Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 1831–2), what percentage of the NHS nursing budget was spent on agency staff in the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department does not hold national data on agency staff that is broken down by this staff group.
Each trust publishes financial accounts which are publically available. Trusts are responsible for collecting the appropriate level of information on their agency spending that will enable them to achieve maximum value for money.
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 1831–2), how many of the additional 40,000 nurses will be employed by agencies.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
As set out by Health Education England in its Workforce Plan for England: Proposed Education and Training Commissions for 2016/2017, an increase in available supply of between 3,000 and 40,000 nurses (adult, children’s, mental health and learning disability nurses) is forecast by 2020 compared with 2015. A copy of the Plan is attached.
No estimate has been made of how many of these nurses will choose to be employed by agencies. However the Government’s agency controls are already moving staff back to substantive and bank roles.
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there were in the NHS excluding London (a) on the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in each of the previous six years.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.
The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there are in (a) London and (b) England; and how many such vacant posts there are in each category in each of the last six years.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.
The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many funding applications were made by GPs for new premises in 2013; and how many of such applications have been approved by NHS England.
Answered by Dan Poulter
NHS England has advised that information about the number of funding applications, the number of applications which have been approved and the number of applications which include a rent increase is not held centrally.
However, NHS England has been collating all applications transferred from predecessor primary care trusts concerning funding for general practitioner (GP) practice premises, after which prioritisation decisions will be made for each of the application categories in the system.
NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and other partners to develop a new strategy for premises and to support timely decisions on GP premises funding.
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for new GP premises of which an increase in rent formed a part NHS England approved in 2013.
Answered by Dan Poulter
NHS England has advised that information about the number of funding applications, the number of applications which have been approved and the number of applications which include a rent increase is not held centrally.
However, NHS England has been collating all applications transferred from predecessor primary care trusts concerning funding for general practitioner (GP) practice premises, after which prioritisation decisions will be made for each of the application categories in the system.
NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and other partners to develop a new strategy for premises and to support timely decisions on GP premises funding.