Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rupert Lowe this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 161–180 of 267 · Department of Health and Social Care
What information his Department holds on the number and proportion of NHS GP registrations that were for non-UK nationals in the past five years.
The Department does not hold data regarding the number and proportion of National Health Service general practice registrations that were for non-United Kingdom nationals.
How many and what proportion of maternity services were accessed by foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
The Department does not hold data on how many or what proportion of maternity services were accessed by foreign nationals in each of the last five years.
What estimate his Department has made of the cost to the NHS of treating patients who are in the UK unlawfully in the last 12 months.
The Department has made no such estimate. The Department publishes income identified and cash recovered from overseas visitors, which includes expatriates, visitors and undocumented migrants, on an annual basis in its annual report and accounts. The latest report and accounts are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024
What (a) religious and (b) cultural holidays are observed by their Department.
The Department is in line with the Civil Service approach in offering employees eight public bank holidays plus one privilege day each year, pro-rated for part-time workers. Of these, Good Friday, Easter Monday and Christmas Day are deemed religious holidays.
How much has been written off for the treatment of chargeable overseas visitors in real terms since the National Health Services (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 were introduced.
The Department publishes data on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors in England in its Annual Report and Accounts. The consolidated NHS provider accounts published cash payments received in-year by the National Health Service from overseas visitors.NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year. The Department does not hold information in the format requested regarding real terms data for written off debt.The following table shows aggregate income identified and cash payments received between 2019-2024:YearAggregate income identifiedCash payments received in-year2018/19£91,000,000£35,000,0002019/20£93,000,000£39,000,0002020/21£61,000,000£21,000,0002021/22£67,000,000£25,000,0002022/23£100,000,000£32,000,0002023/24£123,000,000£42,000,000Source: The Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts and Consolidated NHS provider accounts.
Of the aggregate income identified for chargeable overseas visitors in financial year 2018-19 what (a) the total amount recovered for the subsequent six financial years is and (b) the total amount of aggregate income identified for that financial year that was written off is.
The Department publishes data on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors in England in its Annual Report and Accounts. The consolidated NHS provider accounts published cash payments received in-year by the National Health Service from overseas visitors.NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year. The Department does not hold information in the format requested regarding real terms data for written off debt.The following table shows aggregate income identified and cash payments received between 2019-2024:YearAggregate income identifiedCash payments received in-year2018/19£91,000,000£35,000,0002019/20£93,000,000£39,000,0002020/21£61,000,000£21,000,0002021/22£67,000,000£25,000,0002022/23£100,000,000£32,000,0002023/24£123,000,000£42,000,000Source: The Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts and Consolidated NHS provider accounts.
What the total cost to the public purse is of the Supervised Toothbrushing Programme.
The Department is investing a total of £11.4 million in 2025/26. This includes £11 million to local authorities in England to implement supervised toothbrushing schemes.£400,000 is being retained nationally to support development of implementation resources and evaluation. Funding for subsequent years will be determined through the Spending Review.The programme has been launched in collaboration with Colgate-Palmolive who are providing 23 million free toothbrushes and toothpastes which will reach up to 600,000 children each year.Every £1 spent on supervised toothbrushing is expected to save £3 in avoided treatment costs, amounting to over £34 million over the next five years that can instead be spent on treating other patients.Tooth decay remains the most common reason for hospital admissions in children aged between five and nine years old. The costs to the National Health Service of hospital admissions for tooth extractions in children aged between zero and 19 years old have been estimated based on the latest NHS national cost collection data, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/costing-in-the-nhs/national-cost-collection/The costs were £74.8 million for all tooth extractions and £45.8 million for decay-related tooth extractions in 2023/24.
How many applications were made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in 2024; and how many and what proportion of those applications were unsuccessful.
9,554 applications were submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme in 2024. 4,593 of these applications have now concluded, with 4,589, or 99.9% of, claims rejected.
What costs from the treatment of chargeable overseas visitors (a) are outstanding and (b) have been written off in 2024.
The Department publishes data on the income identified from chargeable overseas visitors in England in its Annual Report and Accounts. The consolidated NHS provider accounts published cash payments received, and amounts written-off in-year by the National Health Service from overseas visitors.The following table shows these amounts in 2023/24:Year2023/24Aggregate income identified£123,000,000Cash payments received in-year£42,000,000Amounts written off in-year£44,000,000Source: Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts and Consolidated NHS provider accounts.NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year.
How much the NHS paid in compensation in 2024.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 14 November 2024 to Question 12205.The figures for the 2024/25 financial year are not complete at this stage. NHS Resolution will publish the figures for the 2024/25 financial year in its annual report and accounts in the summer.
How many yellow card reports on covid-19 vaccines there were in 2024.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet the applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses the available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, which includes amending the product information.All COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom have been authorised by the MHRA after meeting the MHRA’s standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness. As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continuously monitored, and benefits and possible risks remain under review. The MHRA has received a total of 6,912 spontaneous suspected side effects to COVID-19 vaccines in 2024 from over 15 million doses estimated to have been administered across the UK.When considering the above spontaneous data, it is important to be aware that a reported reaction does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the vaccine, medicine, or device, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have been. The fact that the symptoms reported to the Yellow Card scheme occur after the use of a vaccine, medicine, or device does not in itself mean that they are proven to have been caused by it. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, and such events can also be coincidental.It is also important to note that the number of reports received via the Yellow Card scheme does not directly equate to the number of people who suffered adverse reactions, and therefore they cannot be used to determine the incidence of a reaction or compare the safety profile of different vaccines, medicines, or devices. Adverse drug reactions and device incident reporting rates are influenced by the seriousness of the adverse reactions, their ease of recognition, and the extent of use of a particular medicine or device, and may also be stimulated by promotion and publicity. Reporting tends to be highest for newly introduced medicines during the first one to two years on the market, and then falls over time.
Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31569 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, if he will make an estimate of the (a) weekly and (b) total cost to the public purse of storing PPE related to Covid-19 in 2025.
The programme to dispose of excess COVID-19 related personal protective equipment (PPE) stock through sales, donations, recycling and energy from waste concluded in January 2025.The storage costs for COVID-19 related PPE incurred in January 2025 were £300,000. In January 2024 and January 2023, the storage costs were £7,700,000 and £18,600,000 respectively.
Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31569 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, if he will breakdown the programme of work to reduce excess PPE stock.
The programme to dispose of excess COVID-19 related personal protective equipment (PPE) stock through sales, donations, recycling and energy from waste concluded in January 2025.The storage costs for COVID-19 related PPE incurred in January 2025 were £300,000. In January 2024 and January 2023, the storage costs were £7,700,000 and £18,600,000 respectively.
What his Department's timetable is for the completion of the James Paget Hospital rebuild.
The pre-construction activity for the James Paget Hospital scheme, which includes business case development and critical enabling works, is ongoing, with construction of the main hospital build expected to commence in 2027/28 as part of Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme (NHP).The expected completion dates for all schemes will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case as set out in the HM Treasury Green Book and is usual for large infrastructure projects.We have made clear that we will expediate reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes in the NHP, including James Paget Hospital. To support this approach, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has commissioned an updated site by site report, due in summer 2025, to inform decisions on the delivery of the replacement hospitals. The site-by-site report on all seven RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which includes continued mitigation works as well as addressing the highest risk elements as early as possible through phasing of works. The report will be based on an up-to-date assessment of the safety of the hospital site now, and in future.
What the total cost for the storage of PPE related to Covid-19 was in 2024.
The cost of storing personal protective equipment (PPE) bought in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the calendar year 2024 was approximately £60 million. The programme of work to reduce excess PPE stock has now concluded.
If he will publish the total cost to the public purse for the provision of diversity, equality and inclusion courses for staff in her Department in 2024.
In the 12 months from January 2024 to December 2024, the Department has not delivered any diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) courses centrally. This refers to any courses where the training includes awareness of DEI as the main theme of the training.All Departmental staff are required to complete the ‘Civil Service Expectations’ mandatory learning that includes aspects of DEI and is delivered centrally through Civil Service Learning at no additional cost to the Department. Since May 2024, the department has aligned itself with the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance, which stipulates measures to enact greater control over DEI spend and activity across the Civil Service, providing assurance and alignment with Government priorities. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-expenditure-guidance/civil-service-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-expenditure-guidance
How much was spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation by (i) NHS Trusts, (ii) James Paget University Hospitals Trust and (iii) the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in 2024.
The information requested on spend on translation and interpretation services by National Health Service trusts is not held centrally, as data is held at integrated care board level.Across 2024, the Telephone Appointments Line team used third party translation services for 425 calls, or 0.04% of all answered calls. We are unable to provide a specific cost for this as it is delivered as part of the overall service specification for the provider. 101,431 letters, or 9.03% of all letters, were sent in a language other than English. There was no net cost for this as the translation had been paid for in previous years and the patients would have been sent a letter in English in the absence of a translated letter. The following table shows the total number of calls in a language other than English, what that language was, and the percentage it represents of all calls: TotalPercentage of total calls using language support in specified languageAlbanian30.71%Amharic10.24%Arabic6916.24%Bengali348.00%Bulgarian92.12%Cantonese51.18%Czech20.47%Dari30.71%Farsi204.71%French30.71%Gujarati20.47%Greek20.47%Hungarian61.41%Hindi81.88%Italian40.94%Kurmanji10.24%Lithuanian20.47%Mandarin51.18%Pashto102.35%Polish204.71%Portuguese153.53%Punjabi214.94%Portuguese Br.10.24%Romanian6014.12%Russian51.18%Somali51.18%Sorani266.12%Slovak51.18%Spanish112.59%Sylheti92.12%Tigrigna20.47%Turkish214.94%Ukrainian71.65%Urdu286.59%Total425 Total calls105,49420.04% of total calls used language support In addition, the following table shows the total number of letters in a language other than English, what that language was, and the percentage it represents of all letters: TotalPercentage of total letters sent in specified languageAlbanian1,7001.68%Arabian7,1897.09%Bengali9,0698.94%Chinese6520.64%French1,9171.89%Greek9350.92%Gujarati3,2073.16%Hindi1,9431.92%Hungarian9790.97%Italian1,9611.93%Kurdish2,2182.19%Lithuanian1,3471.33%Persian2,3802.35%Polish8,4138.29%Portuguese3,5383.49%Punjabi5,7605.68%Romanian5,4275.35%Russian1,7791.75%Slovak1,6801.66%Somali2,7872.75%Spanish3,4813.43%Tamil2,5432.51%Turkish3,9443.89%Urdu14,87614.67%Wolof260.03%Other languages11,68011.52%Total translated101,431 Total letters1,123,8299.03% of total letters sent were translatedSource: NHS England
Pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2024 to Question 14378 on NHS: Translation Services, what the (a) cost for translation of and (b) proportion of communications in each language was in e-Referral Service communication (i) calls and (ii) letters in 2024.
The information requested on spend on translation and interpretation services by National Health Service trusts is not held centrally, as data is held at integrated care board level.Across 2024, the Telephone Appointments Line team used third party translation services for 425 calls, or 0.04% of all answered calls. We are unable to provide a specific cost for this as it is delivered as part of the overall service specification for the provider. 101,431 letters, or 9.03% of all letters, were sent in a language other than English. There was no net cost for this as the translation had been paid for in previous years and the patients would have been sent a letter in English in the absence of a translated letter. The following table shows the total number of calls in a language other than English, what that language was, and the percentage it represents of all calls: TotalPercentage of total calls using language support in specified languageAlbanian30.71%Amharic10.24%Arabic6916.24%Bengali348.00%Bulgarian92.12%Cantonese51.18%Czech20.47%Dari30.71%Farsi204.71%French30.71%Gujarati20.47%Greek20.47%Hungarian61.41%Hindi81.88%Italian40.94%Kurmanji10.24%Lithuanian20.47%Mandarin51.18%Pashto102.35%Polish204.71%Portuguese153.53%Punjabi214.94%Portuguese Br.10.24%Romanian6014.12%Russian51.18%Somali51.18%Sorani266.12%Slovak51.18%Spanish112.59%Sylheti92.12%Tigrigna20.47%Turkish214.94%Ukrainian71.65%Urdu286.59%Total425 Total calls105,49420.04% of total calls used language support In addition, the following table shows the total number of letters in a language other than English, what that language was, and the percentage it represents of all letters: TotalPercentage of total letters sent in specified languageAlbanian1,7001.68%Arabian7,1897.09%Bengali9,0698.94%Chinese6520.64%French1,9171.89%Greek9350.92%Gujarati3,2073.16%Hindi1,9431.92%Hungarian9790.97%Italian1,9611.93%Kurdish2,2182.19%Lithuanian1,3471.33%Persian2,3802.35%Polish8,4138.29%Portuguese3,5383.49%Punjabi5,7605.68%Romanian5,4275.35%Russian1,7791.75%Slovak1,6801.66%Somali2,7872.75%Spanish3,4813.43%Tamil2,5432.51%Turkish3,9443.89%Urdu14,87614.67%Wolof260.03%Other languages11,68011.52%Total translated101,431 Total letters1,123,8299.03% of total letters sent were translatedSource: NHS England
How much was spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation on the 111 NHS contact number in 2024.
The NHS 111 service is nationally specified and locally commissioned. Each NHS 111 provider is responsible for procuring language interpretation services. The only centrally procured interpreting service is British Sign Language, as this is a seperate video relay channel not linked to the NHS 111 voice numberNHS England does not hold information relating to the cost of locally procured language interpretation services.
How much his Department spent on (a) external tenders and (b) contracts for (i) translation and (ii) interpretation services in the NHS in 2024.
The Department’s expenditure with external suppliers of translation or interpretation services in the 2024 calendar year was £16,833. This was mainly for providing accessible, easy to understand versions of technical and legal documents for patients and the public.