Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if (a) she and (b) a Minister in her Department will meet hon. Members representing Newcastle to discuss the findings of the report by the Care Quality Commission on the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, published on 24 January 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has responded to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report, and the recommendations are being worked on as a matter of urgency. An improvement programme is underway, and progress against this is being reported monthly to the CQC. CQC inspectors are attending the trust’s clinical boards, committees, patient safety groups, and board meetings. Trust staff also attend a monthly quality improvement board with other stakeholders, of which the CQC is part. I would consider a meeting with members representing the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to discuss the findings of the report.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if a Minister from her Department will visit Darlington to hold discussions with (a) the Police and (b) Trading Standards on the joint steps they are taking to help tackle the sale of illegal vapes and illicit tobacco.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Ministers in the department are always happy to consider meetings and visits to understand the impact of their policy areas, and we recommend reaching out to Ministers’ offices directly.
A strong approach to enforcement is vital if the smokefree generation policy is to have real impact. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently visited a cargo warehouse at Heathrow Airport with Hillingdon Trading Standards to see first-hand the work they are doing to seize illicit vapes at the border, and prevent these products from being sold in the United Kingdom.
Underage and illicit sales of tobacco products, and more recently vaping products, is undermining the work the Government is doing to regulate the industry and protect public health. It also deprives the UK of vital money that could be used to fund essential public services, instead, putting it in the hands of criminals.
This is why alongside the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we are supporting enforcement agencies with up to £30 million a year, to scale up their existing activities. This increased investment will help to stamp out criminal activity by boosting enforcement capacity, and help local trading standards tackle underage sales at a local level. Of this funding, over £100 million over five years will support HM Revenue and Custom’s and Border Force’s new illicit tobacco strategy. As is the case with existing age of sale legislation, breaches of the new law will primarily be dealt with by local authority trading standards, rather than by local police forces.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the minutes of her meetings with Vertex since November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
No meetings have taken place between Vertex and Department ministers within this timeframe.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations in the report entitled Still nowhere near enough, published by Parkinson’s UK on 26 February 2024.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury ministers have regular discussions with Department for Health and Social Care ministers on a range of issues, including meetings between the Chancellor and the Secretary of State
The Government delivers a wide range of support to help those with disabilities and long-term health conditions, such as Parkinson’s. If individuals incur extra costs whilst performing tasks associated with daily living, then they may qualify for disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). This extra support can be worth over £8,900 per year and is due to increase from April by 6.7%. Depending on their needs, additional support for those with Parkinson’s may be available via local authorities who deliver adult social care services.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support people with (a) Parkinson's and (b) other long-term conditions to cover everyday expenses.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury ministers have regular discussions with Department for Health and Social Care ministers on a range of issues, including meetings between the Chancellor and the Secretary of State
The Government delivers a wide range of support to help those with disabilities and long-term health conditions, such as Parkinson’s. If individuals incur extra costs whilst performing tasks associated with daily living, then they may qualify for disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). This extra support can be worth over £8,900 per year and is due to increase from April by 6.7%. Depending on their needs, additional support for those with Parkinson’s may be available via local authorities who deliver adult social care services.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support people with (a) Parkinson's and (b) other long-term conditions to cover everyday expenses.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury ministers have regular discussions with Department for Health and Social Care ministers on a range of issues, including meetings between the Chancellor and the Secretary of State
The Government delivers a wide range of support to help those with disabilities and long-term health conditions, such as Parkinson’s. If individuals incur extra costs whilst performing tasks associated with daily living, then they may qualify for disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). This extra support can be worth over £8,900 per year and is due to increase from April by 6.7%. Depending on their needs, additional support for those with Parkinson’s may be available via local authorities who deliver adult social care services.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will ask the Care Quality Commission to undertake an assessment of the quality of the commissioning of children's palliative care services by integrated care boards.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently completed the integrated care system (ICS) assessment pilots, which included an assessment of how health and social care provision is planned, coordinated, and delivered in a cohesive way.
For the pilots, the CQC assessed data and local intelligence relating to the safety and effectiveness of different types of services across primary care, secondary care, and adult social care. This included hospices and other palliative and end of life care services. ICS assessments do not inspect individual services or focus on specific sectors. The CQC seeks information from local and regional CQC operations teams, NHS England, and professional regulators such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to identify areas of good practice and high-performing services, as well as risks and concerns relating to specific providers or sectors. The CQC looks at aggregate ratings of different types of services within a geographical area to identify areas of risk that might require a particular focus during assessments.
The CQC’s ICS assessment methodology incorporates interviews and focus groups with commissioners, providers, patient representative groups, and voluntary and community sector organisations to understand how people experience care. Work continues to define the final methodology and approach, in line with the existing Departmental priorities.
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning, and I have met with NHS England officials personally on this matter on a number of occasions. We remain committed to improving patient access to, and quality of, palliative and end of life care, and are working with NHS England to achieve this.
NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling integrated care boards (ICBs) to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.
Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue improving palliative and end of life care for their local population.
Written Evidence Mar. 05 2024
Committee: Health and Social Care Committee (Department: Department of Health and Social Care)Found: PSN0029 - Expert Panel: Evaluation of Government’s progress on meeting patient safety recommendations
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with integrated care boards on estimates they have made of how many children are accessing palliative care in their areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
While there is no explicit requirement for integrated care boards (ICBs) to identify how many children and young people specifically access palliative and end of life care services, the commissioning of palliative care services is the statutory duty of ICBs, which must commission these services in response to the needs of their population.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties, and making clear reference to the importance of access to services.
NHS England has also published a service specification for children and young people, which provides guidance on undertaking assessments to enable high-quality commissioning of services, that meet both population need and preferences.
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England about oversight and accountability of National Health Service palliative and end of life care commissioning, including for children and young people.
From April, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for its regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These national meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population.
Government Response May. 28 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-fourth report