Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether participation in the randomised control trial his Department is conducting on in-work progression is mandatory for claimants; and what consequences there will be for claimants who do not wish to take part in that trial.

Priti Patel

Universal Credit claimants who meet the eligibility criteria will be required to participate in the trial. However, we are careful to protect people who are vulnerable. Claimants who are unable to work or earn more due to caring or because of health conditions or disabilities will not be required to participate, and there are a number of further exclusion criteria which generally reflect those applied to out of work UC claimants.

Every claimant participating in the trial will have a tailored Claimant Commitment which is a joint agreement between the work coach and the claimant which sets out clearly what reasonable activity they have agreed to do in order to improve their earnings. Trial participants who fail to engage in the process, or who fail to take the reasonable actions mutually agreed in their claimant commitment without good reason may have their Universal Credit payments reduced under a sanction.

Claimants will be given the opportunity to explain why they have not complied with a requirement. An independent decision maker will consider if a sanction is appropriate and if the claimant had good reason for not complying, taking into account the claimant’s representations. Where a claimant is sanctioned there are clear safeguards in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35959, if he will publish the Government Social Research Code.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government Social Research code is publicly available online: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150922160821/http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/networks/gsr/gsr-code

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made to date on Recommendation 19 of the NHS England Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.

Alistair Burt

The Government is working with delivery partners to carefully consider the Taskforce’s recommendations and aims to publish a strategic Implementation Plan in the autumn that will set out how Government and partners will deliver the recommendations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to recruit specialist staff to facilitate the re-opening of the Antelope Centre in Southampton; by what date he plans for those staff to be recruited; 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 Health, how many children were admitted to adult inpatient mental health wards in 2015-16.

Mr Jeremy Hunt

The data for 2015-16 is not yet available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans that the Northern Chord at the Manchester junction will be retained in the route of HS2.

Andrew Jones

The Secretary of State intends to make an announcement about the remainder of the HS2 route, including the Manchester junction, later this autumn.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to regulate dance movement psychotherapy.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Government is committed to proportionate regulation of healthcare professions. Whilst statutory regulation is sometimes necessary where significant risks to users of services cannot be mitigated in other ways, it is not always the most proportionate or effective means of assuring the safe and effective care of service users.

Occupational and professional groups that are not subject to statutory regulation, such as Dance Movement Psychotherapists, may consider setting up a voluntary register. The Professional Standards Authority accredits those registers that meet its standards, providing patients, the public and employers with assurance about the standards and competence of registrants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2015 to Question 12672, how many specialist midwives have been trained since November 2013.

Ben Gummer

This information is not collected centrally.

Specialist training is offered to midwives through Continued Professional Development (CPD). It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure that their staff are supported to access further training via CPD so that their knowledge and skills remains up to date to deliver the best patient care and meet the changing needs of patients and services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many female inpatient mental health beds there were on (a) Saturday 7 November 2015 and (b) Sunday 8 November 2015.

Alistair Burt

We do not hold this information centrally. However we know that there were beds available across the country the weekend in question. Where there are shortages of beds, we would expect trusts to respond appropriately to any increase in demand. Providers and commissioners work in collaboration to ensure that they secure the most appropriate beds or places as close to home as possible.

The Government has made it clear that beds must always be available for those who need them. We have set out in our Mandate to NHS England that plans must be put in place to ensure no one in mental health crisis will be turned away.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of jobcentres have a private room in which Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services can take place.

Priti Patel

The Budget 2015 provided £15 million over three years to co-locate Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services in Jobcentres. We are looking to test co-location of IAPT services in two phases in 2015-2018. Within the first phase Canterbury Jobcentre is hosting their local IAPT service within private rooms on site. The second phase will test co-location of IAPT in a wider number of Jobcentres, which have yet to be selected. Some Jobcentres are independently building relationships with their local IAPT services under Freedom and Flexibilities.