Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding was allocated at the start of this financial year for NHS diagnostic centres; and how much of this funding has since been diverted to other NHS services.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The Spending Review in 2021 provided £2.3 billion in capital funding for diagnostic services over the next three years. The majority of this funding will be allocated increase the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) to 160 by March 2025 and to expand planned elective diagnostic services. In 2022/23, £900 million has been allocated to the CDC programme and to increase capacity for imaging, endoscopy, lung and mammography screening and improving digital diagnostics. The capital allocation has not been diverted to other services. Revenue funding may be lower than originally envisaged in order to meet the cost of the 2022/23 National Health Service pay settlement.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the forecast cost pressures on the NHS due to COVID-19 (1) in July, and (2) for the rest of the 2022–23 financial year.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No assessment has been made in the format requested. However, the Spending Review 2021 provided £6.096 billion for the National Health Service to fund the recovery from COVID-19 in 2022/23. The funding was provided to address the impact of the pandemic on NHS services, funding for costs directly incurred by COVID-19 costs and new pressures relating to anticipated service demand.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the (1) WhatsApp, and (2) text, messages that Lord Bethell (a) received, and (b) sent, in relation to Abingdon Health from any individual, from his private mobile telephone while a Minister, how many did officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (i) see, and (ii) record.
Answered by Lord Kamall
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the (1) WhatsApp, and (2) text, messages that Lord Bethell (a) received, and (b) sent, in relation to Abingdon Health from his private mobile telephone while a Minister, how many did officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (i) see, and (ii) record.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records and found no record of WhatsApp or text messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. Nor has the Department found any record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon Health was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department of Health and Social Care maintains records of any Government business conducted from Ministers' personal phones; whether any such records were kept of communications between Lord Bethell and Abingdon Health during his term as a Government Minister; and what were the dates of any such messages registered.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records and found no record of WhatsApp or text messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. Nor has the Department found any record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon Health was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the staffing implications for the NHS of the 104 per cent activity target over pre-pandemic levels for this coming year; and how any staffing shortfalls identified will be met and paid for.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has been made as an activity target for the National Health Service for the coming year has yet to be confirmed. NHS providers are responsible for ensuring that appropriate local workforce plans are in place for delivering services.
The Department has invested £2 billion in 2021/22 and is allocating a further £8 billion over the next three years to support the recovery of elective services. This will deliver approximately 30% more elective activity by March 2025, compared to pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and skills.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of rising energy costs on the budgets of NHS Trusts; and how they plan to address these cost pressures.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has yet been made.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the messages that Lord Bethell received from or sent to Abingdon Health on WhatsApp from his private mobile telephone while serving as a Minister, how many did officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (1) see, and (2) record.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records relating to Abingdon Health and found no record of WhatsApp messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. The Department has found no record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many messages Lord Bethell reported to the Department of Health and Social Care that he had received from or sent to Abingdon Health on WhatsApp from his private mobile telephone while serving as a Minister.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records relating to Abingdon Health and found no record of WhatsApp messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. The Department has found no record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many private companies offering COVID-19 PCR tests for those returning to England from abroad have been reported for failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement from November 2021 to date; and how many of these companies have since been removed from the Government website.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We closely monitor the performance of private providers, including delivery and testing services. Those providing inadequate services receive a warning allowing the company to demonstrate it has rectified its service or it is removed from the GOV.UK list. Private providers may be reinstated to the list once they have undertaken corrective action and provided the Department with such evidence.
The information requested on the number of companies which have failed to meet the two day requirement is not currently available, as this data is not yet centrally validated. No providers have been removed as a direct result of failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement alone. All providers have a legal requirement to report on a daily basis to achieve all minimum standards, which includes the returning of test results within two days.