Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to remove asbestos from NHS buildings.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service organisations are legally responsible for maintaining their estates. NHS England continues to work with trusts to ensure their estates are a safe environment for patients and staff. Where asbestos may pose a safety risk, such as when disturbed during building works, experts are brought in to safely dispose of it.
The Government allocated £4.2 billion capital this financial year for the National Health Service to support local priorities, including where appropriate removing asbestos from buildings.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether all (a) buildings and (b) workplaces staff from their Department occupy have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has suitable risk assessments for activities that are undertaken by its staff in our workplaces.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department made of the potential prevalence of RAAC in buildings (a) owned and (b) occupied by (i) NHS and (ii) other departmental staff.
Answered by Will Quince
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) help ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities can access, (b) ensure adequate funding of and (c) reduce delays in the delivery of specialist services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This department and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are working together to take a joint approach to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) workforce planning, in recognition of the demand for specialist services. The department has established a steering group to oversee this work. In order to establish the stronger evidence base needed to inform this work, DHSC published a specification for their research into demand and supply of therapy for children and young people with SEND on 19 September.
Alongside this, in partnership with NHS England, the department is funding the Early Language and Support for Every Child pathfinders within our £70 million Change Programme. The alternative provision (AP) specialist taskforces programme is also testing a new model, embedding teams of specialists such as mental health therapists and family workers in 22 AP schools.
Education funding for specialist SEND services comes from the department’s high needs budget, which is allocated mainly through the high needs block of the dedicated schools grant to local authorities. High needs funding will increase to over £10.5 billion in 2024/25, an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. This funding will help local authorities with the increasing costs of delivering specialist services for children and young people with SEND.
The department is also investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to fund new special and AP places and improve existing provision, including announcing 41 new special free schools. This transformational investment will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help tackle the prevalence of black mould in (a) public buildings and (b) council accommodation (i) nationwide and (ii) in Romford constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Everyone deserves to live and work in a decent and safe environment - one that is free from hazards such as black mould and rodents. This is why we have committed to reduce the number of non-decent rented homes by 50% by 2030.
All landlords are required to keep their homes free of category 1 hazards, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). This includes hazards relating to mould and pests. Social landlords are also required to ensure their homes meet the requirements set out in the Decent Homes Standard.
On damp and mould, this summer, along with the Department of Health and Social Care, we issued guidance for landlords and tenants on tacking damp and mould.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help tackle the prevalence of rodents in (a) public buildings and (b) council accommodation (i) nationwide and (ii) in Romford constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Everyone deserves to live and work in a decent and safe environment - one that is free from hazards such as black mould and rodents. This is why we have committed to reduce the number of non-decent rented homes by 50% by 2030.
All landlords are required to keep their homes free of category 1 hazards, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). This includes hazards relating to mould and pests. Social landlords are also required to ensure their homes meet the requirements set out in the Decent Homes Standard.
On damp and mould, this summer, along with the Department of Health and Social Care, we issued guidance for landlords and tenants on tacking damp and mould.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the maintenance of York Hospital buildings and estate.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service publishes the annual Estates Returns Information Collection, which includes detailed information on the NHS estate. Individual NHS trusts are responsible for providing the data for the Estates Returns Information Collection and ensuring the accuracy of their returns.
In 2021/22, £0.6 million was invested in backlog maintenance at York Hospital by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The following table shows the estimated cost to address levels of backlog maintenance reported by York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at York Hospital.
Year | Cost to eradicate backlog maintenance at York Hospital |
2013/14 | £24.0m |
2014/15 | £24.0m |
2015/16 | £26.5m |
2016/17 | £25.2m |
2017/18 | £27.3m |
2018/19 | £3.7m |
2019/20 | £10.6m |
2020/21 | £10.3m |
2021/22 | £9.7m |
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of hospitals is which will have all reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete removed from their buildings under the New Hospitals programme.
Answered by Will Quince
There are seven hospitals with confirmed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) that require a full replacement. In May 2023 the Government announced that they will be rebuilt through the New Hospital Programme (NHP) by 2030.
As of 17 October 2023, there are 42 hospital sites with confirmed RAAC. This number includes the seven hospitals that will be fully rebuilt through the NHP. All hospitals with confirmed RAAC are in NHS England’s ongoing national RAAC programme. This is backed by significant additional funding of £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures.
The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which is available at the following link:
Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme. Each site will be different, and just because RAAC is present, it does not necessarily mean there is a high risk.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 capital cost of (a) mitigating against the risks posed by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in hospitals in the short term and (b) removal of all RAAC in hospitals by 2035.
Answered by Will Quince
Extensive building survey works have been conducted by National Health Service trusts to identify the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in their fabric, using technology to record potential issues and visually identify and log potential risks.
As of 17 October 2023, there are 42 hospital sites with confirmed RAAC. Of these, 18 have been identified since May 2023 following updated monitoring guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which is available at the following link:
In addition to the 42 confirmed hospital sites, three further sites have entirely eradicated previously confirmed instances of RAAC and have therefore left the programme.
The NHS has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with RAAC, including significant additional funding worth £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures. NHS hospital trusts were allocated £209 million in 2022/23 and £115 million in 2021/22. Funding is allocated based on NHS trust plans and delivery progress.
We have committed to eradicating RAAC from the publicly owned NHS estate by 2035, protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period, with the NHS approaching this on a risk basis and prioritising NHS trusts of concern. The estimated cost of full eradication through to 2035 will change over time due to several factors and will be considered at each spending review.
Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme. Each site will be different, and just because RAAC is present, it does not necessarily mean there is a high risk.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 NHS trusts have remediation measures in place to mitigate structural insecurities caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Will Quince
Extensive building survey works have been conducted by National Health Service trusts to identify the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in their fabric, using technology to record potential issues and visually identify and log potential risks.
As of 17 October 2023, there are 42 hospital sites with confirmed RAAC. Of these, 18 have been identified since May 2023 following updated monitoring guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which is available at the following link:
In addition to the 42 confirmed hospital sites, three further sites have entirely eradicated previously confirmed instances of RAAC and have therefore left the programme.
The NHS has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with RAAC, including significant additional funding worth £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures. NHS hospital trusts were allocated £209 million in 2022/23 and £115 million in 2021/22. Funding is allocated based on NHS trust plans and delivery progress.
We have committed to eradicating RAAC from the publicly owned NHS estate by 2035, protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period, with the NHS approaching this on a risk basis and prioritising NHS trusts of concern. The estimated cost of full eradication through to 2035 will change over time due to several factors and will be considered at each spending review.
Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme. Each site will be different, and just because RAAC is present, it does not necessarily mean there is a high risk.