Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the triage system used by some GP practices which requires all contact by patients seeking a GP appointment to be conducted online.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We published our Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care in May 2023, which sets out how we are moving toward a Modern General Practice (GP) model. This plan is backed by £240 million of retargeted funding, going to providing digital services, with the goal of increasing access. The plan sets out how, by improving digital access to GPs, we will free up capacity for those patients who want to contact their practice by telephone or in-person. We are also clear that online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing GPs.
The sole method for GPs to procure these digital services is via NHS England’s procurement frameworks, which list pre-approved suppliers for digital and IT services. This is to ensure consistency in service provisions, as each supplier must meet a set of requirements to be entered into a framework.
As of March 2024, 93% of GPs now have digital telephony systems. This has enabled GP teams to manage multiple calls, helping to end the 8:00am rush for appointments. Trials show that this has increased patients’ ability to get through to their practice by almost a third.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current backlog in local authority audits; and what plans they have to deliver all outstanding audit opinions by their proposed deadline of 30 September.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has been clear that the significant backlog of local audits in England is unacceptable. It is taking action to deal with this backlog and put the system on a sustainable footing. On 8 February DLUHC, with local audit system organisations, issued a Joint Statement setting out a clear package of measures to meet these challenges, alongside the launch of DLUHC and National Audit Office consultations.
We proposed a statutory backstop date of 30 September 2024 for the publication of audited accounts for all years up to and including 2022/23. This will enable local authorities and firms to focus on the most recent accounts as quickly as possible. Five years of further backstop dates would allow assurance to be gradually rebuilt. The Government also recognises that important questions concerning systemic challenges must be addressed.
The Government is carefully reviewing consultation responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the resources available to district councils in England to provide temporary accommodation for people who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is committed to tackling homelessness. We are investing over £1billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years to help councils prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation, with a further £120 million UK-wide funding announced at Autumn Statement for 2024/25 to help prevent homelessness.
The Local Authority Housing Fund enables councils in England to buy or build housing stock to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for those owed a homelessness duty and provide a lasting affordable housing asset for the future. We recently announced a third round of funding, bringing the total funding to £1.2 billion.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend temporary event notice regulations to enable the banning of sexual entertainment venues by local authorities in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) patient safety incidents, and (2) duty of candour events, that have occurred in relation to homecare medicines services in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England cannot provide relevant information to these questions without creation of new data and analysis derived from manual clinical review or other processes. Arrangements for future reporting are being worked on and NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare, so as to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee to review the national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set is already underway with consultation due later this summer and final documents expected for approval in December 2023. Publication of performance against the KPIs is part of this project.
To monitor industry trends, the home care providers association, the National Clinical Homecare Association, aggregates all providers’ KPIs and they have provided written evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee as part of their current investigation into the Homecare Medicines service which has been published. This includes data on patient safety incidents and duty of candour reports, of which a copy is attached.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the national average for reports of duty of candour events as a percentage of active patients for NHS trusts.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England cannot provide relevant information to these questions without creation of new data and analysis derived from manual clinical review or other processes. Arrangements for future reporting are being worked on and NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare, so as to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee to review the national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set is already underway with consultation due later this summer and final documents expected for approval in December 2023. Publication of performance against the KPIs is part of this project.
To monitor industry trends, the home care providers association, the National Clinical Homecare Association, aggregates all providers’ KPIs and they have provided written evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee as part of their current investigation into the Homecare Medicines service which has been published. This includes data on patient safety incidents and duty of candour reports, of which a copy is attached.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new homes have been built so far during the current Parliament; how many are conversions from offices and retail and are not newly built; and how many are suitable for family occupation with a garden or play space as part of the property.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department publishes an annual release entitled 'Housing supply: Net Additional Dwellings, England', which includes estimates of the components of housing supply, in each year since 2006-07, in Table 120 at this link: live-tables-on net supply of housing.
Data on dwellings suitable for family occupation with a garden or play space are not centrally collected.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of delayed deliveries in homecare medicines services on patients, including on the extent of harms.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England cannot provide relevant information to this question without creation of new data and analysis derived from manual clinical review or other processes. Arrangements for future reporting are being worked on and NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare, so as to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee to review the national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set is already underway with consultation due later this summer and final documents expected for approval in December 2023. Publication of performance against the KPIs is part of this project.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of patients who have (1) been hospitalised, and (2) sought alternative treatment, due to delays in homecare medicines delivery; and what assessment they have made of the cost of this to the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England cannot provide relevant information to these questions without creation of new data and analysis derived from manual clinical review or other processes. Arrangements for future reporting are being worked on and NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare, so as to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee to review the national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set is already underway with consultation due later this summer and final documents expected for approval in December 2023. Publication of performance against the KPIs is part of this project.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 19 January (HL4205) which noted a need for additional data on farm stage food waste, what plans they have to include farms in the mandatory reporting of food waste policy.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra consulted between June and September 2022 on options to improve food waste reporting, including consideration of a mandatory approach for food businesses. We received 3,851 responses to the consultation and the Government response will be published in 2023. This response will set out the Government’s plans in relation to improving food waste reporting, including food businesses in scope if a mandatory approach were to be taken forward.