Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the new maternity workforce planning tool that he commissioned from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to be ready.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department awarded a grant to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in July 2021 to develop a tool calculate the requirements for the number of obstetricians in maternity units in England. In early 2022, the College will provide detailed information on the number of obstetricians required with the tool to be developed by June 2022.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) midwives and (b) obstetricians there are working in NHS England.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but excludes staff working in primary care, general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers.
As of the end of July 2021, there were 21,942 full time equivalent (FTE) midwives working in National Health Service trusts and CCGs. As of the end of June 2021, there were 6,305 FTE doctors working in the speciality of obstetrics and gynaecology in NHS trusts and CCGs. This includes 2,542 FTE consultants.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on introducing a deposit return scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A second consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was published earlier this year and is now closed. The Government is analysing the responses to that consultation, with a view to publishing a Government response in due course.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that carers have access to breaks from their caring responsibilities.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Act 2014 secured important rights for carers, including an assessment of, and support for, their specific needs where eligible. Local authorities have been able to access the £1.49 billion Infection Control Fund which has been used to help day services reopen safely or be reconfigured to work in a COVID-19 secure way. We have also committed at least £6.9 billion in 2021-2022 to the Better Care Fund, which includes funding that can be used for respite services. In addition, we have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance for day care managers, commissioners, and providers, to help them make decisions on the safe operation of day services.
We will continue to work with local authorities, in collaboration with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to ensure, where possible, the safe resumption of these services.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on (a) a timeline of the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and (b) how long it took to get that outbreak under control.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK Government mounted a comprehensive response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which involved ten departments and four arms' length bodies. More than 1,500 British military personnel, 150 NHS volunteers, 425 Public Health England staff and 250 DFID surge staff worked alongside staff at our High Commission in Freetown and in the UK.
The UK Government also provided 1,500 isolation and treatment beds at six Ebola treatment centres and 70 community care centres across the country. Support also included diagnostic laboratories, safe and dignified burials, assistance for households under quarantine, infection prevention and control, social mobilisation and community engagement. The Government committed more than £400 million to ending the Ebola outbreak throughout the crisis period. Sierra Leone was finally declared Ebola free on 17 March 2016.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference the UK’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2014, how many (a) NHS and (b) armed forces personnel took part in tackling the outbreak; and what (i) equipment and (ii) funding did the UK Government provide to tackle that outbreak.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK Government mounted a comprehensive response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which involved ten departments and four arms' length bodies. More than 1,500 British military personnel, 150 NHS volunteers, 425 Public Health England staff and 250 DFID surge staff worked alongside staff at our High Commission in Freetown and in the UK.
The UK Government also provided 1,500 isolation and treatment beds at six Ebola treatment centres and 70 community care centres across the country. Support also included diagnostic laboratories, safe and dignified burials, assistance for households under quarantine, infection prevention and control, social mobilisation and community engagement. The Government committed more than £400 million to ending the Ebola outbreak throughout the crisis period. Sierra Leone was finally declared Ebola free on 17 March 2016.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government took to tackle HIV and AIDS worldwide in the (a) late 1990s and (b) early 2000s; and how much funding was allocated to that work during that time period.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Department for International Development (DFID)'s departmental report in 2000 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/67962/deptreport2000.pdf) summarised UK efforts to tackle HIV and AIDS worldwide in 1999. This included multilateral support to agencies such as UNAIDS and bilateral sexual and reproductive health programmes in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, China and India. During 1999, DFID also announced £14 million for global AIDS vaccine research.
In 2001, DFID published a new Strategy on HIV/AIDS, and this was refreshed in 2004. In 2003, DFID established a new HIV/AIDS Policy Team and published a Call for Action on HIV/AIDS as part of intensified efforts to tackle the pandemic. A National Audit Office review of DFID's response to HIV/AIDS in 2004 (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2004/06/0304664es.pdf) identified "DFID's broad-based approach, its flexibility of response in-country, and its role in supporting research as strengths", the review also included an analysis of spend UK aid spend on HIV and AIDS.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding the Government has allocated to securing universal international access to HIV (a) prevention, (b) treatment, (c) care and (d) support since 2005.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Bilateral Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) for HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, and care has been consistently tracked using the OECD-DAC sector code "13040 STD control including HIV/AIDS" which includes prevention, treatment and care and "16064 Social mitigation of HIV/AIDS" which includes support. Details of UK aid spend for 2017 to 2019 disaggregated by sector code can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/921034/Data_Underlying_SID_2019.ods. Details of UK aid spend for 2009 to 2016 disaggregated by sector code can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/695435/data-underlying-the-sid2017-revision-March.ods. Details of UK aid Spend pre-2009 disaggregated by sector code can be found on the OECD-DAC CRVS system at: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=crs1.
We estimate £1.5 billion of bilateral UK aid has been spent on STD control including HIV and AIDS, and £675,000 has been spent on Social mitigation of HIV and AIDS between 2005 and 2019. This includes support to prevention, treatment and care of HIV and AIDS. The UK continues to be a major funder of the global HIV response alongside our donor partners, including through £340 million support for the WHO and £1.4 billion pledge for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. This includes a commitment made this month to the Robert Carr Fund to reach inadequately served populations in the HIV response.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will publish data on UK emissions (a) in total, (b) per PPP$ of GDP and (c) in comparison with each G20 country in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
BEIS publishes absolute GHG emissions estimates, on a territorial basis, annually. Our latest final version is here (to 2019) [1] and our latest provisional version is here (to 2020) [2].
BEIS does not publish anything directly related to emissions per PPP$ of GDP. There are other resources available online, including:
Not all G20 countries publish emissions estimates annually, so it is not possible to provide a direct comparison between the UK and all members of the G20. However, the statistical release accompanying our annual statistics publication referenced earlier (here, [8]), does contain an "International Comparison" section, on page 24, which sets out where UK emissions sit relative to other G20 countries. Additionally, the UNFCCC website contains National Inventory GHG submissions from each country here. [9]
References
[1] 2019 UK greenhouse gas emissions: final figures - statistical release - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics
[2] 2020 UK greenhouse gas emissions: provisional figures - statistical release - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/provisional-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics
[3] Greenhouse gas emissions intensity, UK: 2018 provisional estimates
[4] Atmospheric emissions: greenhouse gas emissions intensity by industry
[5] UK Environmental Accounts: 2021
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/ukenvironmentalaccounts/2021
[6] The decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions: UK evidence
[7] The World Bank Data Indicators
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/
[8] 2019 UK greenhouse gas emissions: final figures - statistical release
[9] UNFCC National Inventory Submissions 2021
https://unfccc.int/ghg-inventories-annex-i-parties/2021
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - South West Surrey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve the quality of elderly care in care homes across England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to the sustainable improvement of adult social care, including care for the elderly and will bring forward proposals later this year on plans for reform.
We published a White Paper on 11 February 2021 which sets out proposals to introduce, through the Health and Care Bill, a new duty for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to review and assess local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care duties and publish their assessment. This is alongside powers for the Secretary of State to intervene and provide support where, following review by the CQC, it is considered that a local authority is failing to meet their duties.
These changes will support improved quality of care and access, with improved oversight and transparency providing insight into how good commissioning works, allowing for best practice to be shared and helping to address inefficiencies and poor practice.