Written questions by Morgan.

What steps he is taking to increase innovation in adult social care.

The Government recognises that innovation is vital in supporting the adult social care sector to adjust to the changing needs of the population. We want to support local authorities and providers to adopt new approaches to delivering care, improving outcomes for people who draw on care, and their unpaid carers. This includes enshrining home-first principles that enable people to live independently in their communities for longer.The Accelerating Reform Fund aims to address barriers to the adoption and scaling of innovation in adult social care and improve support for unpaid carers. Local authorities are supported to take forward locally identified innovative projects, working collaboratively with other local authorities, the National Health Service, care providers, and voluntary and community organisations in their integrated care system footprints.Through the Adult Social Care Technology Fund, we are also supporting local systems to test, scale, and evaluate innovative digital solutions to ensure people are supported in their own homes for longer. We know there are opportunities for technologies to transform care, and by building our evidence base we can help identify care technologies with the potential for wider rollout.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS services can meet additional demand in (a) the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin integrated care board and (b) England in winter 2024-25.

NHS England has written to integrated care boards (ICBs), trusts, and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2024/25 winter planning. This builds on the priorities in the National Health Service’s planning guidance, and sets out the key steps to be taken to support the delivery of high-quality care for patients this winter.The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB is undertaking an improvement programme that aims to better respond to the pressures of the demand upon the urgent and emergency care services. This is delivering changes to meet needs now, throughout winter, and sustainably for the future. There is a focus on the following areas:providing alternatives for patients rather than attending emergency departments;faster progress through emergency departments, improving performance against national waiting time standards;improving processes in inpatient wards to reduce delays for patients;coordinating and enabling more timely discharge, with more patients able to go home, in conjunction with the area’s local authorities; anda specific focus upon supporting frail older adults, to keep them well in their place of residence and minimise the time spent in hospital when an admission to hospital is required.

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that upper tier local authorities can meet additional demand for social care services in (a) Shropshire and (b) England in winter 2024-25.

On 17 September, I wrote to all local authorities, setting out priorities for improving service resilience across social care this winter. The letter emphasises the importance of close partnership working and joint planning between local authorities, the NHS and community partners. Local authorities are expected to have business continuity plans in place for a range of risks, including for localised disruptions caused by adverse winter weather.The Department funds Partners in Care and Health, delivered by the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, and the Social Care Institute for Excellence, to provide a support offer that helps local authorities tackle operational challenges, including during winter.Under the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF), local authorities must submit an adult social care capacity plan that provides assurance that plans are in place to meet estimated local demand for different types of long-term care services, with a focus on winter. These were submitted to the department in June 2024. The member’s local authority, Shropshire, submitted their 2024/25 capacity plan which is currently undergoing processing and quality assurance.MSIF is designed to support increased adult social care capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make improvements to adult social care services. Shropshire has been allocated just over £6 million of MSIF funding in 2024/25 to support these aims.

With reference to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11521 on Government Departments: Sick Leave, if he will make an estimate of the number of staff days lost to long term sick absences in each Department in 2023.

The table below provides the estimates requested, number of long term sick days lost per department, along with our preferred measure, Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition. Data is provided for the main Ministerial Departments consistent with the answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11521. Long term sickness absence by Main Department, days lost and average working days lost per staff year, 2023 2023 (year ending 31 Mar 2023)DepartmentLong Term Sick Days LostAverage Working Days LostCabinet Office24,2602.3Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities8,3602.0Department Culture Media and Sport3,3701.4Department for Environment25,5602.1Department for Education19,7902.5Department for Transport75,1904.8Department for Health and Social Care34,1803.3Department for Work and Pensions367,3604.7HM Customers and Revenue305,1904.5HM Treasury4,2301.5Home Office139,9803.8Ministry of Defence173,0503.2Ministry of Justice580,7406.9Scottish Government151,0005.8Welsh Government21,5603.9

If he will have discussions with liquid gas supplier companies on customer payment processes.

The Secretary of State and I meet regularly with a range of stakeholders. Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of each upper tier local authority to meet the demand for social care in the next (a) 12 months and (b) five years.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to the need to ensure that it is aware of current and likely future demand for such services, and to consider how providers in their local area might meet that demand.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing local authorities’ delivery of these duties. The CQC started these assessments in December 2023, and will assess all 153 local authorities in England over the next two years. The assessments facilitate the sharing of good practice and help us to target support where it is most needed. If an assessment identifies that a local authority has failed or is failing to discharge its functions under the Care Act 2014 to an acceptable standard, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has powers to intervene.The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund includes grant conditions which require each local authority to submit an adult social care capacity plan. These were submitted to the Department in June 2024 and are currently undergoing processing and quality assurance.

If he will make an estimate of the number of patients that are fit to be discharged but have remained in hospital due to the unavailability of social care since January 2022.

Since April 2022, there have been, by monthly average, 12,828 people in hospital daily with no criteria to reside; however, we do not hold data on which or how many of these people have been in hospital for the entirety of this time.In October 2024, 33% of patients who have a length of stay of 14 or more days were delayed due to capacity reasons, however these delays include both National Health Service-commissioned and adult social care capacity.

When the 2024-25 funding allocations of the Accelerating Reform Fund will be released.

The Government recognises that innovation is vital to support adult social care to adjust to the changing needs of the population. We want to support local authorities to adopt new approaches to delivering care, improving outcomes of people who draw on care and their unpaid carers. This includes enshrining home-first principles that enable people to live independently in their communities for longer.The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing.The Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) aims to address barriers to the adoption and scaling of innovation in adult social care and improve support for unpaid carers. A decision on the release of 2024/25 funding allocations for the ARF will be shared shortly.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of delaying the release of the 2024-25 funding allocation of the Accelerating Reform Fund on unpaid carers.

The Government recognises that innovation is vital to support adult social care to adjust to the changing needs of the population. We want to support local authorities to adopt new approaches to delivering care, improving outcomes of people who draw on care and their unpaid carers. This includes enshrining home-first principles that enable people to live independently in their communities for longer.The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing.The Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) aims to address barriers to the adoption and scaling of innovation in adult social care and improve support for unpaid carers. A decision on the release of 2024/25 funding allocations for the ARF will be shared shortly.

How many track access applications concerning changes to the national passenger rail timetable were received for (a) December 2024, (b) May 2025 and (c) December 2025.

The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Train operators must submit track access applications to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The ORR is responsible for making decisions in relation to these applications and its decisions are published on the ORR website.

How long it took her Department to consider each application for a change to the national passenger rail timetable for December 2024; and what the average time was for her Department to determine the outcome of an application.

Operators need to agree their train service level plans and funding in advance of operation allowing enough time for consideration by the Department before they engage with Network Rail's timetable production process. Typically, this is done through an annual business plan cycle with submissions in December and approval in March. However, they can be done through the year and approval time depends on the scale of the change.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure all NHS Trusts meet the Government’s target to reduce the number of stillbirths nationally to 0.23%.

The current rate of stillbirths per 1,000 births is 3.9.The Government continues to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. As part of the plan, an updated version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which aims to support a reduction in stillbirths, has been rolled out. All trusts are implementing the third version of this bundle, which provides maternity units with detailed guidance and a package of interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth.

What discussions she has had with the governments of (a) Wales and (b) Scotland on growing cross-border rail patronage through open-access passenger rail operations.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussions specifically on growing cross-border rail patronage through open access with either the government of Wales or Scotland.

How many and what proportion of patients received urgent cancer treatment within 62 days of a GP referral at Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin integrated care board since October 2023.

Cancer waiting times data, organised by integrated care board, and published by NHS England, and is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/

What progress his Department has made to deliver (a) new and (b) refurbished military accommodation for 40,000 service men and women.

Service Family Accommodation (SFA): The Ministry of Defence (MOD) manages c47,000 SFA properties in the UK. In financial year (FY) 2024-25, the Department has purchased 351 new homes at a cost of £157 million, in areas where there is a shortage of SFA. £441 million is currently forecast to be spent on maintaining and improving SFA including: £180 million to improve insulation in c600 homes; remediate c1,000 homes with long-term damp and mould issues, and refurbishing c200 long-term empty homes. C1,700 minor damp and mould packages are planned and c30 homes will receive upgraded heating. Single Living Accommodation (SLA): As part of a new programmatic approach for the construction of SLA which is intended to improve the delivery of new accommodation by finding efficiencies and improving value for money, the Department has appointed six companies to undertake this work. This will see 16,000 new bedspaces built as part of a wider-MOD plan to build or refurbish 40,000 SLA bedspaces over 10 years. The work will improve the lived experience for Service Personnel occupying the rooms. In FY 2024-25 £41 million is currently forecast to be spent on improving the condition of SLA including: refurbishment, heating, and room conversions to provide additional bedspaces. A further £7.5 million is forecast to be spent on internal improvements to condition and heating. An additional c£14.3 million is forecast to be spent on Safe & Legal SLA compliance works.

What steps she is taking to ensure the timely determination of track access applications on changes to the national passenger rail timetable for (a) May 2025 and (b) December 2025.

The Secretary of State supports and encourages Department for Transport contracted operators to make timely application to the industry Track Access process. Track Access decisions are the responsibility of the Office of Rail and Road as independent rail regulator, which has taken steps across industry to improve timely decision-making.

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.

When his Department plans to respond to Questions 1829 and 1830 on Armed Forces: Housing tabled by the Hon. Member for North Shropshire on 25 July 2024 for answer on 30 July 2024.

This Government is committed to setting new minimum standards for military housing. We are assessing options to drive up standards and deliver the homes our Service families deserve. As a first step, we are establishing an Armed Forces Commissioner as an independent champion for our service personnel to raise issues which impact on service life, including housing. This Government continues to invest to improve the quality of UK Service Family Accommodation (SFA). In 2024-25, £180 million is allocated to improve insulation in c600 homes, implement c1,000 long-term damp and mould remediations and refurbish 200 long-term empty homes. 1,700 minor damp and mould improvement packages are planned, and 30 more homes will receive upgraded heating solutions. A Single Living Accommodation (SLA) Expert Group, including Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Top-Level Budget representatives is continuing to address Defence Minimum Standard measures to improve the quality of SLA. The Department is looking at the recommendations of the Kerslake Review which reported before the General Election.

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.