Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of student midwives left their university courses in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data published by the Office for Students in the Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey (HESES), collates figures submitted by individual higher education providers to give an indication of the number of students studying in each academic year. HESES data includes figures on undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery courses in England. The latest published data is for those starting courses in 2022. The table below gives the number of undergraduate and postgraduate starters on midwifery courses in England, each year from 2018 to 2022:
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Undergraduate Starters | 2,550 | 2,930 | 3,460 | 3,565 | 3,305 |
Postgraduate Starters | 70 | 55 | 100 | 135 | 190 |
Source: The Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey (HESES) 2018 to 2022.
The table below presents the latest available data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for the number of qualifiers from undergraduate midwifery courses in England, for the years 2019/20 to 2021/22:
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Undergraduate Midwifery Qualifiers | 2,055 | 1,945 | 2,445 |
Source: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) qualifier data 2022
Note: A qualifier is defined by the HESA as a student who gained a qualification during the academic year in question.
The Department does not hold information on the proportion of student midwives who left university courses, in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many student midwives graduated from pre-registration midwifery courses in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data published by the Office for Students in the Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey (HESES), collates figures submitted by individual higher education providers to give an indication of the number of students studying in each academic year. HESES data includes figures on undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery courses in England. The latest published data is for those starting courses in 2022. The table below gives the number of undergraduate and postgraduate starters on midwifery courses in England, each year from 2018 to 2022:
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Undergraduate Starters | 2,550 | 2,930 | 3,460 | 3,565 | 3,305 |
Postgraduate Starters | 70 | 55 | 100 | 135 | 190 |
Source: The Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey (HESES) 2018 to 2022.
The table below presents the latest available data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for the number of qualifiers from undergraduate midwifery courses in England, for the years 2019/20 to 2021/22:
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Undergraduate Midwifery Qualifiers | 2,055 | 1,945 | 2,445 |
Source: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) qualifier data 2022
Note: A qualifier is defined by the HESA as a student who gained a qualification during the academic year in question.
The Department does not hold information on the proportion of student midwives who left university courses, in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the cost to the NHS caused by Royal Mail (a) delays and (b) failures to deliver appointment letters.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England sends communications and invitations to patients using a digital first approach, for environmental reasons and to efficiently reduce costs. If an individual has provided a mobile phone number and email address through their general practice, NHS England will, in the first instance, send most invitations for appointments via mobile phone text and email.
Letters are typically sent to patients when NHS England does not have alternative contact details on record, such as a phone number or email address. This ensures all patients receive notification of an appointment, including elderly and other vulnerable patients, where a digital first approach may not be possible or appropriate. Letters may also be sent occasionally as reminders.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to launch a national awareness campaign on breast screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is currently exploring opportunities for national campaigns to support positive outcomes on women’s health. Work is underway to scope the feasibility of running a national campaign to support breast screening uptake, and this will be informed by pilot activity due to run in London in 2024/25.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister in her Department is responsible for delivery of (a) cancer screening programmes and (b) the NHS public health Section 7A agreement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My role as the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care includes responsibility for major diseases including cancer, and for screening.
In accordance with the NHS Public Health Functions Agreement (made under section 7A of the NHS Act 2006) NHS England is responsible for providing or securing the provision of breast, bowel and cervical screening programmes and other specified public health services.
My Rt. Hon friend, Andrea Leadsom MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care, has led ministerial responsibility for arrangements under section 7A.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the removal of NHS public health functions agreement ring-fence funding on cancer screening programmes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not believe that, since 2020/21, removal of a ring-fence in respect of NHS England’s funding for services covered by the annual NHS Public Health Functions Agreement has had any specific impact on delivery of the relevant programmes including cancer screening programmes.
NHS England is committed to delivering maximum levels of screening uptake and coverage across the whole population, both within and between communities. A range of initiatives are underway within individual programmes to, as appropriate, expand eligibility and trial innovative technologies as well as to improve the underpinning service delivery, including alignment with symptomatic services and digital infrastructure.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS public health functions agreement 2023 to 2024 will include a ring-fence in financial directions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s financial directions to NHS England in respect of the financial year ending on 31 March 2024, do not include a ring-fence for services covered by the annual NHS public health functions agreement. The Government does not intend to set such a ring-fence for the remainder of this period.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 30 June 2023 to Question 190710 on Cancer: Screening, if she will publish (a) the NHS breast cancer screening uptake improvement plan and (b) an update on the (i) pilot and (ii) testing conducted.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has developed an internal national plan in collaboration with key stakeholders, to improve uptake within the breast screening programme from 2023 and beyond. There is currently no intention to publish the plan, but it is available on the NHS Futures Platform. This is a collaboration platform that empowers everyone working in health and social care to safely connect, share, and learn across boundaries.
NHS England has commissioned a series of evaluative projects as part of its internal national improvement plan for breast screening, which includes: actively following up with women who have missed an appointment or not engaged with the service; looking at the reasons why women do not attend screenings to address any barriers; and assessing the impact on screening uptake of using different invitation methodologies with reference to factors such as age, previous screening history, attendance at first invitation and subsequent invites, and deprivation. These projects are expected to report their findings by April 2024.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 September 2023 to Question 198696 on Breast Cancer: Screening, what national evaluative projects have been commissioned; and what are the timelines for their delivery.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has commissioned a series of evaluative projects to improve the NHS Breast Screening Programme. These include actively following up women who have missed an appointment or not engaged with the service; looking at the reasons why women do not attend screening to address any barriers; and assessing the impact on screening uptake using different invitation methodologies with reference to factors such as age, previous screening history including attendance at first invitations and subsequent invites, and deprivation.
These projects are expected to report by April 2024.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 29 November 2022 to Question 94900 on Breast Cancer: Screening, what progress has been made on a new breast screening IT system.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Work on the Digital Transformation of Screening (DToS) programme is ongoing. When introduced, it will start to give breast screening offices across the country a single consolidated England-wide view of participants and improvements to appointment booking, which will allow the option for online booking and self-serve appointment. These changes to data monitoring and appointments will be delivered incrementally over the next 24 months, subject to funding. Longer term, the current breast screening IT system will be completely replaced by the DToS.