Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support care leavers to find a home when they leave local authority care.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government. Care leavers face barriers to securing and maintaining affordable housing, which is why the department committed to delivering the actions within ‘Mission 5’ of the Care Review implementation plan to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness by 2027.
This commitment includes bringing forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, for ‘Staying Put’ to support young people for longer and for ‘Staying Close’ to be a national entitlement, recognising that young people in the general population are leaving home at older ages. The department will also bring forward legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to remove the local connection requirement for care leavers seeking access to social housing at the next available opportunity.
The government is providing funding for the following programmes in the current spending review period (2022/2025) to support care leavers to find suitable accommodation. This includes:
Ofsted inspects the adequacy of the support provided by local authorities for care leavers. In January 2023, Ofsted introduced a new, separate judgement in the inspection framework for local authority children’s services, specifically assessing the experiences and progress of care leavers.
Alongside this, a care leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for the Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, brings together relevant Ministers from across government to consider what more can be done to improve outcomes for care leavers and to help to achieve the five care-leavers-related ‘Missions’ as set out in the government’s children’s social care strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. This includes looking to increase the number of care leavers in safe, suitable accommodation and to reduce care leaver homelessness.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to meet representatives of Barnardo’s to discuss developing a Black Foster Care Network to improve the experiences of Black children in care.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8232.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they categorise surgical harm in reference to the outcomes of surgical fires; and what plans they have to categorise harm based on the areas most affected by such a fire.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have, or did, lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires and burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the regulations of which are available in an online only format. NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or surgical burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
As such, all recorded patient safety incidents, including surgical fires and burns, are categorised according to the level of harm thought to have resulted, as well as being linked to various other categorical items of data, such as the location of the incident and when it occurred.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the main causes of surgical fires and burns across NHS England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Surgical fires and burns occur in, on, or around a patient undergoing surgery. Risk factors include use of ignition sources, for example, electrical surgical equipment and lasers, and fuel sources, for example, alcohol preparation solutions that are accidentally allowed to pool on or under the patient.
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and to ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
We are informed by NHS England that no assessment has been made of the impact of surgical fires or burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of surgical fires and burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Surgical fires and burns occur in, on, or around a patient undergoing surgery. Risk factors include use of ignition sources, for example, electrical surgical equipment and lasers, and fuel sources, for example, alcohol preparation solutions that are accidentally allowed to pool on or under the patient.
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and to ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
We are informed by NHS England that no assessment has been made of the impact of surgical fires or burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Asked by: Siobhan Baillie (Conservative - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of flexible working arrangements for midwives.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
‘We work flexibly’ is one of the elements contained in the NHS People Promise with a commitment to deliver for staff, including midwives by 2024/25.
NHS England has created and shared flexible working arrangement resources and delivered bespoke webinars and workshops on the issue. They have also brought together midwifery leaders from across the system to share good practice, foster collaboration and support the implementation of flexible working across maternity services.
In September 2021, contractual changes took effect for employees covered by the NHS Terms & Conditions of Service Handbook which includes the right to request flexible working from day one without the need to provide a justification.
However, no assessment of the adequacy of the availability of flexible working arrangements specifically for midwives has been made.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that all instances of fires in operating theatres across NHS England are reported to the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health and care providers in England are not required to report all surgical fires to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), except for those considered to be a serious incident. If the incident is serious, CQC is notified through the transfer of Strategic Executive Information System.
If CQC notes any fire safety concerns during an inspection, the provider gets referred to the local fire authority for them to take the appropriate action.
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events service, to support local and national learning. This would include incidents caused by surgical fires or burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with Barnardo’s to discuss developing a Black Foster Care Network to improve the experiences of Black children in care.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government would like to see people from all backgrounds feel able to come forward to foster, whatever their ethnicity, sexuality, gender or relationship status.
Children should be cared for in a way that recognises and respects their identity and carers should be given the training and support they need to meet the child’s needs.
The department considers charity sector colleagues to be key stakeholders in work taking place across the department, including on children’s social care reform as outlined in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. The department regularly engage the Chief Executive and Policy Leads from Barnardo’s on children’s social care policy (as well as their counterparts at Action for Children, The Children’s Society, National Children’s Bureau and NSPCC). The charity sector is also represented in a variety of reference groups on specific aspects of children’s social care policy.
The department will engage with foster carer representative bodies to see how black foster carers can be further supported, including considering developing a Black Foster Care Network.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate and Barnardo’s to discuss developing a Black Foster Care Network to improve the experiences of Black children in care.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Enfield Southgate to the answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8232: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-05/8232.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Streatham and Barnardo's to discuss developing a Black foster care network.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Streatham to the answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8232: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-05/8232.