Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 3 on page 5 of the Five Year Forward View Mental Health Task Force report, published on 15 February 2016, if he will make it his policy to provide equal funding for mental health services.

Alistair Burt

We are committed to achieving parity of esteem between mental health and physical health. The Mental Health Taskforce estimates that the priority recommendations for the National Health Service set out in their report will cost an additional £1 billion annually by the year 2020/21. By the end of this Parliament we will make the Taskforce’s recommendations a reality.

This builds on the £1.4 billion over this Parliament that has been previously announced for transforming children and young people’s mental health and improving support for eating disorders.

All of the Taskforce report recommendations are funded from within the overall envelope agreed in the Spending Review. All of the £1 billion announced with the Taskforce report represents additional investment over and above what was allocated to the NHS in 2015/16.

We are already spending more money on mental health than ever before – an estimated £11.7 billion last year. This shows our commitment to achieving an equal status between mental and physical health services. We have been clear that commissioners must continue to increase investment in mental health services each year at a level which at least matches their overall expenditure increase.

We will monitor this closely to ensure this happens and know that clinical commissioning group spend is on track to increase as expected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve transparency of (a) spending and (b) outcomes in the NHS on mental health.

Alistair Burt

The report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce acknowledged the need for increased transparency on mental health spending and the quality of care that people receive.

We are moving forward the data and transparency agenda and a new dataset for mental health will be published by April this year.

NHS England has already set a principal commitment to achieving mental health parity of esteem. Through its assurance process NHS England will hold individual commissioners to account for increasing spend on mental health in line with their increase in allocations, taking account of the mental health funding that has been received.

We have welcomed the Taskforce’s recommendations for government in the report and will be considering how best to integrate them into our current work programme, as well as new policies as they develop.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement the six priorities of the Roadmap for Mental Health Research in Europe.

Ben Gummer

In their report, published on 15 February, the Mental Health Taskforce recommended that the United Kingdom should aspire to be a world leader in the development and application of new mental health research. The Taskforce also recommended that mental health research should follow the Roadmap for Mental Health Research in Europe, published in September 2015.

The Taskforce asked specifically that the Department, working with relevant partners, should publish a report by February 2017 setting out a 10 year strategy for mental health research. Departmental officials have already met with the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the mental health research charity MQ, and other charities to re-establish arrangements for a more determined approach to co-ordination of mental health research. The next meeting is planned to take place in early April, and developing the 10-year strategy will be a key item on the agenda.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of changes to training funding on the numbers of child psychotherapists training and qualifying as part of the NHS workforce.

Ben Gummer

In the November 2015 Spending Review, the Government announced changes to how healthcare student places will be funded. The policy intention of the reforms is to change the funding system for pre-registration undergraduate and postgraduate courses in nursing, midwifery and allied health subjects. From 1 August 2017, these courses will be funded through the standard student loans system; and will not receive Health Education England funding for tuition and students or an National Heaslth Service bursary. The changes will apply to new students only.

Child Psychotherapists courses are not included in the policy intention for these reforms as they do not attract funding through the NHS Bursary Scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to develop a long-term workforce strategy for learning disabilities.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was established to deliver a better healthcare workforce for England and using all available data is accountable for ensuring that we have a National Health Service workforce in the right numbers, with the right skills, values and behaviours to respond to the current and future needs of patients.

HEE has been working with Skills for Care, Skills for Health and national transforming care partners to deliver a comprehensive workforce strategy to transform services for people with a learning disability, autism and/or behaviour that challenges to make a significant and lasting improvement to their care and lives.

HEE has developed and made available a number of enabling tools and resources that can be utilised throughout Transforming Care Partnership including:

– a Learning Disability Skills and Competency Framework which adopts a competency based approach to workforce planning and development;

– a series of role templates to support the development of community and enhanced community teams; and

– HEE Learning Disability Expert Reference Group Chaired by Baroness Hollins is exploring the career framework opportunities within health and social care for the development of new roles and education and training pathway.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have not (a) attended a work capability assessment or (b) reported to a jobcentre when requested have been exempt from benefit sanctions because of extenuating circumstances relating to their mental health in each year since 2010.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the principles to underpin reform in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report from the Independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England, published in February 2016, what steps his Department plans to take to integrate care spanning people’s physical, mental and social needs.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Spending Review set out an ambitious plan so that health (including mental health) and social care are integrated across the country by 2020. My Department is working closely with the Department of Health and others on delivering this ambition. Every part of the country must have a plan for achieving integration in 2017, implemented by 2020.

The Government has provided a package of support of up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their most vulnerable residents. This includes an extra £1.5 billion funding through the improved Better Care Fund, which will continue to bring together funding and services across health and social care to support the provision of integrated care for vulnerable people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time for children between referral for an autism diagnosis and first diagnostic appointment was in each clinical commissioning group and primary care trust area in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not collect this information centrally.

No formal statistics are collected of autism referrals, initial assessments or diagnoses. The Department does however commission Public Health England each year to carry out a self-assessment exercise with local authority areas on progress they are making in implementing the Autism Strategy for Adults in England.

NHS England has almost completed a programme to visit clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to identify and share good practice in accessing timely autism diagnosis. NHS England with support from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has visited a selection of areas to talk to CCGs and local authorities about their Autism Diagnostic Care Pathways and post diagnostic support. A report on this work will go initially to the June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) baselines and (b) targets are used to measure the performance of the Care Quality Commission.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has developed baseline performance indicators across its functions which are included in the Business Plan for 2016-17 together with the relevant indicators and targets to measure progress. The CQC will publish the business plan on its website shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35736, when he expects the qualitative analysis on key themes to become available.

Alistair Burt

The qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans will be published by NHS England as soon as possible.