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  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether, as part of the NHS Five Year Forward View, local sustainability and transformation plans should include measures to improve children and young people’s mental health; and on what outcomes they will be assessed.

    Alistair Burt

    Local health economies are developing a five year Sustainability and Transformation Plan which will set out how they will implement the Five Year Forward View in their area. They will identify and collectively agree the priorities to address over the next five years. We expect the improvement of children and young people’s mental health to be a key priority for many local health economies and NHS England will support these areas to develop transformative plans for these services. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will be assessed through a new CCG assessment framework and their progress with transformation will be included.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is available for children who have been abused to avoid long-lasting psychological problems; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England published a Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Services in August 2015 which outlines the core services in SARCs and referral pathways to other services. These are now being rolled out throughout England.

    Local Transformation Plans will set out how local organisations will use the additional investment of £1.4 billion the Government is making during the course of this Parliament to transform local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. All clinical commissioning groups working closely with their partners in local government, Children’s Services and education, have developed plans to transform their local offer. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. The guidance issued by NHS England in August specifies that the plans should set out what will be done to address the needs of children and young people who are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems including, for example, those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to extend the mental health and schools link pilot scheme to post-16 further education establishments.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department will make a decision on how to build on the outcome of the pilot once the training workshops have been delivered and the evaluation has been completed. This pilot is currently running in 27 Clinical Commissioning Group areas.

    Officials are working with the Association of Colleges to ensure that effective links are being made between the pilot areas and their local colleges, so that they are involved in the development of shared protocols and longer term planning for the provision of children’s mental health services.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23220, when he expects the project to which he referred to publish its recommendations.

    Jane Ellison

    We do not expect the recommendations to be available until early 2017.

    The mandatory recording of primary diagnosis within accident and emergency departments is expected to be considered within the scope of the work to develop an improved data set for urgent and emergency care. Given the scale and complexity of the project, the final report is not expected before 2017.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the £35,000 minimum income threshold on the numbers of migrant workers in the adult social care workforce who will be eligible to stay in the UK from April 2016 onwards.

    Alistair Burt

    Skills for Care, the partner in the sector skills council for social care, in England, collects information on the adult social care workforce in England.

    Skills for Care estimates show that between 1,500 and 2,500 migrant workers in adult social care regulated professional roles may not have an income sufficient for settlement. However, the vast majority of these roles are registered nurses who are exempt from the requirement to earn £35,000 whilst the role is or has been on the shortage occupation list.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to safeguard 16 and 17 year olds from child sexual exploitation.

    Karen Bradley

    Tackling child sexual exploitation is a top priority for this Government. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to collaborate across force boundaries, to safeguard children, to share intelligence and to share best practice.

    The Government has overhauled the legislative options available to the police in tackling child sexual exploitation. Most importantly we have introduced new Sexual Risk Orders (SRO) and Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) which the police can now use to manage an individual who presents a risk of sexual harm to a child, including a young person aged 16 and 17. The Government has also removed all references to the misleading and unhelpful terms ‘child prostitution’ and ‘child pornography’ from statute via the Serious Crime Act 2015. The law now explicitly recognises these harmful activities for what they are: child sexual exploitation.

    This Government is committed to supporting victims of sexual exploitation, in December 2014 the Government announced a £7 million uplift to services supporting survivors of sexual abuse, including child sexual exploitation. This was in addition to the £1.72 million a year the Home Office provides to part fund 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisors to work with and support victims. In January 2016, the Ministry of Justice announced that Government will continue the £7 million uplift to support survivors and victims of sexual abuse, including child sexual exploitation.

  • Lucy Allan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lucy Allan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Allan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of sexual offences committed against children in Telford.

    Karen Bradley

    Tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a top priority for this Government and we are taking a wide range of actions to reduce sexual offences against children. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to collaborate across force boundaries, to safeguard children, to share intelligence and to share best practice.

    We have introduced new powers for the police to tackle offenders including new Sexual Risk Orders in the Serious Crime Act. The College of Policing and the National Policing Lead have set the requirement for all forces to train all new and existing police staff to respond to child sexual abuse. We have also made £1.5 million available to the National Policing Lead to fund National CSE Action Plan regional co-ordinators and analysts to drive improvements in the police response and better identify organised abuse.

    Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary published a report on its National Child Protection re-inspection of West Mercia Constabulary on 21 January this year. Although HMIC highlighted some areas that needed improvement, inspectors found that West Mercia Police had reviewed its public protection structures, systems and processes and had invested significant extra resources into child protection.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to support the implementation of the Family Test.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office has incorporated the Family Test into the impact assessment process, which directs officials to the Family Test guidance published by the Department for Work and Pensions in October 2014.

  • Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of policing on university campuses following the violent protests and criminal damage by demonstrators at an Israel Society event at King’s College London last week.

    Mike Penning

    The operational policing of protests and demonstrations are principally a matter for Chief Officers of each force in England and Wales.

    Peaceful protest is a vital part of a democratic society. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views. However, like all members of the public, protesters are subject to the law. Should individuals cross the boundary into criminal acts including public order offences, criminal damage, hate crime offences or violent behaviour, the police have a range of powers to take action.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that criminalisation of the use or possession of drugs, or injecting equipment, does not deter (a) people from seeking services because of fear of arrest and prosecution and (b) harm-reduction service providers from offering assistance because of concerns about their own legal liability.

    Karen Bradley

    The 2010 Drug Strategy contains a clear ambition that drug users will be supported to become drug free. The UK is a good example of how it is possible to achieve good health outcomes while retaining a criminal offence for drug possession. Service providers are encouraged to create a confidential environment for users to discuss their drug dependency. In addition, data on an individual’s substance misuse is collected in a way which preserves their confidentiality. We will shortly be publishing a new Drug Strategy

    The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its regulations support healthcare providers, including drug treatment services, by providing exemptions for the supply of injecting equipment and other drug paraphernalia where there is evidence that their provision and use will help prevent harm or support recovery. The most recent example of this was the exemption made in 2014 to enable the lawful provision of foil.