My Question to the Government about NHS England Funding – Announcement to Media
Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Given that in the last two years very large sums of money have been spent on test and trace, establishing a successful vaccine programme, Nightingale capacity and other one-offs for the pandemic, how much of that money will become available to spend on the other work that is now so desperately needed in the NHS?
Minister of State (Mr Edward Argar): My right hon. Friend will know that by far and away the overwhelming majority of that money was one-off spending to tackle the pandemic in its most acute phase. We will need to continue to spend some of that on therapeutics, vaccinations and similar.
On other things, such as the significant increase in infrastructure and understanding that we have built in test and trace and in testing and diagnostic capacity, I am looking at how a long-term legacy can be born of that and how we can transition the learnings and infrastructure from that to continue to deliver for patients in more normal times.
My Question to the Government about Large Goods Vehicle Drivers – Driving Licences
Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, by what date his Department expects the backlog of HGV licence applications to be cleared.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ms Trudy Harrison): The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is prioritising applications for vocational driving licences, including those for HGV entitlement. There is no backlog for provisional vocational licences and these are being processed within the normal turnaround time of five working days.
The DVLA has significantly increased the processing of vocational licence renewals and has moved more staff into this area. Given this, the DVLA expects to be processing applications for both provisional vocational licences and renewals within normal turnaround times by early November. The large majority of those applying to renew an HGV licence can continue driving while their application is being processed.
My Question to the Government about NHS Waiting Lists
Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide details of how the NHS plans to reduce waiting lists.
Minister of State (Mr Edward Argar): We intend to publish the elective recovery delivery plan in November 2021.
We have committed further £1 billion this year to the existing £1 billion Elective Recovery Fund, with more than £8 billion in 2022/23 to 2024/2025. This could deliver the equivalent of nine million more checks, scans and procedures and allow the National Health Service to deliver the equivalent of 30% more elective activity by 2024-25, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
We will also establish a new £700 million Targeted Investment Fund, which includes £250 million to enable cutting edge technologies and £250 million to increase operating theatre capacity and improve productivity in hospitals.
