The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many deaths by suicide in each age group have been recorded within one month of being released from prison in England in each year since 2010.
Nicola Blackwood
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the population affected by (a) foetal alcohol syndrome and (b) foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency, (b) Liverpool, (c) the Liverpool City Region and (d) England.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Department has made no estimate of the proportion of the population affected by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in England, regionally or locally.
The diagnosis for babies born with FAS may not be made easily at birth, and problems may present only later in childhood, for example at school. Estimates for the incidence of FASD are still more uncertain and relate to the lack of consensus on diagnostic criteria for these conditions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to include in the Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 an explicit requirement to reduce premature mortality among people with autism.
David Mowat
NHS England is due to publish data from the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework. These data, include indicators on mental health and learning disabilities that relate to the objectives set out in the mandate to NHS England. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health will publish his Annual Assessment of NHS England, including progress against the mandate objectives, at the end of this financial year. The 2017-18 mandate to NHS England, including agreed future objectives for NHS England, will be published in due course.
The ‘Think Autism’ Adult Autism Strategy for England set out a clear, cross-Government programme of action, developed with people with autism to improve lives, reduce premature mortality and reduce the health gap for people with autism. This would be achieved through better access to healthcare for people with autism and by making improvements to services. In January 2016, a cross-Government Report on progress on implementation of the Think Autism Strategy was published which set out new recommendations for going forward.
The Department is represented on the Study Steering Committee for the SHAPE (Supporting adults with High-functioning Autism and Asperger syndrome) project. This is a national study led by the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York. Stage 1 of the project aims to describe and map provision of autism services in England which fulfil the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s description of a Specialist Autism Team. A report will be published shortly including information about the service models and care pathways which different localities have implemented.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12901, on mental health services, whether the figures in that Answer include children and young people.
Alistair Burt
The figures set out in the answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12901 include children and young people. The number of times people aged under 18 were taken to police custody as a place of safety under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act fell from 256 in 2013/14 to 161 in 2014/15 (37% reduction)[1].
[1] National Police Chief’s Council: http://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/fall-in-use-of-police-custody-for-those-in-mental-health-crisis
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that CCGs do not reduce expenditure on mental health budgets to cover deficits in the acute hospital sector.
Alistair Burt
NHS England has made a requirement of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the planning guidance for 2015/16, The Forward View Into Action: Planning Guidance for 2015/16, that each CCG’s spending on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s overall funding allocation increase.
CCGs are required to submit their spending plans and their annual accounts to NHS England. NHS England reviews spending, including for mental health, through the CCG assurance process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what safeguards his Department is putting in place to ensure the quality of university specialist mental health mentoring provision when the new single quote system is introduced.
Joseph Johnson
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.
In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.
A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive mental health assessments on entering care; and what assessment he has made of recent trends in such figures.
Alistair Burt
Data is not collected nationally on the number of children entering care who receive a mental health assessment.
Local authorities are responsible for making sure that a health assessment is carried out for every child they look after when they start to be looked after. The care planning regulations specify that this should include an assessment of the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Department for Education annually collects data from local authorities on the numbers of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months at 31 March who received their statutory annual health assessment during the year. At 31 March 2014, 88.4% of these looked-after children did so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners with mental health problems; how many and what proportion of such prisoners are (a) men and (b) women; and how many and what proportion of such prisoners identify as LGBT.
Andrew Selous
The Government has carried out a survey of prisoners assessing levels of mental health problems within the male and female estate. A link to that report can be found here:
We do not hold data on the proportion of the prison population who suffer from mental health problems and identify as LGBT.
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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 how many local authorities have suicide prevention strategies.
Alistair Burt
Data is currently not collected centrally on how many local authorities have in place local suicide prevention strategies and multi-agency prevention groups.
I will be meeting soon with Departmental officials and our delivery partner organisations on suicide prevention to explore ways in which we can work together to progress the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, including improving local delivery of the Strategy, and the collection of information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health trusts (a) Simon Stevens and (b) Sir Bruce Keogh have visited in each year since their appointments as Chief Executive and Medical Director respectively of NHS England.
Alistair Burt
Since taking up post on 1 April 2014, Simon Stevens has either visited or met mental health providers on at least 18 occasions.
Sir Bruce Keogh has visited one mental health trust since his appointment.