Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the number of people who will spend Christmas alone; and what assessment he has made of the effect of loneliness at that time of year on mental health needs.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not carry out an assessment of the number of people who will spend Christmas alone.

Loneliness can have a significant impact on someone’s mental health. It can contribute to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. It can also have a negative impact on a person’s general health. The Campaign to End Loneliness report Loneliness: the State We’re In (2012) identified research 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.

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework does have a measure which shows the percentage of local authority funded adult social care users and carers who have as much social contact as they would like. For 2014/15, it showed that 45% of service users and 39% of carers reported having as much contact as they would like.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20084, if he will make it his policy to collect data concerning the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants that are dispensed by the NHS for patients aged under 18.

Alistair Burt

Currently, information is not available centrally concerning the age of patients prescribed and dispensed specific medicines. However, the NHS Business Services Authority is in the process of developing this capability so that, as a minimum, information can be provided from a sample of prescription items.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016, whether the £247 million of investment announced for liaison mental health services in emergency departments is in addition to (a) the £1.25 billion investment for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health announced by the then Deputy Prime Minister in March 2015 and (b) the £600 million investment for mental health announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Alistair Burt

The investment for liaison mental health services and crisis home response teams detailed by the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016 is funded from within the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21142, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times.

Alistair Burt

Pursuant to my answer and as announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January, we are providing a further £247 million over the next five years to provide 24-hours, seven days a week liaison psychiatry services in accident and emergency (A&E) departments to support people who attend A&E, who may have mental ill health, to ensure they are assessed and receive the most appropriate treatment.

We are making additional resources available to the National Health Service to deal with increased demand in A&E departments by backing the NHS Five Year Forward View with £10 billion a year real terms additional funding by 2020-21, compared to 2014-15, with £3.8 billion real terms growth in 2016-17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant the Answer of 18 December 2015 to Question 20074, on mental health services: children, when he expects that the thematic review will be (a) finished and (b) published.

Alistair Burt

NHS England aims to finalise and publish its thematic review of how the mental health needs of children and young people in vulnerable groups have been addressed as part of the overall Local Transformation Plan analysis by 30 April 2016. A number of thematic reviews have been commissioned as part of the overall analysis of the Local Transformation Plans. One of these thematic reviews focuses on vulnerable groups of children and young people, which will include children who have been abused.

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 25105, when he expects the new resource for businesses on addressing mental health issues to be available.

Alistair Burt

It is anticipated that the guidance will be published in spring 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received representations on requests by schools to parents and carers that children with autism spectrum disorder not attend school during Ofsted inspections in the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The Department is aware of a small number of cases in the last few years where parents and carers have complained about a school either asking a child with autism to stay at home on Ofsted inspection days, or diverting the child to other non-academic activities on those days.

Whenever such complaints have been received, we have been absolutely clear that any request for a child to stay at home during an Ofsted inspection would be an unlawful exclusion and that parents and carers should make a formal complaint to the school’s board of governors. Taking a child out of normal timetabled lessons during an inspection is unacceptable and should be drawn to the attention of the school’s board of governors.

Parents can also ask the Secretary of State to make a determination under Sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996, which give her the power to direct a governing body where it has failed to discharge a statutory duty or has done so unreasonably. Any such direction would have to be expedient, in that there must be something the Secretary of State could direct the school to do which would put matters right.

Depending on the circumstances, parents and carers could also bring a claim of disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

Ofsted’s school inspection framework requires inspectors to take account of schools’ use of exclusion. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that falls within the inspectorate’s remit. If, during the course of an Ofsted inspection, inspectors become aware that a school has unlawfully excluded pupils for the period of the inspection, this will be taken into account in judging the effectiveness of the school and its leadership. If the evidence emerges after the inspection, the matter will be investigated by Ofsted and could lead to the school receiving an unannounced inspection visit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS England is working with (a) clinical commissioning groups, (b) local authorities and (c) other partners to develop and trial a new model of acute in-patient care for young adults aged 16 to 25.

Alistair Burt

Trialling acute inpatient care models for 16-25 year olds was a specific recommendation from Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (FYFV for Mental Health), a report from the independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England, published in February 2016. NHS England has accepted in full the recommendations of the Taskforce and is considering how to take each of the recommendations forward.

The FYFV for Mental Health states:

“NHS England should work with CCGs, local authorities and other partners to develop and trial a new model of acute inpatient care for young adults aged 16–25 in 2016, working with Vanguard sites. This should evaluate: developmentally and age-appropriate inpatient services for this group; supporting young people in an environment that maximises opportunities for rehabilitation and return to education, training or employment; viewing the young person within their social context; and enlisting the support of families or carers. This should build on the existing trials of new models of ‘transitional’ services for those aged 0–25.”

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representations his Department has made to the NHS England consultation on the future of mental health support for veterans of the armed forces.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence takes the mental health of our veterans very seriously. The Department has made no representations in response to the NHS England consultation on the future of mental health support for veterans of the Armed Forces. The consultation is aimed at veterans who have used NHS veterans’ mental health services, their family members and carers, and staff and organisations that are providing mental health care, treatment and support for veterans and their families.

https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/veterans-mental-health-services