Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 implications for his policies of Community Integrated Care's report entitled The Caring Economy – Unfair To Care 2025, published on 12 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We appreciate the work undertaken and the findings presented in the Unfair to Care 2025 report. We are committed to supporting adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce.
The Impact Assessment for the Employment Rights Bill, published in October 2024, provides an initial, indicative assessment of the impacts that could result from primary legislation. This represents the best estimate for the likely impacts of a Fair Pay Agreement given the current stage of policy development.
The Spending Review 2025 allows for over £4 billion in additional funding available for ASC in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26. This includes other sources of income available to support adult social care, additional grant funding and an increase in the National Health Service’s contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund. This £4 billion increase includes £500 million to begin implementing the Fair Pay Agreement in 2028-29.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 potential impact of family hubs on (a) neighbourhood health and (b) the delivery of integrated community-based health services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to moving towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and support people to stay healthier and maintain their independence for longer.
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme supports the three reform shifts set out in the Government’s Health Mission, including the shift from hospital to community. It is already delivering a community-based model to transform health outcomes for babies, children, and their families.
The effectiveness of the programme will take time to be realised, as long-term evaluation is required. The programme is subject to two national, independent evaluations to understand its implementation and impact.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) parents and (b) carers reading to children in the early years on the mental wellbeing of (i) children and (ii) those (A) parents and (B) carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. We know that according to research, reading helps to reduce stress levels and could be beneficial to mental health and well-being.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to provide targeted funding to HIV voluntary sector organisations to support people living with HIV who have disengaged from care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030 and is developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address ways to improve retention and re-engagement in care.
The Government’s successful HIV emergency department opt-out testing programme helps people to re-engage with HIV care. In addition, 10% of the funding allocated to each site is recommended to be used for HIV voluntary sector organisations, to support people living with HIV who have disengaged from care.
NHS England is responsible for delivering HIV care, and in April 2024, it published the updated national Service Specification for Adult HIV services, which requires services to have a policy describing how they aim to ensure retention in care and re-engage those lost to care. NHS England will continue to work with stakeholders to consider what further actions can be taken to address retention and re-engagement in care.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure access to (a) psychosocial support services and (b) HIV peer support for people receiving HIV care through the next HIV Action Plan for England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030 and is developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address ways to optimise rapid access to treatment and retention in care, and will improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, including consideration of peer support services.
A key component of the Government’s successful HIV emergency department opt-out testing programme includes a recommendation that 10% of the funding allocated to each site should be used to support community and peer services for individuals diagnosed with a blood borne virus.
NHS England is responsible for delivering HIV care, including support services for those living with HIV. In April 2024, it published the updated national Service Specification for Adult HIV services, which sets out the standards of care that HIV providers are expected to meet, including the availability of community, psychological, and psychosocial support for patients.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 adequacy of access to peer support services for people living with HIV.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030 and is developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address ways to optimise rapid access to treatment and retention in care, and will improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, including consideration of peer support services.
A key component of the Government’s successful HIV emergency department opt-out testing programme includes a recommendation that 10% of the funding allocated to each site should be used to support community and peer services for individuals diagnosed with a blood borne virus.
NHS England is responsible for delivering HIV care, including support services for those living with HIV. In April 2024, it published the updated national Service Specification for Adult HIV services, which sets out the standards of care that HIV providers are expected to meet, including the availability of community, psychological, and psychosocial support for patients.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce a public health campaign on allergy awareness in children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To help promote awareness of allergies, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on a range of allergy conditions, including food allergy in people under the age of 19 years old, anaphylaxis and drug allergy. NICE promotes its guidance via its website, newsletters and other media.
In June 2023, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with the support of allergy awareness advocates, launched a safety campaign to raise awareness of anaphylaxis and provide advice on the use of adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs). MHRA produced a toolkit of resources for health and social care professionals to support the safe and effective use of AAIs.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) encourages food businesses to complete the FSA’s allergen e-learning course and recommends that it is retaken annually to refresh knowledge and ensure that businesses are up to date on any changes which may have occurred. The FSA online training is free and offers practical advice to anyone wanting to learn more about food allergy.
Section 100 of The Children and Families Act 2014 places a legal duty on schools to make arrangements for supporting pupils at their school with medical conditions, including allergies. The Department for Education recently reminded schools of their legal duties in their regular schools’ email bulletin, and also alerted schools to the newly created Schools Allergy Code, developed by The Allergy Team, the Independent Schools' Bursars Association and the Benedict Blythe Foundation. The Department for Education has now also added a link to the Code to their online allergy guidance on GOV.UK, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 increase the availability of free period products at (a) primary care and (b) secondary care settings in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of women and girls being able to access the care they need for their reproductive health, including period products.
Since 2019 it has been a requirement in the NHS Standard Contract that the National Health Service must offer period products to every hospital patient who needs them. This requirement applies to inpatient services only. It does not currently apply to providers of community or ambulance services, or to primary care providers, like general practices, pharmacies, optometrists, and dentists, who generally operate outside of the NHS Standard Contract.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether palliative and end of life care will prioritised in the new NHS 10-year plan.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to developing a 10-year plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.
The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users, and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should, and what the potential solutions are. Further information is available at the following link:
On 19 December the government announced the biggest investment in a generation for hospices to help ensure that hospices can continue to deliver the highest quality end of life care possible for their patients, families, and loved ones.
We are supporting the hospice sector with £100 million funding for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Children and young people’s hospices will also receive a further £26 million revenue funding for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant.
We will set out the details of the funding allocation and dissemination in the new year.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the needs of the palliative and end of life care sector will be represented in the upcoming NHS workforce plan.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan will deliver the transformed health service that we will build over the next decade and will ensure that patients get the treatment they need, when and where they need it, including those at the end of their lives. In the development of the plan, we will engage with a range of stakeholders to ensure their needs are considered.