Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the proposed changes in the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, on health and social care recruitment in Scotland.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health and Social Care are devolved. Regional partnerships are working with devolved administrations to support international care workers access vacancies in the devolved nations. In England, domestic recruitment is being boosted through Fair Pay Agreements, new career structures, and £12m for training. The SNP’s 2021 manifesto promised to have a National Care Service, instead their chaotic and damaging approach was condemned by stakeholders, and a stripped-down Bill has cost £30m and is still to pass through Holyrood.Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department plans to allocate to support people with long covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has invested £314 million since the start of the pandemic to provide care and support for people with long COVID. This includes establishing specialist clinics throughout England to assess children and young people who are experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. A further £86.7 million of funding was included in integrated care board (ICB) core allocations for 2024/25, and specific regional funding was also allocated for assurance and system support.
As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England, along with an additional 10 children and young people’s hubs. Since April 2024, commissioning of long COVID services has been the responsibility of local ICBs following the closure of the national programme.
The Government has also invested over £57 million into long COVID research. The projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and to evaluate clinical care.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to update regulations on the (a) composition, (b) marketing and (c) labelling of commercial infant foods.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of well-being in later life.
It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations, which apply in England, under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines. Similar legislation exists in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of UK Government policies between 2010 and 2024 on excess deaths.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Excess deaths are defined as the difference between the actual number of deaths registered in a particular period and the number expected based on recent trends. Headline figures for England are reported weekly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The following table shows the trends in excess deaths in England and Wales, from 2011 to 2024:
Year | Excess deaths |
2011 | –7,961 |
2012 | 8,303 |
2013 | 20,457 |
2014 | 2,167 |
2015 | 26,874 |
2016 | 730 |
2017 | 1,918 |
2018 | 378 |
2019 | –30,375 |
2020 | 69,411 |
2021 | 48,759 |
2022 | 39,654 |
2023 | 11,148 |
2024 | –50,893 |
Source: ONS statistics for 2011 to 2023, and ONS statistics summed up from weekly figures for 2024, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwales
The drivers of excess deaths are not fully understood, and the excess is likely to be the net effect of many complex and potentially related factors. The attribution of excess deaths to these factors is complex and is beyond the scope of the ONS’ methodology. For this reason, the potential impact of Government policies on excess deaths cannot be assessed accurately.