Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains the Government's policy to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy between areas where it is highest and lowest by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The ambition to improve healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 and reduce the gap by 2030 remains Government policy. A significant proportion of ill-health is preventable. We are focusing on the major conditions which contribute to early mortality and reduce years of good health and factors such as smoking, poor diet and alcohol which disproportionately impact some communities.
The measures include the ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030 and addressing obesity through working with the food industry to ensure it is easier to make healthier choices and to increase progress on the reformulation of foods. We will set out more information on plans to address health disparities in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 impact of poor housing on health; and what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on this matter.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
In 2017, Public Health England published ‘Spatial planning for health: evidence review’, which concluded that poor housing conditions are a significant contributing factor to poor health outcomes. The Government is addressing poor housing through improving standards in private and socially rented accommodation and delivering the greatest improvements in the poorest performing areas through the Social Housing Bill and Decent Homes Standard.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he will provide GP Surgeries in addition to core contract funding to enable them to comply with increases in the Living Wage to £10.42 from 1 April 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, general practitioner (GP) practices are responsible for determining pay increase for employees within the agreed terms of the current GP contract.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he will provide GP Surgeries in addition to core contract funding to enable them to comply with directions from pay review bodies earlier this year to increase the salaries of GPs and NHS staff.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, general practitioner (GP) practices are responsible for determining pay increase for employees within the agreed terms of the current GP contract.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 potential impact of the rising cost of energy on GP surgeries; and if he will take steps to provide support to GP Surgeries to meet the cost of rising energy bills in addition to their core contract funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme caps the unit price of energy for public sector businesses, such as general practitioner surgeries, until the end of the current financial year. This will be automatically applied to all eligible bills.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 with Cabinet colleagues of the ability of GP surgeries to increase staff pay in accordance with directions from pay review bodies earlier this year to increase the salaries of (a) GPs and (b) NHS staff.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, general practitioner (GP) practices are responsible for determining pay increase for employees within the agreed terms of the current GP contract.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 ability of GP surgeries to comply with increases in the Living Wage to £10.42 from 1 April 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, general practitioner (GP) practices are responsible for determining pay increase for employees within the agreed terms of the current GP contract.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2022 to Question 65828 on Dementia: Health Services, whether he has made a recent assessment of the quality of dementia care plan reviews carried out as part of the Quality and Outcomes Framework; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
No formal assessment has been made.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2022 to Question 59129 on Health: Disadvantaged, whether he plans to publish a White Paper on health disparities by the end of 2022 in addition to the recently published Government plan, Our Plan for Patients.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No decisions have yet been made.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October to Question 65828 on Dementia: Health Services, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) quality and (b) quantity of dementia care plan annual reviews.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
‘NHS England Dementia: Good Personalised Care and Support Planning Information for primary care providers and commissioners’ sets out how personalised care and support planning should be undertaken consistently and reliably and offers a quality assurance framework to ensure care planning is responsive to needs and preferences.