Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 potential implications for his policies of the press release from the Association of Optometrists entitled Life-changing service for children with special educational needs at risk of collapse due to cuts, published on 9 May 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has committed to investing up to £12.7 million annually from 2024/25 on the provision of sight tests and associated optical vouchers in special educational settings. This represents an approximately 87% increase compared to previous levels of spending. This additional investment has the potential to increase coverage from 4% of special educational settings to 100%.
NHS England has engaged with key stakeholders throughout the life of the programme and continues to work closely with local integrated care boards and the ophthalmic and voluntary sector, to scale up and roll out sight tests in special educational settings.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the fee per child to deliver the Special Schools Eyecare service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has committed to investing up to £12.7 million annually from 2024/25 on the provision of sight tests and associated optical vouchers in special educational settings. This represents an approximately 87% increase compared to previous levels of spending. This additional investment has the potential to increase coverage from 4% of special educational settings to 100%.
NHS England has engaged with key stakeholders throughout the life of the programme and continues to work closely with local integrated care boards and the ophthalmic and voluntary sector, to scale up and roll out sight tests in special educational settings.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP (a) practices and (b) premises there were in each current ICB area in each month since January 2010.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A table showing the number if general practices and premises in each current integrated care board (ICB) area in England, each month since January 2014, is attached. Data is not available before 2014. Open and close dates for both practices and branches were identified using data from the NHS Organisation Data Service. Locations have been mapped to current ICB boundaries.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress she has made on (a) implementing the actions in the urgent and emergency care plan and (b) preventing ambulances queuing at hospitals.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We have made significant progress in implementing the Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services since it was published in January 2023. A summary is set out in the document, Urgent and emergency care recovery plan Year 2: Building on learning from 2023/24, which is available at the following link:
Progress includes delivering 5,000 additional core hospital beds, exceeding our virtual ward bed capacity ambition, with over 12,000 now available, and increasing same day emergency care services across the country. These measures are helping to improve patient flow through accident and emergency (A&E) and reduce the ambulance capacity lost to handover delays.
Since the publication of the plan, both A&E and ambulance performance has improved during 2023/24, compared to the previous year. In addition, average ambulance patient handover times have fallen to 32 minutes 42 seconds in April 2024, from 37 minutes 33 seconds in October 2023, when the publication of this data began.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) male and (b) female live births there were in each lower layer super output area in each year since 2007.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published Births by Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA), England and Wales: mid-year periods (1 July to 30 June) 2000 to 2021. This is available at the following link:
The ONS has also published Births by Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) in England and Wales mid-year 2021 to 2022. This is available at the following link:
Both releases include a breakdown of births by gender. Information from 2023 onwards is not available in the requested format.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's drug strategy on the number of people who are in (a) drug and (b) alcohol treatment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
By January 2024 there were an additional 9,907 adults in treatment for drugs and 9,908 adults in treatment of alcohol problems, when compared to the start of the drugs strategy in March 2022. Additionally, over the same period, there were an extra 2,650 children and young people receiving specialist support for drug and alcohol problems.
The number of prison leavers referred to community-based drug and alcohol services engaging in treatment within three weeks of release has risen to a high of 52% in January 2024, up from 36% in March 2022. Additionally, in 2023/24 we engaged over 10,000 people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough, in support for rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment teams, with over 9,000 people supported by these specialist teams while in treatment.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultations have been carried out each week as part of Pharmacy First since its launch.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
98 percent of pharmacies have signed up to Deliver Pharmacy First and claimed more than 125,000 clinical pathways consultations for February, the first full month following launch. From May, the NHS Business Services Authority will publish monthly data on the number of consultations claimed.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what staff networks there are in her Department.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The following staff-led support networks currently operate in the Department:
- EnABLE, a disability and long-term conditions network;
- Autism Network;
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Network;
- Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network;
- Race Equality Matters Network;
- Prism, an LGBT+ network;
- Women’s Network;
- Parents’ Network;
- Age Diversity Network;
- Carers’ Network;
- Care Leavers’ Network;
- Social Mobility Network;
- Men’s Health Network;
- Christian Network;
- Jewish Network;
- Muslim Network;
- Hinduism and Sikhism Group;
- Humanists Network;
- Diversity and Inclusion Analytical Network;
- Domestic Abuse Support Group;
- Working Through Cancer Network; and
- Mental Health First Aid.
The following networks support and promote professional development and operational delivery:
- International Network;
- Flexible Working Network;
- Green Network;
- Social Workers Network;
- Health Science and Engineering Network;
- IT User Engagement Group;
- Clinicians’ Network;
- Nutritionist Network;
- Perspectives Network;
- History Network;
- Culture and Engagement Champions Network;
- Active Travel Network;
- International Network;
- First Aid Network;
- Administrative Officer and Executive Officer Network;
- Personal Assistant Network;
- Senior Executive Officer and Higher Executive Officer Network;
- G6 and G7 Network; and
- Direct Appointment Scheme Network.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of fax machines used in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
No data is collected in relation to the number of fax machines being used in the National Health Service.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department currently has seven roles with job titles that include the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT and race. These roles sit within policy areas linked to supporting the Department’s work externally, and are not internally or HR focussed.