The clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are currently looking at different options as to how they can work together in the future to consolidate their current collaborative working arrangements. The emerging preferred option from the public, member, staff, partner and stakeholder engagement so far, is a single CCG in Durham, which would be co-terminus with the local authority and a single CCG in the Tees Valley (covering the Tees Combined Authority area) with a shared management arrangement.

The CCGs in Durham have been working together for some time with joint appointments since 2014 and ‘in-common’ meetings since May 2017. NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG and NHS North Durham CCG also have a shared lay member for patient and public participation.

Should the CCGs decide to progress the merger application at the end of August, a Communication and Engagement Strategy, which is currently in development, will be submitted with the application.

The following table shows the percentage change in total funding for NHS England and the local authority public health grant in each year since 2013:

Notes:

¹ 2015-16 includes a £200 million in-year cut implemented in advance of Spending Review 2015.

² Spending Review 2015 baseline, includes the transfer in October 2015 of funding from NHS England to local authorities for commissioning services for children aged 0 – 5 in October 2015.

³ From 2017/18, includes funding retained by 10 Greater Manchester local authorities as part of a business rate pilot, not allocated via a grant.

Capital Nurse is a National Health Service programme with over 90 projects working to support recruitment and retention of nurses in London. The Capital Nurse vision and objective is to ‘get nursing right for London’, so that London has the right number of nurses, with the right skills in the right place, working to deliver excellent nursing wherever it is needed. The programme is jointly sponsored by Health Education England, NHS England and NHS Improvement.

NHS Improvement and NHS Employers have been working in partnership to deliver a national programme of action to support NHS trusts to improve retention of the nursing and clinical workforce. This provides targeted support to trusts on key issues affecting retention, such as flexible working, supporting new starters and older workers, and development and career planning. Trusts’ commitment has enabled a national improvement in nursing turnover rates from 12.5% to 11.9% since the beginning of the programme (June 2017).

Around 1 million NHS workers are already benefiting from the Agenda for Change (3 year) pay and contract reform deal agreed last year. The deal includes important changes to pay and non-pay benefits to help support recruitment and retention of all staff, including nurses, and boost productivity in return for additional pay investment.

Data is not available in the format requested.

The Department has made no assessment of the effect on patients of the accreditation of the Society of Homeopathy by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).

The PSA sets standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredits those registers that meet them. The PSA’s list of accredited registers can be used by employers and members of the public to choose a practitioner to meet their needs and be assured they are safe and competent to practise.

The PSA is clear that accreditation is not an endorsement of a particular treatment or therapy or its efficacy but ensures that practitioners are part of a body that works to good practice and is committed to protecting the public.

The Government is listening to concerns raised by doctors that pension tax charges are driving decisions to retire early or limit their National Health Service commitments, and has incorporated the views of the British Medical Association (BMA) and other key stakeholders into the consultation ‘NHS Pension Scheme: proposed flexibility’.

The consultation sets out a potential 50:50 option, offering 50% pension accrual and halved contributions. As part of the five-year general practitioner contract announced earlier this year, the BMA and NHS England asked the Government to consider introducing a 50:50 option as an appropriate flexibility, and the BMA have welcomed this as a step in the right direction.

The consultation period is an opportunity to listen to a range of views before reaching a final position that works for both staff and taxpayers. The Department encourages NHS staff and employers to contribute their views.

The NHS Long Term Plan Implementation Framework asked both integrated care systems and sustainability and transformation partnerships to undertake strategic system planning.

System plans for delivery through to 2023/24 are being developed, with an initial submission in September 2019 and a final submission to follow by mid-November 2019. Plans should fully align across the organisations within each system so that they can subsequently be translated into organisational plans for 2020/21, which will be required in early 2020.

NHS Improvement collects vacancy data for three staff groups; doctors, nurses and ‘other staff’. These vacancy statistics are published for England and at the regional level of North, Midlands and East, London and South.

NHS Digital published the latest NHS Improvement vacancy data which can be found in the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey/february-2015---march-2019-provisional-experimental-statistics

The latest statistics show that as of March 2019, there are over 39,500 nursing and midwifery vacancies in England. In London, there are over 9,300 nursing and midwifery vacancies. The majority of these are filled by bank and agency staff.

NHS Improvement and NHS Employers have been working in partnership to deliver a national programme of action to support National Health Service trusts to improve retention of the nursing and clinical workforce. This provides targeted support to trusts on key issues affecting retention, such as flexible working, supporting new starters and older workers, and development and career planning.

The estimate of the average cost per year in England of treating non-European Economic Area surcharge payers is based on the actual costs of treating surcharge payers in secondary care, and estimates for other National Health Service services based on age, gender and other demographics relative to the general population in England.

On 1 April 2013, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) replaced primary care trusts (PCTs) as the primary commissioner of National Health Service services in England.

Unlike PCTs, CCGs are clinically led, and so are better able to use clinical expertise to assess and prioritise those treatments that provide the safest and most effective outcomes for their population. The evidence suggests that general practitioner-led CCGs have allowed the redesign of patient pathways and local services based on clinical evidence, and a more effective dialogue and partnership with other parts of the health system.

To ensure sufficient space to store stockpiled medicines, we agreed contracts for additional warehouse space, including ambient, refrigerated and controlled drug storage aligned to the possible 29 March exit date. All these types of storage remain available and should be sufficient to meet the additional needs of medicines suppliers to enable them to build or rebuild their stockpiles prior to 31 October. The original procurement was carried out to give additional leeway should the level of storage required be greater than initially estimated. As part our contingency planning for a possible ‘no deal’ European Union exit on 31 October, we have re-assessed the additional warehouse capacity required to meet the six-week stockpile request made of industry and have confidence that the current capacity we have in place for 31 October will be sufficient.

The Government’s Border Delivery Group has been reviewing the readiness of border infrastructures and of traders to comply with customs and borders processes in the United Kingdom and the EU. While the predicted flow rate across the short straits has improved slightly since 29 March, significant disruption would be expected for six months following a ‘no deal’ exit, with the most severe period being the first three months.

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has meetings with many health leaders and other key stakeholders on a regular basis.

All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) rated as inadequate in the annual performance assessment of CCGs are placed in NHS England’s special measures regime. This is a non-statutory, internal support regime, tailored to the CCG’s circumstances, requiring the delivery of an action plan for improvement.

The information is not held in the format requested.

What steps he is taking to improve NHS facilities.

I thank the Minister for visiting the site of the proposed new Longton health centre in my constituency recently. Does he agree that we must deliver new primary care facilities such as this to make sure that improvements in health in my local community continue?

A year on, NHS Property Services is now having to remarket the site of Bootham Park Hospital. In the light of this complete failure and the failure to listen to health professionals locally, will the Minister ensure that the One Public Estate bid is seriously considered as the sale moves forward?

The Minister will be aware that our general district hospital was closed to new admissions in recent weeks, and the reason given was delayed transfers of care. Ever since I was elected, many others have joined me in looking at how we can provide a step-down, step-up facility—a community healthcare hub—with beds in the St Ives constituency. I wonder what funding is available to achieve that aim.

Government cuts have already resulted in significant downgrading and loss of vital services at South Tyneside District Hospital. Since the Department refused to fund the next phase of downgrading, the trust has approached the local authority to borrow £35 million from the treasury to see it through. Does the Minister agree with me and my incensed constituents that it is wrong that we are now being asked to pay for further cuts to our hospital?

What steps he is taking to ensure that (a) adequate resources and (b) highly trained personnel are allocated to health services for vulnerable older people.

I have also just heard the news that we have a new Prime Minister. I am thinking of the man who stands outside with a sign saying that the end of the world is nigh.

The fact of the matter is that the end of life for many of my constituents is tough, because the people in the care sector who support them are poorly paid, poorly resourced and poorly trained. Surely we should go for well-managed, highly trained, highly skilled people in the NHS for every age?