Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) he, (b) his Ministers and (c) official in his Department have held discussions with their counterparts in (i) Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland on pre-visit notifications.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, or mobile, sight tests are available for patients eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, and this includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advanced notification to integrated care boards of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test. Pre-visit notifications play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable groups.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England. NHS England and the Department are happy to engage with the primary eye care sector around the requirement for pre visit notifications to understand any concerns about pre-visit notifications.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to remove the requirement for optometrists to complete Pre-Visit Notifications.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, or mobile, sight tests are available for patients eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, and this includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advanced notification to integrated care boards of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test. Pre-visit notifications play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable groups.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England. NHS England and the Department are happy to engage with the primary eye care sector around the requirement for pre visit notifications to understand any concerns about pre-visit notifications.
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 his Department is taking to ensure councils implement the requirements of the Care Act 2014 on Individual Service Funds.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on offering Individual Service Funds to patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on the effectiveness of the implementation of Individual Service Funds under the Care Act 2014.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with Lancashire County Council on care home provision in (a) Lancashire and (b) Fylde constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities, in this case the Lancashire County Council, are required to shape their local markets, and to ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support options available to them, such that they can access services that best meet their needs.
This reflects the fact that local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations, and to make any assessment of proposals in relation to local market capacity.
Department officials maintain a range of engagement on a range of issues with directors of adult social services and their departments in local authorities across the country. Colleagues from the Lancashire County Council have been involved in these discussions.
I have agreed to meet with a number of local Members of Parliament to discuss the consultation the Lancashire County Council has launched on the future of 10 adult social care services, including the Milbanke care home.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of migration from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit on care charges levied on disabled people by local authorities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, the responsibility for interpreting and applying the law and the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) guidance rests with local authorities. Where local authorities decide to charge for the provision of care and support, they must follow the Care Act 2014 and the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, and they must act under the CASS guidance.
We are aware of some concerns raised around the impact of migration from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit on care charges. We are actively looking into this potential impact. To date, no specific assessment has been made.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish a national eye strategy.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to develop a National Eye Strategy. The 10-Year Health Plan supports more locally developed and integrated neighbourhood care rather than a top down, one size fits all solution. Integrated care boards will want to take different approaches to commissioning primary and secondary eye care services, depending on local need as well as the skills and resources available to them.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government on which clauses and amendments the Department of Health and Social Care have provided advice on legal and practical workability to the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has worked with the sponsors of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on a range of workability issues and has provided legal and workability advice across the entire bill. Where the Government has provided technical or legal advice to the sponsor on specific amendments, ministers have referred to this within their remarks at the Committee and Report Stage in the House of Commons. Parliamentary Counsel has provided the technical drafting for the amendments tabled by the sponsors.
All advice provided to the sponsor in relation to the bill has been to ensure coherence of the statute book, and to help to ensure the bill is workable. The Government has remained neutral on the matter of assisted dying. The Government will continue to take this approach through the bill’s passage in the House of Lords.
The Department recognises the importance of promoting openness and transparency in Government. However, it is also in the public interest that the Government can engage confidentially with the sponsors of the bill, so that the advice the Department provides in relation to the operability and soundness of the bill can be free and frank, both in relation to this bill and any future private member’s bill where the Government engages closely with the sponsor.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of Pre-Visit Notifications on (a) vulnerable patients and (b) patients in care homes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, or mobile, sight tests are available for patients eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, and this includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advanced notification to integrated care boards of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test. Pre-visit notifications play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable groups.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England. NHS England and the Department are happy to engage with the primary eye care sector around the requirement for pre visit notifications to understand any concerns about pre-visit notifications.