Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 merits of introducing auto-enrolment for Healthy Start.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Healthy Start scheme is kept under review. The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old. Healthy Start now supports over 353,000 beneficiaries. This figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme.
The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHS Business Services Authority is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card. However, we remain open to all viable routes to improve uptake.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the written statement of 30 July 2024 on Adult Social Care Workforce, HCWS50, whether he plans to provide further funding for social work apprentice opportunities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We take seriously our responsibility to help manage down the overall fiscal pressures in 2024/25, and therefore cannot commit further funding for social work apprenticeships at this time.
Regarding the social care sector more generally, we are committed to building consensus on the long-term reform needed to create the National Care Service. A key step towards this will be introducing Fair Pay Agreements into the sector, which will work to empower worker representatives, employers and others in partnership to negotiate pay and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner and will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector; in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 (a) promote brain health and (b) implement targeted interventions among those most at risk of dementia from South Asian communities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme led the development of resources to raise awareness of the specific dementia care requirements for people from ethnic minority communities to improve access, experience, and outcomes for people living with dementia from these groups.
These were released in May 2023 and include an e-learning module to support clinicians and a refresh of the intercultural dementia care guide, which incorporates considerations around language and communication in the provision of culturally appropriate care. Work to update the guide specifically included focus groups with black African, black Caribbean, and South Asian communities as the largest ethnic minority groups in England.
NHS England’s resource Dementia wellbeing in the COVID-19 pandemic accompanies the Dementia Well Pathway. Key priorities and actions for dementia diagnosis and post diagnostic support are included for each step. The resource highlights the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Toolkit to help provide support in identifying and addressing mental health inequalities.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the written statement of 30 July 2024 on Adult Social Care Workforce, HCWS50, whether he plans to make a further statement about how funding for Adult Social Care Learning and Development will be administered.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 6 September 2024, the Department launched the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme. This scheme is intended to help the non-regulated adult social care workforce to complete courses and qualifications, gain recognition for existing expertise, and develop new skills and specialisms. Funding is distributed via a new online claims service administered by NHS Business Services Authority. Eligible adult social care providers can claim funding towards the cost of certain courses and qualifications, on behalf of eligible employees. Full details of the training covered by the Learning and Development Support Scheme have been published on GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of defibrillators in sports stadiums.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease is a priority for the Government. We want people to have the best chance of survival from cardiac arrest, and rapid intervention is central to improving outcomes. This is why the Government is increasing the number of publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
The Government is committed to improving access to AEDs in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply, and will go to applications for AEDs in areas where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs, which could include sports stadiums.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to audit NHS supply chains to ensure that no medical (a) garments and (b) equipment are sourced from (i) Xinjiang and (ii) other regions with widespread reports of forced labour and human rights abuses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom is committed to tackling the issue of Uyghur forced labour in supply chains, and is taking robust action. We have introduced new guidance on the risks of doing business in Xinjiang specifically in section 6.2 of the guidance, enhanced export controls, and announced the introduction of financial penalties under the Modern Slavery Act. This guidance is available at the following link:
The Procurement Act, which received Royal Assent in 2023, will enable public sector contracting authorities to reject bids and terminate contracts with suppliers which are known to use forced labour themselves or anywhere in their supply chain.
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations that supply goods and services and have a total turnover over £36 million to publish a transparency statement annually, to set out what steps they have taken to ensure that modern slavery is not occurring in their supply chains.
The Department has pledged to put an end to modern slavery in the National Health Service by meeting my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s duty to assess and mitigate modern slavery risk in NHS supply chains. New regulations will require public bodies procuring goods or services for delivering health services in England to assess the risk of modern slavery and implement reasonable steps to procurement and contracting activities, with a view to eradicating the use of goods and services tainted by modern slavery.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department and NHS England have made on the Greener NHS initiative.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Significant progress has been made on the Greener NHS initiative, with the National Health Service taking important strides toward its target of achieving net zero by 2040 for direct emissions, and 2045 for indirect emissions. Key achievements include: successfully delivering over £1 billion in decarbonisation grant funding under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, to replace fossil fuel systems with non-carbon alternatives; increasing the energy efficiency of the NHS estate, for instance boosting LED lighting coverage to over 50% of NHS facilities; the introduction of Green Plans by all NHS trusts; and the publication of the first ever NHS Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy in 2023. These efforts are reducing emissions and improving sustainability across NHS operations. We continue to work with partners across the Government and the wider public sector to pursue our shared environmental aims.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to expand access to dementia training for adult social care workers
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages and with diverse needs, including those with dementia. Care workers are essential to those who draw on care and support, helping them maintain their quality of life, independence, and connection to the things that matter to them.
Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. As such, we will continue to develop the Care Workforce Pathway, the new national career structure for adult social care, and linked to this, a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification has already been developed and launched.
We will develop a long-term plan for social care, with those working in social care being at the heart of our reforms. We will outline our further plans for workforce reform in due course.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendation in the report entitled A Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England, published by Skills for Care's on 18 July 2024, that all social care workers should have dementia training aligned to the Dementia Training Standards Framework
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National training, including the Department’s Care Workforce Pathway and new Level 2 Adult Care Certificate qualification, has been developed using current standards and competency frameworks to support people with dementia. This includes the Dementia Training Standards Framework.
As we develop a long-term plan for social care, those working in social care will be at the heart of our reforms. We will outline further plans for social care workforce reform in due course.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 the exercise by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence of its discretionary power to show flexibility in relation to its (a) Standard Technology Appraisal and (b) Highly Specialised Technologies programme routing decisions in circumstances where there is (i) uncertainty on the incidence and prevalence of the disease and (ii) high unmet clinical need to ensure fair and equitable access to innovative new treatments for patients living with rare diseases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including about the delivery of public commitments. The NICE will consult on proposed changes to its criteria for highly specialised technology appraisals in 2024/25.
We have made no assessment of the extent to which the NICE has demonstrated flexibility in making decisions on whether new medicines should be routed to its highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. Decisions on whether topics should be routed to the HST programme are taken independently of the Department by the NICE’s Prioritisation Board, in line with the routing criteria set out in the NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The board’s decisions are published on the NICE’s website.
This Government is aware of the challenges facing those living with rare diseases, including access to specialist care, treatment, and medicines. The NICE is actively monitoring the impact of the changes that it made to its methods and processes in 2022 on the availability of medicines for rare diseases, and is planning to publish a report by the end of 2024.