Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost in NHS and social services staff time and resources in administering NHS Continuing Healthcare, and undertaking the necessary patient assessments, in each of the past two financial years.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not collect data on the cost of administering NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) or undertaking CHC assessments.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their emergency care plan announced on 30 January, how many extra staff will be required by (1) the NHS, and (2) social care, to staff the new tailored support at home services and keep people out of hospital.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has asked systems as part of the 2023/24 planning round to develop and implement integrated urgent & emergency care workforce plans based on capacity and demand assessments in line with local population need. These plans will consider wider out-of-hospital services, including community services such as rehabilitation, therapy and reablement, and community nursing. As such, specific figures are still under consideration.

To scale virtual wards, NHS England will develop a national workforce recruitment capacity and capability plan, which will include multi-disciplinary teams, including staff with training in frailty, access to specialist and consultant oversight required to deliver hospital level care at home, and the therapy workforce. The Government has also made available up to £2.8 billion in 2023/24 and £4.7 billion in 2024/25 to support adult social care and discharge.

This funding will help local authorities address waiting lists, low fee rates, and workforce pressures in the social care sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Ministerial Commission to Health Education England in May 2021 on refreshing the long-term strategic framework for health and social care workforce planning, when the Government plans to publish the findings of the review.

Answered by Will Quince

In July 2021, the Department commissioned Health Education England to review long term strategic trends for the health and regulated social care workforce. To supplement this work, the Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long term workforce plan.

The Government has committed to publishing a comprehensive workforce plan in 2023, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals required, taking into account improvements in retention and productivity.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support health and care staff with the rising cost of living.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

We have committed to give NHS workers a pay rise and are looking to pay review bodies for a recommendation.

The pay review bodies are independent so I cannot pre-empt their recommendations, but we will carefully consider them.

The majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who set pay and conditions, independent of central government. It is the responsibility of local authorities to work with care providers to determine pay.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements are in place for regular consultation between the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care with regards to health and care staff of all grades; whether these include regular meetings; and who is responsible for assessing the effectiveness of any such arrangements.

Answered by Lord Kamall

Officials from the Home Office attend the Department for Health and Social Care’s Cross Whitehall International Recruitment Steering Group which meets every four months. Officials liaise regularly on cross cutting issues, including the Shortage Occupation List. There has been no assessment of the efficacy of these meetings.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will urgently review the requirement for NHS and social care staff to require a covid-19 vaccine as a condition of employment.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Following consideration of the changes in the pandemic a result of the Omicron variant and the continued success of the vaccination programme, the Government announced on 31 January that vaccination will no longer be a condition of deployment for health and social care staff, subject to a public consultation and parliamentary process.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) recruit and retain NHS and social care workers, (b) tackle the staffing shortage in the NHS and social care services.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Workforce statistics for October 2021 show that there are over 1.2 million full time equivalent staff working in the National Health Service or over 1.3 million, headcount. We are on schedule to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament and ensure a sustainable long-term workforce supply in the future. We have funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England - an increase of 25% over three years. This expansion was completed in September 2020 and has delivered five new medical schools in England. The NHS People Plan aims to retain staff by assisting organisations to provide ongoing support to staff to improve their health and wellbeing.

The adult social care reform white paper, ‘People at the Heart of Care’, sets out an investment of at least £500 million in the adult social care workforce. This aims to deliver a rewarding career with opportunities to develop and progress, where social care staff are recognised and their wellbeing prioritised. On 10 December we announced £300 million for local authorities and care providers to recruit and retain care staff through the winter. This funding will enhance the existing £162.5 million Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund. On 24 December, we announced that care workers, care assistants and home care workers will be eligible for the Health and Care Visa for a 12-month period. These roles will also be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on staffing levels in the (a) NHS and (b) social care sector; and what steps he is he taking to mitigate that impact.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We have not seen a negative impact on National Health Service staffing levels as a result of leaving the European Union. Skills for Care data shows that approximately 7.5% of the overall workforce employed by independent providers or local authorities held a EU nationality in 2019/20 and this has remained the same in 2020/21.

The Migration Advisory Committee has been asked to review on the impact of exiting the EU on adult social care. Their report will be published in April 2022.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will meet with providers of discount schemes for health and social care workers to help ensure that all eligible staff are able to participate in those schemes.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department does not currently work directly with providers of discount schemes. Individual employers are free to further develop their local reward offer through discount schemes with providers of their choice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of discount schemes on helping to (a) recognise, (b) recruit and (c) retain workers in the health and social care sectors.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department does not currently work directly with providers of discount schemes. Individual employers develop their local reward offer through discount schemes with providers of their choice.

Found: A 25% discount to residents of Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, and 25% discount to NHS and Social Services