Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether The Equipment Plan 2023–2033, published on 4 December, includes full predicted costs for their proposed development and acquisition of new ground-launched, long range, precision-guided weapons; and if not, why.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The development and acquisition of new ground-launched, long range, precision-guided weapons are included in the Equipment Plan 2023-2033.
All Land Deep Fires Programme costs have been included except for Land precision strike, for which funding has not yet been committed.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Venezuela regarding the territorial integrity of Guyana.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government does not recognise the legitimacy of the Maduro regime. We are concerned by the recent steps taken by Venezuela. We are clear that the border was settled in 1899 through international arbitration. The Foreign Secretary has reassured President Ali of this. We continue to work with regional partners and international bodies to de-escalate tensions.
Minister Rutley visited Guyana on 18 December to show UK support for its territorial integrity. He met with President Ali, Foreign Secretary Todd, National Security Advisor Captain Gerry Gouveia, Defence Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Omar Khan and The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett to show UK support for Guyana's territorial integrity.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given that the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act was published five years ago and that the most recent Conservative manifesto included a promise to legislate in this Parliament, why a bill on Mental Health Act reform was not mentioned in the King's Speech.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that the absence of a Mental Health Bill in the King’s Speech is disappointing to many people. It remains our intention to bring forward a Mental Health Bill when Parliamentary time allows.
We continue to take forward non-legislative commitments to improve the care and treatment of people detained under the Act, including continuing to pilot models of Culturally Appropriate Advocacy, which will provide tailored support to hundreds of people from ethnic minorities to better understand their rights when they are detained under the Mental Health Act. NHS England has launched the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework for all mental health trusts in the National Health Service to embed across England. We are also investing over £400 million of funding between 2020/21 and 2023/24 to eradicate dormitories and give patients the privacy of their own ensuite bedroom.
NHS England is taking forward a new Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme to support cultural change and a new bold, reimagined model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient settings. This programme will complement and further support our existing commitments to improve the quality of community care and reduce the need for inpatient care.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat posed by recent developments in (1) Russian, and (2) Chinese, hypersonic missile technology.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Russia and China continue to progress in the development and deployment of hypersonic missiles and technologies and these weapons pose an increasing threat to international stability.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what date they plan to have equipped the Royal Navy surface fleet with adequate capabilities to defend itself from hypersonic missile attack.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Royal Navy is constantly reviewing and updating their offensive and defensive capabilities based upon intelligence and threat analysis.
Due to the sensitive nature of these assessments, it is inappropriate to discuss the specific nature of our capabilities and the operational analysis being conducted
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 9 February (HL 5339), whether NHS England and integrated care board aggregate NHS mental health expenditure would still be expected to increase as a share of their total expenditure in 2023/24 compared with 2022/23 if "non-recurrent" expenditure had not been excluded from the baseline calculation; and if not, to itemise and quantify expected "non-recurrent" expenditure in both years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The non-recurrent expenditure excluded from the baseline calculation is the specific funding provided at Spending Review 2021 for costs relating to COVID-19. Central funding for pensions costs is also excluded as this cannot be split between staff working on mental health and other areas. However, making no adjustments, mental health expenditure as a share of total National Health Service expenditure is still expected to increase, from 8.3% in 2022/23 to 8.5% in 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when before 1 April 2023 they will confirm whether NHS mental health funding will increase as a share of overall NHS expenditure in 2023/24, as required by section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 23 January 2023 the Government gave a written ministerial statement setting out its expectation for mental health spending by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) in aggregate in the 2023/24 financial year. It stated that in that financial year, the Government expects mental health spending to continue to increase as a proportion of the total recurrent expenditure incurred by NHS England and ICBs in aggregate.
The following table shows recurrent National Health Service baseline spend as well as the forecast share thereof for mental health for financial years 2023/23 and 2023/24. This includes, at aggregate ICB level, baseline spend within scope of the Mental Health Investment Standard which covers all spending on mental health from an ICB’s core allocations, and at NHS England level, service development fund spending and specialised commissioning spending on mental health.
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Recurrent NHS baseline (£ billion) | 142.4 | 153.0 |
Total forecast mental health spend (£ billion) | 12.7 | 13.6 |
Mental health share of recurrent baseline | 8.90% | 8.92% |
It should be noted that the figures in the table will, in part, be based on projections, owing to the statutory requirement to lay the statement before Parliament ahead of the new financial year.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which of the 40 new NHS hospitals that they propose to build in England by 2030 now have planning permission; and when construction is due to start on each site.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 2 February 2023, within the New Hospital Programme, 21 schemes have received either full or outline planning permission. A document is attached of specific details on schemes which have received planning permission and their construction start time frames.
Requirements for planning permission are dependent on when the schemes will progress as part of the New Hospital Programme, and we will continue to support trusts with their planning applications as and when required. This approach to delivery of the new hospitals involves different schemes being grouped into ‘cohorts’, which represent a balance of progress for earlier schemes while enabling implementation standardisation and utilise economies of scale across schemes in later cohorts. This will ensure staff and patients benefit from new facilities that represent improved value for money and realise the full benefits of a programme approach.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) planned construction start date, (2) expected construction completion date, and (3) budgeted cost, for each of the 40 new NHS hospitals they propose to build in England by 2030.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Government has committed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, in addition to eight previously announced schemes.
The schemes are grouped into five cohorts for delivery by 2030, based on an assessment of readiness to progress and the extent to which schemes can realise the benefits of the national programme. This assessment is subject to continuous review and the timescales for individual schemes may change. A current list of schemes and cohorts is attached, due to the size of the data. This includes where schemes are in construction and indicative construction start timescales. There are eight schemes in cohort five, which refers to schemes yet to be confirmed and are currently subject to an ongoing selection process.
At the Spending Review in 2020, the Government confirmed an initial £3.7 billion for the first four years of the programme. Funding from 2024/25 will be set out in further detail at future spending reviews. Specific timetables and funding allocations for individual schemes will be determined through the business case assurance process. In May 2022, the programme secured approval to progress the schemes in cohort two and the approach to delivering the programme was confirmed.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so how, they measure changes over time in the supply of domiciliary social care relative to local need in each upper tier local authority in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department does not measure the supply of domiciliary care relative to local need in local authorities in England. The Care Act 2014 recognises that local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care and support needs of the local population. Local authorities have a duty to shape care markets to ensure that a diverse range of high quality, sustainable, person-centred care and support services is provided. The Department monitors the number of domiciliary care agencies at national, regional and local authority level using monthly data collected by the Care Quality Commission.