Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the uptake of the Healthy Start Scheme on a (a) monthly and (b) yearly basis; and what recent estimate his Department has made of the uptake of the Healthy Start Scheme.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Monthly uptake figures for the Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website. In May 2023, uptake for the Healthy Start scheme was 64.9%.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 30 November 2022, Official Report, column 896, what the evidential basis was for his statement that the UK had had the fastest vaccine roll-out in the world because of its freedoms after leaving the European Union.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All European Union member states pursued a joint vaccine procurement, which was slower to obtain supplies of vaccine than the approach pursued by the United Kingdom Government. Because the UK approach differed from that taken by the EU the UK was the first country in the world to authorise and deploy the Pfizer and Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. The UK was also the first major European economy and first G20 member to vaccinate 50% of its population with at least one dose, and to provide boosters to 50% of the population.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 26 October 2022, Official Report, column 295, what the evidential basis is for his statement that the Government has reintroduced the nurses' bursary.
Answered by Will Quince
In September 2020, the Government introduced an enhanced Learning Support Funding (LSF). Under the LSF, all eligible nursing students in England now receive non-income assessed and non-repayable grants of at least £5,000 per year, with additional funding for those studying certain subjects and those with child dependants. Students eligible for the LSF can also access maintenance and tuition fee loans provided by the Student Loans Company.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average weekly Healthy Start payment was for (a) individuals entitled to the scheme and (b) households with claimants receiving a digital card payment in March 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In March 2023, the average weekly Healthy Start payment for individuals on the scheme was £7.25 and the average weekly payment for households was £7.86. This includes one-off back dated payments, which were made to some beneficiaries’ pre-paid cards in March.
The average weekly payment for individuals on the scheme, not including back dated payments, was £5.03 and the average weekly payment for households, not including back dated payments, was £5.49.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has adequate funding to cover the cost of all people who are eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department is allocated funds for each financial year, which includes funds for Healthy Start. Healthy Start is a demand-led scheme and spending on the scheme varies each year.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was unclaimed by people eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme in financial years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on the Healthy Start Scheme including on (a) transition to the digital scheme, (b) applicant support and (c) promotion in 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Audited data on the cost of operating the Healthy Start scheme in the 2022/23 financial year is not yet available.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
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 17 April 2023 to Question 175581 on Healthy Start Scheme, whether his Department estimates the anticipated demand for the Healthy Start Scheme each year.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Healthy Start is a demand-led scheme and spending on the scheme varies each year. The amount of funds provided to the Department for Healthy Start each year is based on forecasts of the number of families on the scheme, with the Department managing actual spend within its overall budget.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide additional funding to the Healthy Start scheme to help tackle food poverty.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has no plans to provide additional funding for the Healthy Start scheme. In April 2021 the value of the Healthy Start benefit increased from £3.10 to £4.25 per week, providing additional support to pregnant women and families on lower incomes to make healthy food choices.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to meet its target of increasing the take-up of the Healthy Start Scheme to 75 per cent by the end of March 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operate the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA is committed to increasing uptake of the scheme to ensure as many children as possible have a healthy start in life.
The NHSBSA promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme locally. The NHSBSA has also reached out to stakeholders to see how it can support them to promote the scheme.