Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff are employed at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:
Year | Births delivered |
2018/19 | 68 |
2019/20 | 73 |
2020/21 | 18 |
2021/22 | 45 |
2022/23 | 34 |
Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual cost to the public purse is of the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:
Year | Births delivered |
2018/19 | 68 |
2019/20 | 73 |
2020/21 | 18 |
2021/22 | 45 |
2022/23 | 34 |
Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births were delivered at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:
Year | Births delivered |
2018/19 | 68 |
2019/20 | 73 |
2020/21 | 18 |
2021/22 | 45 |
2022/23 | 34 |
Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on equality, diversity and inclusion (a) events and (b) training in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.
In the last 12 months from February 2023, the Department has centrally delivered two training sessions on dealing with unacceptable behaviour at total a cost of £4080, inclusive of VAT.
There is no departmental register of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training, and events that take place at a local level across the Department. Whilst our finance function holds invoices for any services delivered to the Department, we are unable to differentiate those specifically received for EDI training or events.
All Department staff are required to complete the Civil Service Expectations mandatory learning that includes aspects of EDI, and is delivered centrally through Civil Service Learning at no additional cost to the Department.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will bring forward legislative proposals that enable pharmacists to amend prescriptions when their stocks dictate their ability to prescribe the type and weight of a drug.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department has no plans to introduce legislative proposals to allow pharmacists to amend prescriptions. Allowing pharmacists to take local action to alter prescriptions could have adverse impacts on patients, because pharmacies will not know the reasons why a medicine has been prescribed, or in what particular way. Supplying an alternative without full oversight of supply issues could also create a knock-on shortage of the alternative, and could thereby have the potential to exacerbate rather than mitigate a supply problem.
However, in the case of certain shortages, Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) enable community pharmacists to supply a specified medicine or device in accordance with a protocol rather than a prescription, with the patient’s consent, and without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber. SSPs are not introduced unless clinically appropriate, and unless sufficient supplies of the alternative product to be supplied in accordance with the SSP are available to support the market.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targets her Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments for the Net Zero Strategy in 2021, which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of Powering Up Britain.
The United Kingdom has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, while having also grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the European Union, Japan or the United States.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to increase the levels of English language proficiency required to provide social care services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Care providers have a responsibility to ensure their chosen candidates have the right skills to work in care. As part of this, they should assess a candidate’s English language proficiency at the interview stage of the recruitment process. This applies to both candidates from overseas who they will be offering sponsorship to, and candidates already in the UK, if English is not their first language.
For staff who are recruited from overseas, English language proficiency requirements are set by the Home Office, as a condition to qualifying for a Skilled worker visa, including care workers and senior care workers on the Health and Care Worker visa. Individuals from overseas must be able to prove they can speak, read, write and understand English to at least level B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. The framework can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of hospital admissions for (a) drug related and (b) behavioral mental disorders in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Data showing the number of hospital admissions for behavioural mental disorders cannot be provided as it is not collected in that format. NHS England has advised that there is no clear distinction within the data codes for what is classified as mental disorders or behavioural mental disorders.
The following table shows the number of finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a drug-related mental disorder between April 2022 and March 2023, based on activity in English National Health Service hospitals and NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector:
Diagnosis description | Primary diagnosis | Secondary diagnosis |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol | 33,563 | 225,549 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of opioids | 564 | 30,532 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of cannabinoids | 762 | 32,811 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of sedatives or hypnotics | 187 | 2,366 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of cocaine | 494 | 11,588 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of other stimulants, including caffeine | 255 | 1,724 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of hallucinogens | 51 | 492 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of tobacco | 557 | 1,253,007 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of volatile solvents | 36 | 514 |
Mental and behavioural disorders due to multiple drug use and use of other psychoactive substances | 2,239 | 17,571 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to encourage optometrists to make home visits upon request.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
National Health Service-funded domiciliary sight tests are widely available for individuals entitled to free NHS sight tests who are unable to leave home unaccompanied due to physical or mental illness or disability. They can be provided in a patient’s own home, residential care home or at a day centre following a request from the patient, relative or primary carer. Individuals not entitled to NHS-funded sight tests can access domiciliary sight testing services privately.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to improve standards of social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. They monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. The vast majority of care services provide high quality care and support, with 83% of all social care settings rated good or outstanding by the CQC in October 2023.
The Department is taking steps to further improve the standards of adult social care. We have made a landmark shift in how we understand local authorities are delivering adult social care against the Care Act 2014 and holding them to account for the standard of care they provide.
CQC assessment of local authorities and published ratings will tell us how local authorities are meeting their statutory duties and responsibilities under the Care Act 2014. The assessments focus on four themes linked to part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including; working with people, providing support, ensuring safety and leadership. These assessments will increase transparency and local accountability, meaning people will be able to hold their local authority to account and, ultimately, have access to the consistent, high-quality care and support they deserve – irrespective of where they live. They will help to raise standards of care by making good practice, positive outcomes, and outstanding quality easier to spot and share nationally.
The CQC will also identify where improvement and additional support is needed, and the Secretary of State has new powers to intervene to secure improvement in serious cases where a local authority has failed or is failing to discharge its Care Act duties to an acceptable standard. As part of this, the Department is working in collaboration with sector partners to deliver an annual programme of support to local authorities to drive performance. For 2023/2024, we are providing £16 million to make support available to local authorities and their partners.