Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of the number of scans and health checks completed by the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
Diagnostic checks, including scans, are a key part of many elective care pathways. The Department’s ambition is that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic check receive it within six weeks by March 2025. According to data published in November 2022, approximately 73% are receiving a check within six weeks. Community Diagnostic Centres have delivered more than 2.7 million additional checks as of December 2022.
Delivery of the NHS Health Check programme, which is commissioned by local Government, was largely suspended between April 2020 and February 2022 due to the pandemic and in line with national guidance from NHS England. Data shows most local authorities have made positive steps to recover the service, reaching 81% of pre-pandemic activity between July and September 2022.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 increase the speed of hospital discharges.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
On 9 January 2023, the Government committed a further £200 million to fund short-term National Health Service step-down care packages. Integrated care boards, working closely with local authorities, will use this to purchase places in care homes and other settings, such as hospices, as well as to help fund wrap-around primary and community health services to support patients’ recovery. NHS England expect that this will allow an additional 2,500 – 3,000 patients to be discharged from hospital into other care settings, freeing up much needed acute beds and clinical capacity.
The Government has also provided an extra £50 million in capital funding to expand ambulance hubs and hospital discharge lounges to help improve the flow of patients through hospitals and the speed of hospital discharges. This complements and builds on the £500 million adult social care discharge fund announced in September 2022, which can be used to fund a much wider range of measures to support discharge, including domiciliary care packages and measures to boost workforce capacity.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many students applied for (a) nursing and (b) midwifery undergraduate courses in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
46,565 students applied for nursing courses and 10,340 students applied for midwifery courses at the end of the 2022 application cycle, according to data published by The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to incentivise people to return to the labour market.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The is Government is committed to helping people find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live.
Universal Credit has been designed to make work pay and we have comprehensive support in place to help DWP claimants start, stay and succeed in work, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is targeted support for groups we know are more likely to be inactive, such as those aged 50+ and disabled people and people with a health condition.
DWP is leading work across government to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation. As only about half of the people who are economically inactive are on a DWP benefit, we are working with other government departments and stakeholders to gather insight and develop new ideas to tackle this issue.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more Universal Credit claimants to move into work.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Universal Credit is designed to make work pay. The Government wants people to see their income increase when they start working.
The Department has comprehensive support in place to help UC claimants start, stay and succeed in work, including face-to-face time with work coaches and support with the cost of childcare. In addition, there is targeted support for young people, people aged 50+, disabled people and people with a health condition.
Claimants on work-related benefits are generally expected to undertake certain activities in return for financial support through the benefit system. These requirements help the claimant prepare for, look for and move into work and are tailored to their individual capability and circumstances.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve disabled people’s lives.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Disability Action Plan (DAP) will set out the action the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives. It will contribute to this Government’s commitment to create a society that works for everyone, where all can participate fully and be included in society.
The DAP will set out how we will go further, taking concerted action across Government to improve disabled people’s lives.
We are also appointing a new cohort of Ministerial Disability Champions (MDCs), who will be accountable for their department’s contribution to the development and delivery of the DAP and will also act as a personal lead committed to championing disabled people within their department.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on supporting disabled people into work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
In 2017, the Government set a goal to see a million more disabled people in employment between 2017 and 2027. Between Q1 2017 and Q1 2022, the number of disabled people in employment increased by 1.3m – meaning the goal was met after only five years. Our goal to reduce the disability employment gap remains. We will continue to galvanise action across, and outside of, Government to ensure we are ambitious about the employment of disabled people, and supporting them to start, stay and succeed in work.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that local authorities have sufficient resources to deliver local services.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to an additional £5 billion to councils. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2023/24 of 9% in cash terms compared to 2022/23.
We will continue to work with local authorities to understand both the challenges and opportunities they have, along with the level of taxpayer subsidy which can be provided, in the future.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to develop innovative defence technology.
Answered by Alex Chalk
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 December 2022 to Question 902724.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Sanctions imposed by the UK and its international partners are having deep and damaging consequences for Putin's ability to wage war. The UK alone has sanctioned more than 1,200 individuals and 120 entities and our restrictions on the Russian Central Bank have immobilised £275 billion, worth over 60% of Russia's foreign reserves. Russia is in recession and is expected to remain there next year. It will be Russia's longest recession for over 25 years. According to IMF forecasts, Russia's GDP will be 11% smaller in 2026 vs pre-invasion forecasts and won't return to its pre-invasion level until 2027 at the earliest.