Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost of increases in employers' National Insurance contributions relating to NHS England in financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Government has compensated departments and other public sector employers in England for the increased cost of the Levy, including National Health Service (NHS) England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) and provided Barnett consequentials on this funding to the devolved administrations.
The Autumn Budget set out that the cost of this across public sector employers is c. £1.7bn-£1.8bn a year overall. The amount the NHS will be compensated by will be proportional to the NHS paybill, and NHSE/I will prepare and communicate its allocations to individual organisations and service lines in due course.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost of increases in energy prices will be for NHS England in financial years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
Answered by Edward Argar
Whilst NHS England and NHS Improvement have made no formal estimate, National Health Service organisations are responsible for their energy strategy, including responding to energy price changes. Where this occurs, organisations can reconsider their purchasing strategies by entering into longer term contracts for greater certainty of costs and reduce demand by upgrading existing inefficient systems. In addition, NHS organisations can increase their longer-term resilience by installing on-site renewable energy.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase funding for research on mental health.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom, through the Department. The NIHR spent £93.4 million on mental health research in 2019/20. While it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR’s funding is available through open competition and it encourages researchers to submit applications, including for mental health research.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
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 ensure that companies contracted to provide managed quarantine packages to passengers arriving in England from red list countries are fulfilling their obligations to provide transport both to and from quarantine hotels, given that many such passengers are travelling on to other parts of the UK once their quarantine has been completed and need to check back into their arrival airport, often at unsociable hours.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The managed quarantine package includes travel to and from the quarantine facility. We expect that passengers are transported back to the airport they were collected from when they arrived in England. Onward travel to other parts of the United Kingdom is not included within the quarantine package. The Department has on-site liaison officers within all facilities to ensure that any issues with transportation can be effectively dealt with.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps his Department is taking to control the covid-19 outbreak during winter 2021-22.
Answered by Sajid Javid
On 14 September, we set out our plan to sustain the progress made in combatting the virus and prepare the country for future challenges.
The high level of vaccine protection has allowed us to live with COVID-19 without stringent restrictions. However, If the data suggests the National Health Service is likely to come under unsustainable pressure, the Government has prepared a Plan B.
The NHS is working to ensure appropriate operational plans are in place, including to meet potential increases in demand for emergency care.