Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following recent polling by the Belonging Forum which found that renters are more likely than the general population to (1) feel lonely, (2) not know their neighbours, and (3) feel unsafe walking home in the dark, whether they are developing any policies to promote greater integration of renters in their local communities.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government’s Levelling Up White Paper sets out the Government’s missions to end economic equality and level up the UK. As part of our mission to restore a sense of local community, pride and belonging, our ambition is for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50% by 2030, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas. We will require privately rented homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard for the first time. This will give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.
Through the Renters (Reform) Bill, which is currently progressing through parliament, we will deliver the manifesto commitment to abolish section 21 evictions. This will give tenants the confidence that they can remain in their home and are able to put down roots in their communities.
In addition, we have invested over £150 million since 2020 for over 400 projects through the Safer Streets fund. This has gone towards local crime prevention measures such as better CCTV and streetlighting, or local community projects, with a particular focus on driving down anti-social behaviour, preventing neighbourhood crimes such as domestic burglary and making streets safer for women and girls.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on integrating social care and the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Care Act 2022 established integrated care systems, reforming how health and adult social care work together by putting partnership at the heart of planning. The Government has published guidance for integrated care partnerships (ICPs), on the statutory requirement for each ICP to publish an Integrated Care Strategy to address the health, social care, and public health needs of their system. All ICPs have now published their integrated care strategies.
The integration of health and social care is often best achieved through collaboration across smaller geographies within integrated care systems called places. Since the Health and Care Act 2022, we have seen good progress in the development of place-based arrangements to integrate health and social care. In October 2023, we published our Shared Outcomes Toolkit designed to help place-based partnerships develop shared outcomes as a powerful means of promoting integrated working and joined up care. We also issued a call for evidence as part of our review of Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006, which permits local authorities and National Health Service bodies to pool budgets, enabling joint commissioning and the commissioning of integrated services. The findings of this review will be shared in due course.
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 her Department is taking to ensure that children with SEND are provided with the (a) educational and (b) wider support required by their education, health and care plan in school.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department shares the ambition that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) should receive the vital support they need across Education, Health and Care (EHC). As set out in the Children and Families Act 2014, the local authority has a legal duty to ensure that the special educational provision specified in an EHC plan is delivered. The department also has a number of measures in place to ensure that children receive the educational and wider support they need.
Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with SEND, the department works with them using a set of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses. The department is also investing heavily in the SEND system, including £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to fund new special and alternative provision (AP) places and improve existing support, including the announcement of 41 new special free schools.
The department is also taking steps to improve the SEND system in the longer term, so that EHC plans can be issued as quickly as possible when needed and enable children and young people to access the support they require. In March 2023, the government set out its plans to reform and improve the SEND system through its SEND and AP Improvement Plan. This plan commits to establishing a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes and are well prepared for adulthood and employment. The department is currently testing measures which it believes will make the biggest improvements to both the quality of plans, the experience of getting a plan and the quality and speed with which support is put in place.
The department is strengthening accountability across the system so that everyone is held to account for supporting children and young people. This includes the new Ofsted and Care Quality Commission Area SEND inspection framework, which gives more prominence to the quality integration and commissioning of EHC services, and a national and local dashboard, which gives parents the opportunity to monitor the performance of their local systems.
If a child or young person does not receive the support detailed in their EHC plan, the young person or parent can raise their concern with the school or local authority directly. Families can appeal to the First-Tier SEND Tribunal if they are unhappy with a local authority’s decision regarding an EHC assessment or plan. The Tribunal can also hear appeals and make non-binding recommendations about health and social aspects of EHC plans.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to include additional material on heart valve disease in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are committed to focusing on the six major groups of conditions, which includes cardiovascular disease. Aligning work across several groups of conditions allows us to focus on where there are similarities in approach to ensure care is better centred around the patient, health and care resources are used most effectively, and that there is effective integration, both within and between treatment pathways.
This strategy does not seek to describe everything that is being done or could be done to meet the challenges of specific diseases within the major conditions. Instead, we are focusing on developing a strategic approach to inform the wide range of decisions health and care organisations make when determining how best to care for the people they serve.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps (a) her Department and (b) NHS England have taken to incentivise the integration of digital technologies into cardiovascular disease care pathways.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s commitment to develop a national digital service to support the NHS Health Check was announced in the Health Reform speech on 8 March 2022, and forms a part of the Department’s plan for digital health and social care. The vision is to increase the flexibility and reach of the NHS Health Check through the creation of an innovative, accessible national digital service, delivered alongside local face-to-face offerings, that helps people understand and take action when engaging with their cardiovascular health. Whilst there isn't any specific policy development surrounding integrating digital technologies into care pathways, NHS England has developed an information guide that will help clarify the commissioning pathway. This will encourage the adoption of digital health technologies into the National Health Service, including those in cardiovascular diseases.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
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 mental health training programs equip future clinicians with the necessary digital literacy skills to support the integration of technology into mental health care.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Digital Academy has a responsibility to support the National Health Service workforce to develop the necessary digital skills for work. The NHS Digital Academy is responsible for a strategy that will help NHS employers to support and upskill these staff through self-assessment, and both online and more traditional face-to-face learning opportunities. 16,000 people in the NHS workforce have undertaken self-assessment tools, as part of its testing stage.
Some clinical education programmes already include digital skills development, and NHS England is exploring how digital capabilities can be more comprehensively developed through existing clinical education programmes, including in mental health.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing more integration support for Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities will continue to receive the £5,900 per person tariff payment to support our Ukrainian guests. We are also working across Government to identify other ways to unblock barriers, helping Ukrainians access employment, commensurate with their skill set, liaising with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who encourage their employer and the Refugee Employment networks to advertise job vacancies. In addition, Job Centre Plus teams also help guests with much needed CV Writing and Interview skills courses.
Ukrainians with work related qualifications are directed to the UK National Information Centre (UK ENIC) for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills, as well as signposting to the relevant professional regulators, all of which is available as comprehensive guidance on GOV.UK.
For specific healthcare and education roles, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) have provided pathways for Ukrainians, to help them understand what they need to do to work in these sectors, also available on GOV.UK.
We recognise through engagement with guests, other Government departments, local councils, VCS organisations and sponsors that English language skills is one of the main barriers to employment, and wider integration. The UK Government is funding STEP Ukraine which is a completely free, virtual 12-week English language and employment support programme for Ukrainians in the UK. Thousands of Ukrainians have already benefited from STEP Ukraine, achieving improved job prospects and English language skills whilst here in the UK.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 with NHS England to support Integrated Care Boards to (a) prepare for full delegation of specialised services for interstitial lung disease from April 2024 and (b) improve patient outcomes for interstitial lung disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the detection and diagnosis of all respiratory conditions. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are the primary intervention being pursued to increase diagnostic capacity quickly in the National Health Service. As of January 2024, 153 CDC sites are operational, and the programme has delivered over 5 million tests since July 2021.
Furthermore, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. As of September 2023, there are currently over 3,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of respiratory medicine in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is over 690, or 25.5%, more than in 2019 and over 1,600, or 95.7%, more than in 2010. This includes almost 1,400 FTE consultants, which is over 260, or 23.2%, more than in 2019 and over 730, or 111.7%, more than in 2010.
On the delegation of specialised commissioning, NHS England approved plans in December to fully delegate the commissioning of 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) in the East, Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England has also approved plans to continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs in the South West, South East, London and the North East, and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This approach will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025. Moving to ICB-led commissioning will support a new focus on integration and population health management across whole pathways of care. This presents the opportunity to improve the quality of services, tackle health inequalities and deliver best value. Overall, the delivery of the Government’s plans on diagnostic centres, workforce, and the delegation of commissioning will help improve patient outcomes for respiratory diseases.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to (a) increase the capacity of interstitial lung disease services and (b) reduce the time between diagnosis and access to treatment for that disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the detection and diagnosis of all respiratory conditions. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are the primary intervention being pursued to increase diagnostic capacity quickly in the National Health Service. As of January 2024, 153 CDC sites are operational, and the programme has delivered over 5 million tests since July 2021.
Furthermore, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. As of September 2023, there are currently over 3,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of respiratory medicine in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is over 690, or 25.5%, more than in 2019 and over 1,600, or 95.7%, more than in 2010. This includes almost 1,400 FTE consultants, which is over 260, or 23.2%, more than in 2019 and over 730, or 111.7%, more than in 2010.
On the delegation of specialised commissioning, NHS England approved plans in December to fully delegate the commissioning of 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) in the East, Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England has also approved plans to continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs in the South West, South East, London and the North East, and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This approach will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025. Moving to ICB-led commissioning will support a new focus on integration and population health management across whole pathways of care. This presents the opportunity to improve the quality of services, tackle health inequalities and deliver best value. Overall, the delivery of the Government’s plans on diagnostic centres, workforce, and the delegation of commissioning will help improve patient outcomes for respiratory diseases.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the introduction of the physician associate role on patient (a) care and (b) outcomes in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health Education England, now NHS England, has previously explored the value and potential of physician associates (PAs) as members of a multidisciplinary medical team through impact case studies, which are available at the following link:
There is ongoing work around the integration of medical associate profession roles, which include PAs and also anaesthesia associates and surgical care practitioners, as part of a Career Development Framework to support the overall objectives of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for these roles.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits to expanding the PA role further whilst upholding the highest levels of patient safety and welfare. NHS England will continue to seek feedback from employers, regulators, royal colleges and professional bodies regarding the PA role and will work to develop and implement any recommendations.