Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 9 February (HL 5339), whether NHS England and integrated care board aggregate NHS mental health expenditure would still be expected to increase as a share of their total expenditure in 2023/24 compared with 2022/23 if "non-recurrent" expenditure had not been excluded from the baseline calculation; and if not, to itemise and quantify expected "non-recurrent" expenditure in both years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The non-recurrent expenditure excluded from the baseline calculation is the specific funding provided at Spending Review 2021 for costs relating to COVID-19. Central funding for pensions costs is also excluded as this cannot be split between staff working on mental health and other areas. However, making no adjustments, mental health expenditure as a share of total National Health Service expenditure is still expected to increase, from 8.3% in 2022/23 to 8.5% in 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when before 1 April 2023 they will confirm whether NHS mental health funding will increase as a share of overall NHS expenditure in 2023/24, as required by section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 23 January 2023 the Government gave a written ministerial statement setting out its expectation for mental health spending by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) in aggregate in the 2023/24 financial year. It stated that in that financial year, the Government expects mental health spending to continue to increase as a proportion of the total recurrent expenditure incurred by NHS England and ICBs in aggregate.
The following table shows recurrent National Health Service baseline spend as well as the forecast share thereof for mental health for financial years 2023/23 and 2023/24. This includes, at aggregate ICB level, baseline spend within scope of the Mental Health Investment Standard which covers all spending on mental health from an ICB’s core allocations, and at NHS England level, service development fund spending and specialised commissioning spending on mental health.
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Recurrent NHS baseline (£ billion) | 142.4 | 153.0 |
Total forecast mental health spend (£ billion) | 12.7 | 13.6 |
Mental health share of recurrent baseline | 8.90% | 8.92% |
It should be noted that the figures in the table will, in part, be based on projections, owing to the statutory requirement to lay the statement before Parliament ahead of the new financial year.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which of the 40 new NHS hospitals that they propose to build in England by 2030 now have planning permission; and when construction is due to start on each site.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As of 2 February 2023, within the New Hospital Programme, 21 schemes have received either full or outline planning permission. A document is attached of specific details on schemes which have received planning permission and their construction start time frames.
Requirements for planning permission are dependent on when the schemes will progress as part of the New Hospital Programme, and we will continue to support trusts with their planning applications as and when required. This approach to delivery of the new hospitals involves different schemes being grouped into ‘cohorts’, which represent a balance of progress for earlier schemes while enabling implementation standardisation and utilise economies of scale across schemes in later cohorts. This will ensure staff and patients benefit from new facilities that represent improved value for money and realise the full benefits of a programme approach.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) planned construction start date, (2) expected construction completion date, and (3) budgeted cost, for each of the 40 new NHS hospitals they propose to build in England by 2030.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, in addition to eight previously announced schemes.
The schemes are grouped into five cohorts for delivery by 2030, based on an assessment of readiness to progress and the extent to which schemes can realise the benefits of the national programme. This assessment is subject to continuous review and the timescales for individual schemes may change. A current list of schemes and cohorts is attached, due to the size of the data. This includes where schemes are in construction and indicative construction start timescales. There are eight schemes in cohort five, which refers to schemes yet to be confirmed and are currently subject to an ongoing selection process.
At the Spending Review in 2020, the Government confirmed an initial £3.7 billion for the first four years of the programme. Funding from 2024/25 will be set out in further detail at future spending reviews. Specific timetables and funding allocations for individual schemes will be determined through the business case assurance process. In May 2022, the programme secured approval to progress the schemes in cohort two and the approach to delivering the programme was confirmed.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so how, they measure changes over time in the supply of domiciliary social care relative to local need in each upper tier local authority in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Department does not measure the supply of domiciliary care relative to local need in local authorities in England. The Care Act 2014 recognises that local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care and support needs of the local population. Local authorities have a duty to shape care markets to ensure that a diverse range of high quality, sustainable, person-centred care and support services is provided. The Department monitors the number of domiciliary care agencies at national, regional and local authority level using monthly data collected by the Care Quality Commission.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Minister for Higher and Further Education on 24 February regarding their response to Dr Philip Augar's Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, published in May 2019, what proportion of their modelled overall reduction in future costs to taxpayers from student loans arises from (1) the new proposals themselves, (2) changes to the discount rate, or (3) other factors.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The fiscal impacts of the student loan reforms announced on Thursday 24 February 2022 are detailed in full in the equality impact analysis (EIA) published alongside the announcement, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
Updates to the Resource, Accounting, and Budgeting (RAB) charge, that result from the change to the discount rate, announced by the government on 13 December 2021, are provided in Annex B of the EIA linked to above. The proportion of loan outlay issued is not expected to be repaid in present terms. Forecasts of the savings that will result from the reforms, set out in Tables 11 and 12 of the EIA, use the updated RAB as a baseline, meaning the discount rate change does not account for any of these savings.
The forecast savings are wholly attributable to the two-year tuition fee freeze and changes to student loan repayment terms, as set out on page 13 of the higher education policy statement & reform consultation, and do not incorporate other elements of the reform package. The consultation is attached.
The savings do include the changes to the Plan 2 repayment threshold for 2022/23 financial year, announced on 28 January 2022, prior to the announcement of the whole reform package.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government by what date they expect British universities to have a definitive answer as to whether the UK has succeeded in formally associating with the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK stands ready to formalise our association to Horizon Europe at the earliest opportunity. At the recent EU-UK Specialised Committee the EU confirmed they were unwilling to move on UK association due to broader political issues. We continue to push the EU, by whatever means possible, to formalise our association but the EU is not living up to the commitments it made in 2020.
We recognise that delays by the EU have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the UK, including British Universities. To provide reassurance the Government has guaranteed funding for the first wave of eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe.
Given the EU’s persistence in delaying our association, it is only right and responsible that we are prepared for all outcomes, including one where we are not able to associate. Our priority is to support UK researchers and provide immediate stability and continuity for the sector. To this end, we are developing a coherent, compelling and high-quality programme to provide the fellowships, collaborations and industry engagement so valued in Horizon.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy, set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, that funding for mental health services should annually grow as a share of overall NHS revenue expenditure.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increase spending on mental health services in real terms by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24. We are ensuring every clinical commissioning group and integrated care board meets the Mental Health Investment Standard for spending on mental health to increase at least in line with the growth in their overall funding allocations.