Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many government procurement cards were held by staff within (a) his core Department and (b) executive agencies of his Department at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In relation to the number of Government procurement cards held by staff within the core Department, I refer the Hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury to the answer given on 18 January 2024 to Question PQ8714.
In addition, the following table shows the number of cards held by the Department’s two executive agencies, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in 2022 and 2023:
Executive agency | 2022 | 2023 |
UKHSA | 120 | 80 |
MHRA | 194 | 182 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on government procurement card purchases (a) above and (b) below £500 net of refunded payments in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department publishes procurement card transactions of a value greater than £500, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dh-spending-over-500
The following table shows the total spend, net of refunds, for transactions lower than £500, for 2022 and 2023:
| 2022 | 2023 |
Net total payments | £156,905.67 | £162,203.92 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when her Department is expected to terminate its contract with the Prince's Trust, order reference C191156; and whether a notice period is required under the provisions of clause 10.2.2 of that contract.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the contract awarded by her Department to Ethypharm UK Ltd on 27 January 2022 for the storage and management of the Department's Naloxone buffer stock, how many packs of Naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients in the UK in the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
No packs of naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients, in the financial years 2021/22, 2022/23, or 2023/24. The buffer stock is maintained in case of an unprecedented demand for naloxone arising, that would exceed the capacity of business-as-usual stock, for instance due to an incident of unusually harmful opioids. Such an incident has not arisen to date. The Government remains committed to maintaining this vital precautionary measure, and would authorise the release of buffer stock supplies when needed.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to table 15 of the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, HC 33, published on 25 January 2024, what the distance travelled on domestic flights was in 2021-22.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The figure reported in the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, showing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with domestic air travel in 2021/22, includes domestic flights made by:
- the Department;
- the Care Quality Commission;
- NHS England;
- NHS Resolution;
- the Health Research Authority;
- NHS Counter Fraud Authority;
- NHS Business Services Authority;
- the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency;
- the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence;
- the UK Health Security Agency;
- and the former NHS Digital and Health Education England, which are both now merged with NHS England.
The distance travelled by domestic flights in 2021-22 for these bodies was 185,415 kilometres.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against her Department’s budget as of (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 March 2023 and (c) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The number of cardholders in the Department for the dates in question was 86 as of 31 December 2022, 89 as of 31 March 2023, and 92 as of 31 December 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many purchases with a value of less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget using a Government procurement card (a) in calendar year 2022 and (b) from 1 January to 31 October 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The total number of transactions under £500 for the 2022 calendar year was 1,323 and the total cost of transactions under £500 was £158,905.
The total number of transactions under £500 between the period of January 1st and 31st October 2023 was 1,164 and the total cost of transactions under £500 was £140,695.
The total cost of purchases under £500 for January 2022 to 31st October 2023 was £299,600.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 3,310 total headcount figure for permanent civil servants excluding agency workers working for his Department as of 31 March 2023, as detailed in Cabinet Office statistics entitled Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, what that figure was on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
On 2 October 2023, the Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.
The Civil Service grew to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the illegal war in Ukraine, but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.
The following table shows the total headcount figure for permanent civil servants working for the Department, excluding agencies:
31 March 2011 | 31 March 2016 | 31 March 2020 | |
Total Departmental headcount | 2615 | 1952 | 1741 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Will Quince
The total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for the Department during 2022/23 was £74,325. Non-cash vouchers are awarded as part of the Department’s recognition scheme.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Schedule 12 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill introduced on 8 March 2023, whether any IT provider notified his (a) Department and (b) agencies and other public bodies of an intention to pursue legal action if they were the subject of a statement of censure for non-compliance with information standards of the type described in Section 251ZC of that Bill between 6 April 2015 and 5 April 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
No IT provider has notified the Department, or as far as we are aware, any agency or other public body, of an intention to pursue legal action if they were the subject of a statement of censure.
The proposed changes in the Bill will ensure that IT suppliers involved in the processing of health or care information can be made accountable for meeting information standards. Engagement with health and care stakeholders, including IT providers, has been taking place since July 2022 to gather queries, concerns and recommendations to ensure sufficient considerations in the implementation design.
IT providers may incur additional costs associated with complying with information standards, but these are likely to vary between IT providers, depending on a number of factors. Proper consideration will be given to the need to set standards that are reasonable and achievable.
It is expected that IT providers will then factor in the cost of meeting them. The intention is also to take a phased approach to implementation in order to minimise costs to IT providers as far as possible.