Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that community podiatry services have sufficient numbers of podiatrists to meet patient demand.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises that podiatrists make an invaluable contribution to service both in the National Health Service and community.
Health Education England (HEE) published Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future, a draft workforce strategy for health and social care, in December 2017. HEE is working with its partners across health and social care to develop a final strategy, which they will publish later this year. The forthcoming health and care workforce strategy will be developed in parallel with the long-term plan for the NHS, to ensure this reflects and supports the plan. The workforce strategy will set out our commitment to shaping the face of the NHS and social care workforce for the next decade.
The funding reforms which came into force on 1 August 2017 mean we have moved away from centrally imposed number controls and financial limitations on training places, creating a sustainable model for universities and the healthcare workforce supply. As a result, we expect this to enable up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health profession training places over this parliament.
Healthcare students will now typically receive at least a 25% increase in the financial resources provided to them whilst they study, compared to previous arrangements under the NHS bursary scheme. Eligible healthcare students also have access to additional government funding for those with children, support for travel to clinical placements and an exceptional support fund in eligible cases.
Additionally, HEE continues to engage with the Office for Students over the Strategic Interventions in Health Education Disciplines programme and is monitoring educational course data and workforce numbers in order to ensure small and vulnerable professions such as podiatry are supported and workforce supply is maintained now and in the future. Podiatry is the first allied health profession to offer an apprenticeship route to training. HEE will continue to monitor and work with employers to support the apprenticeship route whilst it is in its infancy. This should help to widen access and participation to programmes and the profession.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 effect on staff of different working conditions between staff directly employed by the NHS and those employed by new wholly-owned subsidiary companies in the NHS.
Answered by Steve Barclay
It is for National Health Service foundation trusts to assess the potential impact of different working conditions between directly employed staff and those employed by new wholly owned subsidiaries.
In setting up wholly owned subsidiaries and in making decisions about the working conditions for their staff, foundation trusts need to ensure that they comply with employment law and carry out relevant impact assessments. This should ensure that, having followed due process, they are best able to recruit and retain the staff they need to deliver services in the most efficient and effective way within available resources.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 merits of allowing women to take misoprostol at home; and whether abortion clinics provide facilities to allow women to remain at the clinic until the process has finished.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government’s priority is to ensure that women who require abortion services have access to safe, high-quality care. Abortions in England must be performed under the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967. We are not currently in a position to recommend that the home be approved as a class of place under Section 1(3)(a) of the Abortion Act in England. However, we are keeping the position under review, including reviewing the available evidence, and having regard to the ongoing legal proceedings concerning home use in Scotland.
After taking misoprostol in a National Health Service hospital or approved independent sector clinic, women may choose to return to the privacy of their own home to complete the procedure. When it is necessary for the woman to remain in the clinic the appropriate arrangements should be made to facilitate this.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government issues (a) guidance and (b) advice to newly established wholly owned subsidiary companies in the NHS on whether they should apply for access to the NHS Pension Scheme.
Answered by Steve Barclay
There is a requirement under HM Treasury’s New Fair Deal policy for staff who are compulsorily transferred from the National Health Service to a wholly owned subsidiary to be allowed continuing access to the NHS Pension Scheme. Whether or not to apply for access in relation to new starters is a matter for the wholly owned subsidiary company and its parent foundation trust. Any applications received from wholly owned subsidiary companies will be considered on their merits in accordance with the Secretary of State’s powers under section 25 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (a)1.
Note:
1The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 confers powers to the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme. For the 1995 and 2008 schemes, powers are conferred by sections 7(1) and (3) of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967(a).
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether newly established wholly owned subsidiary companies in the NHS which apply for access to the NHS Pension Scheme will have their applications granted.
Answered by Steve Barclay
There is a requirement under HM Treasury’s New Fair Deal policy for staff who are compulsorily transferred from the National Health Service to a wholly owned subsidiary to be allowed continuing access to the NHS Pension Scheme. Whether or not to apply for access in relation to new starters is a matter for the wholly owned subsidiary company and its parent foundation trust. Any applications received from wholly owned subsidiary companies will be considered on their merits in accordance with the Secretary of State’s powers under section 25 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (a)1.
Note:
1The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 confers powers to the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme. For the 1995 and 2008 schemes, powers are conferred by sections 7(1) and (3) of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967(a).
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of midwives who have left NHS employment in England by age-group in (a) total and (b) each year since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following tables show the age profile of midwives who have left the National Health Service in total and each year since 2010.
Turnover data is based on headcount and shows people leaving or returning to active service, this would include those going on or returning from maternity leave or career break, for example.
Headcount totals are unlikely to equal the sum of components due to some staff working in more than one role.
Due to the way that turnover statistics are calculated the number of leavers between November 2010 and November 2017 will not equal the sum of the leavers for each year.
NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Midwives who have left NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England by age group, in total, from November 2010 to November 2017, headcount
| Midwives (Headcount) who left the NHS between November 2010 and November 2017 |
All age bands | 8,072 |
Under 25 | 303 |
25 to 29 | 589 |
30 to 34 | 617 |
35 to 39 | 565 |
40 to 44 | 661 |
45 to 49 | 1,103 |
50 to 54 | 1,906 |
55 to 59 | 1,467 |
60 to 64 | 722 |
65 and over | 139 |
Source: NHS Digital, HCHS workforce statistics
HCHS: Midwives who have left NHS trusts and CCGs in England by age group, in each year from 2010 to 2017, as at 30 November, headcount
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
All age bands | 1,913 | 2,036 | 2,189 | 2,261 | 2,531 | 2,705 | 2,683 |
Under 25 | 84 | 117 | 109 | 137 | 133 | 122 | 126 |
25 to 29 | 307 | 328 | 328 | 402 | 417 | 543 | 542 |
30 to 34 | 365 | 396 | 427 | 448 | 462 | 519 | 504 |
35 to 39 | 210 | 253 | 261 | 234 | 309 | 307 | 334 |
40 to 44 | 169 | 159 | 165 | 146 | 160 | 177 | 170 |
45 to 49 | 119 | 136 | 137 | 155 | 158 | 152 | 126 |
50 to 54 | 184 | 211 | 230 | 241 | 284 | 278 | 301 |
55 to 59 | 220 | 205 | 280 | 248 | 355 | 321 | 348 |
60 to 64 | 189 | 186 | 207 | 206 | 200 | 215 | 178 |
65 and over | 66 | 45 | 45 | 44 | 53 | 71 | 54 |
Source: NHS Digital, HCHS workforce statistics
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential effect of the decision to remove access to vitamin D on prescription on the long-term bone health of people who cover all of their skin.
Answered by Steve Brine
As part of the NHS England consultation ‘Conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: A consultation on guidance for CCGs’, NHS England has published a full Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment which covers groups protected by the Equality Act 2010. A copy of the document is attached.
In the summer months most people should be able to get all the vitamin D they need from sunlight on the skin. However, it is also found in some foods – oily fish, red meat, liver, egg yolks and fortified foods, such as most fat spreads and some breakfast cereals.
The Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances states that vitamins and minerals should be prescribed only in the management of actual or potential vitamin or mineral deficiency, and are not to be prescribed as dietary supplements. We understand that NHS England’s current consultation is in line with this. Prescribing vitamin D for maintenance would be classed as a treatment for prevention or as a dietary supplement.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which (a) Department and (b) public body holds details on the (i) 94 licences, (ii) 5 registrable, (iii) 62 non-registrable IP products and (iv) 15 spin-outs which have resulted from National Institute for Health Research funding.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The NIHR Intellectual Property (IP) team, reporting to the Department of Health and Social Care, holds details of IP product licences, registrable and non-registrable IP products and spin-outs resulting from National Institute of Health Research funding.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives left the profession (a) by age and in each year and (b) in total since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and is responsible for nurse and midwifery registration. The NMC has confirmed that it holds information about midwives leaving its register but not on midwives leaving their profession.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives left NHS employment because they had reached retirement age in each year since 2011-12.
Answered by Steve Barclay
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of midwives who have left the National Health Service since October 2011/12 to 2016/17.
NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Leavers from the NHS that were midwives, those that had the recorded reason of retirement age, in NHS trusts and clinical commission groups in England, between 31 October 2011 and 31 October 2017, headcount.
Year | October 2011 - October 2012 | October 2012 - October 2013 | October 2013 - October 2014 | October 2014 - October 2015 | October 2015 - October 2016 | October 2016 - October 2017 |
Midwives, retired leavers (Headcount) | 361 | 428 | 421 | 462 | 505 | 428 |
Source: NHS Digital, NHS HCHS workforce statistics.