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 people who do not meet the criteria to reside were inpatients in (a) Hinchingbrooke Hospital, (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn and (c) Peterborough City Hospital on 21 April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of patients with no criteria to reside as of 21 April 2025, in Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, and Peterborough City Hospital:
Hospital | Numbers of patients with no criteria to reside |
Hinchingbrooke Hospital | 35 |
Peterborough City Hospital | 47 |
Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn | 49 |
No criteria to reside refers to patients who are medically fit for discharge but are still in hospital. These delays can be caused by a range of issues including hospital processes, delays in arranging ongoing support, a lack of care capacity, and wellbeing concerns.
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 funding his Department plans to provide for motor neurone disease research in 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering motor neurone disease research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation. Since the start of 2022/23, the Government has allocated £47.8 million to motor neurone disease research.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including motor neurone disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on motor neurone disease to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
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, 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, 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: