Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional funding for maintenance at delayed schemes in the New Hospital Programme has been made available for each hospital in each year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of National Health Service staff and patients is of vital importance to the Government. That is why repairing and rebuilding our hospital estate is a key part of our ambition to create an NHS that is fit for the future through our 10-Year Health Plan.
Integrated care boards will collectively receive over £4 billion in annual capital allocations in 2025/26. These allocations are managed at a local level, with funds allocated according to local priorities, including estate maintenance works at New Hospital Programme sites. In addition, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer also committed over £1 billion to make inroads into the backlog of critical maintenance and to tackle dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. Further detail on funding will follow at the earliest opportunity, including local capital allocations and national capital programmes for 2025 to 2026, as part of NHS planning guidance. Capital funding levels for future years will be determined through the current Spending Review, which concludes in June 2025.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which health foundation trusts other than Devon are under NHS Oversight Framework Level 4.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Oversight Framework (NOF) sets out NHS England’s approach to oversight of the National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England allocates all ICBs and NHS trusts, including foundation trusts, to one of four segments. A segmentation decision indicates the scale and nature of support needs, from no specific support needs, or segment one, to a requirement for mandated intensive support, or segment four. NHS England publishes the segmentation decisions. This is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-oversight-framework-22-23/.
Trusts and ICBs in NOF segment four receive mandated intensive support via NHS England’s Recovery Support Programme (RSP). There are currently 20 trusts and three ICBs in the RSP. The trusts in the RSP are shown in the following list:
The list of trusts and ICBs in the RSP is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/system-and-organisational-oversight/national-recovery-support-programme/
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of centrally procuring scaffolding to prop up hospitals awaiting funding via the New Hospital Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of the National Health Service’s staff and patients is of vital importance to the Government. That is why repairing and rebuilding our hospital estate is a key part of our ambition to create an NHS that is fit for the future, through our 10-Year Health Plan.
The Department has not assessed the potential merits of centrally procuring scaffolding, as the safety and mitigation requirements vary on a trust-by-trust basis. Trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) have an annual allocation for estate maintenance and capital works, which totalled £4.2 billion in 2024/25. Each ICB manages this local capital budget for its area, allocating funds according to local priorities, including investment in safety and mitigation works, like scaffolding. Trusts with confirmed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present at their sites can also access funding from NHS England’s national RAAC programme for propping and scaffolding, due to the serious dangers posed by RAAC.
Alongside the annual allocation for estate maintenance and capital works in 2025/26, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer also announced health capital spending is set to increase to £13.6 billion in 2025/26, including over £1 billion to make inroads into the backlog of critical maintenance, and to tackle dangerous RAAC. Further detail on this funding will follow at the earliest opportunity, including local capital allocations and national capital programmes for 2025 to 2026, as part of NHS planning guidance.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 increasing access to givinostat.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. NICE is currently evaluating givinostat, and its Appraisal Committee will meet to consider its recommendations in May 2025.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to require all emergency service vehicles to have defibrillators.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas of England where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.
Department ministers regularly have discussions with colleagues across Government on issues of cross-departmental interest.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of requiring defibrillators to be placed in all new (a) social housing developments, (b) supermarkets and (c) other public buildings.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas of England where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.
Department ministers regularly have discussions with colleagues across Government on issues of cross-departmental interest.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on ensuring that patient access to treatment for very rare diseases is not delayed in circumstances where there is uncertainty on the incidence and prevalence of the disease by the consultation entitled Highly specialised technologies: NICE prioritisation board routing criteria.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including the criteria for routing topics to the Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme.
Decisions on whether medicines should be evaluated through the NICE’s HST programme are taken by the NICE against a set of published criteria that have been developed through public and stakeholder engagement. The NICE is currently reviewing the criteria and opened a consultation in December 2024, with a closing date for comments of 30 January 2025. The proposed criteria are intended to make routing decisions more predictable and transparent with the aim of making the process more timely and efficient. We encourage people to respond to the consultation.
The NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue draft guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The National Health Service in England is legally required to fund drugs recommended by the NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what direct funding his Department provides to support refugees with medical backgrounds with integrating into the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not currently provide financial support to any charities to assist refugees.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what charities his Department has supported to assist refugees into the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not currently provide financial support to any charities to assist refugees.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times (a) in the A&E queue and (b) for Torbay and South Devon NHS foundation trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ambulance response times and ambulance handover times have been below the high standards that patients should expect in recent years, including at the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundational Trust.
The Government has committed to supporting the National Health Service to improve performance and achieve the standards set out in the NHS Constitution, including ambulance response times, but we must be clear that there are no quick fixes.
We are determined to turn things around through investment and reform. My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £25.6 billion of additional healthcare funding over the next two years, and we will set out a 10-Year Health Plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.