Asked by: Lucy Frazer (Conservative - South East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the Secretary of State for Transport on the recruitment and retention of health workers and the affordability of housing and transport.
Answered by Philip Dunne
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of topics relating to the recruitment and retention of the National Health Service workforce with cabinet colleagues and others.
The Government acknowledges the challenges staff have in securing affordable accommodation in some parts of the country so it wants to support health workers and other public services staff by making homes more affordable with steps outlined in the Housing white paper to increase supply.
Currently the Government funds a range of home ownership schemes including Help to Buy Equity Loans and Shared Ownership to support key workers to buy a home where they are unable to afford market prices locally. In addition, the Department has been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to understand better the housing need for NHS staff. The need for affordable homes for NHS staff varies across the country, and we are working with the NHS, local authorities, housing associations and other partners to explore opportunities for supporting local solutions, including the option for NHS organisations to use their surplus land to provide staff housing.
Many NHS organisations provide season ticket loans for staff who apply for them and NHS terms and conditions of service places a responsibility on employers to reimburse staff travel and subsistence expenses incurred in the performance of their NHS duties.