Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
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 implications for his policies of analysis by the Alzheimer's Society that the adult social care sector will need at least £3.9 billion per annum to maintain current standards and keep up with demographic changes and changes to the National Living Wage.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The provisional local Government finance settlement proposes making available over £1 billion of additional resource to local authorities specifically for social care in 2022-23. Councils will also have access to funding from grant covering all services, including the 2022-23 Services Grant, and from council tax to meet the inflationary and demographic pressures facing social care.
In addition to this increased local Government funding, the Government will provide £5.4 billion over 2022-23 to 2024-25 for adult social care reform. The funding available to councils means overall local Government spending will increase by 4%, including the investment in adult social care reform.
No assessment has been made of the figure quoted by the Alzheimer’s Society. Local Government finance settlement provides funding to allow councils to increase their spending on the vital public services they provide, such as adult social care, and will ensure those services can respond effectively to rising demand and cost pressures.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Dementia Strategy in the People at the heart of care: adult social care reform White Paper, what budget will be allocated to the delivery of the Dementia Strategy.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We will be setting out our plans on dementia for England for future years in 2022. We are currently working with stakeholders and have established task and finish groups to develop the strategy. We will consider the funding implications as part of forthcoming business planning for the next financial year.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to provide the covid-19 vaccine to five to 11 year olds (a) in general and (b) who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No COVID-19 vaccine is currently authorised in the United Kingdom for use in children aged five to 11 years old by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the independent regulator.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will continue to review data on the potential benefits and risks of vaccination of children aged five to 11 years old and will issue separate advice in due course.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for patients wishing to be seen in at designated Long Covid clinics as of 13 December 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information is not available in the format requested. Since September 2021, information on activity and demographics of patients who have been referred to a post-COVID-19 assessment service in England have been published as part of the official statistics publication, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-post-covid-assessment-service/
The most recent publication of 9 December covered the period from 27 September to 24 October 2021. The attached table shows the waiting times of patients who had an initial assessment at a post-COVID-19 assessment service in this period. Data on waiting times was first added to this publication in October 2021, for the period from 2 August. As this is a relatively new data collection and this is experimental data, some variation may be due to incomplete data submissions.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for allocating additional funding for dementia research.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government has committed to invest £375 million in neurodegenerative disease research over the next five years to fund projects into a range of diseases including dementia. This funding will be provided through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The NIHR and UKRI rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding therefore details of allocations and timescales are not currently available.
All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. A new dementia strategy, which will set out our plans on dementia for England for future years, will be published in 2022. The strategy will include our ambitions for dementia research.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 vaccine mandate for social care workers, what assessment the Government has made of the extent of face-to-face social care provision that falls outside of CQC regulation, including services that a social care provider classes as outreach services.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have not made a specific assessment. However, Skills for Care data from 2020/21 suggests that 20% of the workforce providing home care and 12% providing residential care not including care homes worked for employers not registered with the Care Quality Commission and therefore will fall outside the scope of the regulations. Including those working in non-registered day and community settings, this is potentially 24% of the total workforce.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 70280 tabled by the hon. Member for Bristol West.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question 70280.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to bring forward covid-19 vaccine booster jabs for people who were participants in the AstraZeneca vaccine trials last year.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 29 November 2021, we announced updated advice that all individuals aged 18 years old and over will be eligible for a COVID-19 booster vaccination. This includes participants in the AstraZeneca vaccine trials. Trial participants for a COVID-19 vaccine which has since been approved, such as AstraZeneca, can access a booster dose from any vaccine centre when invited to do so.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of (a) the adequacy of the provision of therapeutic support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and (b) the impact of any gaps in that provision on the education of young people.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has been made. However, we are working with the Department for Education and NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve the provision of health services, including therapies to disabled children. On 5 March 2021 we announced that as part of the £500 million for mental health recovery, £79 million will be used to expand mental health services for children, including disabled children. We have provided over £34 billion support for health services in response to COVID-19 in 2021/22. This includes £2 billion to tackle the elective backlog and reduce waiting times for patients, including disabled children. We have also invested £4.9 billion in the 2020/21 academic year to support the recovery of children and young people’s education.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage uptake of the covid-19 vaccine among pregnant women.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Vaccine toolkits for local services, stakeholders, partners and employers include guidance on the concerns of pregnant women. We have shared case stories of women of childbearing age who have received the vaccine during or after pregnancy. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Chief Midwifery Office and ‘media medics’ have made appearances on media to reassure people about concerns. At a local level we have also supported webinars and engagement sessions focused on women’s vaccines concerns and tailored to specific demographic groups. We have also introduced new communications content focused on younger age groups. This includes drawing on the support of social media sites which have a broad reach across younger women.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with regional teams and providers to ensure that advice on vaccination in pregnancy, including the risks and benefits of vaccination to pregnant women, is being offered antenatally and that information materials are available across antenatal and primary care settings. NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked maternity and primary care services to support all general practitioners, practice nurses, midwives and obstetricians to give objective, evidence-based advice to women on vaccination in pregnancy at every antenatal contact. For healthcare professionals, there is a checklist to aid discussions on the potential benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy and to gain informed consent.