Blog

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the recorded interest rates of all PFI-financed projects in operation and commissioned by the NHS.

    Alistair Burt

    The great majority of funding for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes (usually 90%) comes in the form of two types of senior debt – a loan from a bank or a bond raised in the capital markets.

    The remaining cost of the project (10%) is paid in as equity share capital or equity-like loans (subordinated debt) from specialist investors. This enables projects to be financed where there are risks which the bank lenders are unwilling to bear (akin to a deposit when arranging a mortgage). Given these risks, the costs of raising this equity finance are higher.

    The combination of these two types of finance and therefore the overall cost of raising all the finance for the project can then be ascribed an annual percentage rate which is known as the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) or more commonly the Project Internal Rate of Return (Project IRR).

    The pre and post-tax nominal and real IRRs for equity and the WACC for all NHS hospital PFI schemes which had reached financial close from 1997 (the first) to 2009 were published as part of the Department’s evidence to the House of Commons Health Select Committee (HSC) Public Expenditure Inquiry 2009. The link is below and the information can be found at Tables 12A and 12B:

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhealth/269/269i.pdf

    Another four hospital PFI schemes have reached financial close since 2009. The information related to them is not held in the form requested; to identify and collate it would incur disproportionate cost.

    “

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to support children who have experienced abuse; how much funding has been allocated to (a) mental health services, (b) therapeutic services and (c) other support services for such children over each of the last five years; and what plans there are to vary the level of that funding.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in the Future in mind report and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access to high quality support across the country. This transformation is being supported by £1.25 billion of additional Government investment, as well as an extra £150 million to help young people with eating disorders.

    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 (CCGs), 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. This includes those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation.

    NHS England increased funding of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) from £8.98 million to £16.5 million in 2014/15 recurrently, especially to improve the paediatric response to the needs of sexually abused children. NHS England continues to make the health services response to sexual abuse a priority, and in addition to producing a five year plan for commissioning SARCs, they are planning to engage with CCGs on the delivery of therapeutic care to support survivors.

    The Government has set up the first ever cross-Government Ministerial Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling abuse of children. The Taskforce’s work will build on the Government’s wide-ranging reforms to create a care system that puts children’s needs first.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many bed days relating to delayed transfers of care out of tier four child and adolescent mental health services beds there were in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

    Alistair Burt

    Data from NHS England indicates that between November 2015 and February 2016 there were 1,834 bed days relating to delayed discharges. This represents the total number of days from when a patient should have been discharged until when they were, or until 1 February 2016 if the patient had not yet been discharged by this date.

    Data prior to November 2015 is inaccurate and no data exists prior to April 2013.

  • 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 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23898, what (a) estimate he has made and (b) target he has set for the number of the liaison psychiatry services in A&E departments which will meet (i) Core, (ii) Core 24, (iii) Enhanced 24 and (iv) Comprehensive standard as set out by the NHS South West Strategic Clinical Network by 2020.

    Alistair Burt

    The latest available data, based on the 2nd annual national survey of liaison psychiatry carried out by the University of Plymouth on behalf of NHS England in April 2015, provides the following estimates of service grading in line with NHS South West Strategic Clinical Network’s service model specification:

    Service model

    Number of acute hospitals

    None

    11

    Sub-core

    134

    Core

    21

    Core 24

    10

    Enhanced 24/Comprehensive

    3

    The Government announced a £247 million investment over four years to 2020/21 to expand provision of liaison mental health in acute hospital settings. NHS England estimates that this will bring at least 50% of acute hospitals to the ‘Core 24’ service grading.

  • 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 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of B12 vitamin deficiency.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department raises awareness of B12 vitamin deficiency through the NHS Choices website. It provides a comprehensive web-based health information service and provides advice on areas such as health and diet, including a section on vitamin B12.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance states that information about awareness, diagnosis and treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency should also be provided by public health care professionals.

  • 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 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what advice his Department gives to employers on supporting employees who return to work after a period of mental illness.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on workplace health management practices. This guidance provides evidence based recommendations on improving the health and wellbeing of employees, and can support organisations to develop effective return to work policies. The guidance is complemented by earlier guidance published by NICE on promoting mental wellbeing at work.

    Additionally, guidance on the NHS Choices website provides advice for line managers on supporting employees with long-term medical conditions, including those with mental health conditions. This can be found at the following link:

    http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/workplacehealth/Documents/ChronicConds_LineManagers_Factsheet_A4.pdf

    Public Health England is working with Business in the Community on a new resource for businesses focused specifically on addressing mental health issues building on the existing best practice and considering the transferable learning between business sectors and businesses of different sizes.

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24627, on mental health: tribunals, if he will make it his policy to record this information.

    Caroline Dinenage

    As noted in my response to PQ 24627, the Ministry of Justice does not hold this information and has no plans to record it.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP surgeries (a) closed, (b) opened and (c) merged in (i) London, (ii) each London borough and (iii) each Trust area in London in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not held in the format requested.

  • Victoria Borwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Victoria Borwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Victoria Borwick on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to help maintain access to local GPs for people in Central London.

    Alistair Burt

    This is a matter for NHS England.

    Where a single-handed general practitioner (GP) retires, it is the responsibility of NHS England to ensure the patients of that practice have continued access to National Health Service primary medical services.

    When a single-handed GP retires an assessment is made on a case by case basis taking into account a range of factors including the demographic profile of patients, alternative local GP capacity and quality, and, patient and stakeholder engagement. This assessment informs the decision as to whether to procure a new service provider or to facilitate patients to register with alternative local GPs.

    In terms of future planning NHS England and London Clinical Commissioning Groups are aware of the ages of GPs which may be an indication of future retirements, however, there is no set age for retirement. Capacity planning is constantly under review and considers both potential retirement as well as other factors such as population growth, premises and range of services to be provided which then informs commissioning strategy.

  • Victoria Borwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Victoria Borwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Victoria Borwick on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on health care provision in Central London of trends in the number of GPs retiring from single-handed practices (a) over the last five years and (b) in the next five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This is a matter for NHS England.

    Where a single-handed general practitioner (GP) retires, it is the responsibility of NHS England to ensure the patients of that practice have continued access to National Health Service primary medical services.

    When a single-handed GP retires an assessment is made on a case by case basis taking into account a range of factors including the demographic profile of patients, alternative local GP capacity and quality, and, patient and stakeholder engagement. This assessment informs the decision as to whether to procure a new service provider or to facilitate patients to register with alternative local GPs.

    In terms of future planning NHS England and London Clinical Commissioning Groups are aware of the ages of GPs which may be an indication of future retirements, however, there is no set age for retirement. Capacity planning is constantly under review and considers both potential retirement as well as other factors such as population growth, premises and range of services to be provided which then informs commissioning strategy.