Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 effect of reintroducing bursaries for people studying podiatry on (a) levels of recruitment, (b) the sustainability of the profession and (c) improvements in preventative health; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service has the workforce it needs to deliver high quality care. As part of the new funding package for healthcare students non-repayable, training grants of at least £5,000 per academic year will be made available to eligible new and continuing pre-registration podiatry students, studying at English universities.
We know that for some professions there are particular challenges in recruiting suitable applicants to pre-registration courses and so as part of the new funding package we have also made available an additional specialist subject grant of £1,000 to eligible new students who choose to study in shortage professions, including podiatry. We will continue to monitor the impact of our policies, with data on numbers of acceptances onto podiatry courses expected to be available when the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publish their end of cycle data later this year.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 enable the NHS to recruit additional specialist staff to improve early diagnosis of cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS People Plan – 2020/21, sets out actions to support transformation across the whole NHS, including the following commitment on the cancer workforce.
In 2021, Health Education England is prioritising the training of 400 clinical endoscopists and 450 reporting radiographers. Training grants are being offered for 350 nurses to become cancer nurse specialists and chemotherapy nurses, training 58 biomedical scientists, developing an advanced clinical practice qualification in oncology, and extending cancer support-worker training.
Many of these staff will be trained to improve early diagnosis of cancer.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the recruitment of new social care staff after the implementation of the points-based immigration system in January 2021.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the Government’s long-term ambition to recruit more people into social care to meet the future needs of society. In the short term, in order to attract people into social care now, we launched a new national recruitment campaign, ‘Care for others; Make a difference’, which ran across broadcast, digital and social media. We have also launched a new online platform to fast-track recruitment into the adult social care sector, which will sit alongside the many local initiatives that have been put in place to recruit staff.
The new Health and Care visa will make it cheaper, quicker and easier for eligible social care professions such as social workers, occupational therapists and nurses from around the world to come to work the United Kingdom. In addition all social care workers will now be permanently exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has undertaken an equalities impact assessment when arriving at the values of a continuation rate of =90 per cent and a skilled employment/further study rate of =75 per cent as minimum qualifying thresholds for higher education establishments to bid for funding for 5,000 non-health care places.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, gave consideration to a wide range of factors when setting out the eligibility criteria for the extra non-healthcare places. This included the need to ensure that these places lead to completed qualifications and entry into the professions in which we need more people so we can support our vital public services and add value to the economy. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, had due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and the other equality aims under the Equality Act (2010) when formulating the policy on student number controls (SNCs). Admitting students, including disadvantaged students, to low quality courses which do not give them the support they need to complete their degree, or do not give them good access to graduate employment, is not in the interest of students.
Overall, SNCs allow for substantial growth across the sector – they allow for all provider forecasts of growth and another 5% growth above this. Every individual provider in the country can recruit at least 6.5% more students than in the last academic year. The extra places that my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education can award, are in addition to this already generous allowance.
SNCs will, however, re-distribute students more equally across different higher education providers compared to what would likely occur in the absence of any quantitative limits on student numbers at individual providers. Providers in the medium and low tariff groups are expected to be the main beneficiaries from SNCs as they are most likely to feel the greatest pressure on recruitment.
Our overarching aim is to protect students and to allow all students who want to go to university, and who meet their entry requirements, to access higher education.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department made of the social intake of higher education institutions and the communities they serve when setting the specific values of the continuation rate and the skilled employment/further study rate as minimum qualifying thresholds for institutions to bid for funding for 5,000 non-health care places.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, gave consideration to a wide range of factors when setting out the eligibility criteria for the extra non-healthcare places. This included the need to ensure that these places lead to completed qualifications and entry into the professions in which we need more people so we can support our vital public services and add value to the economy. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, had due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and the other equality aims under the Equality Act (2010) when formulating the policy on student number controls (SNCs). Admitting students, including disadvantaged students, to low quality courses which do not give them the support they need to complete their degree, or do not give them good access to graduate employment, is not in the interest of students.
Overall, SNCs allow for substantial growth across the sector – they allow for all provider forecasts of growth and another 5% growth above this. Every individual provider in the country can recruit at least 6.5% more students than in the last academic year. The extra places that my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education can award, are in addition to this already generous allowance.
SNCs will, however, re-distribute students more equally across different higher education providers compared to what would likely occur in the absence of any quantitative limits on student numbers at individual providers. Providers in the medium and low tariff groups are expected to be the main beneficiaries from SNCs as they are most likely to feel the greatest pressure on recruitment.
Our overarching aim is to protect students and to allow all students who want to go to university, and who meet their entry requirements, to access higher education.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the recruitment of (a) podiatrists and (b) other allied health professionals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is too early to measure what impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on the recruitment of podiatrists and other allied health professionals.
The Government is addressing the immediate and long-term recruitment of podiatrists and other allied health professionals. In December 2019 we announced additional maintenance grant funding, which will be available from September 2020 for new and continuing students of £5,000. There will be up to £3,000 additional funding for some students, who choose to study in regions or specialisms struggling to recruit, or to help with childcare costs. In addition, new students studying a specialist subject including podiatry will be able to access a further £1,000. These grants are on top of student loan allowances and do not need to be re-paid.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that university courses which supply (1) health workers, (2) teachers, and (3) other core public sector workers, are (a) protected, and (b) expanded, following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department recognises these public services are vitally important in such a challenging time and appreciate that this is an uncertain time for all prospective students, and we want to ensure that they are not negatively impacted by disruption to the sector.
For those students receiving A-Levels this summer, results awarded will be formal results, with the same status as results awarded in any other year, and therefore students should continue to receive conditional offers from providers for all courses.
Students accepted on to teaching courses are already eligible for additional bursaries designed to support increased supply and from September this year we are introducing new grants of £5,000 for nurses, midwives and other health professionals to support increased recruitment into these professions. We are also looking at further work with Office for Students to increase capacity in the sector.
The government also contributes to the costs of higher education by providing teaching grant (T-Grant) funding to eligible higher education providers that have opted to be subject to tuition fee caps. This includes high-cost subject funding, which supplements the costs of teaching where tuition fees are insufficient to meet the entire costs of provision, such as for medicine, engineering and some nursing courses. Additional funding is being made available for the expansion of medical school places.
We are committed to supporting our world-class higher education institutions, so will continue working closely with the sector to manage the impact of coronavirus and secure the stability and sustainability of the sector at this difficult time.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of oncologists in the NHS.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Cancer Workforce Plan (published in 2017), identified a range of measures to increase the numbers of clinical radiologists, histopathologists, oncologists and radiographers by 2021. This included improving working practices, attracting qualified people back to the National Health Service and international recruitment. Between March 2016 and March 2019, there has been a net increase of 2,515 full time equivalent staff across the seven priority professions identified in the Cancer Workforce Plan, including an increase of 167 clinical and medical oncologists.
The People Plan will build upon the progress already made and take targeted action to ensure the supply of NHS staff who play a vital role in delivering cancer care, including oncologists.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recent We are the NHS recruitment campaign, for what reasons speech and language therapists are not among the roles being recruited.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Health Service recruitment campaign ‘We are the NHS’, targets those allied health Professional roles in England, most in need based on the NHS Long Term Plan and interim NHS People Plan and those in hard to fill roles. It is for the devolved administrations in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland to decide on their recruitment needs and how they go about securing their workforce
The NHS People Plan, due to be published by the NHS in 2020, will set out a clear framework for growing and sustaining a well-skilled workforce across the whole NHS in England. At November 2019 there were 6,284 full time equivalent speech and language therapists in England, this is a 5% increase since 2016.
In December 2019 the Government announced additional maintenance grant funding of at least £5,000 per academic year for students studying nursing, midwifery and most allied health professions, including speech and language therapy, which will be available from September 2020 for new and continuing students at English universities. In addition, students with child dependents will benefit from an extra £1,000.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's news story entitled National recruitment campaign for paramedics, radiographers and nurses begins published on 3 March 2020, what plans he has to recruit more speech and language therapists.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS People Plan, due to be published by the National Health Service in 2020, will set out a clear framework for growing and sustaining a well-skilled workforce across the whole NHS. As of November 2019 there were 6,284 full time equivalent speech and language therapists in England, this is a 5% increase since 2016.
In December 2019 the Government announced additional maintenance grant funding of at least £5,000 per academic year for students studying most allied health professions, including speech and language therapy. In addition, students with child dependents will benefit from an extra £1,000.