Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 all care homes allow family and friends of residents to visit regularly.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The Department regularly reviews and assesses the effectiveness of COVID-19 guidance for care homes. From 31 January 2022, there is no limit on the number of visitors each resident can have and no additional requirements for normal visits outside of the home. All residents should be allowed to nominate an essential care giver, who can continue to visit during an outbreak.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors providers where concerns have been raised about visiting arrangements. The CQC has continued inspecting, raising safeguarding alerts where applicable and following up with residents, families, the provider, local authorities and UK Health Security Agency health protection teams.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been paid to private hospitals to be on standby for use by the NHS for patients with covid-19 since March 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.
It is currently not possible to estimate the cost to the public purse on how much has been paid to private hospitals to be on standby for use by the NHS for patients with COVID-19 since March 2020.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many private hospitals the NHS has rented facilities from since April 2020; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those rentals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 effectiveness of steps taken by local authorities to tackle loneliness; and what support the Government has provided to local authorities for such work.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Loneliness can have a significant impact on physical and mental health.
The Department will be working closely to support the Minister for Sport and Civil Society in developing the cross-Government strategy on loneliness, announced by the Prime Minister in January.
A number of existing Departmental supported programmes can help to address loneliness, including dementia friendly communities, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, the Carers Action Plan and social prescribing, and we will be looking to work with local authorities and the National Health Service to tackle loneliness as the strategy develops.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 effectiveness of steps taken by local authorities to tackle loneliness; and what support the Government has provided to local authorities for such work.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Loneliness can have a significant impact on physical and mental health.
The Department will be working closely to support the Minister for Sport and Civil Society in developing the cross-Government strategy on loneliness, announced by the Prime Minister in January.
A number of existing Departmental supported programmes can help to address loneliness, including dementia friendly communities, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, the Carers Action Plan and social prescribing, and we will be looking to work with local authorities and the National Health Service to tackle loneliness as the strategy develops.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) total and (b) per capita funding from his Department's budget on (i) health and (ii) mental health in England has been allocated to Telford and Wrekin CCG since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were created following the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and replaced primary care trusts on 1 April 2013.
NHS England publishes CCG allocations on its website. The table below sets out allocations to NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG for core services since 2013, when it was established. It should be noted that these figures do not reflect any adjustments that may have been made since the time of publication.
NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG | Allocation (£000) | Allocation per head (£) |
2013/14 | 183,831 | 1,053 |
2014/15 | 187,765 | 1,068 |
2015/16 | 190,957 | 1,080 |
2016/17 | 205,369 | 1,143 |
2017/18 | 209,613 | 1,162 |
NHS England does not allocate budgets for specific services such as mental health. CCGs determine the level of expenditure appropriate for their population, based on their assessment of local health needs.
The figures for Telford and Wrekin CCG’s total expenditure on health and mental health, and this as a proportion of NHS England’s budget in 2016-17, are presented in the table below.
NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG | 2016/17 |
Total expenditure | £229.5 million |
Total expenditure as a proportion of NHS England’s budget | 0.22% |
Total expenditure on mental health | £23.8 million |
Total expenditure on mental health as a proportion of NHS England’s mental health budget | 0.25% |
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper, published by his Department in December 2017, if his Department will consider taking steps for (a) children in care and (b) children from deprived areas when implementing actions arising from that green paper.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We know that children in care and children in deprived areas face particular difficulties which may impact their mental health. The proposals set out in the Green Paper aim to improve support for all children who need mental health support, and will in particular help those groups with higher incidences of mental health issues, including children in care and children from deprived areas. We are keen to ensure that the Green Paper proposals also align with the various pieces of work we are taking forward across Government to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of looked after children.
Through the public online consultation for the Green Paper, which is open until 2 March, we are seeking views on how looked after children can easily access the right support and whether deprivation should be a key factor in selecting the trailblazer areas. Trailblazer areas will trial the mental health support teams and waiting time standard pilots (as set out in the Green Paper) and will also test how the mental health support teams can link to the work of other professionals to enhance support for vulnerable children.
The outcome of the consultation will inform how we take forward and implement the Green Paper proposals, and how we select the trailblazer areas.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) total and (b) per capita funding from his Department's budget on (i) health and (ii) mental health in England was spent in (A) Telford constituency and (B) Wrekin in the last 12 months; and where Telford and Wrekin are ranked in England for such spending.
Answered by Steve Barclay
NHS England allocates funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), rather than to individual constituencies.
The level of funding a CCG receives is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a set of funding formulae. These formulae produce a target allocation, or 'fair share', for each area based on a complex assessment of factors such as demography, morbidity, deprivation, and the unavoidable cost of providing services in different areas. As the need for different types of health services varies, there are separate formulae for each of the CCG core responsibilities, specialised services and primary medical care.
NHS England does not allocate budgets for specific services such as mental health. CCGs determine the level of expenditure appropriate for their population, based on their assessment of local health needs.
The figures for Telford and Wrekin CCG’s total expenditure on health and mental health, and this as a proportion of NHS England’s budget in 2016-17, is presented in the table below.
Telford and Wrekin CCG | 2016/17 |
Total expenditure | £229.5 million |
Total expenditure as a proportion of NHS England’s budget | 0.22% |
Total expenditure on mental health | £23.8 million |
Total expenditure on mental health as a proportion of NHS England’s mental health budget | 0.25% |
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to revise its 2015 guidance on NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The Department keeps its 2015 guidance on National Health Service patient, visitor and staff car parking under review.
Data on how many hospitals have revised their policy on car parking since the publication of the Department’s guidance in October 2015 is not collected centrally. NHS organisations have the autonomy to make decisions that best suit their local circumstances, but it is expected they will follow the published NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals have revised their policy on car parking since the publication of his Department's guidance in October 2015.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The Department keeps its 2015 guidance on National Health Service patient, visitor and staff car parking under review.
Data on how many hospitals have revised their policy on car parking since the publication of the Department’s guidance in October 2015 is not collected centrally. NHS organisations have the autonomy to make decisions that best suit their local circumstances, but it is expected they will follow the published NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles.