The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the NHS England plans to publish its consultation on the future of mental health support for veterans of the armed forces, referred to in the NHS England Mental Health Taskforce.
Alistair Burt
NHS England published its consultation on Developing the mental health services for veterans in England on 25 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for the policies of the Cabinet Office of the recommendations of the Mental Health Taskforce report, published in February 2016.
Alistair Burt
We welcome the recommendations for government in the report and will be considering how best to integrate them into our work programme. There will be an impact on policies across Government in this period and, more importantly, a positive impact on people using mental health services.
The Mental Health Five Year Forward View Taskforce Report proposes, and we accept, investing over £1 billion of additional funding by 2020/21 to reach one million more people. There are a number of recommendations in the report which will have an impact on crisis care services, accident and emergency departments, mothers suffering from mental health problems, suicide prevention, children and young people’s mental health services, access to psychological therapies and the physical health of people with mental health problems. The £1 billion announced with the Taskforce report is the total annual cost for all areas in 2020/21.
Announcements on the development of policies, including those with reference to implementing the Mental Health Taskforce will be made in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy to accept and implement the (a) 25 recommendations made to NHS England and (b) 21 recommendations made to his Department by the Mental Health Taskforce in its report published in February 2016.
Alistair Burt
We welcome the publication of the independent Mental Health Taskforce report and accept its recommendations for the National Health Service and the Department. We will work with other Government Departments, NHS England and other health arm’s length bodies to work to embed the recommendations into our work programmes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28900, on mental health services, if he will make it his policy to collect that information.
Alistair Burt
In January, the Secretary of State for Education and Secretary of State for Health announced the Government’s intention to establish a new regulatory body for social work to drive up standards with an ambition to raise the quality of social work, education, training and practice in both children’s and adult’s social work.
As part of this work, we are exploring the feasibility of establishing a national register for Approved Mental Health Professionals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23475, on what date in March 2016 he expects the first report on progress against the referral to treatment element of the Early Intervention Psychosis access standard to be published.
Alistair Burt
The Health and Social Care Information Centre Monthly Statistics – Provisional January 2016, which includes experimental statistics relating to the Early Intervention for Psychosis access standard, is scheduled to be published on 31 March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which clinical speciality area had the highest drop-out rate for trainee doctors in each year since 2010.
Ben Gummer
The requested information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) female and (b) male adult inpatient mental health beds were available on average over weekends in each year since 2010.
Alistair Burt
This information is not available centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the employment rate is for (a) the general population and (b) people experiencing enduring and severe mental health issues who are being supported by specialist mental health services.
Justin Tomlinson
The employment rate for 16 to 64 year olds within the UK is 74.1 per cent; this is based on the latest available figures from the Labour Force Survey covering the period of November 2015 to January 2016.
A measure of those people in contact with mental health services who are ‘experiencing enduring and severe mental health issues’ is not available as a description to identify this group is not currently defined.
On 15 February, the Prime Minister announced that tens of thousands of people with mental health conditions will be supported to find or return to work. Action will be taken across government, the NHS and private companies to treat potentially debilitating mental health conditions early on through improved access to care and to help those already struggling with mental health issues to find or return to work.
The new approach is based on recommendations from the Mental Health Taskforce which set out a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem and which recognised clear links between work and good mental health and the need for more people to be able to access treatment early on so they can avoid long-term unemployment.
DWP secured over £115m, including at least £40 million for a health and work innovation fund to pilot new ways to join up across the health and employment systems, in addition to existing £43m for a range of mental health trials.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure paramedics receive appropriate psychological support after witnessing traumatic events.
Jane Ellison
Management of the frontline workforce, including arrangements for any psychological support, is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts. All ambulance trusts have internal debriefing support services and through occupational health, staff have access to professional counselling services.
The Department commissions NHS Employers to support providers of NHS services in ensuring and improving staff health and wellbeing. They provide a wide range of advice, guidance and best practice, including toolkits on mental health and stress in the workforce.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many paramedics have taken time off work due to stress in each of the last five years.
Ben Gummer
This information is not collected centrally. Individual ambulance trusts are responsible for helping improve the health and wellbeing of their paramedics including helping them manage their stress.