Written questions by Morgan.

What steps he is taking to help improve recruitment in adult social care.

Whilst much of the responsibility for recruitment rests with adult social care employers, the Department recognises the scale of reforms needed to support sustainable workforce growth. These reforms include: the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme, allowing funding for certain training courses and qualifications; the continuing development of the Care Workforce Pathway, a universal career structure for the workforce setting out the knowledge, skills, values, and behaviors needed to work in adult social care; and the launch of a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification.On 10 of October 2024, recognising the central role of our amazing care workforce, we took a critical step, introducing the legislation that will establish the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care professionals. Fair Pay Agreements will empower worker and employer representatives to negotiate fair pay, terms, and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner. This will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector, in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the number of children with education and health care plans who will require support after the age of 25 on the adult social care system.

The Department commissions the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics to produce projections of the long-term demand and cost of adult social care services in England. These include projections of the number of working aged adults, namely those aged between 18 and 64 years old, in receipt of local authority-funded care services. The most recently published CPEC projections show that the number of working age adults in receipt of social care services is projected to increase by 29% between 2018 and 2038. As with any projection of the future, CPEC estimates are based on a specific set of data and assumptions and should therefore be treated with caution. The projections are available at the following link:https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpec/assets/documents/cpec-working-paper-7.pdfThe Department is committed to building consensus on the long-term reform needed to create a National Care Service that addresses challenges working age disabled adults currently face and that is shaped for those who will have support needs in the future, including children who currently have health and care plans. The Government will set out next steps for a process that engages with adult social care stakeholders in due course.

What estimate he has made of the annual amount of discretionary funding received by GP services in North Shropshire.

The following table shows funding broken down by funding stream for general practices located in North Shropshire for the 2022/2023 financial year:Funding StreamValue (£)Global Sum11,191,640Direct Enhanced Services557,897Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF)1,654,070Pneumococcal Vaccine, Childhood Immunisation Main Programme30,381Reimbursement of Drugs Dispenses4,627,145Dispensing Fee1,516,157Prescribing Fee188,5671PMS Expenditure0Information Management36,7671PCO Administered183,794General Practice Transformation Fund192,868Local Incentive Schemes1,139,579Premises Payments1,323,447Primary Care Network Related Payments1,288,714Winter access fund55,024Covid Related Payments128,487Other424,893Total24,088,762Source: NHS EnglandNotes:This data is based off published payments data. Note from the payments data on negative payment values reads as follows: Adjustments can be made whilst payments are processing to raise credits/debits against payments. These adjustments can result in what appear to be negative payments or positive deductions.Health geographies do not align with parliamentary constituencies. When calculating payments to the North Shropshire Parliamentary Constituency we have included practices with postcodes within the North Shropshire parliamentary constituency. There will be patients registered at practices in this constituency who reside outside the constituency and vice-versa.This includes primary care network (PCN) payments, where they are recorded against practices in North Shropshire in the Payments to General Practice data set. PCNs do not align with constituency boundaries and payments recorded in one constituency might benefit practices in the same PCN in other constituencies.

How many community pharmacies have closed in North Shropshire since 2016.

There were 14 community pharmacies providing National Health Service pharmaceutical services in North Shropshire constituency on 30 June 2024, which is two fewer than in September 2016.