Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming NHS workforce strategy will include specific projections of workforce needs with respect to (1) health visiting, (2) school nursing, (3) sexual health services, and (4) drug and alcohol treatment.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has commissioned NHS England to deliver a high-level National Health Service Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP).
This plan is currently being developed and we have committed to publishing it this year.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much public health funding per head was allocated to each local authority in England in (1) 2020–21 and (2) 2021–22.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is set out in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to strengthen regulatory powers in respect of the sale of vaping products to children.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that vaping should only be used to help people quit smoking and vapes should not be used by people under the age of 18 or non-smokers.
We have regulations in place to discourage underage vaping. The law protects children through restricting sales of vapes to people over the age of 18 only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions. The Department continues to work with enforcement agencies to ensure these regulations are enforced in England. There are no current plans to strengthen the regulatory powers in respect of the sale of these products to children, but we will keep this under review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, as was announced in the 2021 Spending Review, the public health grants for 2023–24 and 2024–25 will increase in line with inflation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will announce the 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of Trading Standards' powers to regulate the sale of vaping products and tackle illicit vaping tobacco products.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Vapes are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015. The Government continues to work with enforcement agencies to ensure these regulations are enforced in England.
Suspected illegal activity should be reported in the first instance to the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 (www.citizensadvice.org.uk/).
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with local authorities regarding the £250 million of funding allocated to speed up hospital discharge.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Minister of State for Social Care (MS(C)) (Helen Whately MP), and Department officials engage regularly with local authorities (LAs) and their representative organisations. This has included calls hosted by MS(C) and Lee Rowley MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Chief Executives and Directors of Adult Social Services of all LAs were invited to these calls to discuss the latest situation on hospital discharge into adult social care; and to share insights on the challenges facing different local authorities and how these challenges are being addressed. This has included discussions of the funding where relevant.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had on the level of funding required from the public health grant in order to ensure that local authorities are able to fulfil their statutory public health responsibilities.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department meets frequently with local government representatives on a range of public health issues. Most recently, the Minister for Primary Care and Public Health met with the Local Government Association on 17 January and the Association of Directors of Public Health on 24 January to discuss matters relating to public health, including future public health grant allocations.
At the 2021 Spending Review, we considered the need for local authority public health funding and confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2022/23, the grant increased by 2.81% to £3.417 billion. This is in addition to targeted investment through local government in start for life support and drug and alcohol treatment services.
We will announce 2023/24 public health grant allocations to local authorities shortly, and in doing so will consider the impact of changes to pay and inflation trends and forecasts since the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average daily savings in pension contributions employers have made on days lost to strike action in the public sector, including strike action in the rail and postal sectors.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
For members of public service pension schemes, strike days count as unpaid leave, and employer and member contributions are based on actual pay. Part of the reduction in paybill caused by industrial action in the public sector, as well as rail and postal sectors, will thus be due to reductions in employer pension contributions. The Government has not made a central assessment of this figure, which will depend on a number of factors such as the exact number of staff within a given workforce who are on strike on a given day and the typical amount of pensionable earnings foregone.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the level of funding of the public health grant to local authorities.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Spending Review 2021, we considered the need for local authority public health funding and confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2022/23, the Grant increased by 2.81% to £3.417 billion. This is in addition to targeted investment through local Government in start for life support and drug and alcohol treatment services.
We will announce 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly, and in doing so will consider the impact of changes to pay and inflation trends and forecasts since the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL).
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) has been successful at encouraging the reformulation of soft drinks, with over half of all drinks that would have otherwise been in scope reducing their sugar content.
The Government will continue to monitor the impact of the SDIL in line with public health objectives, such as tackling obesity.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps SDIL under constant review and welcomes representations from stakeholders to inform policy development.