Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support patients and families affected by the closure of the Antelope Centre in Southampton; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

These are matters for the National Health Service. NHS Improvement advises that the majority of patients requiring Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) care during the period of closure of the PICU at Antelope House will receive this at the Huntercombe unit in Roehampton, London.

The Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which provides services at Antelope House, is working with partners to provide PICU bed capacity on another site for an interim period of eight months by redistributing staff from the PICU to the hospital’s other two wards. NHS Improvement further advises that the recruitment focus will be on addressing the root causes of staffing issues.

The Antelope House team has begun talking to patients, carers and family members to make sure they are fully aware of decisions that affect them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure access to social housing for people in Liverpool, Wavertree constituency who require such housing.

Gavin Barwell

Through the Spending Review the Government has committed to investing £8 billion to deliver 400,000 affordable housing starts, doubling our investment from 2018/19. This includes £1.6 billion towards delivering 100,000 affordable homes for rent by 2021.

Since April 2010, we have delivered over 293,000 affordable homes. Between 1997 and 2010 the stock of rented affordable homes fell by 420,000. Between 2010 and 2015, the stock of rented affordable homes rented increased by 64,000.

Alongside increasing supply, the Localism act 2011 has maintained the statutory ‘reasonable preference’ criteria which ensure that overall priority for social housing is given to those who need it most.

The introduction of fixed term tenancies in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 will ensure councils get the best use out of their social housing stock by focusing it on those who need it the most for as long as they need it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools.

Edward Timpson

The Department contributed a written submission to the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools in 2016. This is published on the Parliament website.[1] The Committee published the report of its inquiry on 13 September, and the Government will make a formal response to the usual timetable.

The Department does not collect information on the number of cases of sexual harassment or sexual violence either by pupils or by teachers – and it has not produced any estimates.

The closest information held on levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence by pupils is the number of permanent and fixed period exclusions for sexual misconduct, which includes lewd behaviour, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual bullying, sexual graffiti and sexual harassment.

Exclusions information, broken down by reason for exclusion, is published annually by the Department in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release.[2]

The 2015 National Foundation for Educational Research’s teacher voice survey is a nationally representative survey commissioned by the Department. Teachers were asked questions on a range of topics, including common forms of bullying. Sexual bullying was not included as a category, however, a minority reported that homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic bullying was common at their school. The report and data have been published by the Department.[3]

The closest information held on sexual harassment and sexual violence by teachers relates to the number of cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct reported to the Department. However, cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct cover a broad range of incidents and it is not recorded whether these relate to incidents that took place on school sites.

[1] http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/sexual-harassment-and-sexual-violence-in-schools/written/34902.pdf

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-voice-omnibus-june-2015-responses

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were treated for body dysmorphic disorder in (a) Liverpool Wavertree constituency, (b) Liverpool, (c) England and (d) each region in each year since 2010.

Nicola Blackwood

This information is not available in the format requested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Health on the rate of people taking their own lives in prisons.

Andrew Selous

Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we are committed to reducing the rate of self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

My department works closely with the Department of Health on measures to reduce suicide in prisons and in the wider community. Both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Quality and I are members of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody, which also includes the Minister for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice and Victims, senior officials from our respective departments and a range of stakeholders. There was a detailed discussion of the recent data on self-inflicted deaths in prisons at the most recent meeting of the Board on 21 October and further consideration of this topic is planned at the February meeting.

Healthcare staff in prisons play an important role in the identification and management of prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide. Commissioners and providers of healthcare services are active partners with the National Offender Management Service in its work to prevent self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drones carrying contraband goods have been seized within prison grounds in each of the last three years.

Andrew Selous

There were no reported incidents of drones carrying contraband being seized within prisons in 2013; in 2014 there were two reported incidents; and between 1 January 2015 and 31 October 2015 there were eight reported incidents.

This Government has made it a criminal offence under the Prison Act 1952 to throw, or otherwise project, any article of substance into prison without authorisation. This includes the use of a drone.

These figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in preparation for the introduction of waiting time targets for child and adolescent mental health services; and when he plans for those waiting times to come into effect.

Alistair Burt

The setting of a blanket waiting time target for children and young people’s mental health is not feasible due to the wide range of conditions and services this covers, all with very different care pathways. However, we are introducing the first ever waiting time standards for mental health services.

These include an access and waiting time standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder. This states that National Institute of Health and Care Excellence concordant treatment should commence within a maximum of four weeks from first contact with a designated healthcare professional for routine cases and within one week for urgent cases. In cases of emergency, the eating disorder service should be contacted to provide support within 24 hours. The ability of services to meet this standard will be monitored in 2016. From 2017, NHS England will set a minimum proportion of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are expected to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe. Data collected in 2016 will help inform incremental percentage increases, with the aim of 95% of patients being treated within the standard’s timescale by 2020.

We have also introduced an access and waiting times standard on Early Intervention in Psychosis announced in Mental health services: achieving better access by 2020 which came into force in April 2015. Whilst focused on all ages, most individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis are in the 16-25 age group.

NHS England will be working with partner organisations to lead work on the development of further access and waiting time standards for children’s mental health as part of the transformation programme on children and young people’s mental health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Bath to Question 11880, how much of the funding for the Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme has been (a) spent on and (b) allocated to mental health support.

Alistair Burt

The bidding and assessment process for the Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme is now complete. We are looking forward to making an announcement of the successful bids shortly. Mental health is a key issue for homeless people – often part of a range of multiple and complex conditions. The programme will help address these mental health issues by providing decent accommodation and health support for some of the most vulnerable people in the community.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Specialist Training 4 psychiatry posts were filled in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer

The information requested, which has been provided by Health Education England, can be found in the attached document. The Department does not hold data prior to 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to report on the progress of the pilot being run in conjunction with the Department for Education to give schools access to a single point of contact for mental health.

Alistair Burt

The Department for Education and NHS England have commissioned Ecorys to undertake an independent evaluation of the Mental Health Services and School Link Pilots. The evaluation will run from October 2015 to November 2016, covering all 22 pilot sites with Ecorys formally reporting back to the Department for Education and NHS England towards the end of 2016.