Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) one off costs and (b) net change in annual running costs will there be from moving Healthwatch into ICBs, local authorities and her department.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
During the third reading debate on the Health Bill in the House of Commons, the Minister of State for Secondary Care committed to work closely with colleagues in both Houses in order to review the Healthwatch provisions and ensure that our approach sufficiently empowers and devolves to local populations. We will provide further updates in due course once that work is complete, and any changes to the plans are made.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an estimate of the financial impact of moving the Health Services Safety Investigation Body functions into the Care Quality Commission, beyond the recurrent pay savings and the transition costs for digital, data and technology identified in the ‘Health Bill: patient safety measures - impact assessments’.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the impact assessment published alongside the Health Bill, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-bill-patient-safety-measures-impact-assessments
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many FTE positions at each grade are budgeted for (a) this and (b) next year in the Patient Experience Directorate.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is establishing a Patient Experience Directorate as part of its commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to give patient voice a greater profile within a reformed Department. The directorate's detailed organisational design, including staffing numbers and grading, is still being developed. Consequently, information on the number of full-time equivalent posts at each grade for this year and next year is not currently available.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her statement of 15 September on the Thirlwall Inquiry and the “recommendation hub to properly track our implementation progress internally, not just for this inquiry but for others right across the NHS”, if she will publish her assessment of progress against the set of recommendations (a) to date and (b) periodically.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care’s intention is certainly to make the recommendations hub publicly available and update it on a regular basis. We will keep Parliament updated on the publication of the hub in the normal way in due course. In the meantime, once the Government has published its response to the Thirlwall Inquiry recommendations, progress will be published through the Cabinet Office on GOV.UK at the Public Inquiries: Recommendations and the Government Response page, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Neighbourhood Health Centres will be (a) new builds, (b) re-purposed existing healthcare premises and (c) other.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the statements we made when announcing the Neighbourhood Health Framework in March and to further guidance published in April with regard to neighbourhood health centres, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/neighbourhood-health-centres/
NHS England received 1,027 responses via the Citizen Space platform to the consultation on proposed multi-neighbourhood provider and single neighbourhood provider contracting models to support neighbourhood health services. NHS England also received additional written responses which it regarded as responses to the consultation.
We will provide further information to Parliament in due course as the detail of our plans is set out, including on the outcome of our consultation activities in this area.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many responses she received to the consultation on proposed Multi-Neighbourhood Provider and Single Neighbourhood Provider contracting models to support neighbourhood health services; and when she plans to respond.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the statements we made when announcing the Neighbourhood Health Framework in March and to further guidance published in April with regard to neighbourhood health centres, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/neighbourhood-health-centres/
NHS England received 1,027 responses via the Citizen Space platform to the consultation on proposed multi-neighbourhood provider and single neighbourhood provider contracting models to support neighbourhood health services. NHS England also received additional written responses which it regarded as responses to the consultation.
We will provide further information to Parliament in due course as the detail of our plans is set out, including on the outcome of our consultation activities in this area.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the cost of establishing Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the statements we made when announcing the Neighbourhood Health Framework in March and to further guidance published in April with regard to neighbourhood health centres, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/neighbourhood-health-centres/
NHS England received 1,027 responses via the Citizen Space platform to the consultation on proposed multi-neighbourhood provider and single neighbourhood provider contracting models to support neighbourhood health services. NHS England also received additional written responses which it regarded as responses to the consultation.
We will provide further information to Parliament in due course as the detail of our plans is set out, including on the outcome of our consultation activities in this area.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on potential use of NHS numbers as the “consistent identifier" envisaged in the Children’s Well-being and Schools Act 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, we are working with the Department for Education to implement a single unique identifier for every child. Pilots are underway and subject to their success, the NHS number will indeed become the single unique identifier for children.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that the risk of groundwater flooding is taken into account by a local planning authority for planning applications in areas with high concentrations of chalk geology.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to policies P3(2)(f), N1(1)(a-b), and Chapter F of the new National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward proposals to ensure that groundwater flood risk (in areas with high concentrations of chalk geology) is given statutory consideration in the planning process.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to policies P3(2)(f), N1(1)(a-b), and Chapter F of the new National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August.