Written questions by Tice.

How many staff in his Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if he will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

The Department has a central team with a headcount of 13.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff who are responsible for managing Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and related appeals work. FOIs can be requested for any part of the Department's work. As such, various members of staff in the Department may at some point be involved with responding to an FOI request.Most of these staff will carry out such work as part of their overall responsibilities. As such it is not feasible to determine, for the purposes of answering this question, precisely how many staff are responsible for processing and responding to FOI requests across the entire Department, or to provide estimates of the resulting costs.Information on FOI volume and performance by department is published by the Cabinet Office, and is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

What plans he has for the future of Torbay Hospital.

My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, set out a credible and deliverable plan for the new hospital schemes in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) on 20 January 2025, following the conclusion of the review of the NHP. The Plan for Implementation is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementationAs confirmed in this publication, the scheme for Torbay Hospital is now part of Wave 2 of the NHP. Pre-construction activity, namely business case development and critical enabling works, is expected to continue from 2030, and construction of the main hospital build to commence between 2032 and 2034.

How much his Department has spent on measures to achieve net zero targets in the last five years.

In the last five years, the Department has not provided ringfenced capital for the National Health Service’s Net Zero targets.Direct investment in the decarbonisation of NHS buildings and operations is primarily supported by external grant funding. For example, NHS trusts have secured over £1.2 billion for heat-decarbonisation projects under the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme since 2020.The Department works with NHS England to ensure that NHS national programmes and day-to-day capital budgets support decarbonisation objectives where appropriate.We have also previously provided capital to improve trusts’ energy efficiency, with associated benefits for carbon reduction. For instance, in 2023/24 we worked with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to invest £40 million in NHS light emitting diode lighting and solar projects through the NHS National Energy Efficiency Fund. The substantial savings from such investments can be directed into frontline services.

How many birth defects were reported among children born to couples who are first cousins in each of the last three years, broken down by the nationality of the parents.

The Government does not hold this data. We continue to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to grow our maternity workforce, develop a culture of safety, and ensure that women and babies receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care.

What the cost to the public purse was of training NHS staff recruited from abroad in the last 12 months.

The information requested on the cost of recruitment fees, the average recruitment cost, and the cost of training for National Health Service staff recruited from overseas is not collected centrally.

What information his Department holds on (a) the total cost of recruitment fees for employing overseas workers and (b) the average recruitment cost for each overseas employee incurred by NHS trusts in each of the past three years.

The information requested on the cost of recruitment fees, the average recruitment cost, and the cost of training for National Health Service staff recruited from overseas is not collected centrally.

How much (a) United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and (b) Lincolnshire Community Health Services spent on (i) translation and (ii) interpretation services in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the amount of money United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust spent on translation and interpretation services each of the last five financial years:YearTotal spend2019/20£158,395.002020/21£127,235.962021/22£162,501.322022/23£204,008.602023/24£248,547.00 In addition, the following table shows the amount of money Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five financial years:YearTotal spend2019/20£34,6382020/21£43,7902021/22£56,5122022/23£71,8852023/24£42,692 During the COVID-19 pandemic, spend on translation and interpretation services reduced due to the reduction in planned activity across the providers’ sites. Since then, providers have significantly increased the number of patients they see and treat, which has resulted in increased interpretation and translation costs.

What the cost to the public purse was of (a) training and (b) otherwise integrating NHS staff recruited from abroad in the last 12 months.

The information requested on the cost to the public purse for the training and integration of National Health Service staff recruited from abroad is not collected centrally.

How much and what proportion of NHS funding was spent on (a) administration and (b) patient care in the latest period for which data is available.

Patient care is too broad a category and could encompass a wide range of spending. We are unable to break this down as it stands. However, the total administration spend for NHS England and the integrated care boards is available on page 177 of NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, which is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6709344a92bb81fcdbe7b728/nhs-england-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024.pdf

How many and what proportion of NHS staff are (a) qualified healthcare professionals and (b) administrative staff.

The following table shows the number and proportion of full time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England, by broad staff groups, as of July 2024: Number, FTEProportionProfessionally Qualified Clinical Staff1713,62753.0%Support to Clinical Staff2283,36921.1%Administrative and Clerical Staff3250,10818.6%Managers and Senior Managers439,5952.9%Other NHS Infrastructure Staff558,9524.4%Other Staff or Those with Unknown Classification3800.0%Total Staff1,346,030 Source: NHS England, NHS Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce StatisticsNotes:Professionally qualified staff will mostly be degree level professionally qualified staff such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals and professionally qualified scientific staff.The support to clinical support group will be staff such as healthcare assistants, nursing associate, nursing assistant practitioners, maternity support workers, ambulance technicians, assistant/assistant practitioner AHPs, healthcare science assistants. They will likely hold a range of qualifications relevant to their role.Administrative and clerical staff will include both those with regular interaction with patients such as ward receptionists or clerks (included in published statistics as clerical and administrative support to clinical staff) and also those staff working in ‘back office’ central functions such as finance or human resources roles.Managers or senior managers who are not required to be a specific professionally qualified staff member to undertake their roles.Other NHS infrastructure roles will include NHS property, estates and hotel staff. Further data is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

What information his Department holds on the potential thyroid cancer risk from Mounjaro; when his Department received this information; whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the provision of Mounjaro through the NHS on the risk of thyroid cancer; whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has requested information from the US Food and Drug Administration on its interim report on this matter of March 2024; and for what reason the risk-labelling for Mounjaro is different in the UK to that used in the US.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) role is to continually monitor the safety of medicines during their use. We have robust, safety monitoring and surveillance systems in place for all healthcare products. New medicines such as Mounjaro, which contains tirzepatide, are more intensively monitored to ensure that any new safety issues are identified promptly.Thyroid cancer has not been causally linked with Mounjaro or any other medicines that belong to the same therapeutic class as tirzepatide, specifically glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), and it is currently not listed as a side-effect associated with GLP-1RA medicines in the approved United Kingdom prescribing information, also known as the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC).A recent European Union review conducted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) included a comprehensive class review of the available evidence related to all types of thyroid cancer, taking into consideration various types of evidence, including large observational studies, literature, clinical trial cases, and post-marketing cases. The EMA reached the decision that the overall evidence was insufficient to establish an association between GLP-1RAs and thyroid cancer. Furthermore, the addition of a precautionary warning to the SmPCs was not agreed upon given the limitations of the currently available evidence, unlike the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approved product information. It is not uncommon for regulators to come to different decisions based on different assessments of risk. This can be due to factors such as differences in patient demographics, usage of a particular medicine in different countries, or differences in inclusion criteria for the product information for medicinal products. The difference in the United States’ labelling, in part, relates to the FDA’s interpretation of the data from animal studies, an area of research that is required for all new medicines prior to approval, and information related to thyroid cancer was added as a precautionary warning. However, the human relevance of the animal data is not known, and this is specified in the UK prescribing information.A signal of thyroid cancer was not observed in the clinical trials for these medicines at the time of licensing, however it was acknowledged that clinical trials are not usually large or long-enough to observe cancer outcomes. Therefore, based on the need for further exploration of the risk about the human relevance, the pharmaceutical companies for all GLP-1RAs have been requested to assess the risk within a collaborative, long-term post-authorisation safety study evaluating medullary thyroid cancer events using United States cancer registries. The results from this study are not expected for a few years and will hopefully provide further information on this risk. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical companies are also monitoring all thyroid cancer types as part of their ongoing routine pharmacovigilance obligations.Based on the current evidence, the benefits of GLP-1 RAs outweigh the potential risks when used for the licensed indications. The risk of thyroid cancer with this class of medicines remains under review by the MHRA and all pharmaceutical companies which hold a licence for a GLP-1RA. As part of our continuous monitoring procedures, we work with our international counterparts, such as the FDA, to gather information on the safety of medicines in other countries. When a safety issue is confirmed, we always act promptly to inform patients and healthcare professionals, and take appropriate steps to mitigate any identified risk.

If he will (a) increase funding for community pharmacies in Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) provide additional support to encourage such pharmacies to take on more responsibilities in (i) patient care and (ii) urgent health advice.

The Government is committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists, as we shift care from hospitals into the community.Now that the budget for Government has been set, we will shortly be resuming our consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding the funding arrangements for 2024/25. We are unable to say more until these have been concluded.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that all patients have access to face-to-face appointments with their GP.

We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP). Patients can’t get through the front door of the National Health Service, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need.We have pledged to guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one. We will make sure the future of GPs is sustainable by training thousands more GPs, ensuring increased capacity across the NHS to deliver this commitment and securing a future pipeline of GPs.