Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what dates he has spoken to (a) trades unions and (b) staff associations on the impact of covid-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment within (i) the social care sector and (ii) the NHS as of 19 January 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar
Ministers discussed the policy with UNISON officials on 14 January 2022. Departmental officials have met frequently with stakeholders, including trades unions. This included meetings to discuss the impact in the National Health Service between 11 to 13 October 2021; two workshops with the Social Partnership Forum and meetings in wider social care settings on 15, 17 and 30 December 2021 and 10 and 11 January 2022. Meetings regarding the policy in care homes meetings were held on the 4 August 2021 with UNISON and staff association representatives.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that covid-19 lateral flow tests are available to care homes free of charge.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The regular asymptomatic testing regime in adult social care after 1 April 2022 is currently under review. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
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 prevalence of chemists being unable to supply covid-19 lateral flow tests to people in Hemsworth constituency where they had received collection codes for tests from Gov.uk.
Answered by Maggie Throup
During the Christmas 2021 period, we are aware that demand exceeded the supply of lateral flow device tests through GOV.UK or pharmacies, including in Hemsworth. In January 2022, we procured additional tests and increased delivery capacity with approximately 90 million tests distributed in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require the NHS to publish its contingency plans to maintain safe staffing levels in the context of the enforcement of covid-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment.
Answered by Edward Argar
On 31 January 2022, the Government announced that vaccination will no longer be a condition of deployment for health and social care staff, subject to a public consultation and Parliamentary approval.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) children and (b) adults who have dyspraxia but who have not been (i) diagnosed and (ii) able to access treatment in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) children and (b) adults have been diagnosed with dyspraxia in each region of England in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to dyspraxia (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment in each region of the UK for each of the last ten years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in West Yorkshire were referred by their GP for a dyspraxia assessment in each of the last ten years; how many and what proportion of those assessments resulted in a diagnosis of dyspraxia; and what the average length of time was between GP referral and diagnosis in that period.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
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 the impact to date of covid-19 vaccination as a condition of employment within the social care sector.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The Government’s impact assessment for vaccination as a condition of deployment in care homes estimated that around 37,000 additional staff might leave the care home workforce. Between 20 July and 29 December 2021, the care home workforce decreased by 19,300, although this will also include the effect of new staff joining the sector over the same time period and staff leaving for other reasons.
The extension of vaccination as a condition of deployment to wider social care will apply from April 2022. The impact assessment extending the policy across health and social care estimates that 35,000 staff in domiciliary care and other care services may not have met vaccination requirements by the end of grace period on 31 March 2022. We will continue to monitor the impact of the policy in the lead up to the regulations coming into force.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve levels of retention of NHS staff.
Answered by Edward Argar
Retaining National Health Service (NHS) staff is a priority for this Government, as outlined in the NHS People Plan 2020/2021 and the NHS People Promise. The NHS People Plan aims to create a compassionate NHS culture that will retain staff by prioritising their health and wellbeing, ensuring a fair and inclusive workplace, promoting opportunities for professional development and supporting flexible working. The NHS People Recovery Task Force and the NHS retention programme is continuously seeking to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay.