Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by what date he expects the NHS to have a virtual ward capacity of 40 beds per 100,000 people.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance asks systems to improve access to urgent care services, including virtual ward, also known as hospital at home, services.
No national population target has been set centrally for 2025/26 and it is for local systems to take decision on how best to increase capacity and utilisation as part of the range of urgent care services that can be accessed locally. Progress has continued to be made, with 12,825 virtual ward beds open in March 2025 compared to 11,856 in March 2024.
The Government is committed to transforming the National Health Service from analogue to digital, and this shift will be central to our 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
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 impact of providing a one per cent increase in pay to all NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts in the 2025-26 financial year on (a) total costs, (b) pension contributions, (c) National Insurance contributions and (d) spillover costs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the total cost of uplifting the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay scales by one percent in 2025/26, as well as the costs of employer pension contributions (EPC), employer National Insurance contributions (ENIC), and spillover elements from that total:
Full cost to the Department, including spillovers | EPC | ENIC | Spillover costs |
£950,000,000 | £110,000,000 | £80,000,000 | £240,000,000 |
These estimates represent the gross cost per one percent uplift payable from National Health Service funding for AfC staff only. The exact cost will vary depending on the workforce size and composition, and these estimates are based on current assumptions. ENIC costs include the cost of the 2025/26 increase in ENIC rates. EPC and ENIC costs relate to the substantive workforce only. Spillover costs allow for full system costs, including EPCs and ENICs, beyond the substantive workforce.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help improve the career progression of (a) nurses from Agenda for Change Band Five to Band Six and (b) other nurses in the context of plans not to introduce a separate pay spine for nursing.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Evidence submitted through the separate nurse pay spine call for evidence highlighted that career progression issues relating to the pay system do not uniquely impact nurses.
We have therefore accepted several recommendations from workstreams committed to in the 2023 Agenda for Change (AfC) pay deal, which focus on ensuring all AfC staff are in the correct pay band, as well as specific measures to improve career progression for nurses. We have also committed to providing the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to address issues with the pay structure.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 27517 on Hospitals: Concrete, whether he plans to publish the comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete schemes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As stated in Question 27517, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes being delivered through the New Hospital Programme. The final contract has been awarded to Mott MacDonald and can be found in the public domain on contract finder, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
The report is due to take a total of 19 weeks to complete. We do not expect to publish the report in its entirety as it will contain sensitive commercial information. This is in line with the approach taken with previous reports of this nature. We do, however, recognise the importance of transparency and the significant level of interest in the report outcomes, and will consider what can be released publicly once the report is complete.
We remain committed to removing RAAC fully from the National Health Service estate whilst working to keep facilities open, with patient and staff safety at the forefront of our decision making.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the cost to the public purse for the treatment of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in accordance with the NICE Quality Standard QS204 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect information on the numbers and proportion of patients with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) because it is not possible to specifically classify FASD within the National Health Service dataset. FASD is an umbrella term used to describe a range of cognitive, behavioural, physical and mental health conditions associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. In the NHS dataset, it is possible to identify conditions that could have been caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol, but it cannot be drawn from the data that prenatal exposure to alcohol was the direct cause of these conditions.
The cost associated with treatment for people affected by FASD as outlined in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard in England (QS204) is also not collected.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in (a) England, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) Peterborough Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect information on the numbers and proportion of patients with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) because it is not possible to specifically classify FASD within the National Health Service dataset. FASD is an umbrella term used to describe a range of cognitive, behavioural, physical and mental health conditions associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. In the NHS dataset, it is possible to identify conditions that could have been caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol, but it cannot be drawn from the data that prenatal exposure to alcohol was the direct cause of these conditions.
The cost associated with treatment for people affected by FASD as outlined in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard in England (QS204) is also not collected.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individual cases of overseas visitors' debt have been written off by NHS Trusts in respect of maternity care in the last 12 months; and if he will make an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of this.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. The consolidated National Health Service provider accounts for 2023/24 were published by NHS England, and recorded £44 million as written-off from overseas visitors.
The information requested regarding written-off debt for maternity care is not held centrally, and there are no current plans to make an estimate. The consolidated NHS provider accounts for 2023/24 are available at the following link:
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
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 debt has been written off by NHS Trusts as a result of overseas visitors in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. The consolidated National Health Service provider accounts for 2023/24 were published by NHS England, and recorded £44 million as written-off from overseas visitors.
The information requested regarding written-off debt for maternity care is not held centrally, and there are no current plans to make an estimate. The consolidated NHS provider accounts for 2023/24 are available at the following link:
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care during the debate on New Hospitals of 25 May 2023, Official Report, column 477, whether a further assessment (a) of the end date of safe operation of the seven most RAAC-affected hospitals been conducted and (b) will be required before construction of new hospitals can begin.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the General Election in July 2024, the Government inherited a programme to deliver new hospitals that was unfunded beyond March 2025 and was repeatedly delayed. We now have a plan to deliver the New Hospital Programme which is realistic and affordable.
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, commissioned a comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes being delivered through the New Hospital Programme, as the last report was undertaken in autumn 2022 and covered the five hospitals not at the time within the New Hospital Programme.
Part of the objectives of this report is to form an assessment of RAAC condition and other structural elements, backlog maintenance risks, as well as planned and current mitigations, and the remaining expected life of affected sites. The site-by-site report on RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace. We will expedite the delivery of schemes to replace hospitals built wholly or primarily from RAAC by focussing on the most affected buildings and services first.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2025 to Question 22603 on Community Diagnostic Centres: Cambridgeshire, how many tests were delivered at North Cambs Diagnostic Centre in each month since June 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Published data is not held in the format requested. Data for the number of tests delivered by Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) is held centrally and published at the national level, and is available at the following link:
As of November 2024, CDCs have collectively delivered over 12.1 million tests and checks since July 2021.