Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing medical students in all years of the course to access the Learning Support Fund.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding arrangements for students are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the NHS Bursary living allowance to match the Student Finance England maintenance loan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Bursary funding arrangements are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.
We have applied an uplift of 2% to all NHS Bursary maintenance grants and allowances for the academic year 2024/25. This is the first time the maintenance grant has been uplifted since 2015.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making retrospective payments to student nurses that were incorrectly labelled as being ineligible for the £5,000 annual training grant via the NHS Learning Support Fund since 2019.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no such plans.
The NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF) is an annual scheme operated under rules that are published by the Department for each academic year. Eligibility for the LSF under these rules reflects eligibility for student loans set by the Department for Education.
The NHS LSF scheme is administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) on behalf of the Department. It includes provisions for students to ask the NHSBSA for a review of their decisions, and to contact the Department to appeal NHSBSA decisions.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making retrospective payments to student nurses who were not eligible for the £5,000 annual training grant through the NHS Learning Support Fund since 2019.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to make retrospective payments to student nurses who were not eligible for the £5,000 annual training grant through the NHS Learning Support Fund since 2019.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department issues guidance to integrated care boards on agreeing bespoke contractual arrangements with dental practices for NHS dental provision.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. Dental contracts are underpinned by the nationally defined General Dental Service (GDS) contract, or a Personal Dental Service (PDS) Agreements and NHS England supports ICBs with their local commissioning responsibilities for primary dental services with the provision of nationally agreed policies and procedures.
NHS England has also published guidance to support commissioners to take advantage of the opportunities offered to commission further and additional services through flexible commissioning, which enables the responsible commissioner to tailor services to meet local population oral health needs. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people from lower-income backgrounds to study medicine, in the context of the availability of financial support for maintenance available in the fifth and sixth years of a medicine degree.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From year five of their undergraduate course, medical students can access the NHS Bursary. This is non-repayable and comprises payment for tuition fees, income-assessed help towards living costs, and where eligible, further allowances, such as for dependents and childcare and for those living with a disability. A further grant may also be available to medical students who are struggling financially, depending on their current financial circumstances.
Students eligible for the NHS Bursary can also apply for a reduced rate loan for living costs from Student Finance England. The Government is committed to supporting people from all backgrounds to study medicine and these funding arrangements are reviewed annually.