Tag: Luciana Berger

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the NHS will distinguish between sexuality and gender identity in the collection of data for people accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

Alistair Burt

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies dataset does not currently make the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The dataset has two fields that may be of relevance to this question:

Sexual orientation, which is the current sexual orientation of a person and has the following valid codes:

1	Heterosexual
2	Homosexual Gay/Lesbian
3	Bi-sexual
4	Person asked and does not know or is not sure
9	Unknown
Z	Not stated (Person asked but declined to provide a response)

Gender, which is the current gender of a person. Note that the classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical; i.e. it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes. It has the following valid codes:

0	Not known
1	Male
2	Female
9	Not specified

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on supporting Mersey Forest in its aim to increase woodland cover to 20 per cent of the Mersey Forest area.

Rory Stewart

We certainly support this partnership of local authorities with organisations in the Defra Group, and its aim to increase woodland cover to 20 per cent of the Mersey Forest area. This supports our national commitment to plant 11 million more trees by the end of this Parliament and to continue to expand woodland cover in England.

The Mersey Forest partnership has transformed the Mersey area since it was set up in 1991. It has planted 9 million trees and doubled woodland cover in the area, providing great places for local people to enjoy as well as a wide range of economic and environmental benefits. The Mersey Forest is one of eight Community Forests in England that together deliver urban, economic and social regeneration, helping to transform areas that have seen significant industrial restructuring, by reclaiming brownfield land to create high-quality environments for millions of people. This wider network of Community Forests has planted over 10,000 hectares of new woodland and brought more than 27,000 hectares of existing woodland into management.

Whilst it is for the constituent local authorities to agree their ongoing commitment, Defra Group organisations will continue to support Mersey Forest in its ambition to increase woodland cover to 20 per cent.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health services he has visited in his capacity as Secretary of State since December 2015; and what the date was of each such visit.

David Mowat

The Secretary of State for Health has visited the following mental health services in an official capacity since December 2015.

29 January 2016 King’s College Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

5 February 2016 Coombe Wood Perinatal Mental Health Unit, Park Royal Centre for Mental Health, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

27 July 2016 STITCH project, Royal Bristol Infirmary, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his assessment is of the adequacy of the availability of talking therapies to young people.

Nicola Blackwood

The Future in Mind report published in March 2015 which followed the work of the Taskforce into Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing recognised the lack of access to treatment for children and young people with mental health difficulties. This suggested that less than 25% – 35% of children and young people with a diagnosable mental health condition, based on epidemiological data from 2005, accessed support. In response to this, the Government committed to realising the vision set out in Future in Mind to deliver a major, system-wide transformation in children and young people’s mental health services. This aims to improve access to services and make evidence-based psychological therapies, also known as talking therapies, more widely available across the country for those children and young people who need them.

To support this transformation, an additional £1.4 billion funding has been made available over the course of this Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health. This will be used to improve community-based services so that young people are helped earlier and are less likely to need to go into hospital. It will also enable the expansion and extension of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that children and young people are able to access high quality and evidence-based interventions wherever they live.

All clinical commissioning groups have been asked to work with their partners to develop Local Transformation Plans to transform their local offer to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. These Plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues; from prevention and improving access to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problem to ensuring that inpatient services are available for those who need them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is on supporting people with mental health issues who are employed in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Nicola Blackwood

We are committed to supporting people with mental health problems to stay in work and the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions established a joint Work and Health Unit to look at these matters.

Improving access to mental health services for those who need them is important and we are increasing access to talking therapy services so that 1.5 million people per year will be able to access support by 2020.

We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper on work and health, which will include a focus on mental health as we know that people with mental health conditions fare poorly in the labour market. Our aim is to help transform the lives and prospects of disabled people and those with a health condition.

We know that the stigma surrounding mental health can create barriers to people seeking and receiving support. We have recently announced £20 million of additional funding to the national Time to Change anti-stigma programme, in conjunction with Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund, which works with employers to support them in tackling the stigma in the workplace associated with poor mental health. This next phase of Time to Change places a particular focus on stigma experienced by men.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of suicides among women with autism.

David Mowat

The cross-Government suicide prevention strategy, ‘Preventing suicides in England: a cross-Government outcomes strategy to save lives’ highlights various groups of people for which tailored approaches to meet their mental health needs are required to address risk of suicide. This includes people who are in contact with mental health and/or social care services and people who may experience social factors such as social isolation and social exclusion, which may be experienced by people with autism.

We are looking at ways to strengthen the cross-Government suicide prevention strategy and will set out details later this year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a guideline in 2015, ‘Challenging behaviour and learning disabilities: prevention and interventions for people with learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges’ which recommends interventions to mitigate risks, including for people with autism, such as self-harm and suicide.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people diagnosed with a mental health condition received a custodial sentence in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

This information is not available centrally.

Health Needs Assessments of all prisons and young offender institutions in England, which are being conducted by Public Health England, NHS England and the National Offender Management Service, will provide an analysis of the prevalence of mental health diagnosis amongst people of all ages held in custody and the services needed to support their needs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will respond to the Care Quality Commission’s Community Mental Health Survey 2015.

Alistair Burt

The Department will not be responding to the Care Quality Commission (CQC)’s Community Mental Health Survey 2015. Surveys of this nature are an important part of the CQC’s role in improving services. We note them and take account of the findings when developing policies for improvement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) proportion and (b) number of mental health providers have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission under its new inspection regime.

Ben Gummer

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 October 2015 to Question 11780.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish guidance for Jobcentre Plus staff Managing Customers’ Self-Harm and Suicidal Declarations; and if he will place a copy in the Library.

Priti Patel

A copy of the current guidance was placed in the Library on 20th July 2015.