Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
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 support families who have experienced baby loss in Bristol Central constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both the North Bristol NHS Trust and the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust have dedicated maternity bereavement teams who provide support for families experiencing baby loss. This includes practical help with funeral arrangements, accessing financial support, and investigations, as well as ongoing emotional support, attending appointments, and supporting them when meeting and making memories with their baby.
Counselling or access to psychological support are available, and spiritual or religious support is provided by chaplaincy teams in collaboration with external religious leaders at the family's request. Support for families during subsequent pregnancy is also provided.
Local teams ensure all those experiencing early pregnancy loss are made aware of the resources available to them through partners and charities, many of whom they work with regularly, and will signpost families on to them where appropriate for ongoing support.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 60392 on Ophthalmic Services, if he will have discussions with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish governments on the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to have discussions with the Welsh or Scottish administrations about the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the requirement for a pre-visit notification on access to eye care for (a) people experiencing homelessness and (b) care home residents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board 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.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with his (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish counterpart on the removal of the requirement for a pre-visit notification for eye care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board 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.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will remove the requirement for a pre-visit notification for eye care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board 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.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families were in receipt of Healthy Start in Bristol Central constituency on 9 June 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start and does not currently hold data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start. The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The table below shows the number of people on the digital scheme in the relevant local authorities as of 23 May 2025:
Local authority | Number of people on the digital scheme |
Blackpool | 1,434 |
City of Bristol | 2,778 |
County of Herefordshire | 736 |
Southampton | 1,677 |
Worthing | 348 |
Brighton and Hove | 1,041 |
East Suffolk | 1,129 |
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50992 on NHS: Contracts, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of collecting data on the number of staff working in the National Health Service for non-NHS providers; and whether his Department monitors differences in the terms and conditions of staff working (a) directly for the NHS and (b) in the NHS for non-NHS providers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department or NHS England intend to centrally collect data on the number of staff working in the National Health Service for non-NHS providers, or information on the differences in terms and conditions between NHS and non-NHS providers, due to the additional resources involved in such an exercise. Independent, non-NHS organisations are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use, the extent to which pay awards are made, and when those awards are paid. We expect such employers, providing NHS services, to offer a total reward package that supports recruitment and retention and reflects the skills and experience of their staff.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 46236 on NHS: Contracts, what assessment he has made of the number of staff working in the NHS for non-NHS providers (a) nationally and (b) in the Bristol Central constituency area.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold data on the number of staff working in the National Health Service for non-NHS providers.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy for contracts awarded to non-NHS providers to require those providers to provide pay and conditions on NHS Agenda for Change terms for staff that deliver such services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 allow for terms and conditions of service to be protected or frozen as they stand on the date of transfer to a non-National Health Service employer. This may also cover any pre-agreed contractual future entitlements if a deal is negotiated and agreed prior to the date of transfer.
However, this does not cover any future changes to NHS terms and conditions of service which may be negotiated under the collective bargaining process after the date of transfer, and where the employer receiving transferred staff is not a participant to the collective bargaining process. This includes annual pay increases under Agenda for Change. We would encourage employees to raise any issues relating to their terms and conditions directly with their employing organisation and/or trade union representative.
The Department and NHS England would expect any proposal to outsource work contracts such as the provision of facilities management services to be supported by a business case which, pursuant to the Government’s public interest test, should clearly demonstrate that the service is delivered in a way that improves quality, ensures greater stability and longer-term investment in the workforce; and delivers better value for money as part of the broader commitments on procurement, as set out in the ‘Make Work Pay’ programme. More information on the program is available at the following link:
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his plans to provide mental health professionals in schools include access to children and young people’s counsellors trained to Level 4 Diploma of Higher Education in counselling with clinical experience of working with children and young people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for children and young people.
That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across children and adult mental health services, and introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school
We are not considering counsellors trained to Level 4 Diploma of Higher Education in counselling for these roles, however children and young people can be referred to higher qualified professionals if needs identified.