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 ensure that people are able to (a) access and (b) receive responses from the Healthy Start scheme via (i) phone and (ii) email in a timely manner.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) delivers the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care. People can contact NHS Healthy Start by phone, email and via the NHS Healthy Start social media channels on Twitter and Facebook. The telephone helpline is open between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday, except for public holidays. A translation service is also available.

In addition to this, an automated telephone line is available to support customers with certain queries, for example to report a lost or stolen card or to check the balance on their prepaid card. This phone line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Additional resource was added to the NHSBSA’s customer contact centre in June 2022. Between July and December 2022, the average waiting time to speak to an advisor was 33 seconds. Customers can expect a response to their email within two working days.