Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her oral contribution of 4 November 2024, Official Report, col. 46, (a) on what date the leak inquiry commenced, (b) on what date the inquiry concluded and (c) when its findings will be made public.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The investigation remains ongoing, and all reasonable lines of inquiry will be pursued.
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 Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 February 2025, Official Report, col. 631, (a) on what date the inquiry commenced, (b) on what date it concluded and (c) when its findings will be made public.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The investigation remains ongoing. I am unable to comment further on the progress or specifics of an ongoing investigation.
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of planning control and enforcement in preventing (i) vibration and (ii) damage to neighbouring properties during construction works.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has not undertaken such an assessment.
Planning conditions can be used to mitigate the adverse effects of a development, such as vibration, where they meet the tests set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
It is for local planning authorities to consider whether it is appropriate to attach conditions to the grant of planning permission and to take any subsequent enforcement action where there is a breach of planning control on a case-by-case basis.
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.