The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answers on 7th November 2022:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government how many recipients of Healthy Start vouchers are not in receipt of prepaid cards despite remaining eligible for the scheme.
Lord Markham (Con): The NHS Business Services Authority estimates that as of 18 October 2022, there were 2,954 households previously were in receipt of paper vouchers which have not successfully applied to the NHS Healthy Start prepaid card scheme.
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government whether (1) ministers, or (2) officials, have held discussions with Mastercard to address issues relating to Healthy Start prepaid cards which may prevent the introduction of an automatic registration scheme among eligible families.
Lord Markham: There have been no specific discussions.
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government how many calls have been made to the Healthy Start helpline in each of the most recent six months for which data are available.
Lord Markham: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Month | Number of calls |
| September 2022 | 322,351 |
| August 2022 | 334,180 |
| July 2022 | 297,852 |
| June 2022 | 372,036 |
| May 2022 | 426,480 |
| April 2022 | 215,358 |
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government how many calls to the Healthy Start helpline have gone unanswered, due to lines being busy, in each of the most recent six months for which data are available.
Lord Markham: The information requested is not held centrally.
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.