB has proposals that include remobilisation of some dental activity and procurement of new services. The West Midlands ICB has increased investment through various initiatives to support recovery of NHS dental services.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.
But we know we need to do more, and that there are some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides to older jobseekers in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England who are looking to (i) reskill or (ii) change careers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is delivering a comprehensive package of support to help older jobseekers return to work. In addition to the help in place for all Universal Credit claimants, eligible older jobseekers can access additional intensive, tailored support in the first nine months of their Universal Credit claim.
A network of dedicated 50PLUS Champions are in place in Jobcentre Plus districts across Great Britain, upskilling Work Coaches in supporting over 50s to return to work and engaging with employers to maximise opportunities for recruitment.
The Midlife MOT is delivered in West Midlands Jobcentres and across Great Britain, helping older workers to take stock of their finances, skills and health and an enhanced digital Midlife MOT provides access to financial, health and career guidance.
In Coventry North and across Coventry and the West Midlands our Jobcentre teams are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies and delivering a range of support including Sector Work Based Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days and job fairs.
The West Midlands team continue to work with local employers to deliver SWAPs in various sectors including security, education, warehousing, hospitality, construction and care. SWAP’s deliver short vocational training linked directly to vacancies with a particular employer or in a specific sector, helping customers to learn the skills and behaviours that employers in particular industries look for.
In Coventry, Jobcentre teams, along with National Careers Service and Coventry City Council hold monthly sessions through the Coventry Job Shop, offering information and application support for job vacancies, and SWAPs, and a recent job fair on 13 September saw over twenty local and national employers in attendance.
The team also work in partnership with local providers to deliver specific events for customers aged 50 and over, such as events targeted at the hospitality and education sectors and courses to improve digital skills.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 trends in the level of (a) verbal abuse and (b) physical attacks experienced by NHS staff in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England in each of the last three years; and what steps his Department is taking to protect NHS staff in those areas from such abuse.
Answered by Will Quince
We do not currently have a national mechanism to capture and report incidents of violence and aggression in the National Health Service, as data is held at a local level.
The NHS Staff Survey does ask questions relating to incidences of violence, harassment, and abuse. The 2022 NHS Staff Survey indicated that 14.7% of NHS staff have self-reported that they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives, or other members of the public in the last 12 months. In addition, 27.8% of NHS staff who completed the survey experience at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from patients/service users, their relatives, or members of the public. This figure is broadly consistent across previous years. Data extracted from the Staff Survey is provided below for England, Coventry and the West Midlands.
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 13a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced physical violence at work from: Patients / service users, their relatives or other members of the public?):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 14.8% | 14.4% | 14.7% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
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|
|
|
West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 21.6% | 18.6% | 20.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 9.2% | 9.7% | 11.1% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 8.4% | 6.4% | 7.8% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 16.2% | 14.1% | 14.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 15.0% | 14.3% | 14.5% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 14.8% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 0.0% | 2.7% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 15.2% | 13.6% | 15.0% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 13.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 10.5% | 9.9% | 9.5% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 17.3% | 19.0% | 20.0% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 5.8% | 4.6% | 6.0% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 3.4% | 4.8% | 7.4% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 11.6% | 12.4% | 10.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.0% | 12.9% | 13.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 13.0% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 7.8% | 6.8% | 8.4% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 10.1% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 14.3% | 13.8% | 12.9% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 16.9% | 14.3% | 16.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 12.2% | 14.3% | 14.6% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 36.3% | 37.4% | 35.1% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.6% | 13.4% | 12.3% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 13.4% | 14.4% | 11.9% |
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 14a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public?’):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 27.0% | 27.7% | 27.8% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
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|
|
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West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 20.0% | 15.5% | 17.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 22.7% | 23.9% | 25.7% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 24.0% | 24.7% | 23.6% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 27.0% | 26.1% | 26.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 22.9% | 26.0% | 23.8% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 26.1% | 25.6% | 24.8% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 20.0% | 23.9% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.7% | 28.1% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.2% | 27.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 23.5% | 21.9% | 21.1% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 26.5% | 28.6% | 25.7% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 14.9% | 18.0% | 16.4% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 15.0% | 18.8% | 19.5% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 26.7% | 25.9% | 25.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 28.7% | 29.6% | 29.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 26.2% | 29.5% | 27.6% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 19.1% | 19.8% | 21.1% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 25.1% | 28.1% | 25.5% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 25.2% | 25.0% | 26.2% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 24.6% | 25.8% | 29.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 30.0% | 29.7% | 27.3% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 48.2% | 50.6% | 49.0% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 25.6% | 28.0% | 25.2% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 29.1% | 28.3% | 31.0% |
NHS England has commissioned several data insight workstreams to better understand the current landscape of statistics, data reporting and associated challenges. This includes a national review of all available data and intelligence sources and an analysis of the costs of violence to the health care system in England and a review of the impact on the safety and wellbeing of NHS staff.
Tackling violence against NHS staff is largely an employer led issue, with NHS organisations responsible for putting in place their own policies and procedures to support staff, giving them access to appropriate training and making appropriate arrangements for security.
NHS England established a NHS Violence Reduction Programme in 2019, which aims to prevent and reduce violence and aggression from patients, their families and the public, and mitigate the effects of violence and abuse on NHS staff.
In 2022, the Government legislated through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers to a maximum of two years.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 tackle disparities in health outcomes for women in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out how the Government is tackling disparities in health outcomes for women across England. Achievements since the launch of the strategy include appointing the first Women’s Health Ambassador for England; investing £25 million funding in the expansion of women’s health hubs to improve women’s access to services and to create efficiencies for the National Health Service; reducing the cost of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) through the launch of the HRT prescription pre-payment certificate; and creating a women’s health area on NHS.uk to bring together women’s health content and create a first port of call for women seeking information.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health needs of their local population.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for mandatory reconsideration of benefit decisions in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are conducted (i) quickly and (ii) effectively.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The median mandatory reconsideration (MR) clearance times have been provided for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Universal Credit (UC) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit decisions. To provide information across all other DWP administered benefits would incur disproportionate cost.
Median clearance times have been provided as the mean can be unduly affected by outlying cases.
Personal Independence Payment
The median clearance times for PIP Mandatory Reconsiderations, normal rules between August 2022 and July 2023, were:
a) 28 calendar days for Coventry
b) 28 calendar days for West Midlands
c) 28 calendar days for England
Notes:
Universal Credit
The median clearance times for UC Mandatory Reconsiderations between August 2022 and July 2023 were:
a) 37 calendar days for Coventry
b) 35 calendar days for West Midlands
c) 36 calendar days for England
Notes:
Employment and Support Allowance
ESA Work Capability Assessment MR clearance times are available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. It can be found by going through “ESA Work Capability Assessments”, “Mandatory Reconsideration – Clearances” “Table 4 – Median Clearance Times by Date of Decision”. It is then possible to restrict to Coventry, West Midlands and England.
In law there is no time limit within which a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decision must be made. This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not the speed of clearance. Of course, decisions will be made without delay but if the decision maker considers that more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, then they will give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision ultimately made is correct.
We constantly review our processes to ensure we are providing the best possible customer service to customers requesting a mandatory reconsideration, both in terms of speed of dealing with the request and quality of decision making. For example, we have improved the system functionality in UC to allow some customers to directly upload evidence to inform a decision to improve the customer experience. We have also recruited circa 400 additional colleagues into the Dispute Resolution Service over the summer to increase capacity and reduce waiting times.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the regional spread of business debt in (a) each of the last three years and (b) during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The regional spread of debt among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has remained broadly the same over the past three years. The following figures are taken from UK Finance data and are taken as a share of the value of loan facilities of SMEs in Great Britain.
Between Q2 2020 and Q4 2021, regional shares of SME lending:
· Increased in London (21% to 22%)
· Decreased in the South East (14% to 13%), and North West (11% to 10%)
· Stayed the same in the South West (11%), East Midlands (6%), West Midlands (9%), East of England (7%), Yorkshire and the Humber (7%), North East (3%), Wales (4%), and Scotland (8%)
Between Q1 2022 to Q2 2023, regional shares of SME lending:
· Increased in London (21% to 22%)
· Decreased in the North West (11% to 10%)
· Stayed the same in the South East (14%), South West (11%), East Midlands (6%), West Midlands (9%), East of England (7%), Yorkshire and the Humber (7%), North East (3%), Wales (4%) and Scotland (8%)
Government is helping more businesses get the finance they need through the next generation of Nations and Regions Investment Funds, which will provide £1.6 billion of debt and equity finance to small businesses outside London and the South East.
The first of these funds launched in the South West of England in July 2023.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the numbers of people living in food poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; what recent assessment he has made of the impact of increases in the cost of living on levels of food poverty in those areas; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce food poverty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government takes the issue of food security very seriously and is committed to understanding and addressing food poverty. This is why we added food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 2019/20, and also why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time in March 2023.
National statistics on food security and food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
These questions remain in the survey and will allow us to track food security and foodbank use over time. Alongside the broad suite of poverty data, these will help the Government to understand more about the characteristics of people most in need and help shape future policy considerations.
Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
This Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing support totalling over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments, totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. In the instance of Coventry City Council £6,448,445 has been allocated for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and £3,224,222.30 was allocated for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 implications for his policies of childhood obesity levels in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle childhood obesity in each of those areas.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on children aged four to five years old (Reception) and 10 to 11 years old (Year 6). Data on obesity prevalence from the NCMP in the academic year 2021-22 is provided in the table below. Data is not available at Parliamentary constituency level but is available at local authority, regional and England levels.
Percentage of children living with obesity | ||
Area | Reception (%) | Year 6 (%) |
Coventry | 10.4 | 26.7 |
West Midlands | 11.3 | 26.2 |
England | 10.1 | 23.4 |
Local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services to support children and families to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. Local authorities can fund behavioural weight management services from their Public Health Grant.
In England, new regulations on out-of-home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online came into force on 1 October 2022. The location restrictions are the single most impactful obesity policy in reducing children’s calorie consumption, and are expected to accrue health benefits of over £57 billion and provide NHS savings of over £4 billion over the next 25 years.
We are also working with the food industry to make further progress on reformulation and ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices. We have seen important successes including the average sugar content of drinks subject to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy decreasing by 46% between 2015 and 2020. There has also been success in some categories of the sugar reduction programme, including a 14.9% reduction of sugar in retailer- and manufacturer-branded breakfast cereals and a 13.5% reduction in yogurts and fromage frais.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of fuel poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rising cost of living on levels of fuel poverty in each of those areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has not made a recent assessment of trends in fuel poverty in these areas. The latest official sub-regional statistics for 2021 (published 27th April 2023) show the number of households in fuel poverty in Coventry North East Constituency was 11,400 (23.3%) and Coventry local authority was 28,525 (20.8). The latest official statistics for 2022 (published 28th February 2023) show for the West Midlands administrative area 489,000 (19.2%) and England 3,257,000 households (13.4%).
Energy efficiency is the best way to tackle fuel poverty and the Government are delivering measures to fuel poor households and provided significant financial support last winter and further support is available for 2023-24.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 tackle health inequalities in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In the white paper ‘Levelling Up the United Kingdom’, published in February 2022, the Government set out a levelling up health mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy (HLE) between local areas where it is highest and lowest by 2030, and increase HLE by five years by 2035. A range of action is being taken forward which will support progress on the health mission, including the development of a Major Conditions Strategy on which an interim report will be published in the summer.
The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities’ (OHID) regional teams work closely with Local Directors of Public Health to ensure the ring-fenced public health grant funds evidence-based activity to improve health and tackle health inequalities. The public health grant funding allocated to Coventry for 2023/24 was £23,962,345. In addition to the grant, an additional £709,229 was allocated to invest in the local authority’s drug misuse services as part of the National Drug Strategy.
Coventry is one of 75 English local authority areas receiving funding through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This programme aims to improve outcomes for babies, children and families by improving access to local services, with a particular focus on the first 1001 days from conception to age two. This will contribute to a reduction in inequalities in health and education outcomes in Coventry, the West Midlands, and across England. Coventry is also one of the existing Targeted Lung Health Check pilots which have been rolled out to deprived areas with the highest level of lung cancer mortality.
TARGET DATE 18/07/2023
OHID’s regional team works alongside NHS England Midlands and integrated care systems to tackle healthcare inequalities embedding the Core20PLUS5 for children and adults. The approach defines a target population, the ‘Core20PLUS’, and identifies ‘5’ focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. Work continues with West Midlands Combined Authority to take forward a health in all policies approach across the wider determinants of health.