Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the remit will be of the Older People’s Taskforce.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The inaugural meeting of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce took place on Tuesday 16t May 2023 at Grace House in St. John’s Wood in London. The press release is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/news/taskforce-to-transform-older-peoples-housing-underway
The taskforce is bringing together experts from across the sector and people with lived experience to make recommendations on how we can provide greater choice, quality, and security of housing for older people.
The panel will meet regularly and focus on overarching themes, including, the needs, preferences and concerns of older people, their families, and their carers, maximising the potential of technology, building design, and regulation to ensure homes are suitable for the future and understanding what needs to happen at the local level to enable progress in increasing the volume and diversity of housing options for older people. The taskforce will run for up to 12 months, producing an independent report to Government when it concludes.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was allocated to support the social care workforce in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper in December 2021 compared to the Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care report in March 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the People at the Heart of Care white paper, the Government allocated at least £500 million to transform the way we support and develop the workforce. In Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care, we set out plans to invest £250 million in the workforce over the next two years.
The Government is also considering how best to use an additional £600 million of funding, including further investment in the workforce, and we will target this remaining funding on measures that will have the most impact.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the unallocated funding in the Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care report will be used for; and when that funding will allocated.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Up to £600 million of funding announced in the People at the Heart of Care white paper has not yet been allocated. The Government is considering how best to use this funding, including further investment in workforce and will target this remaining funding on measures that will have the most impact.
The recently published ‘Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care’ set out more detail on the Government’s plans for reform over the next two years, building on the £100 million already invested in the past year.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were readmitted to an inpatient setting from a step down bed procured through the £750 million allocated by his Department for freeing up hospital beds in winter 2022-23.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
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 speed up delayed discharges in the 2023-24 financial year; and where those funds have been derived from.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is distributing £600 million in 2023/24 through the Better Care Fund (BCF) to reduce discharge delays, freeing up National Health Service beds for those that need them. This is being split between local authorities and integrated care boards (ICBs) with each receiving £300 million. This is new money announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement as part of a £2.8 billion funding package for social care and discharge.
Local areas can also decide to spend a proportion of other BCF funding on discharge, if this aligns to local priorities and is in line with national conditions set out in the 2023 to 2025 BCF policy framework. The BCF and NHS minimum contribution for 2023/24 is approximately £6.9 billion.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason statistics on discharge delays are not broken down on a daily and weekly basis for the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England have committed in the urgent and emergency care recovery plan to explore a new metric on delayed discharge, and this will be communicated in due course. There are no plans to change the way statistics on discharge delays are published in the 2023/24 financial year.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours of respite the funding allocated to unpaid carers in the Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care report will provide.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. In 2023/24, £327 million of Better Care Fund funding has been earmarked to provide short breaks and respite services for carers, as well as additional advice and support.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many step down beds were purchased using the £750 million of funding allocated by his Department for freeing up beds in hospitals during winter 2022-23.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £500 million discharge fund was made available to support reduction in delayed discharges in 2022/23 in two trances with the first in December 2022 and the second at the end of January. Local areas spending plans are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-discharge-fund-spending-plans
We are reviewing data shared from local areas on their spend from the discharge fund and this will be included in the evaluation of the impact £500 million discharge fund.
A further £200 million was made available in January 2023 to integrated care boards (ICBs) to buy extra bed-based step-down care. Between 24 January and 31 March, sitrep data indicates ICBs used this funding to purchase over 7,000 step-down beds and over 19,000 packages of care.
The £50 million in capital funding made available in January 2023 was provided to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs and not to purchase additional step-down beds.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the of the £750 million pledged to speed up hospital discharges in winter 2022-23 was spent before 31 March 2023; and where the unspent funds have been reallocated to.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £500 million discharge fund was made available in two tranches with the first in December 2022 and the second at the end of January 2023. All areas have submitted a final report. We are reviewing the data and analysis of spending will be included in the evaluation. Local areas spending plans have been published at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-discharge-fund-spending-plans
The evaluation will also consider the use of the £200 million funding through NHS England for step-down beds. The full £50 million capital funding announced in January 2023 has been allocated to National Health Service organisations, who will report on the spend in their annual accounts, after the year end audits are completed.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which (a) NHS trusts and (b) local authorities have received funding from the £250 million initiative to speed up hospital discharges announced on 9 January 2023; and how much each of those bodies received.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £200 million discharge funding is specifically to fund short-term National Health Service step-down care packages. Integrated care boards (ICBs), working closely with local authorities, are using this to purchase places in care homes and other settings, such as hospices, as well as to help fund wrap-around primary and community health services to support patients’ recovery. The fund is held centrally by NHS England and allocated to ICBs on a Fair Shares basis. ICB allocations were published on 13 January and are available at the following link:
The £50 million in capital funding has been awarded to NHS trusts to provide expanded spaces that can handle larger volumes of patients, such as hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. We will publish data on this after the pre-election period. We will make the hon. Member aware when this data is published.