Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to (a) ensure that the Minimum Income Guarantee will be considered for uprating for 2023-24 and (b) hold discussions with Cabinet on assessing the potential merits of that uprating as part future welfare payments uprating. colleagues to ensure that it is considered for uprating alongside other welfare payments.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Minimum Income Guarantee is reviewed annually, with the next review due in January 2023 and published in the Local Authority Circular. While there are no current plans for specific discussions with Cabinet colleagues, we continue to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that any decision on uprating the social care allowances is informed by the uprating of other welfare payments.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timeline is for publishing the cross-Government action plan on implementing the Building the right support national plan.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We will publish the Building the right support action plan as soon as possible. A publication date has not yet been confirmed.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the additional payments towards the cost of living announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 26 May 2022, whether those payments are treated as income for the purposes of social care charges under the Care Act 2014.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department is currently determining the impact of the new cost of living payments on financial assessments for care costs. As this support is constituted through one-off payments, we do not expect this to be considered as regular income for the purposes of social care costs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that people have equal access to dental services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Between April and June 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity to improve access for patients safely. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association (BDA), to improve the National Health Service dental system and negotiations are currently underway on initial measures. This aims to improve patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists.
An additional £50 million was allocated for NHS dentistry for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care to patients. This was targeted at appointments for patients in most need of urgent dental treatment, including vulnerable groups and children. In addition, Health Education England’s Dental Education Reform Programme is reviewing areas with a shortage of dental provision, to address inequalities in access.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to NHS Trusts to (a) reduce poor outcomes for people with a learning disability during extended waits for care and (b) take steps to mitigate those outcomes.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to reduce waiting times and address the backlog in elective services through the ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’. To mitigate the risks of extended waits for care, people over the age of 14 years old with a learning disability can receive an annual health check to maintain their health, identify undetected health conditions and ensure the appropriateness of ongoing treatments.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s 14 May announcement entitled Government delays restrictions on multibuy deals and advertising on TV and online, whether (a) an impact assessment and (b) a public consultation will be conducted for the statutory instruments necessary to facilitate the delays to these policies, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We will provide further information on how the delay to the legislation will be implemented in due course.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the annual economic contribution of unpaid carers to the UK economy.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific estimate has been made. However, the 2011 Census reported that there were 6.5 million people of all ages providing unpaid care in the United Kingdom, of which 5.4 million were in England. The Office for National Statistics also estimated that the gross value added of unpaid care in the UK was £59.5 billion in 2016.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of unpaid carers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific estimate has been made. However, the 2011 Census reported that there were 6.5 million people of all ages providing unpaid care in the United Kingdom, of which 5.4 million were in England. The Office for National Statistics also estimated that the gross value added of unpaid care in the UK was £59.5 billion in 2016.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many registered NHS dentists there were in (a) 2010 and (b) 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In 2010/11, there were 22,799 dentists performing National Health Service activity. The data requested for 2022 is not yet held centrally.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s announcement of 14 May 2022, Government delays restrictions on multibuy deals and advertising on TV and online, whether his Department plans to conduct (a) an impact assessment and (b) a public consultation for the statutory instrument required to confirm the delay to those policies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We will provide further information on how the delay to the legislation will be implemented in due course.