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60647

	registered interest
	date	09/06/2014
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the commissioning of homecare services by the NHS.
	tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
	tabling member printed	Jason McCartney
	uin	199709
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>It is important that patients, including those with cystic fibrosis, get those high cost drugs provided through homecare services on time.</p><p> </p><p>The Department commissioned a review of homecare medicine supply arrangements to ensure they deliver the best value for patients, the National Health Service and the provider market. The review report, <em>Homecare Medicines: </em><em>Towards a Vision for the Future,</em> was published in December 2011 and is available at:</p><p> </p><p>http://media.dh.gov.uk/network/121/files/2011/12/111201-Homecare-Medicines-Towards-a-Vision-for-the-Future2.pdf</p><p> </p><p>The outcome of subsequent improvement work is summarised in the further report, <em>Homecare Medicines: Towards a Vision for the Future - Taking Forward the Recommendations</em>, published in May 2014 and available at:</p><p> </p><p>www.uhns.nhs.uk/AboutUs/NHSHomecareMedicinesinEngland.aspx</p><p> </p><p>NHS England issued a patient safety alert on minimising the risks of omitted and delayed medicines for patients receiving homecare services on 10 April 2014. This recommended that all healthcare organisations that commission clinical homecare services:</p><p>- establish if medicine homecare services were used by their organisation and if incidents of omitted and delayed medicines had occurred;</p><p>- consider whether immediate action needed to be taken locally and, if required, develop an action plan, to reduce risk and the potential risk to patients;</p><p>- disseminate the alert to all medical, nursing, pharmacy and other staff involved in the care of homecare patients; and</p><p>- report patient safety incidents concerning homecare to the National Reporting and Learning Service.</p><p> </p><p>A copy of the patient safety alert is available at:</p><p> </p><p>www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/psa-omitted-delayed-meds.pdf</p><p> </p><p>The Department continues to work with NHS England, homecare companies, pharmaceutical suppliers and the NHS to ensure that homecare arrangements are safe and deliver value for the NHS and improved outcomes for patients.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter grouped question UIN 199708 question first answered 16/06/2014 13:15:27 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
	tabling member	3953 label Biography information for Jason McCartney

100021

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2014
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to facilitate the portability of home-based care packages between local authorities in different countries in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh East
	tabling member printed	Sheila Gilmore
	uin	905560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2014 answer text <p>Adults with care and support needs should be able to move between countries within the United Kingdom knowing that their care will continue during the move.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As the care and support systems in the four countries are different, we are developing principles with the Devolved Administrations to ensure continuity of care for people moving.</p><p> </p><p>These should be published in November.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 21/10/2014 15:45:44 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
	tabling member	3965 label Biography information for Sheila Gilmore

100315

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2014 to Question 209191, for what reason fewer HM Revenue and Customs investigations into the home-care sector were carried out in 2013-14 than 2012-13.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	211547
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>HMRC does not keep data in a format to enable provision of the statistics requested on the amount of arrears paid or not paid to workers. HMRC contacts every employer whom they find has paid workers below the National Minimum Wage to confirm that they have paid the identified arrears to the workers. In addition, where it has found arrears for five or fewer workers it will contact all the workers to confirm payment by the employer. In cases involving arrears for more than five workers it will contact a minimum sample of five workers to confirm payment by the employer. HMRC will pursue non-payment of arrears through civil recovery action.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline and will always investigate any case of possible National Minimum Wage abuse. Therefore there will always be variation in the number of cases investigated within specific sectors.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke grouped question UIN 211605 211653 question first answered 03/11/2014 15:22:53 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

177384

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy on agency care workers so as to maximise the time spent with those for whom they provide home care.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
	uin	223116
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>It is not clear what ‘bureaucracy’ is being referred to. Some bureaucracy or form-filling is required for legitimate purposes e.g. care records and forms related to employment (for example timesheets to enable staff to be paid, record of training and development for regulation by the Care Quality Commission).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care and Support statutory guidance issued under the Care Act 2014 clearly articulates that local authorities should ensure that commissioned services result in effective provision of care. It states:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>4.31 When commissioning services, local authorities should assure themselves and have evidence that contract terms, conditions and fee levels for care and support services are appropriate to provide the delivery of the agreed care packages with agreed quality of care. This should support and promote the wellbeing of people who receive care and support, and allow for the service provider ability to meet statutory obligations to pay at least minimum wage and provide effective training and development of staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This applies whether staff are directly employed or are agency staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act guidance can be found at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315993/Care-Act-Guidance.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315993/Care-Act-Guidance.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 16:38:58 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
	tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn

381491

	registered interest
	date	16/06/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals for changes to the Care Act 2014 to ensure that social carers spend sufficient time with each patient.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	2646
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2015 answer text <p>Care workers are routinely tasked with caring for individuals with intimate care and support needs, for example helping those who are older or who have a disability to do everyday things like wash, dress and get out of bed. It is unrealistic to think that very short home care visits, for example, those lasting less than 15 minutes would be enough time to do this - it is not fair on those who need care and it is not fair on care workers. Through the Care Act, the Government has made it clear that commissioning services without considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It is the Government’s position that it would be inappropriate to introduce new or amend existing legislation to address this issue, for example, by specifying a minimum time length for home care visits. Short care visits may be appropriate for specific, non-intimate tasks such as checking medication has been taken.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Commissioning for high quality care requires a more fundamental culture shift where the outcomes individuals want to achieve sits at the heart of every decision made by a local authority. This is best achieved through guidance and support.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department has published statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act that describes how local authorities must meet these new duties when commissioning. The Department has also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association to co-produce a set of standards to support local authorities to assess and improve their commissioning practices.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 24/06/2015 11:15:46 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

417287

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment teams operating in England and Wales offer 24-hour home visits seven days a week.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9323
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2015 answer text <p>This information is not held centrally.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt grouped question UIN 9325 question first answered 10/09/2015 15:05:01 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

421722

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that carers are able to give each patient an appropriate amount of time on visits.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	12117
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2015 answer text <p>In most cases, very short visits from care workers are incompatible with high quality care. However, short visits may be appropriate in certain circumstances. For instance, checking medication has been taken.</p><br /><p>Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services, not the Government but both Government and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) agree that inappropriately short home care visits are unacceptable.The Care Act sends a clear message that commissioning services without properly considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable.</p><br /><p>In September 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on homecare which state that homecare visits should not normally be less than 30 minutes long. The Department published statutory guidance to the Care Act which directs local authorities when commissioning to consider national standards including NICE guidelines.</p><br /><p>Further, the Department worked with ADASS and the Local Government Association (LGA) to produce a framework of standards, ‘Commissioning for Better Outcomes’ which explicitly states that inappropriate use of short visits is not compatible with best practice. The framework is designed to support local authorities to improve their commissioning practices using self-assessment and peer challenge through the LGA’s programme of sector-led improvement.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 23/10/2015 13:23:58 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

449297

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many home visits were provided to adult social care clients (a) in total and (b) per 1,000 of the population aged 65 and over in each English local authority in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	Westminster North
	tabling member printed	Ms Karen Buck
	uin	24975
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2016 answer text <p>We are informed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre that the information requested is not collected centrally.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 08/02/2016 13:00:29 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	199 label Biography information for Ms Karen Buck

637833

	registered interest
	date	16/11/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities do not commission 15-minute homecare visits for personal care in the circumstances set out as not appropriate for such a length of visit in paragraph 4.101 of the Department of Health's Care and Support Statutory Guidance.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Teresa Pearce
	uin	53192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2016 answer text <p>The statutory guidance to the Care Act 2014 is clear that local authorities should commission services to meet the needs of individuals and that very short home care visits would not normally be compatible with high quality care.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities are responsible for commissioning decisions, accountable to their local populations through elected members. The Government does not routinely intervene in individual decisions, but both the Government and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) agree that inappropriately short home care visits are unacceptable.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has worked with local government and the care sector to develop and encourage good practice in commissioning and managing local markets. A suite of guidance is now available at the online Hub that is now published on GOV.UK under market shaping and commissioning.</p><p> </p><p>In particular, the guidance ‘Commissioning for Better Outcomes’ (under Resources for Commissioners) is being actively used in the sector to improve commissioning and directly asks commissioners to review how short home care visits are used.</p><p> </p><p>We are working with the Local Government Association (LGA) and ADASS through a sector-led improvement approach to encourage best practice and improve local commissioning skills. Specifically, the Department funds the LGA to deliver the Care Health Improvement Programme.</p> answering member constituency Warrington South answering member printed David Mowat question first answered 23/11/2016 16:09:19 answering member 4080 label Biography information for David Mowat
	tabling member	4003 label Biography information for Teresa Pearce

795670

	registered interest
	date	28/11/2017
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will earmark funding to support the recruitment and retention of carers who provide personal homecare visits.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Dr Rosena Allin-Khan
	uin	116024
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2017 answer text <p>In 2017/18 the Department has provided Skills for Care with funding of £22.3 million to deliver the Department’s adult social care workforce priorities including the recruitment and retention of domicilliary care workers.</p> answering member constituency Thurrock answering member printed Jackie Doyle-Price question first answered 06/12/2017 13:10:21 answering member 4065 label Biography information for Dame Jackie Doyle-Price
	tabling member	4573 label Biography information for Dr Rosena Allin-Khan