Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent doctor positions are vacant in the NHS in England; and what that number is as a proportion of all doctor positions.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The information is not available in the format requested.
Health Education England (HEE) provides estimates of staff shortages and the plan for tackling these issues as part of their Workforce Plan for England publication. The latest figures are available at the following link:
https://hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Workforce%20Plan%20for%20England%202016-17.pdf
HEE plans to publish the Workforce Plan for England 2017/18 in due course.
In addition, NHS Digital does publish the number of vacancies that are advertised on NHS Jobs, the dedicated online recruitment service for the National Health Service. However, as the basis of the figures is the number of vacancies advertised for the first time in each given month, it is not possible to determine from these figures the number of vacancies live at any given point in time. The figures only cover those vacancies advertised via NHS Jobs, and it is not always possible to determine how many posts are associated with any given advertisement.
The latest figures are available at the following link:
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many health visitors have been employed in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire in each year since 2010.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows full time equivalent Qualified Health Visitors working in the National Health Service in England at 30 September 2010 to 2016. Data for March 2017 is also provided as this is the latest available. Figures are for Nottinghamshire and include organisations in Ashfield constituency.
NHS Hospital and Community Health Services: Qualified Health Visitors working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in Nottinghamshire as at 30 September each specified year and latest data as at 31 March 2017
Qualified Health Visitors (full-time equivalent) | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | March-2017 |
Nottinghamshire | 0 | 85 | 113 | 133 | 136 | 154 | 145 | 122 |
Source: NHS Digital
Health visitors may be employed by NHS provider organisations, but may also be employed directly by local authorities, or other care providers. Health visitors employed by local authorities and/or other care providers will continue to provide health visiting services, but will not be included in figures relating to the NHS workforce.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to provide alternative sources of advice to support new parents in areas where there is a shortage of health visitors.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Local authorities (LAs) are responsible for commissioning appropriate services for zero-to-five year olds in their areas, including health visiting, and decisions should be based around local needs. Health Visitors (HV) and their teams work in close partnership with other local early years’ services to ensure new parents have the support and advice they require to enable their children have the best start in life. The mandation of the universal health reviews for children up to two and a half years of age, which are commissioned by LAs and provided by HV services, was renewed by the Government this year. The mandation sets out in regulation requirements that ensure that parents have the support they need at key stages of the child’s early development.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which specialist areas of medicine are experiencing shortages of (a) consultants and (b) registrars; and how many vacancies there are in those disciplines.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The information is not available in the format requested.
Health Education England (HEE) provide estimates of staff shortages as part of their Workforce Plan for England publication. Staff shortages as defined by HEE may be filled by staff working in Agency, Bank or overtime, however no estimate of the extent to which this occurs is available.
The latest figures are available at the following link:
hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Workforce%20Plan%20for%20England%202016-17.pdf
HEE plan to publish the Workforce Plan for England 2017/18 in due course.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how Government steps to tackle childhood obesity differ between areas of low obesity and more deprived areas with higher levels of obesity.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Our childhood obesity plan Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action addresses inequalities through a number of measures. The soft drinks industry levy and reformulation programme are expected to help reduce childhood obesity for those with lower incomes. Our plan also delivers school based interventions including the expansion of healthy breakfast clubs for schools in more deprived areas through £10 million per year funding from the soft drinks industry levy.
Public Health England (PHE) is also supporting actions to improve the health of the most disadvantaged groups fastest and address the social determinants of poor health. This includes influencing and supporting efforts by local government, clinical commissioning groups and other local bodies to take action to reduce inequalities through the provision of accessible data and data tools, support to a health and health equity in all policies approach in local government through training and resources, and embedding health inequalities dimensions into all PHE led major health improvement programmes.
Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action is available at:
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to provide advice to parents and carers on ensuring primary school-aged children undertake the recommended amount of physical activity each day.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan sets out a range of actions to promote physical activity in primary school aged children.
In terms of advice to parents, Change4Life is Public Health England’s flagship social marketing programme aiming to inspire a social movement, through which government, the National Health Service, local authorities, businesses, charities, schools, families and community leaders could all play a part in helping children to eat well and move more and specifically that children need 60 minutes of physical activity each day.
Change4Life Sports Clubs are specifically targeted at the least active young people. They are run as extracurricular clubs held at lunchtimes and after school and use sport as a vehicle to promote physical activity, health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage secondary school-aged girls to take part in sport and physical activity.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Childhood Obesity Plan commits to supporting all children to achieve at least 60 minutes physical activity each day as recommended by the Chief Medical Officers.
Schools are identified within the Plan as a setting where all children and young people can be supported to increase their levels of physical activity. The resource “What Works in Schools and Colleges to increase physical activity” sets out how schools can take a whole school approach.
In the Government’s Sports Strategy, Sport England’s remit was extended to children aged five-15. Their new funding strategy responds accordingly for out of school activity.
Everybody Active Every Day is the national physical activity framework. The Two Years On report includes practice examples with secondary school age girls.
Rise Above is a social marketing programme that aims to build resilience in girls and boys aged 11-16; aiming to prevent risky behaviours and empower them to make positive choices for their physical and mental health. The programme is delivered online and includes content that encourages physical activity as a means of relieving stress.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides to the parents of obese children on healthy eating and achieving a healthy weight.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government issued its Child Obesity Plan in August 2016 which sets out wide ranging action across government to tackle child obesity.
Through the National Child Measurement Programme, children have their weight status checked in Reception and Year Six. Most parents then receive their child’s result along with information about action they can take as a family, and where to access further advice and support.
Change4Life is Public Health England’s flagship social marketing programme aiming to inspire a social movement, through which families, as well as community leaders, government, the National Health Service, local authorities, businesses, charities, and schools, could all play a part in helping children to eat well and move more.
The Change4Life website also supports the National Child Measurement Programme by providing advice for parents concerned about their child’s weight with ideas for how to help children be a healthy weight.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Healthy Start Scheme vouchers were issued in Ashfield constituency in 2016.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
There were 68,152 Healthy Start vouchers issued in Ashfield in 2016.