Select Committee · Health and Social Care Committee

Workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care

Status: Closed Opened: 23 Nov 2021 Closed: 26 Apr 2023 38 recommendations 35 conclusions 1 report

Reasons behind staff leaving the health and social care sectors and how to tackle them will be examined in a new inquiry. Workforce recruitment and training will also be explored. The Committee has heard repeatedly that more staff will be needed to meet future demand and deal with the backlog caused by the pandemic. Existing …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, training and retenti… HC 115 25 Jul 2022 73 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

5 items
9 Recommendation Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, … Deferred

Require Government to publish funded maternity workforce plan matching RCOG staffing levels within six months.

There is an urgent need for a robust and funded maternity-wide workforce plan, which must be delivered without further delay. The Government must commit to funding, recruiting, and retaining the workforce at the level set out by the forthcoming report of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Once this …

Government response. The government agreed with the need for robust workforce planning and committed to publishing an NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan shortly, which will include projections, but did not commit to specific funding and recruitment levels or the six-month plan …
Department of Health and Social Care
10 Recommendation Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, … Deferred

Require Government to publish detailed plan for £200-350 million additional maternity funding within six months.

The Government has accepted the recommendation, first made by this committee and then by the Ockenden report, that maternity services should be funded by an additional £200–350 million per annum. The Government must lay before Parliament, within six months, a plan for this spending increase, detailing exactly how much additional …

Government response. The government did not provide the requested spending plan or commitment to lay one before Parliament within six months, instead redirecting the committee to previously published responses to expert panel evaluations on maternity workforce.
Department of Health and Social Care
60 Recommendation Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, … Deferred

Publish a fully costed plan for funding Level 5 diplomas for care home managers.

It is clear that some care home managers lack the training and support they need to stay in post. We welcome the Government’s commitment to fund Level 5 diplomas for those who need them, and we urge the Government to publish a fully costed plan for doing so by the …

Government response. The government broadly agrees, stating it has published plans for workforce reform in the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ white paper and will set out more detailed plans, including for training, in due course.
Department of Health and Social Care
61 Recommendation Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, … Deferred

Introduce a new mandatory Care Certificate by 2023, formally assessed and portable.

By 2023, the Government must introduce a new, mandatory Care Certificate which is i) subject to a formal assessment process, ii) externally offered and accredited, iii) offered at no cost to providers, and iv) portable between social care providers and between social care and the NHS.

Government response. The government broadly agrees, referencing its workforce reform plans in the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ white paper, which include reforming the Care Certificate for portability, and will set out more detailed plans in due course.
Department of Health and Social Care
67 Conclusion Third Report - Workforce: recruitment, … Deferred

Social care workers require key worker status to access affordable housing.

Social care workers should be designated as key workers on the same basis as public sector employees so they can access affordable rented housing from local authorities and registered providers.

Government response. The government is committed to supporting access to affordable housing but states there is no single national definition of key workers for this purpose, empowering local authorities to make these decisions for their areas.
Department of Health and Social Care

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions
Date Witnesses
28 Jun 2022 Chevonne Baker · Right at Home UK, Dr Claire Fuller · Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System, Dr Hugh Porter · Nottingham City Integrated Care Partnership, Matthew Taylor · Good Work Review, Saffron Cordery · NHS Providers, Sarah Sweeney · National Voices View ↗
7 Jun 2022 Amanda Pritchard · NHS England, Matthew Style · Department of Health and Social Care, Michelle Dyson · Department for Education, Professor Stephen Powis · NHS England, Rt Hon Sajid Javid · Department of Health and Social Care View ↗
24 May 2022 Danny Mortimer · NHS Employers, Dr Denise Chaffer · Royal College of Nursing, Dr Navina Evans · NHS England, Gill Walton · Royal College of Midwives, Ian Trenholm · Care Quality Commission (CQC), Professor Em Wilkinson-Brice · NHS England, Ravi Sharma · Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Shawn Charlwood · British Dental Association (BDA) General Dental Practice Committee, Simon Williams · Local Government Association View ↗
11 May 2022 Dr Latifa Patel · British Medical Association (BMA), Isaac Samuels, Health and social care community campaigner and social care recipient, Lara Akinnawonu · Cardiff University, Professor Colin Melville · General Medical Council, Professor Hazel Scott · University of Liverpool, Professor Malcolm Reed · Medical Schools Council, Professor Roger Kirby · Royal Society of Medicine, Professor Scott Wilkes · University of Sunderland, Sophie Weaver, Town councillor and social care recipient, Trevor Wright, lived experience witness View ↗
22 Mar 2022 Dr Vishal Sharma · Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust, Dr Wen Wang · University of Leicester, Jacqui McBurnie · NHS England and NHS Improvement Menopause Group, Nina Hemmings · Nuffield Trust, Prema Fairburn-Dorai · Primary Homecare in Suffolk, Professor Carol Atkinson · Manchester Metropolitan University, Professor Carol Woodhams · University of Surrey, Professor Dame Clare Gerada · NHS Practitioner Health, Shilpa Ross · The King's Fund, Wayne Jaffe · University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust View ↗
1 Mar 2022 Chris Hopson · NHS England, Dr Emma Hayward · University of Leicester, Gamu Nyasoro · Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Jane Ashcroft CBE · Anchor Hanover, Lara Bywater · LDC Care, Nicola McQueen · NHS Professionals, Oonagh Smyth · Skills for Care, Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard · University of Birmingham, Rachael Dodgson · Dimensions, Sarah McClinton · Association of Directors of Adult Social Services View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
6 Sep 2022 Correspondence from the Chief Executive of NHS England on Workforce: recruitme…