Tag: Luciana Berger

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 rates of premature mortality as a result of (a) suicide and (b) epilepsy experienced by 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 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) furthest and (b) average distance was which patients travelled to in-patient mother and baby units specialising in psychiatric care during the perinatal period in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

The information requested is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to address stress-related sickness absence in the police force.

Mike Penning

It is for chief officers, supported by the College of Policing, to ensure good management systems are in place to support officers and staff in their work and manage welfare needs. We know policing, by its nature, can be a stressful and demanding job. This is why the Government’s Blue Light Services programme is currently providing £10m to help emergency service personnel and volunteers, including officers suffering from stress related illness and mental health. In addition, the College of Policing will provide direct support to police forces to improve the health and wellbeing of officers and staff.

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 public consultation has taken place with whom in preparation for the introduction of the two-quote system for university specialist mental health mentoring provision.

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, how many and what proportion of local authorities have a suicide prevention strategy.

Alistair Burt

The information requested is not collected centrally.

However, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention published an Inquiry into Local Suicide Prevention Plans in England (January 2015). The Inquiry included a survey of local authorities by the APPG, which indicated that 70% of local authorities have a suicide prevention plan and 60% have a multi-agency suicide prevention group.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many representatives from the criminal justice system are on the Mental Health Taskforce; and what areas of that sector each represents.

Alistair Burt

Membership of NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce is drawn from the Department of Health and its arms-length bodies which hold critical responsibilities related to the planning and delivery of care. It also includes representatives from the third sector, providers and professional bodies.

Senior representatives from other NHS England work programmes may be invited to advise, participate in decision making or contribute resources where there is a common purpose or objective. Kate Davies OBE, Director for Direct Commissioning of Health & Justice Services, NHS England has contributed to the work of the Task force.

Further details about the organisations represented on the Taskforce can be found at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/mentalhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/10/mh-tor-fin.pdf

In recognition of the critical interdependencies with a wide range of services outside the health and care system, the Taskforce was asked to consider the enabling actions required from the wider system, including criminal justice.

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 much local clinical commissioning groups spend on independent sector providers.

George Freeman

This information is already collected centrally by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of clinical commissioning group transformation plans address the mental health needs of (a) children who have experienced abuse and (b) looked after children.

Alistair Burt

As part of improving transparency, all Local Transformation Plans must be published locally and made widely available.

NHS England’s guidance Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing – Guidance and support for local areas is explicit about the need to promote equality and address health inequalities, and states that plans should ‘address the full spectrum of need including children and young people who have particular vulnerability to mental health problems for e.g. those with learning disabilities, looked after children and care leavers, those at risk or in contact with the Youth Justice System, or who have been sexually abused and/or exploited’.

The assurance process requires local areas to evidence how they are meeting the needs of vulnerable groups including looked after children and children who have experienced abuse.

An analysis of Local Transformation Plans has been commissioned and will include a thematic review of how the mental health needs of children and young people in vulnerable groups have been addressed.

As set out in the guidance for Local Transformation Plans an integral part of the locally developed Children and Young People’s Mental Health Transformation Plans includes a tracking template that sets out local progress milestones and financial spend. This tracker will be used as the basis for assurance assessment in 2015/16 and from 2016/17 onwards progress on local transformation will become part of the mainstream planning assurance process.

Local Transformation Plansrequire all key partners in a local area to agree how best to meet the mental health needs of children and young people in their local populations. 122 Local Transformation Planshave been developed that cover all 209 clinical commissioning groups.

The assurance process for Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing was undertaken by NHS England regional teams and included assurance against each plan of standard self-assessment and tracker templates to enable a comparison of plans against objective success criteria.

NHS England have commissioned a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans, in order to support policy makers, local commissioners and services to understand and use the data that is contained within the plans to drive further improvements. Local Transformation Plans will be reviewed from a narrative, analytical and financial perspective, with thematic reviews carried out in key focus areas that align with Future in mind principles.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment he has made of the Government’s proposal to limit housing benefit for claimants in the social housing sector to local housing allowance rates from 2018.

Justin Tomlinson

This policy is still under development and full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.

This measure is not being introduced until April 2018 and only then where new tenancies have been taken out or existing tenancies renewed from 1 April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Prime Minister, how many mental health services he has visited since May 2010; and what the (a) date and (b) location was of each such visit.

Mr David Cameron

Details of my visits within the United Kingdom are published on the gov.uk website.

Most recently, on 11 January I visited Family Action in London where I announced £290 million of new investment over the next 5 years to provide mental healthcare for new mums, £247 million to invest in liaison mental health services in emergency departments, over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital and expanded services to help teenagers with eating disorders. This builds on previous government funding commitments for mental health over the last 12 months, including £150 million for young people with eating disorders and £1.25 billion for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health.