Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to allocate additional funding to East Sussex County Council for the NHS test and trace system; and what guidance he has published on developing local plans for the allocation of that funding.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
As of 5 November 2020, England is now under national restrictions. Local authorities in England were allocated up to £8 per head of population inclusive of any amounts previously provided through the Contain Outbreak Management Fund. Payments will be made to upper tier local authorities for onward disbursement. East Sussex County Council will receive funding of £4,457,832.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
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 adequate staffing levels in the social care sector after the transition period.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the Government’s ambition to recruit more people into social care to meet the future needs of society. In the short term, in order to attract people into social care now, we launched a new national recruitment campaign, ‘Care for others; Make a difference’, which ran across broadcast, digital and social media. We have also launched a new online platform to fast-track recruitment into the adult social care sector, which sits alongside the many local initiatives that have been put in place to recruit staff.
The new Health and Care visa will make it cheaper, quicker and easier for eligible social care professionals such as social workers, occupational therapists and nurses from around the world come to work the United Kingdom. In addition, all social care workers will now be permanently exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.