Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement a formal mentoring programme for doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans for a central mentoring programme for doctors. Such programmes are provided by some National Health Service trusts, integrated care boards and Royal Colleges.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of falling birth rates on the sustainability of small rural primary schools; and what steps she is taking to ensure that these schools are (a) protected and (b) supported.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas, namely, the impact of falling rolls, through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to pupil-led factors. In addition, eligible primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.
Local authorities hold the statutory place planning function, ensuring there are sufficient schools in their area to meet the needs of pupils. It is for local authorities, in collaboration with academy trusts and other local partners, to balance the supply and demand of school places, in line with changing demographics, as they have done for many years.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
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 support early interventions in maternity care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are rolling out several measures to support early interventions in maternity care.
These include implementing the Saving Babies’ Lives ‘Bundle’, which provides evidence-based guidance for providers of maternity care to help reduce adverse outcomes and optimise care; rolling out 14 Maternal Medicine Networks across England to ensure that women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy have access to specialist care; and piloting Martha’s Rule in maternity and neonatal units in 14 Trusts in six regions.
In addition, we are developing a Maternal Care Bundle that will tackle the main causes of maternal death and harm, expected to be published this autumn. We are also launching a £50 million National Institute for Health Research challenge fund to task researchers with finding new ways to tackle maternity disparities and poor pregnancy outcomes.