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, whether waiting times to see (a) asthma specialists and (b) respiratory consultants have increased in the last 12 months; and whether there has been an increase in the number of asthma (i) deaths and (ii) acute presentations in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
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 ensure that NHS medical staff are made aware of a patient's personalised care plan.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) what assessment they have made of the performance and impact of the statutory duty of candour on NHS staff and health service providers, and (2) how many fines have been imposed on healthcare organisations for failing to comply with the duty of candour, broken down by year since the duty was introduced.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A review announced by the Government in December 2023 is currently underway to assess the operation and enforcement of the statutory duty of candour. The process includes gathering evidence from National Health Service staff and health service providers via a Call for Evidence, which is currently live, and is due to close on 29 May 2024. The Care Quality Commission has provided figures on the number of fixed penalty notices issued to providers for failure to comply with the duty, since it was introduced in 2014. The following table shows the number if fixed penalty notices issued each year from 2014 to 2023:
Year | Fixed penalty notice |
2014 | 0 |
2015 | 0 |
2016 | 0 |
2017 | 0 |
2018 | 0 |
2019 | 0 |
2020 | 0 |
2021 | 3 |
2022 | 1 |
2023 | 0 |
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that lactation consultants are widely available on the NHS.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s vision, as set out in The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, is that every parent and carer has access to high quality infant feeding services. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, we are investing £50 million to enable 75 participating local authorities to design and deliver a blended offer of infant feeding support. The investment is being used to increase the range of advice and support available, including recruiting and training staff to improve workforce capacity and capability.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The Government is backing the plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places.
Asked by: Miriam Cates (Conservative - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the effectiveness of the Kooth mental health app for tackling children's mental health problems, (b) the value for money of that app and (c) whether that app meets her Department's safeguarding expectations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for local National Health Service organisations to choose which products and services they commission. We would expect local organisations to commission services which they deem to be effective and value for money.
A local Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) assessment is required as part of the procurement process. It is expected that Kooth would only have been commissioned if the local NHS organisation had ensured it met baseline DTAC standards across technical assurance, data protection, clinical safety, interoperability, usability, and accessibility.
NHS England are reviewing the concerns raised by Members of Parliament and campaigners relating to Kooth.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the value of contracts awarded to non-NHS providers was for the provision of clinical services in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2020-21 financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent on private sector contracts for the provision of clinical services in the most recent financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of access to adult social care services by people of working age.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to reply to the hon Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of data by the Office for National Statistics Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2022 on 22 April, which revealed that 2022 was the highest year on record for deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, what plans they have to publish an alcohol-specific strategy.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the 2021 Drugs Strategy we are making the largest ever single increase in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding, with £780 million of additional investment. Of this, £532 million is being invested to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England, including alcohol treatment services. The Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant is the mechanism by which local authorities receive Drug Strategy funding. This is additional to the amounts invested through the Public Health Grant. The following table shows the SSMTR Grant and the Inpatient Detox (IPD) Grant allocations for the North East, in 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25, as well as the total for those three years:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
SSMTR | £7,051,992 | £13,677,970 | £24,787,253 | £45,517,215 |
IPD | £727,295 | £727,295 | £727,295 | £2,181,885 |
The Department is also providing £1,157,212 in funding to three local authorities in the North East, specifically Middlesborough, Newcastle, and Durham, to improve access to drug and alcohol treatment services for people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, NHS England has made over £30 million available to local healthcare systems to facilitate the delivery of specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals in the areas with the highest rates of alcohol harm and socioeconomic deprivation.
The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities is developing comprehensive United Kingdom guidelines for the clinical management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. The overarching aim of the guideline is to develop a clear consensus on good practice, and improve the quality of treatment and support.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the first quarterly report of the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer, published on 10 April, what steps they are taking to address gaps in data collection for secondary breast cancer patients.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.