Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many citizens of other EU countries work in his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by David Mowat
As far as possible, the information requested, about how many citizens of other European Union countries work in the Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is set out in the table below.
Name of Organisation | Number of citizens of other EU countries working in each organisation | Comments |
‘Central’ Department of Health | 31 staff are identified as citizens of another EU country (Ireland) but 226 people have not declared nationality. | Nationality is not a mandatory field in the Department’s Business Management System. |
Care Quality Commission | 92 |
|
NHS England | 88 |
|
NHS Digital | Of 2,753 employees, 1,462 have confirmed their nationality. Of that 1,462, 40 have confirmed that their nationality is one of the other EU countries. |
|
Health Education England | Of 2,598 staff records, 871 record nationality. Of those, 44 staff are ‘other EU Nationals’. |
|
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority | 5 or fewer |
|
Health Research Authority | 5 or fewer |
|
Human Tissue Authority | 5 or fewer |
|
Monitor* | 53 | Five or fewer employee records do not record nationality. |
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) | This information is not collected by NICE. | As other EU citizens have the same working rights as United Kingdom citizens, including not requiring visas, we have not needed to collect and retain this information about employees. |
Public Health England | 345 | This is based on data from ESR (Electronic Staff Record) on the nationality field. |
Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency | 106 |
|
*Monitor is now part of NHS Improvement, however it is still a legal entity in its own right.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department and the NHS provided to research projects related to the treatment of cancer in each financial year since 2010-11.
Answered by George Freeman
Spend by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on cancer research is shown in the following table.
| £ million |
2010/11 | 100.9 |
2011/12 | 104.1 |
2012/13 | 133.2 |
2013/14 | 129.9 |
2014/15 | 134.7 |
This funding provides direct and indirect support for research projects relating to cancer aetiology, prevention, screening, detection, diagnosis, treatment and care. Total NIHR spend on research relating specifically to cancer treatment cannot be separated from total cancer research expenditure.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will list what policy evaluations have been carried out by external organisations for his Department and its agencies in each financial year since 2010-11; whether the output of those evaluations was published; which organisation carried out each such evaluation; and what the value of each contract to provide that evaluation was.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department commissions research-based evidence for policy development, implementation and evaluation through the Policy Research Programme (PRP). Details of projects, initiatives and long-term programmes of research currently funded by the PRP are available on the website of the PRP Central Commissioning Facility: http://www.prp-ccf.org.uk/
These details include research summary, contractor, start date, estimated date of completion, and value of the award. The website also has links to summary final reports received since April 2011.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what amount his Department and its agencies spent on research and development in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion such spending was of total departmental spending.
Answered by George Freeman
Total spend by the Department and its agencies on research and development (R&D) in the years 2010-11 to 2013-14 is shown in the table below.
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
R&D spend (£ million) | 966 | 966 | 995 | 1,049 |
R&D spend as proportion of total departmental spend (per cent) | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9
| 0.9 |
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what technologies are being developed with support from the Small Business Research Initiative programmes of (a) his Department and (b) NHS England; and what assessment he has made of the future potential uses of those technologies.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department, through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), is currently funding the development of a number of technologies aimed at promoting patient empowerment and sustainability in kidney care. Six phase 2 SBRI contracts valued at £2 million were awarded in February 2015. The technologies being developed range from diagnostics to digital solutions, for use in the home and in secondary care. Potential uses include early infection detection in patients on peritoneal dialysis, prevention of acute kidney injury and renal patient transport.
The Department is also supporting, through SBRI, the development of enabling technologies for genomics sequence data analysis and interpretation. In March 2015 five phase 2 SBRI contracts, valued at £8 million, were awarded for the development of next generation sequencing technologies which were assessed as having the potential to help deliver the Prime Minister’s 100,000 Genome Project. Potential uses are in the areas of diagnostics related to genome screening, clinical research, gene-discovery and wider use of stratified medicine. The technologies are hoped to provide more accurate variant calling and annotation pipelines, new ways of expressing the reference genomes, improving human leukocyte antigen genotyping and intuitive user interfaces to allow clinicians to interpret variants from next generation sequencing machines.
The NHS England SBRI Healthcare programme currently has 138 contracts with companies to develop innovative technologies to address known healthcare needs. These range from diagnostics to digital management solutions; embracing conditions such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia and patient safety and bringing solutions for mental health, primary and acute care. Assessment of the programme by the Office of Health Economics and the SBRI Healthcare team in 2014 has shown that since 2012 the pipeline has a potential to secure £434 million efficiency savings each year for the next decade. Assessment of the programme also shows that 150 jobs have been created, 31 patents awarded and over £10 million of additional investment has been leveraged.
The technologies supported include a light therapy sleep mask for the prevention of diabetic retinopathy; ultraviolet scope enabling intraoperative visibility of cancer cells in surgery; a point of care cardiac diagnostic to fully diagnose a heart attack within 20 minutes and a blood test to definitively rule out a diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of undisputed invoices his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies paid within five days in the last period for which figures are available.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The last period for which complete figures are available is the 2013-14 financial-year i.e. 12 months ended 31 March 2014. The table below details the proportion (%) of undisputed payments made, by individual body:
Body | Proportion of invoices paid within 5 days (% to nearest 1%) |
Department of Health | 95 |
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | 76 |
Human Tissue Authority | 95 |
Monitor | 0* |
Public Health England | 81 |
Care Quality Commission | 89 |
NHS Litigation Authority | 13 |
Health Education England | 2 |
Health Research Authority | 6 |
Health and Social Care Information Centre | 16 |
National Institute for Health & Care Excellence | 6 |
NHS Blood and Transplant | 24 |
NHS Property Services | 0 |
NHS Business Services Authority | 24 |
NHS England | 54 |
*Monitor return is 0% because it works towards paying all valid invoices within 10 working days not five. The 10-day compliance for 2013-14 was 92%.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of suppliers to his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies paid subcontractors within 30 days in the last period for which figures are available.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department does not collect separate prompt payment data related to subcontractors. It therefore places no obligation on its agencies and non-departmental public bodies to collect this type of data.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what requirements his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies place on suppliers in respect of their payment terms to subcontractors as part of their standard terms and conditions.
Answered by Dan Poulter
A full response to this question would require a review of all the terms and conditions held by the Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are aware of the latest guidance around the prompt payment code and either have introduced or are introducing the new approach into their standard terms and conditions:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hancock-big-firms-should-pay-small-suppliers-in-30-days
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the amount (a) his Department and (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on procurement was paid to small and medium-sized enterprises (i) directly and (ii) through the supply chain in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Government has overhauled public procurement to open it up to businesses of all sizes. On 25 February 2015, we announced that central government spent an unprecedented £11.4 billion with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2013-14, a record 26.1% of direct and indirect spend. This meets our aspiration, set in 2010, that 25% of government procurement spend would be with SMEs by the end of this Parliament.
The data on central government spend with SMEs in 2013-14 is available on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2013-to-2014