Tag: Lord Ouseley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of policies and programmes aimed at tackling poverty, in the light of the study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Destitution in the UK, which found that over a million people were destitute at some point in 2015.

Lord Freud

This Government has introduced a wide range of policies and programmes to transform lives, from the flagship reform of Universal Credit to the Troubled Families Programme and the Pupil Premium. The majority of these programmes are audited

We know that work is the best route out of poverty. Evidence shows that almost three-quarters of poor workless families who found full employment escaped poverty; and that the highest poverty exit rate of 75% was for children living in families that moved from part to full employment.

That is why this Government is committed to policies that provide people with the support they need at all stages to get into work, increase their earnings, and keeping more of what they earn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of continuing care home closures, what plans are in place to meet the care needs of the growing elderly population.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department has not seen loss of capacity of social care provision. The Government recognises that the care sector is operating in a challenging financial environment and continues to engage with the care sector to understand their concerns about their financial viability and the sustainability of services.

The Care Quality Commission monitors the finances of the largest care businesses to identify likely insolvencies that would stop services. The Department continues to monitor the whole of the market of care providers, engage with the sector to better understand the challenges they face and support local authorities who purchase services.

The Department is working closely with the Local Government Association to consider targeted action to address the issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 12 November (HL3373), what they intend to do to prevent discriminatory treatment of BME mental health patients, and what assessment they have made of the implications of discriminatory treatment for patients in mental health wards.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We are aware that people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups often report poorer experiences of mental health services and there is some evidence of people from BME groups experiencing ethnic discrimination in how services are delivered by not ensuring equitable access or meeting diverse cultural needs.

The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010 make it clear that people should not be discriminated against on the grounds of race or mental impairment. People with mental impairments are included within the groups of people with Protected Characteristics within the Equality Act 2010.

The Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice makes it clear that decisions relating to people detained under the Act should be lawful and in accordance with the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010.

The Department established the Mental Health Equalities Working Group (EWG) in 2013 to advise on equality and human rights issues, including BME issues.

The Joint Commissioning Panel published guidance in 2014, Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for people from black and minority ethnic communities, which set out 10 key messages for commissioners to improve services. A copy of the guidance is attached.

The Coalition Government published Closing the Gap: priorities for essential change in mental health in 2014, which included a specific action to tackle inequalities around access to mental health services and we continue to work to achieving that action. A copy of this document is attached.

The Department commissioned the Mental Health Providers’ Forum and the Race Equality Foundation to gather and review evidence of effective mental health services for BME groups, which was published this year. The report, Better practice in mental health for black and minority ethnic communities, found that organisations that were successful in providing mental health services that meet the needs of BME groups had developed local community-based approaches to service delivery which addressed cultural and linguistic differences and sought to actively engage hard to reach groups. A copy of this report is attached.

NHS England is also working with a number of BME groups and community leaders to raise awareness, reduce barriers and improve the uptake of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) to all sections of the community. We are also working with the National Health Service and commissioners to disseminate guidance and good practice of what good mental health services for BME communities look like.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what analysis has been undertaken about the impact and demands for public health and care services due to loneliness and isolation suffered by pensioners, in the light of the Local Government Association’s estimate that more than one million people aged over 65 are lonely.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department recognises that loneliness can have a negative impact on a person’s general health and has prioritised prevention through the Care Act 2014. The Department has not undertaken an analysis of the impact loneliness places on public health and care services. We do take account of research in developing our policies, including or example, the Campaign to End Loneliness report Loneliness: the State We’re In (2012) which shows that loneliness has an effect on mortality that is similar in size to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, is worse for us than obesity, and is also associated with conditions such as cardiovascular disease. A copy of the Campaign to End Loneliness report is attached.

The Local Government Association has highlighted that loneliness is a complex problem. A range of interventions and solutions are required to identify adults who are lonely or socially isolated and to provide them with the support they require.

As part of Public Health England’s programme of work to support local action on health inequalities, we commissioned the UCL Institute of Health Equity to produce a series of resources setting out practical approaches that local areas could adopt to reduce health inequalities. One resource in the series focuses on social isolation across the lifecourse. It provides information and guidance to support local authorities, NHS clinical commissioning groups and their stakeholders to develop effective strategies to prevent and reduce social isolation. A copy of Reducing social isolation across the lifecourse is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-05-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the freeze on housing benefit rates, combined with an extended benefit cap and rising rents, on homeless families, and especially children, in particular in cases where local authorities have to place families in temporary housing far away from their local areas.

Lord Freud

The Government routinely publishes cumulative analysis of the impacts of its tax, welfare and public spending policies on households. The most recent assessment was published at Budget 2016 and is available on gov.uk. Nevertheless, such static analysis is limited in that it cannot robustly capture the behavioural changes encouraged by these policies. Considering welfare measures in isolation, such as Housing Benefit changes, would fail to recognise the impacts of tax and spending decisions such as the increase to the personal allowance and the provision of early years’ childcare, which are benefitting families up and down the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue with the Troubled Families Programme in the light of the National Institute of Economics and Social Research’s recent analysis.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

At the Spending Review 2015, £720 million was allocated to fund the remaining four years of the new Troubled Families Programme (2015 – 2020). We are absolutely committed to continuing to help this group of people, to help these vulnerable families that have some of the most complex needs of people in the country. We are looking at the evidence from the evaluation of the first Troubled Families Programme (2012-2015) to see how things could be done differently, to learn from it and see if there is even more we can do to improve the lives of troubled families.

We have already learnt lessons from the first Troubled Families Programme and reflected them in the design of the new programme. We have published an overview of the first programme (attached) which highlights the improvements that have been made: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-first-troubled-families-programme-2012-to-2015-an-overview

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to increase the proportion of people with atrial fibrillation who are treated with anticoagulation therapy in order to prevent stroke.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has identified improved management of atrial fibrillation as a priority for reducing premature mortality.

NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) is taking action on atrial fibrillation. It is promoting the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within GP practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the NHS, which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with atrial fibrillation who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke. NHS IQ is currently collaborating with partner organisations, including charities, to support the nationwide roll-out of GRASP-AF.

To support this work, NHS IQ recently published an analysis of the costs and benefits of using the anticoagulant drug warfarin to help prevent stroke in people with AF. A copy of this analysis is attached.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) also published a Quality Standard on atrial fibrillation in July 2015, which sets out what a high quality atrial fibrillation service should look like and will help drive improvement locally. A copy is attached. The Quality and Outcomes Framework contains indicators for the management of AF which cover the use of anticoagulation therapy. This provides a further incentive for doctors to ensure AF patients receive anticoagulation where appropriate to manage their risk of stroke.

Public Health England (PHE) has recently published their Atlas of Variation which includes data on atrial fibrillation. Full data for all 216 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) cannot be included in this reply due to its large size, but a map giving an overview of the results is attached. PHE have also collaborated with the Stroke Association to produce individualised CCG level reports on current performance in the detection and management of patients with atrial fibrillation to try and encourage poorly performing areas to improve.

The majority of the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) have made atrial fibrillation management a priority, and in London the three Academic Health Science Networks and the SCN have identified atrial fibrillation as being the first area where there is a collaborative effort to improve performance.

One of the options now available for clinicians managing patients with atrial fibrillation is the novel oral anticoagulants. These drugs are useful when patients are unable or unwilling to tolerate warfarin and should result in a greater proportion of the population with atrial fibrillation being effectively treated. Additionally, NICE have now approved the use of devices to self-monitor warfarin, reducing the need for patients to attend health centres for blood testing. Again this should make anticoagulation easier and more acceptable for some patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to respond to the report by 4Children Britain’s Families Thriving or Striving?, and in particular the surveyed views of young people aged 16–24 that they wanted more political education in schools.

Lord Nash

The new national curriculum includes an improved programme of study for citizenship education at key stages 3 and 4. The programme of study is designed to prepare pupils to play a full and active part in society and fosters political awareness. In citizenship lessons, pupils learn about democracy, government, and how laws are made and upheld. These lessons should equip pupils to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments.

In partnership with youth organisations, the Cabinet Office has published a collection of democratic engagement learning resources developed in partnership with organisations such as UK Youth and Scottish Youth Parliament. They are designed to enable different groups, including young people and students, to discuss the importance of democratic participation and registering to vote. These learning resources, such as Rock Enrol!, are available to download for free and can be used in schools to encourage young people to participate in democracy and register to vote.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-05-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take any action to ensure that local authorities comply with their legal duty to provide to homeless families temporary accommodation that is safe and suitable.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Housing Act 1996 requires that local housing authorities must ensure that all temporary accommodation they secure is suitable. Not to do so is unlawful. Households in temporary accommodation have the legal right to seek a review of any decision to place them in unsuitable accommodation. If households are unsatisfied with the response then they have redress to the courts.

To help frontline decision makers make those decisions right first time DCLG fund the National Homelessness Advice Service to provide free expert advice, training and support to homelessness professionals. In December 2015 Government also provided a £5 million fund to help the 25 councils facing the most significant homelessness pressures to ensure people are moved from temporary accommodation and into suitable homes as soon as possible.

Households leaving temporary accommodation now spend, on average, less time in temporary accommodation than they did in 2010. The numbers of households in temporary accommodation remain well below their peak, when they hit 101,000 in 2004.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether consideration is being given to prohibiting the use of tasers in detained settings for people with mental health conditions.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The deployment of police officers to mental health settings and the tactics used are an operational matter for the police.

Any use of force by police officers must be appropriate, proportionate, necessary and conducted as safely as is possible. If police officers need to use force, it is right that they are expected to account for their actions.