Category: Speeches

Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities in training staff to identify and support those with mental health problems, and to link services in local areas to support mental health strategies.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is important that local authorities employ individuals who possess the necessary skills to engage effectively with those with mental health problems. Local authorities should make training opportunities available to all staff.

Mental health social workers empower individuals with mental illness and their families, carers, and communities to lead fulfilling, independent lives. On 1 September this year applications for a new fast track route into mental health social work careers opened for an intensive on-the-job programme called Think Ahead. The programme aims to attract promising students and graduates into mental health careers.

Health Education England, working with NHS England, aims to ensure that there are sufficient therapists and other staff with the right skills to support the identification of mental health issues.

Community mental health services, which include community mental health teams, crisis and home resolution teams, assertive outreach teams and early intervention in psychosis teams, all have a key role in supporting people with mental health problems either to avoid the need for in-patient care or to provide them with on-going support once in-patient treatment is no longer necessary.

From April 2016, the first set of mental health waiting time standards will be introduced which requires that 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis are treated with a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved package of care within two weeks of referral; 75% of adults referred to the national programme for psychological therapies will be treated within 6 weeks, and 95% within 18 weeks.

This is supported by an £80 million funding package for 2015-16 from NHS England’s budgets, breaking down as:

‒ £40 million recurrent funding to support delivery of the early intervention in psychosis (EIP) standard;

‒ £10 million to support delivery of the new psychological therapies standards; and

‒ £30 million to support liaison psychiatry in acute hospitals.

The Time to Change initiative is an ambitious national programme being delivered by leading mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness to reduce stigma and discrimination towards people with mental health problems. The Department, the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief have all provided funding for the programme.The Department funded the campaign with over £16 million between 2011-12 and 2014-15 and is continuing to fund the programme with £2.5 million in 2015-16. Time to Change continues to work with people with experience of mental health problems to challenge attitudes and discrimination; run social marketing campaigns and work with local and regional partners on community-led activity. To date, more than 350 organisations across England have committed to tackling mental health stigma and discrimination in the workplace.

01/01/2023
Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-11-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reproduce Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, using an appraisal period of (a) 10, (b) 20 and (c) 30 years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.

01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, where repairs to (a) the Strategic Road Network and (b) other key local roads are required in each region following recent flooding; and what estimate he has made of those repairs.

Andrew Jones

The flood recovery envoy for Yorkshire, the Minister of State for Transport (Mr Goodwill), convened a meeting on January 7 2016 with North Yorkshire County Council, wider local representatives, the military and Highways England experts to finalise a plan for reconstructing Tadcaster Bridge. The Government is providing £3.3m of funding immediately to repair the bridge. It has incurred substantial damage and the current estimate is that it will take up to a year to repair.

The Department for Transport is working closely with affected local highway authorities following the recent storms encountered in some areas of the country. As part of this work, local highway authorities are assessing the damage caused and likely estimated costs. It is too early to provide an estimate of the repairs or likely timescales until all waters have receded.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23662, if she will make an assessment of the risk of coal sourced by owners of power stations in the UK coming from countries where safety and labour standards in mining are poor.

Andrea Leadsom

Decisions on where to source coal are a commercial matter for the owners of coal-fired power stations. Contracts for the purchase of coal are awarded to individual mining companies, not countries. The majority operators of power stations in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles which companies in the supply chain are expected to align with.

01/01/2023
Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to counter people trafficking.

Karen Bradley

We are committed to tackling people trafficking and all forms of modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to tackle modern slavery, ensures that perpetrators can receive suitably severe sentences up to life imprisonment, enhances support and protection for victims and places a duty on large businesses to report on what they are doing to stop modern slavery occurring in their global supply chains. We have successfully lobbied for the establishment of the first ever UN Sustainable Development Goal to end modern slavery and are working with a range of international partners to tackle slavery and its causes. We are also piloting a new approach to identifying and supporting potential victims of slavery through the National Referral Mechanism and we have appointed an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to spread best practice in the UK and overseas.

01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

None. My Department does not receive any funding from the European Social Fund.

01/01/2023
Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there is a specific allocation within Local Growth Deal funding for Local Enterprise Partnerships for spending on transport.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Department for Transport is contributing over £7 billion of the £12 billion Local Growth Fund. This includes £475m reserved for major transport schemes too large for regular Growth Deal allocations. We expect that transport schemes will continue to feature strongly in Local Enterprise Partnerships’ proposals for further funding, though LEPs have flexibility in what they bring forward and how they use the funding.

01/01/2023

Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new developments and initiatives they are currently undertaking as part of their support for British candidates for senior positions in the UN and for the deployment of UK civilian staff with relevant expertise to key roles in the UN, both in its operations and at the UN Headquarters.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

It is in UK interests, and it is a Government priority, to encourage and support British candidates for senior positions in the UN and to promote the deployment of UK civilian staff with relevant expertise to key roles in the UN, both in its operations and at the UN Headquarters.

To this end the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has strengthened and restructured its team of officials working in this area. In collaboration with other government departments it is;

(i)	Targeting a broader range of UN agencies.
(ii)	Expanding the talent pool of potential UK candidates for top jobs and in parallel further developing pipelines for UK nationals coming through the ranks.
(iii)	Encouraging British nationals interested in international jobs to register on a specifically developed International Opportunities Database.
(iv)	Providing targeted support to candidates applying for positions of strategic importance to the Government.
(v)	Ensuring that these opportunities are communicated as widely as possible to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds.

01/01/2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on consultancy and legal fees since it was established.

Mr David Jones

The Department has been billed for £12,711 in relation to legal fees since it was established. There has been no spend on consultancy fees during this period.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many instances were recorded in which a person was restrained physically by placing their face on the floor in a mental health ward in each year from 2012.

Nicola Blackwood

Prone restraint data for years since 2012 is not available. NHS Digital began collecting the number of incidents of prone restraint on mental health wards for adults and for children and young people in January 2016. In line with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice, this data is undergoing evaluation.

01/01/2023