Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many visits each Government minister has undertaken to primary care providers in each year since May 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested prior to 2019 is not held centrally. While information on Ministerial visits from 2019 to date is held, to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many visits each Government minister has undertaken to GP surgeries in each year since May 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested prior to 2019 is not held centrally. While information on Ministerial visits from 2019 to date is held, to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the 10-Year Cancer Plan includes proxy measures for staging data of brain cancer so that it can be (a) included and (b) measured in the early diagnosis (i) target and (ii) ambition.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Solihull (Julian Knight MP) on 10 June 2022 to Question 13750.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the 10-Year Cancer Plan includes specific targets on (a) less survivable cancers and (b) brain cancer to ensure that progress is made on survival rates for these cancers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Officials are currently analysing the responses received to the call for evidence to develop the 10 Year Cancer Plan. The Plan will address all cancer types, including rarer and less survivable cancers such as brain cancer.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to commit to providing all brain tumour patients with access to a Clinical Nurse Specialist as part of his 10-Year Cancer Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Solihull (Julian Knight MP) on 10 June 2022 to Question 13751.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in view of the Government's forthcoming reform of the Mental Health Act 1983, if he will include provisions in the Mental Health Bill following concerns raised by respondents in response to the consultation, Reforming the Mental Health Act, updated 24th August 2021, on how the reforms will serve the needs of children and young people; and if he will commit to working closely with stakeholders to test and develop policy proposals in respect of children and young people as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process prior to the introduction of that Bill to Parliament.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Government will publish a draft Mental Health Bill shortly. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill will then be a matter for Parliament.
The Government consulted on the proposals for legislation made by the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018 and through the ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ white paper, which received over 1,700 responses. We have also worked with charities to gather the views of people, including children and young people, who were either in inpatient services or had lived experience of the Act. The development of the draft Bill has been informed by these consultations.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 25 April 2022 to Question 153887, on NHS: Workplace Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact on NHS staffing and retention of the (a) £40,000 annual pension threshold for both pension contributions and (b) annual increase in total pension value.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to isolate the impact of a single factor such as the annual allowance on staff choosing to reduce their working hours or take early retirement. The annual increase in pension value for the vast majority of National Health Service staff is expected to be within the £40,000 annual allowance for tax-free pension saving and is unlikely to impact retention.
However, the highest earners within the NHS will find that the generosity of the NHS Pension Scheme means they exceed their annual allowance. Where this occurs, the Scheme Pays facility is a proportionate means to meet the cost of an annual allowance charge from the value of pension benefits.
The Department monitors retirement patterns and hours worked by senior doctors. NHS Digital’s workforce statistics and data from the NHS Business Services Authority show that the average contracted hours per person for consultants and the number of consultants taking voluntary early retirement as a proportion of all consultant retirements has been stable for several years. NHS England and NHS Improvement are delivering a retention programme focused on employers making flexible employment offers to staff, engaging higher earners on pension tax issues and demonstrating the benefit of delaying retirement.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase funding for psychology services in the NHS.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have committed to increasing funding to allow an additional 380,000 people to access Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services per year by 2023/24. In response to the pandemic, we invested an additional £38 million in 2021/22 to ensure that IAPT services were equipped to deliver access, waiting time and recovery standards.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of physical assaults reported on NHS staff at West Suffolk Hospital in 2020-21.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of physical assaults reported on NHS staff at Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust on 2020-21.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not collected centrally.