Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to ensure that clinical commissioning groups monitor for unintended consequences to patients after implementing a restrictive prescribing policy.

Nicola Blackwood

NHS England is responsible for ensuring that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are fulfilling their statutory role and making decisions in line with published guidance. However, it is the responsibility of individual CCGs to monitor the impact of commissioning decisions in its area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health places of safety for detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 accept under 18 year olds; and what that figure is as a proportion of that total number of places.

Alistair Burt

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has conducted a survey of health based places of safety and used the results to produce a Map of Health Based Places of Safety. From this, we estimate that 139 (around 85%) of the 164 health-based places of safety in England will admit under 18 year olds. However, we are aware that this is based on self-description by providers in response to CQC’s survey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Community and Social Care of 14 October 2015, Official Report, column 464, how many veterans the 10 mental health teams have supported in each year since they were opened.

Alistair Burt

From April 2013 to 30 September 2015 the 10 NHS England regional veteran mental health teams have supported a total of 8,425 veterans. This is broken down in the table below.

2013/14	2014/15	2015/16 to September 2015
2,741	3,505	2,179

The numbers represent the total accessing the 10 veterans focussed services in England. Veterans are also able to make full use of NHS mental health services, for example, in 2013/14, 14,882 self-identified veterans used local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

Numbers were not collected centrally prior to April 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hours were worked by a (a) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies practitioners and (b) other therapists in the NHS in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

There were 756 training places commissioned for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (Adult IAPT) programme in 2014/15. The commissioning intention for 2015/16 is 946.

Information is not available of what proportion of National Health Service psychological therapists are IAPT practitioners. We also do not hold information on the number of hours worked by IAPT practitioners and other therapists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the £600 million additional funding for mental health announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 will be allocated to (a) talking therapies, (b) perinatal mental health support and (c) crisis support.

Alistair Burt

The additional £600 million for mental health over the next five years announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement is additional to current spending. The levels of funding in individual years and the specific mental health service improvements it will fund will be determined in the new year, once the Mental Health Taskforce has reported.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many sexual assault referral centres offer therapeutic services for (a) adults and (b) children under 18.

Jane Ellison

The independent review of pathways for victims of sexual assault was commissioned by NHS England. Work on next steps, including production of a summary report, is ongoing.

Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) service models vary from area to area, dependant on the commissioning decisions taken by police and Police and Crime Commissioners in partnership with their NHS England commissioners. Data on the numbers of SARCs offering therapeutic services is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to collect information centrally on the proportion of the mental health budget that is spent on forensic psychiatry.

Alistair Burt

Forensic Services is one of the collections in NHS England’s new programme budget collection for mental health. NHS England is planning to publish 2014/15 data in early 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to the severe disability premium on young carers.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government has no plans to make changes to the existing Severe Disability Premium which is available in means-tested benefits such as Income Support. It is not a qualifying condition for an award of Carer’s Allowance that the person being cared for is entitled to the Severe Disability Premium. Neither Carer’s Allowance nor Universal Credit (which also contains an additional amount for carers) are available to claimants aged under 16.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with serious mental health issues are receiving appropriate physical health care.

Alistair Burt

We are committed to ensuring that the physical health of people with serious mental health issues is treated in the same way as the rest of the population.

The delivery of physical checks and interventions to individuals with a serious mental health problem who are in NHS commissioned inpatient settings is now incentivised via a national Commissioning for Quality and Innovation indicator. Any needs identified by these health checks are met with the necessary interventions or referral to another clinician for assessment diagnosis and treatment.

With other initiatives undertaken by NHS England and its partners, which include making information accessible to the public on the availability of health checks and supporting the development and rollout of tools and guidance to improve physical health assessment in primary care, we will continue to increase access to the same health initiatives that benefit the general population. This will support improved health outcomes and reductions in unnecessary emergency and unplanned physical care for people with a serious mental health issue.

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 £400 million of investment announced for crisis home resolution teams in communities is in addition to the (a) £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) £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.