Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take legislative steps to protect designated outdoor pub smoking and vaping areas.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced to Parliament on 5 November 2024, and passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 25 November 2024. The bill will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom, helping to reduce approximately 80,000 preventable deaths and reduce the burden on the National Health Service and on the taxpayer.
The bill contains powers to extend the ban on smoking indoors to certain outdoor settings, to reduce the harms of second-hand smoking, particularly around children and vulnerable people. In England, we are considering extending smoke-free outdoor places to outside schools, children’s playgrounds, and hospitals, but not to outdoor hospitality settings such as pub gardens. The bill also has powers to make most public places and workplaces that are smoke-free, vape-free.
Exactly which settings should become smoke-free and vape-free will be a matter for secondary legislation, with all proposed reforms subject to a full consultation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many employee settlement agreements there were in his Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I can confirm that since 2020 to date, the Department has had one settlement agreement in 2024. The settlement agreement was for the value of £20,000.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS employees' contracts of employment were terminated for underperformance in each year since 2020.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publish monthly statistics detailing information on National Health Service staff recorded within the Electronic Staff Record, the human resource system for the NHS. Each quarter, these statistics include data on ‘reasons for leaving’, where these have been recorded upon a member of staff leaving or moving employment. The published data is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
The attached table summarises the published information, providing details for 2011/12 to 2023/24 of the total number of assignments of NHS staff where a reason for leaving is recorded. Within the total number, the number recorded against the four categories available to define dismissals are also presented. We believe the category ‘dismissal – capability’ is the best proxy for the data requested.
Data is presented from 2011/12 as we know the pattern of staff leaving or moving roles in the NHS was impacted in 2020/21 and 2021/22 by the pandemic and so comparison with pre-pandemic levels is appropriate.
Any interpretation of data should be made with the understanding that not all assignments that finish in the NHS result in a ‘reason for leaving’ being recorded. Therefore, the data presented can be viewed as a minimum number of leavers in any giving category. From analysis of the records of staff who leave NHS employment entirely it is estimated around one third of leavers do not have a reason recorded. There is no data available to confirm the completeness of recording of reasons around dismissals.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the future of NHS procurement frameworks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As one of the interventions in the Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial and a workstream in the Commercial Efficiencies Optimisation Programme, NHS England launched an Accredited Framework Host programme in late 2023.
The ambition is to drive efficiency by creating the best commercial routes to market for the National Health Service, aiming to create a healthy, competitive marketplace by de-duplicating framework agreements, to deliver high quality procurement outcomes.
NHS England successfully accredited 20 Procurement Framework Host organisations, which cover £16 billion of third-party goods and services the NHS spent in 2023/24, all of whom have subscribed to enhanced standards. These standards cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.
Further details and the list of accredited host organisations is available at the following link:
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of pensioners qualify for free prescriptions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of identified patients aged 60 years old or over who received a prescription that was recorded as exempt from the single item prescription charge in England in 2023/24 was 13.6 million.