The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4,000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable Member’s questions on her constituency.

The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4,000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable Member’s questions on her constituency.

The Department has not made an estimate on the number of people who have died since being treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions, in the Luton South constituency.

Psychological support is available for those who are beneficiaries of the England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) and their families. The EIBSS provides a grant of up to £900 a year for beneficiaries and family members to access counselling and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved talking therapies. In August 2022, this offer was expanded to enable beneficiaries to access funding for ongoing or longer-term treatment. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/talking-therapy-support.

A bespoke psychological support service for infected blood victims, commissioned by NHS England, is currently being developed, and is intended to go live in early summer 2024.

The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in the Luton South constituency.

Over the past eight years the Environment Agency and Defra have worked with water companies to introduce Event Duration Monitors (EDMs), which provide them with much more information about where and when storm overflows are occurring. Water companies submit annual returns of their EDM data, which are publicly available here. The annual returns for 2023 are not yet available. The 2022 return shows that there were 32 storm overflows reported by Thames Water within the Luton South constituency. Only 5 of these storm overflows had EDM installed in 2022. EDM recorded 12 spills from these 5 overflows in 2022, lasting a total of 8.62 hours. Of the remaining 27 overflows without EDM, 2 were reported as being no longer operational, and their discharge permits have now been revoked. The other 25 overflows were all due to have EDM installed by December 2023. At the end of 2023, the Government target of having all storm overflows in England monitored was met, so EDM data on these sites should soon be available as well.

The Government is committed to supporting individuals to live healthier lives, and at the heart of this is improving access to and levelling-up health and care across the country, including in Luton South. The Department continues to review how health disparities can be addressed and further information will be available in due course.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities also works with services in Luton South to support programmes to reduce health inequalities, including providing evidence and intelligence.

The Government is committed to supporting individuals to live healthier lives, and at the heart of this is improving access to and levelling-up health and care across the country, including in Luton South. The Department continues to review how health disparities can be addressed and further information will be available in due course.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities also works with services in Luton South to support programmes to reduce health inequalities, including providing evidence and intelligence.

The following table shows the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Luton South constituency in each year from 2016 to 2020, by diabetes type.

Source: National Diabetes Audit (NDA)

Notes:

1. A person may have more than one diabetes diagnosis within the NDA. In this case, an algorithm is used to derive the best diagnosis date and diabetes type for each person.
2. Disclosure control has been applied to all figures, as per the NDA publication – all numbers are rounded to the nearest 5, unless the number is 1 to 7, in which case it is rounded to ‘5’.
3. Diabetes type is reported as ‘type 1’ and ‘type 2 and other’ within the NDA. ‘Type 1’ includes where a person is recorded as having type 1 diabetes in the NDA. ‘Type 2 and other’ includes where a person is recorded as having type 2 diabetes, Maturity-onset Diabetes of the Young, other or non-specified diabetes in the NDA.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in Luton South. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.

The target to eliminate waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures was met in July 2022 and we aim to eliminate waiting time of eighteen months or more by April 2023. This will be achieved through increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and engaging with patients to understand choices made regarding their care.

No specific assessment has been made.

NHS England retains oversight of local workforce plans and is updated on vacancy rates. However, recruitment and retention is undertaken at trust level.

In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care, including in Luton South. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians. The NHS People Plan focuses on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. In 2022/23, £45 million has been allocated to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs, the Professional Nurse Advocates programme and expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service.

This information is not held in the format requested.

There are currently 12 or 70.6% of general practitioner practices in Luton South Parliamentary constituency rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission.

This information is not collected in the format requested.

Since 2010, 13 care homes in Luton South have been ‘deactivated’. The Care Quality Commission records care homes which have closed as ‘deactivated’. The ‘deactivated’ locations exclude care homes where the provider continues to operate under a new, separate registration. This could be due to a legal entity change or a change in the provider.

In September 2013, there were 21 practices registered in Luton South, with 18 practices registered in October 2022.

Practices close for a variety of reasons, including practice mergers or retirement. A reduction in practice numbers does not indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice closes, patients are informed and advised to register at another local practice of their choice. Practices and commissioners must put in place appropriate measures to ensure that affected patients have access to general practitioner services.

The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Luton South.

The information is not collected in the format requested.