Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of operations carried out in private practice for which the NHS paid in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows a count of procedures carried out by non-National Health Service providers, which were NHS funded, from 2017/18 to 2021/22. NHS providers include charities, local authorities and private providers.
Year | Procedure Count |
2017/18 | 1,833,623 |
2018/19 | 1,854,489 |
2019/20 | 1,877,221 |
2020/21 | 1,093,858 |
2021/22 | 1,891,632 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in his Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows expenditure on commercial flights taken by Departmental officials in each of the last five years, along with the destinations. The number of flights relate to the whole trip and in some cases covers several stages.
Destination | Number of flights in 2022 | Number of flights in 2021 | Number of flights in 2020 | Number of flights in 2019 | Number of flights in 2018 |
Belfast | 15 | 2 | 13 | 20 | 17 |
Birmingham | 2 |
|
|
|
|
Bristol | 2 | 1 |
|
| 1 |
Cardiff |
|
|
| 1 |
|
Edinburgh | 2 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 18 |
Glasgow | 2 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 5 |
Guernsey |
|
|
|
| 3 |
Leeds |
| 1 |
| 1 | 2 |
London | 15 | 20 | 8 | 39 | 31 |
Manchester |
|
| 1 |
| 1 |
Newcastle |
| 1 |
|
|
|
Newquay |
|
|
| 1 |
|
Norwich |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Southampton |
|
|
| 3 | 1 |
Total number in year | 38 | 35 | 34 | 91 | 80 |
We have not provided details of Ministerial spend as this is published quarterly on GOV.UK and available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of NHS doctors who also conduct work for private practice.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of potential security risk for Hong Kong nationals who access counselling services in the UK in Cantonese.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have not made such an assessment. The Home Office continually assesses potential threats in the United Kingdom, and takes protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. As you would expect, Home Office officials work closely with other government departments in ensuring that the UK is a safe and welcoming place for those who hold British National (Overseas) status and other Hongkongers.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the causes of the increase in the number of excess deaths; and what steps he is taking to reduce that number.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to an increase in the number of deaths at home, including high flu prevalence and the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
We are taking steps to help reduce excess deaths, including those which involve COVID-19. Vaccines remain the first line of defence. Antivirals and other treatments provide a necessary additional defence by protecting patients who become infected with COVID-19, particularly those for whom the vaccine may be less effective such as the immunosuppressed. We are preparing for variants of COVID-19 and seasonal flu infections with an integrated COVID-19 booster and flu vaccination programme, minimising hospital admissions from both viruses.
The National Health Service has published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and expand elective services over the next three years. The plan commits the NHS to deliver nine million additional treatments and diagnostic procedures over the next three years and around 30 per cent more elective activity than it was doing before the pandemic by 2024/25.
We are making progress in restoring NHS Health Check delivery, a core part of our cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention pathway. Delivery is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by June 2023 and we are creating a national digital NHS Health Check so we can go even further. We continue to work closely with partners to consider what more can be done to improve the prevention, detection, diagnosis and management of CVD and we will set out our plan in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of NHS funding was spent on agency staff to fill staff shortages in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the agency spend in total for the years 2016/17 to 2020/21. Data for 2021/22 is not yet available.
Financial year | Total employee paybill | Total agency spend | Agency costs as a percentage of employee expenses |
2016/17 | £50,619 million | £2,935 million | 5.8% |
2017/18 | £52,302 million | £2,407 million | 4.6% |
2018/19 | £54,968 million | £2,401 million | 4.4% |
2019/20 | £60,840 million | £2,380 million | 3.9% |
2020/21 | £67,700 million | £2,436 million | 3.6% |
The deployment of a temporary workforce is an important element of efficiently running the National Health Service, allowing the NHS to meet demand fluctuations without the need to increase capacity above that which would be required on a sustained basis. Staff can be drawn from internal staff banks or external agencies.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of classifying (a) drug and (b) alcohol addiction under the Mental Health Act 1983 for the treatment of people who suffer from addiction to those substances.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made and no discussions have taken place. Drug and alcohol addictions are not regarded as mental disorders for the purposes of the Mental Health Act. We are improving treatment and recovery for people with drug and alcohol misuse conditions through the Government’s Ten-Year Drugs Strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with stakeholders on the potential merits of classifying (a) drug and (b) alcohol addiction under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made and no discussions have taken place. Drug and alcohol addictions are not regarded as mental disorders for the purposes of the Mental Health Act. We are improving treatment and recovery for people with drug and alcohol misuse conditions through the Government’s Ten-Year Drugs Strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when NHS England will resume collecting Dental Commissioning data.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There has been no pause to the collection of National Health Service dental commissioning data. The latest dental statistics published by NHS Digital is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of international travel from China on trends in the level of covid-19 in the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We are monitoring the situation in China carefully following the increase in cases and the easing of entry requirements to China on 8 January. Ministers have received regular updates from the UK Health Security Agency on the potential impact of this on the United Kingdom.
There remains a concern that limited data being provided by China means a new variant of COVID-19 may emerge and begin circulating undetected. The Government has therefore taken action, requiring pre-departure testing for arrivals from China and introducing arrivals testing to enable sequencing of COVID-19 positive tests for a proportion of passengers on direct flights from China to Heathrow Airport. The best defence against COVID-19 remains vaccination, and the Government continues to encourage those eligible to get their boosters.