Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to hold the first round of cross party talks on social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to building a national, cross-party consensus to create a fair and affordable adult social care system for all. This is why we have asked Baroness Casey of Blackstock to lead an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards building a National Care Service.
As the commission is independent, Baroness Casey and her team are taking forward the arrangement of discussions with political parties.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason cross-party talks on social care have not yet taken place.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to building a national, cross-party consensus to create a fair and affordable adult social care system for all. This is why we have asked Baroness Casey of Blackstock to lead an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards building a National Care Service.
As the commission is independent, Baroness Casey and her team are taking forward the arrangement of discussions with political parties.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in the number of (a) contracted staff and (b) bank and agency staff in the NHS in 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific estimate of the change in contracted National Health Service staff, bank and agency staff, corporate functions staff, or those in other functions in NHS trusts in England over the 2025/26 financial year, beyond the position outlined in the 2025/26 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance. This guidance set out that integrated care boards and NHS trusts must:
- reduce agency expenditure, as far as possible, as part of optimising costs and productivity. As a minimum, all systems are expected to deliver a 30% reduction based on current spending, with further reductions over this Parliament;
- reduce bank use, with all systems expected to deliver a minimum 10% reduction. Bank rates should be optimised as far as possible; and
- conduct a robust review of establishment growth and reduce spend on support functions to April 2022 levels.
The Department and NHS England will continue to work with systems to develop plans that are affordable within the allocations set, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity and tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
The Department does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts who may be planning to reduce the number of staff employed in non-corporate functions.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in the number of staff employed in (a) corporate and (b) other functions in the NHS in 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific estimate of the change in contracted National Health Service staff, bank and agency staff, corporate functions staff, or those in other functions in NHS trusts in England over the 2025/26 financial year, beyond the position outlined in the 2025/26 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance. This guidance set out that integrated care boards and NHS trusts must:
- reduce agency expenditure, as far as possible, as part of optimising costs and productivity. As a minimum, all systems are expected to deliver a 30% reduction based on current spending, with further reductions over this Parliament;
- reduce bank use, with all systems expected to deliver a minimum 10% reduction. Bank rates should be optimised as far as possible; and
- conduct a robust review of establishment growth and reduce spend on support functions to April 2022 levels.
The Department and NHS England will continue to work with systems to develop plans that are affordable within the allocations set, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity and tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
The Department does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts who may be planning to reduce the number of staff employed in non-corporate functions.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have informed his Department that they plan to reduce the number of staff employed for non-corporate functions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific estimate of the change in contracted National Health Service staff, bank and agency staff, corporate functions staff, or those in other functions in NHS trusts in England over the 2025/26 financial year, beyond the position outlined in the 2025/26 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance. This guidance set out that integrated care boards and NHS trusts must:
- reduce agency expenditure, as far as possible, as part of optimising costs and productivity. As a minimum, all systems are expected to deliver a 30% reduction based on current spending, with further reductions over this Parliament;
- reduce bank use, with all systems expected to deliver a minimum 10% reduction. Bank rates should be optimised as far as possible; and
- conduct a robust review of establishment growth and reduce spend on support functions to April 2022 levels.
The Department and NHS England will continue to work with systems to develop plans that are affordable within the allocations set, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity and tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
The Department does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts who may be planning to reduce the number of staff employed in non-corporate functions.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) integrated care boards and (b) NHS trusts have contacted his Department to discuss the potential cost of redundancies since 1 January 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prime Minister has announced the integration of the Department and NHS England and the associated reduction in size, and NHS England has also set out separate ambitions of reducing integrated care board running costs as well as National Health Service trusts’ corporate costs. These reforms will deliver a more efficient, leaner centre, and will also free up capacity and help deliver significant savings of hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested into frontline services, to cut waiting times through the Government’s Plan for Change.
Clearly these reforms will have workforce implications, and we are working closely with NHS England and HM Treasury to deliver these, however we do not yet have a robust estimate of costs for 2025/26. Discussions have been with NHS England at a national level, and not with individual integrated care boards or trusts.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of redundancies in the NHS in 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prime Minister has announced the integration of the Department and NHS England and the associated reduction in size, and NHS England has also set out separate ambitions of reducing integrated care board running costs as well as National Health Service trusts’ corporate costs. These reforms will deliver a more efficient, leaner centre, and will also free up capacity and help deliver significant savings of hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested into frontline services, to cut waiting times through the Government’s Plan for Change.
Clearly these reforms will have workforce implications, and we are working closely with NHS England and HM Treasury to deliver these, however we do not yet have a robust estimate of costs for 2025/26. Discussions have been with NHS England at a national level, and not with individual integrated care boards or trusts.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve access to train services in North Shropshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have allocated over £8 million to Shropshire in 2025/26 to maintain and enhance local transport infrastructure, including the roads, public transport, and active travel connection to rail stations. This is delivered through the £6.78 million of Local Transport Grant and £1.64 million of Integrated Transport Block funding. This figure is in addition to the highways payment and any bus funding Shropshire has received separately.
Shropshire Unitary Authority have been allocated £659,352 under the Consolidated Active Travel Fund (CATF) for the financial year 2025/26. The CATF supports authorities with developing and constructing walking, wheeling and cycling facilities.
The government is committed to delivering better bus services for passengers. In the Budget, the government confirmed investment of over £1 billion to support and improve bus services, and keep fares affordable in England outside London, including in rural areas. Shropshire Council has been allocated £4.4 million of this funding in 25/26.
This level of government funding will help improve access to railway stations in North Shropshire. Ultimately, however, funding decisions are a matter for local authorities, based on local needs and priorities.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information he holds on (a) rates of diabetic foot screening and (b) diabetes-related lower limb amputations by (i) region and (ii) other local areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to deliver the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) and provide footcare data, which is available in the NDA Core and National Diabetes Footcare Audit data dashboards, at the following link:
A trend of improvement in foot surveillance is evidenced by the NDA’s core data for 2023/24, showing that the percentage of people with type 1 diabetes who received general practice foot checks in England reached 70.6%, versus 67.2% in 2022/23. The proportion of people with type 2 diabetes who received foot check examinations in 2023/24 was 81.3%, up from 78.8% in 2022/23.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Quality and Outcomes Framework guidance in ensuring appropriate management of patients with diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) 2024/25 includes indicators for the effective control and management of diabetes. Performance improvements associated with the indicators in the QOF are seen in improvements in the care and management of diabetes.
Annual diabetes reviews are associated with reduced emergency admissions, amputations, retinopathy, and mortality. Following a significant decrease in routine care delivery associated with the pandemic, the proportion of people with type 1 diabetes receiving all eight care processes had recovered back to 43.3% in 2023/24, and 62.3% for type 2 diabetes. This is comparted to 27% and 37% for 2020/21, respectively.
The National Diabetes Audit core data for 2023/24 shows a steady trend of improvement in foot surveillance. The audit shows that the percentage of people with type 1 diabetes who received general practice foot checks in England reached 68.9%, versus 67.2% in 2022/23. The proportion of people with type 2 diabetes who received foot check examinations in 2023/24 was 81.3%, up from 78.8% in 2022/23. The foot check is financially incentivised via the QOF, and this is an important lever for maintaining high quality foot care.