Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the level of funding for mental health services (a) reflects changes in service demand and (b) reduces the imbalance of resource allocation between mental and physical health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has committed to protecting funding on mental health. We know 2025/26 will be a challenging year, and the National Health Service must live within its means. This will require a relentless focus on operational performance, recovering productivity, tackling unwarranted variation, and reducing delays and waste to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.
Our focus on mental health will continue to be backed by the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2025/26 to ensure mental health funding is ring-fenced to support delivery of our commitments, including those outlined in the NHS Planning Guidance.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether prevention and public health will feature in the 10 year health plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Yes. The Government’s Health Mission sets out our ambition to build a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan, which will be published later this year, will set out broader actions for how we shift health and care systems in England towards preventing ill-health rather than treating sickness.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the prevention stream of the health mission; and when he plans to publish an update from the mission board.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the United Kingdom’s biggest killers and building a fairer UK, where everyone lives longer, healthier lives. This is why our Health Mission sets out to shift away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to one where there is focus on prevention and more services are delivered in local communities.
We have already acted with the landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill passing committee stage on 30 January 2025. We are committed to banning junk food advertising to children. A 9pm TV watershed and 24-hour online ban on paid-for advertising of less healthy food and drink products targeting children are on track to come into force across the UK on 1 October 2025. We have also committed to banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to young people aged under 16 years old.
Alongside this, we are exploring all interventions that will improve public health across a range of the UK’s biggest killers and help deliver the shift from treatment to prevention. Further details on our approach will be shared as we move forward.
Mission Boards are Cabinet Committees. It is a long-established precedent that information about the proceedings of the Cabinet or of any committee of the Cabinet is not normally shared publicly; this includes mission boards.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on providing smoking cessation support to patients who are in hospital receiving care for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has prioritised, and given new funding to integrated care boards (ICBs) for, the rollout of tobacco dependence services in hospital settings. Decisions on the scale and makeup of the services are agreed locally between ICBs and providers, based on local priorities. Where services are available, they will be accessible to people with the greatest need, including those with cardiovascular disease.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce a new plan to help reduce childhood obesity.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The prevention of ill health is a clear priority for the Government, and the cornerstone of this is supporting children to live healthier lives. We face a childhood obesity crisis, and the Government will take action to tackle the root causes of obesity head on, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.
We have already laid secondary legislation to restrict advertisements of less healthy food and drink to children on television and online, we have announced changes to the planning framework for fast food near schools, and we are taking steps to ensure the Soft Drinks Industry Levy remains effective and fit-for-purpose. Further action on obesity under the Government’s Health Mission will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 the shortage of social care packages in (a) Royal Hampshire County Hospital and (b) Winchester.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market and to commission services to meet the diverse needs of all local people. In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to current and likely future demand for such services and consider how providers might meet that demand.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund includes grant conditions which require each local authority to submit an adult social care capacity plan. These were submitted to the Department in June 2024.
The Government is supporting local authorities by making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost of agency staff employed by Royal Hampshire County Hospital was in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not available. Information regarding expenditure on agency staffing will be held locally by the National Health Service trust, the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England collects some information on the staffing expenditure of NHS bodies, but this information has not been centrally validated.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time in the Royal Hampshire County Hospital's Accident and Emergency department was between December 2024 and January 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data is not available in the format requested. The latest provisional published data for the median average time spent at emergency departments at the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for November 2024 was 218 minutes. Information relating to December 2024 will be published on 13 February 2025.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 maintain the Mental Health Investment Standard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will set out expectations for mental health funding, including its share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of extra NHS funding announced at the budget will be allocated to NHS mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will set out expectations for mental health funding, including its share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.