Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the General Dental Council on reducing the waiting time for fitness to practice cases to be heard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has regular discussions with the General Dental Council (GDC) on regulatory matters. While the GDC is an independent regulator responsible for managing its fitness to practise processes, the Government expects the GDC to take steps to improve the efficiency and timeliness of case handling.
The GDC recently published its strategy, Trusted and effective: A strategy for dental regulation 2026-2028, which sets out its vision and objectives, and the work it will do to achieve them. One of those objectives is to improve fitness to practise, maximising patient safety and reducing unintended impacts. The published strategy is available at the following link:
In parallel, the Department is progressing wider, longer-term reforms to the regulatory frameworks of the healthcare professional regulators. These will enable them to be more responsive to changes in the health and care workforce and give them the flexibility to modernise their fitness to practise processes whilst maintaining public protection.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Home Office's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to the immigration system on the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has published impact assessments alongside the Spring 2025 Immigration Rules, which implement proposals set out in the White Paper, Restoring control over the immigration system. These impact assessments set out the expected effects of the reforms on the Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker routes, including modelling of changes in overall visa volumes. The impact assessments are published on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impact-assessments-covering-migration-policy
The forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of reductions in the social care workforce on the level of delayed discharges from hospitals.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of reductions in the social care workforce on the level of delayed discharges from hospitals.
Achieving timely and effective discharge for hospital patients relies on effective joint working between the National Health Service, local authorities, and social care providers. Through the Better Care Fund, NHS integrated care boards and local authorities are required to pool over £9 billion of funding and agree how to use that funding to join up health and social care services. This includes agreeing local goals for both preventing avoidable hospital admissions and reducing delayed hospital discharges.
English local authorities are responsible under the Care Act 2014 for meeting social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care.
The Government is committed to transforming adult social care and supporting adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028 to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce, backed by £500 million of new investment.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
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 the long-term sustainability of the palliative care workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Last year, we published our 10-year plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future and a central part of the plan is our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10‑Year Workforce Plan, to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver for patients, including those at the end of their lives. The 10‑Year Workforce Plan will be published in spring of this year.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for publication of the final findings of the independent maternity services investigation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has advised that the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation will publish its final report and recommendations in June.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate how many four year-olds live in families that would be eligible for Healthy Start vouchers had their child not become ineligible on their fourth birthday.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from low-income households. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA does not hold data relating to children aged four years old and over.
Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the annual cost to the public purse of the Healthy Start scheme; and what proportion of this cost is attributed to (a) administration and (b) payments to families.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Healthy Start is a demand led scheme, and therefore, the cost of the scheme differs from year to year. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) delivers the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. In the financial year 2023/24, the cost to the public purse for the NHSBSA to administer the scheme was £9,620,000.
In the same financial year, the cost to the public purse for payments made to families in receipt of Healthy Start was £86,382,173.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children live in families eligible for Healthy Start vouchers; and how many and what proportion of those children are in receipt of those vouchers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
In April 2025 there were 361,122 people on the digital scheme, and of these there were 328,798 claims supporting children under four years old.
The NHSBSA does not currently hold data on the number of children living in families that are eligible for Healthy Start.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pressurised metered dose inhalers were prescribed by the NHS in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information provided by the NHS Business Services Authority gives the quantities of each medicine dispensed in the community in England. The total number of pressurised inhalers that were dispensed in England from October 2023 to September 2024 was 42.3 million.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of pressurised metered dose inhalers were manufactured in pharmaceutical production facilities (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held.