Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to support the health and social care workforce in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England during the covid-19 outbreak.

For National Health Service staff we are planning a pay uplift despite a general pause across the public sector. For adult social care we have given councils an additional £1 billion to ensure key priorities are met, including paying care workers at least the National Living Wage. Many of the lowest paid care workers will have benefitted from at least a 2.2% pay rise.

We have put in place a comprehensive mental health and wellbeing offer that includes a 24 hours a day, seven days a week helpline and specialist bereavement support and a further £37 million investment is ensuring that the 40 mental health and wellbeing hubs continue to provide rapid support and outreach services through 2021/22. These hubs are accessible by both NHS and social care staff.

Hubs in Coventry and the West Midlands were launched in March and are offering psychological therapy for trauma, anxiety and depression and providing mental health training for managers to hold supportive and compassionate health and wellbeing conversations.