It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

No assessment has been made. There is no general provision which allows the National Health Service to recover the costs of problems which have occurred during treatment in the private health sector. Where a private sector hospital or surgeon has been negligent and that negligence results in a damages claim against the party concerned, there is provision for the NHS hospital which subsequently treated the patient to recover specified monetary amounts from the compensator up to a specific maximum, which is currently £54,682 for care and treatment.

There are no financial or other arrangements for private providers to be added the list of providers. Any provider may submit a self-declaration stating that their full end-to-end process meets the minimum standards set out in legislation. Following the review of these self-declarations by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the provider may be added to the list of private testing providers, subject to their meeting the minimum standards. This is the first stage of a three-stage assessment process in order to attain full UKAS accreditation.

NHS Test and Trace testing is not being used for the Test to Release scheme as this is an optional scheme for international arrivals from non ‘red list’ countries to allow them to shorten their isolation period. The private sector has successfully delivered tests for this scheme since its introduction on 15 December 2020.

All frontline health and social care staff, including dentists and dental staff, involved in direct patient care are included in phase one of the COVID-19 vaccine deployment. The definition of health and social care staff covers those delivering National Health Service or privately funded care.

In planning for the COVID-19 vaccine programme, NHS England and NHS Improvement have sought to ensure that vaccinations are accessible to those who are not registered with a National Health Service general practitioner. The contractual agreement under which general practices will deliver COVID-19 vaccinations - The General Practice COVID-19 vaccination programme 2020/21 Enhanced Service Specification - enables practices, working within their Primary Care Network groupings, to vaccinate unregistered patients provided they are eligible for a vaccination. Individuals who are not registered with a general practice will therefore be able to access the vaccine.

We are working with local authorities and other community partners to minimise the risk of local outbreaks occurring to respond swiftly and effectively to stop the spread of COVID-19. As of 18 December, we have over 270 local contact tracing partnerships in place, with more in implementation. In the week 3 to 9 December, 96.6% of contacts where communication details were given were reached and told to self-isolate, an increase from 92.5% in the previous week.

To support these local responses, we have already made £700 million additional funding available for local authorities in England to develop robust, tailored outbreak control plans to identify and contain potential outbreaks.

This information is not held in the format requested.

Local authorities have the autonomy and flexibility to determine the fee rates they pay care providers. Their decision on appropriate rates of care is based on local market conditions. The Department continues to support local authorities with their Care Act 2014 duties to ensure that their local market remains effective and able to meet people’s care needs.

We are committed to bringing forward a plan for social care to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect and to find long term solutions for one of the biggest challenges we face as a society.

Where individuals are not eligible for financial support, they make their own arrangements for care services and pay the fees. The fees are set out in a contract between the individual and the care provider.

We are committed to bringing forward a plan for social care to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect and to find long term solutions for one of the biggest challenges we face as a society.

The data is not held in the format requested.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England. The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID-19 patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment. The latest collected information shows that over 215,000 patient contacts had taken place under the contract.

Independent providers have continued to provide urgent operations for their private pay or insured patients as well as for NHS patients. From the middle of May 2020, independent providers have also been able to provide more routine elective work to private pay or insured patients and where this has been agreed locally with the NHS.

Regarding future provision of NHS treatment, an invitation to tender will be issued by NHS England and NHS Improvement to the healthcare market in October 2020. It will invite providers of elective care services to put themselves forward to be appointed to a framework and, as such, available to deliver elective services to NHS patients, on a cost-per-case basis, at rates reflecting those paid to providers for the same services pre-COVID-19

As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This includes additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector, and to maintain the Nightingale hospitals, in their current state, until the end of March 2021.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England. The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID-19 patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment. The latest collected information shows that over 215,000 patient contacts had taken place under the contract.

Independent providers have continued to provide urgent operations for their private pay or insured patients as well as for NHS patients. From the middle of May 2020, independent providers have also been able to provide more routine elective work to private pay or insured patients and where this has been agreed locally with the NHS.

Regarding future provision of NHS treatment, an invitation to tender will be issued by NHS England and NHS Improvement to the healthcare market in October 2020. It will invite providers of elective care services to put themselves forward to be appointed to a framework and, as such, available to deliver elective services to NHS patients, on a cost-per-case basis, at rates reflecting those paid to providers for the same services pre-COVID-19

As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This includes additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector, and to maintain the Nightingale hospitals, in their current state, until the end of March 2021.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England. The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID-19 patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment. The latest collected information shows that over 215,000 patient contacts had taken place under the contract.

Independent providers have continued to provide urgent operations for their private pay or insured patients as well as for NHS patients. From the middle of May 2020, independent providers have also been able to provide more routine elective work to private pay or insured patients and where this has been agreed locally with the NHS.

Regarding future provision of NHS treatment, an invitation to tender will be issued by NHS England and NHS Improvement to the healthcare market in October 2020. It will invite providers of elective care services to put themselves forward to be appointed to a framework and, as such, available to deliver elective services to NHS patients, on a cost-per-case basis, at rates reflecting those paid to providers for the same services pre-COVID-19

As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This includes additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector, and to maintain the Nightingale hospitals, in their current state, until the end of March 2021.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their whole local markets to ensure that they are sustainable, diverse and offer high quality care and support for people in their local area.

On 15 April, the Department published COVID-19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care, which set out measures that the Government and other parts of the system were taking to support people in receipt of adult social care, both at home and in other settings. A copy of the Action Plan is attached. On 15 May, the Department published the Care Home Support Package backed by the £600 million Infection Control Fund. It sets out measures on infection prevention control, comprehensive testing, clinical support, local authority care homes support plans and support to build the workforce.

The Care Quality Commission conducts robust inspections to make sure that service providers meet quality and safety standards.

Dentistry is a universal NHS service available to all who are entitled to use NHS services. There are no age restrictions. If anyone of any age is having difficulty finding a National Health Service dentist they should contact NHS 111 for advice on locating a practice able to offer care. There have been no reports that NHS England and NHS Improvement are aware of that older people have more difficulty than younger people in finding an NHS dentist.

Information is not held on the number of practices in England covered by an NHS contract. Information is held on the number of treatment locations there are in England where NHS dentistry is provided. This information is not held for 1990 or 2000 or 2015. As of 1 March 2020, the NHS Business Services Authority advises there were approximately 7,400 treatment locations in England providing some NHS care. Information is not held on which of these saw patients over the age of 65. NHS dentists are expected to treat patients of all ages and it would be very exceptional if a practice happened to have no patients in this age group.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals in the United Kingdom as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England. This has increased NHS capacity and ensured that more facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Throughout this period, independent providers have continued to provide urgent operations for NHS patients, as well as their private pay or insured patients.

As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This will allow the NHS to continue to use the extra hospital capacity acquired from the independent sector and also to maintain the Nightingale hospitals until the end of March.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.