Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of loneliness and social isolation in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps her Department is taking to tackle loneliness and social isolation in those areas.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS collects data on levels of loneliness in England through its annual Community Life Survey (CLS), which suggests that prevalence of loneliness in 2021-22 remained similar to pre-COVID levels, with 6% of adults reporting that they are always or often lonely. Levels of loneliness in the West Midlands in 2021-22 were similar to levels in England (7% always or often lonely). Data is not available to estimate loneliness levels at a constituency level.
The government launched the Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund in March 2023, an up to £30 million package of funding designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The KYN Fund will run until March 2025, with funding allocations taking place up until March 2024. A key focus of the programme is to generate and share learning on how people in disadvantaged areas can be supported to volunteer and improve their social connections, which will help to support sustained action beyond the lifetime of the Fund. Four areas in the West Midlands fall in scope of the KYN Fund: Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent and Cannock Chase.
Furthermore, the government continues to take action to tackle loneliness across England through public communications to reduce the stigma about loneliness, building the evidence base on loneliness and supporting other government departments and external organisations to consider loneliness in their work.
Copies of the fourth annual report on the government's world-first tackling loneliness strategy are available in the Libraries of the House of Commons and Lords and online.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of NHS workforce vacancies in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps he is taking to fill such vacancies in those areas.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England publishes vacancy statistics for England on a quarterly basis. These present the difference between funded establishment posts and those filled by substantive staff. They do not indicate where vacancies are currently filled with temporary staffing and therefore do not equate to unfilled shifts.
The statistics are published at a national and a regional level. The data does not allow a differentiation between West and East Midlands. Data is also not available by city; however, NHS England has published trust level vacancy rates for March 2023.
The latest statistics show that as of June 2023, there are 125,572 full time equivalent (FTE) vacancies across National Health Service trusts in England, representing a rate of 8.9%. For NHS trusts in the Midlands, there are 23,639 FTE vacancies, also representing a rate of 8.9%. As of March 2023, the vacancy rate for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, was 6.3%.
The NHS published the Long Term Workforce Plan in June this year, backed by over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. The Long Term Workforce Plan will double medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031, increase the number of general practitioner training places by 50% to 6,000 by 2031 and almost double the number of adult nurse training places by 2031, with around 58,000 nurse and midwife training places a year by 2031/32.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of closures of (a) bank branches and (b) free-to-use ATMs in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
While the government does not make direct assessments of branch networks, it believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities across the UK, including free withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts.
Decisions on opening and closing branches and ATMs are a commercial issue, and the government does not intervene in these. However, under FCA guidance, firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on the everyday banking and cash access needs of their customers and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This seeks to ensure that the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly.
Alternative options for access to banking can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people who have been made redundant to (a) access training and skills support and (b) find suitable alternative employment in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions stands ready to support anyone affected by redundancy with our Rapid Response Service offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
This service is co-ordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Delivery partners include The National Careers Service, local training providers, Money Helper and the skills bodies in England.
The Rapid Response Service offer is flexible and can include a range of options (see below) that can be pulled together into an appropriate support package. This package will be tailored to meet the needs of the employer, the individuals affected and the local community.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s policies on living standards in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is committed to promoting living standards and fostering inclusive growth across the country. Taken together, support to households to help with higher bills this year and last is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average – one of the largest household support packages in Europe.
Distributional analysis published at Spring Budget 2023 shows that the typical UK household at any income level will see a net benefit in 2023-24 following government decisions made from Autumn Statement 2022 onwards. Low-income households will receive the largest benefit in cash terms and as a percentage of income from government decisions.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in employment that are living in poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry; and what recent estimate his Department has made of the effect of the rising cost of living on the levels of in-work poverty in those areas.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
The latest available statistics show that full-time work substantially reduces the chances of poverty – the absolute poverty rate (after housing costs) of children in households where both parents work was 10%, compared to 53% for children living in workless households.
This Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of in-work poverty and understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. This is why we are providing support totalling over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments, totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. In the instance of Coventry City Council £6,448,445 has been allocated for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and £3,224,222.30 was allocated for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the welfare system in helping to alleviate levels of (a) pensioner, (b) in-work, (c) food and (d) child poverty in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessments have been made.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
This government takes the issue of food security very seriously and is committed to understanding and addressing food poverty. This is why we added food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 2019/20, and also why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time in March 2023. National statistics on food security and food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
Furthermore, the Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of pensioner, in-work, and child poverty, and understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. This is why we are providing support totalling over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments, totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. In the instance of Coventry City Council £6,448,445 has been allocated for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and £3,224,222.30 was allocated for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to increase access to NHS dentistry in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care. The changes that have been implemented include improvements to ensure dentists are remunerated more fairly for more complex work.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment. Coventry and Warwickshire ICB has proposals that include remobilisation of some dental activity and procurement of new services. The West Midlands ICB has increased investment through various initiatives to support recovery of NHS dental services.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.
But we know we need to do more, and that there are some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides to older jobseekers in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England who are looking to (i) reskill or (ii) change careers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is delivering a comprehensive package of support to help older jobseekers return to work. In addition to the help in place for all Universal Credit claimants, eligible older jobseekers can access additional intensive, tailored support in the first nine months of their Universal Credit claim.
A network of dedicated 50PLUS Champions are in place in Jobcentre Plus districts across Great Britain, upskilling Work Coaches in supporting over 50s to return to work and engaging with employers to maximise opportunities for recruitment.
The Midlife MOT is delivered in West Midlands Jobcentres and across Great Britain, helping older workers to take stock of their finances, skills and health and an enhanced digital Midlife MOT provides access to financial, health and career guidance.
In Coventry North and across Coventry and the West Midlands our Jobcentre teams are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies and delivering a range of support including Sector Work Based Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days and job fairs.
The West Midlands team continue to work with local employers to deliver SWAPs in various sectors including security, education, warehousing, hospitality, construction and care. SWAP’s deliver short vocational training linked directly to vacancies with a particular employer or in a specific sector, helping customers to learn the skills and behaviours that employers in particular industries look for.
In Coventry, Jobcentre teams, along with National Careers Service and Coventry City Council hold monthly sessions through the Coventry Job Shop, offering information and application support for job vacancies, and SWAPs, and a recent job fair on 13 September saw over twenty local and national employers in attendance.
The team also work in partnership with local providers to deliver specific events for customers aged 50 and over, such as events targeted at the hospitality and education sectors and courses to improve digital skills.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of (a) verbal abuse and (b) physical attacks experienced by NHS staff in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England in each of the last three years; and what steps his Department is taking to protect NHS staff in those areas from such abuse.
Answered by Will Quince
We do not currently have a national mechanism to capture and report incidents of violence and aggression in the National Health Service, as data is held at a local level.
The NHS Staff Survey does ask questions relating to incidences of violence, harassment, and abuse. The 2022 NHS Staff Survey indicated that 14.7% of NHS staff have self-reported that they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives, or other members of the public in the last 12 months. In addition, 27.8% of NHS staff who completed the survey experience at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from patients/service users, their relatives, or members of the public. This figure is broadly consistent across previous years. Data extracted from the Staff Survey is provided below for England, Coventry and the West Midlands.
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 13a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced physical violence at work from: Patients / service users, their relatives or other members of the public?):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 14.8% | 14.4% | 14.7% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
|
|
|
|
West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 21.6% | 18.6% | 20.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 9.2% | 9.7% | 11.1% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 8.4% | 6.4% | 7.8% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 16.2% | 14.1% | 14.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 15.0% | 14.3% | 14.5% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 14.8% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 0.0% | 2.7% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 15.2% | 13.6% | 15.0% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 13.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 10.5% | 9.9% | 9.5% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 17.3% | 19.0% | 20.0% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 5.8% | 4.6% | 6.0% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 3.4% | 4.8% | 7.4% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 11.6% | 12.4% | 10.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.0% | 12.9% | 13.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 13.0% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 7.8% | 6.8% | 8.4% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 10.1% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 14.3% | 13.8% | 12.9% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 16.9% | 14.3% | 16.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 12.2% | 14.3% | 14.6% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 36.3% | 37.4% | 35.1% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.6% | 13.4% | 12.3% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 13.4% | 14.4% | 11.9% |
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 14a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public?’):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 27.0% | 27.7% | 27.8% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
|
|
|
|
West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 20.0% | 15.5% | 17.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 22.7% | 23.9% | 25.7% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 24.0% | 24.7% | 23.6% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 27.0% | 26.1% | 26.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 22.9% | 26.0% | 23.8% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 26.1% | 25.6% | 24.8% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 20.0% | 23.9% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.7% | 28.1% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.2% | 27.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 23.5% | 21.9% | 21.1% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 26.5% | 28.6% | 25.7% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 14.9% | 18.0% | 16.4% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 15.0% | 18.8% | 19.5% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 26.7% | 25.9% | 25.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 28.7% | 29.6% | 29.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 26.2% | 29.5% | 27.6% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 19.1% | 19.8% | 21.1% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 25.1% | 28.1% | 25.5% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 25.2% | 25.0% | 26.2% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 24.6% | 25.8% | 29.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 30.0% | 29.7% | 27.3% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 48.2% | 50.6% | 49.0% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 25.6% | 28.0% | 25.2% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 29.1% | 28.3% | 31.0% |
NHS England has commissioned several data insight workstreams to better understand the current landscape of statistics, data reporting and associated challenges. This includes a national review of all available data and intelligence sources and an analysis of the costs of violence to the health care system in England and a review of the impact on the safety and wellbeing of NHS staff.
Tackling violence against NHS staff is largely an employer led issue, with NHS organisations responsible for putting in place their own policies and procedures to support staff, giving them access to appropriate training and making appropriate arrangements for security.
NHS England established a NHS Violence Reduction Programme in 2019, which aims to prevent and reduce violence and aggression from patients, their families and the public, and mitigate the effects of violence and abuse on NHS staff.
In 2022, the Government legislated through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers to a maximum of two years.