Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 collaborates with the Health Innovation Network to support local innovation in NHS care pathways.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to fund and support the Health Innovation Network to help the adoption of local innovation into National Health Service care pathways, and digital innovation into local NHS services. Each of the 15 regional networks deliver services for their local population, as well as working as a national network.
The network’s Innovation Collaborative for Digital Health exemplifies their support for digital innovation in local NHS services, and the scaling of these innovations across the NHS, as the collaborative supports 487,000 people with technology-enabled remote monitoring at home.
Since 2020, over 340,000 hours of healthcare staff capacity has been released through the network’s national programmes.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 with the Health Innovation Network to support digital innovation in local NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to fund and support the Health Innovation Network to help the adoption of local innovation into National Health Service care pathways, and digital innovation into local NHS services. Each of the 15 regional networks deliver services for their local population, as well as working as a national network.
The network’s Innovation Collaborative for Digital Health exemplifies their support for digital innovation in local NHS services, and the scaling of these innovations across the NHS, as the collaborative supports 487,000 people with technology-enabled remote monitoring at home.
Since 2020, over 340,000 hours of healthcare staff capacity has been released through the network’s national programmes.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) the Health Innovation Network and (b) other regional networks to help (i) support health technology SMEs and (ii) increase economic growth.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continues to fund the Health Innovation Network to support health and social care teams to identify, test, and scale new solutions – including new health technologies – to major NHS challenges. Since 2018, HIN programmes have created or secured over 10,000 jobs and provided bespoke support to thousands of SME innovators, contributing >£2.6bn to UK economy with a 3:1 return on investment.
Other Government-funded regional networks include the NIHR Research Delivery Network, which enables the health and care system to attract, optimise and deliver research across England. This includes supporting the delivery of research funded by health technology SMEs.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on Government software procurement.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has enhanced the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to promote competition in digital markets for the benefit of businesses and consumers.
Government software procurement is negotiated on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the new Procurement Act 2023, which came into effect in February of this year. The new rules under the Act increase flexibility, transparency and accountability.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued on what steps self employed professionals should take to obtain Enhanced DBS checking to enable them to provide services to vulnerable clients where there is no sponsoring employer.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office. Guidance published on gov.uk informs applicants and employers that:
· A self-employed person who is eligible for a standard or enhanced DBS check due to the role they will undertake can ask the organisation that wishes to contract their services, such as a Local Authority, or a recruitment agency, to apply for their higher-level DBS check.
· Under current legislation, applicants cannot apply for an enhanced (or standard) check issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) by themselves. This needs to be done through the employer who has asked for a DBS check.
· Self-employed people may obtain a basic check, which any individual may apply for, which will reveal any unspent criminal convictions and adult cautions.
· DBS issues eligibility guidance on its website to this effect: DBS checks: guidance for employers - GOV.UK, Quick_Guide_to_DBS_Checks.pdf.
On 9 April we published an update on the Government's work to tackle child sexual abuse: Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update - GOV.UK. In this we have committed to creating the ability for the self-employed to access higher level DBS checks. This will also include enabling access by personal employers.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the impact of (a) usage, (b) year-over-year spend and (c) potential dependencies of the Government's current software assets on cost efficiencies.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty's Government monitors the usage of individual and enterprise licenses across a wide variety of products
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of restrictive software licensing on the ability to achieve the digital transformation of public services.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government procures software via a number of agreed frameworks which are tendered via the Crown Commercial Service and are awarded under the relevant procurement regulations. The introduction of the new procurement act 2023 will provide government with an ability to consider how such services are contracted in the future.
The creation of the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence is overseeing the development of sourcing/category strategies to co-ordinate how we shape demand, drive down usage and optmise the way such assets are used. This work is currently underway.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the publication entitled Health Technical Memorandum 04-01: Safe water in healthcare premises, updated on 27 August 2024, what processes are in place to help support the (a) NHS and (b) healthcare sector with the implementation of the NHS Estates Technical Bulletin No.2024/3.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health Technical Memorandum 04-01: Safe water in healthcare premises was last updated in 2016, and is currently being reviewed for the publication of an update in 2026.
The NHS Estates Technical Bulletin (NETB) No.2024/3: Designing safe spaces for patients at high risk of infection from nontuberculous mycobacteria and other waterborne pathogens was created in response to a recent outbreak of mycobacterium abscessus (Mab), a nontuberculous mycobacterium, and the resulting risks for vulnerable patients in specialised wards/units. The NETB was created in response to a Regulation 28 report from the coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
National Health Service organisations are responsible for reviewing their own organisational risks, in line with the guidance, for this specialist group, and for managing its implementation at a local level.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to (a) abolish and (b) impose a (i) freeze and (ii) maximum cap on increases in service charges for freehold properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remain committed to protecting residential freeholders on private and mixed-tenure housing estates from unfair charge
We will consult this year on implementing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act’s new consumer protection provisions for the up to 1.75m homes that are subject to these charges, and bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter. These include ensuring that homeowners who pay an estate management charge have better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for, the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal (in England), and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager.
The government is also determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ entirely and we will consult next year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure good quality therapy for care experienced children in a timely manner that meets the needs of families.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 require an assessment of the health needs for every child when they enter care and a plan devised to address their needs. Together with the Department of Health and Social Care, the department is reviewing existing statutory guidance, including these regulations, to further ensure care-experienced young people receive the support needed for their health and wellbeing, including access to the requisite treatment or therapy. The guidance will strengthen expectations on key local and national organisations regarding promotion of the cohort’s physical, emotional and mental health, including acting on any early signs of health issues.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce corporate parenting responsibilities on government departments and relevant public bodies, to ensure these partners take account of care-experienced young people’s vulnerabilities when designing policies and delivering services. This will include organisations that deliver health and wellbeing services.
Annual pupil premium plus funding of £2,570, managed by the local authority’s virtual school head, is available to support looked-after children and can be used to facilitate therapeutic services and support.