Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total full FTE headcount employed by Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland ICS was in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025 as at 1st January of each year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff employed by hospital trusts and integrated care boards but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the Human Resources system for the National Health Service, and is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
The most recent published data can be found within the July 2025 (Including selected preliminary statistics for August 2025) section of the publication, within the file “NHS Workforce Statistics, July 2025 England and Organisation”. Within this file, the full time equivalent (FTE) staffing levels for NHS organisations can be found in worksheet 5 and the headcount data can be found in worksheet 4. Published figures are taken from the last day of each month.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Mayor of Leicester on local government reorganisation; and on what dates since 1 January 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held between ministers of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Mayor of Leicester on local government reorganisation since 1 January 2025.
Local government reorganisation is led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Department of Health and Social Care engages with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the implications of local government reorganisation for health and care services.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total budget was for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-2025 and (c) 2025-6 financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) named day questions and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by his Department within the required timescale in (i) January 2025, (ii) February 2025, (iii) March 2025 and (iv) April 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department takes its obligations to parliamentary accountability seriously, including the answering of written parliamentary questions. We continue to receive the highest number of written questions of any Government department in Whitehall.
The following tables show the information requested as recorded internally within the Department:
Named Day:
Month | Proportion answered within required timescale |
January 2025 | 76.7% |
February 2025 | 47.3% |
March 2025 | 49.6% |
April 2025 | 74.4% |
Ordinary Written:
Month | Proportion answered within required timescale |
January 2025 | 86.4% |
February 2025 | 62.6% |
March 2025 | 63.1% |
April 2025 | 76.3% |
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Urgent Question on the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service on 19 May 2025, what estimate he has made of when the new national programme will be in operation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Volunteers continue to support health and care in hospitals, ambulance services, and communities. The new NHS Volunteer recruitment portal is due to fully launch later this year. Prospective volunteers can already access the portal via the volunteer pages of the National Health Service’s website to search for nearby volunteering opportunities and contacts in local NHS organisations.
Although the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders contractual arrangement is ending, volunteers will be signposted to other available opportunities across the sector. The new NHS Volunteer recruitment portal will help to ensure that the active pool of volunteers registered with the Volunteer Responders programme can continue to support the NHS.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed by NHS England on 1 April 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by NHS England as of 1 March 2025 was 14,957.12.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of NHS England's staff were clinically qualified as of 1 March 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 1 March 2025, 15% of all NHS England staff were registered with a clinical professional body. Examples of clinical professional bodies include the General Medical Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Clinical registrations have been used as a proxy to identify clinically qualified staff. There could be clinical qualified staff in NHS England that either do not require registration for their role or they have not recorded it on the electronic staff record.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answers of 4 April 2025 to Questions (a) 41903, (b) 41902 and (c) 41906, how many full time equivalent staff are employed in NHSE transformation team; and how many full time equivalent staff it will employ when fully staffed.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials are working with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the leadership, structure, and requirements needed to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.
We will ensure the right expertise and experience is brought together to deliver this transformation, including people with leadership experience of other major change programmes and mergers.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed by NHS England as of 1 March 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by NHS England as of 1 March 2025 was 14,957.12 FTE.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England executives that receive redundancy packages will be eligible to be rehired into civil service roles and retain those redundancy payments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the structure and requirements of the team required to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.
The Department and NHS England will communicate information about these reforms to staff at the earliest opportunity and are committed to a culture of transparency.