Tag: Luciana Berger

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20083, what steps he plans to take to tackle the rise in the number of people who took their own life on the rail network since 2010.

Alistair Burt

Reducing suicides on the rail network is highlighted as a key area within the cross-Government National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2012) where tailored and collaborative action can be taken. I will be having discussions soon with officials and our delivery partners about ways in which we can re-invigorate the delivery of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Public Health England published guidance to local authorities, Guidance for developing a local suicide prevention action plan (2014) and Preventing suicides in public places (2015), which include advice on working with local transport organisations to take preventative action to reduce suicides on the transport network.

We continue to work with the British Transport Police, London Underground Limited, Network Rail, Samaritans and other partners to reduce suicides on the rail and underground networks.

We support the joint work of Network Rail and Samaritans as part of the Tackling Suicides on the Railways programme, which has continued to grow since 2010. Since 2010, more than 8,000 rail staff, British Transport Police officers and Network Rail front line staff have received training from Samaritans.

This partnership approach has led to the establishment of the National Suicide Prevention Group to tackle the issue of railway suicide, comprising Samaritans, Network Rail, British Transport Police, Train Operating Company representatives and the wider railway industry, such as the Association of Train Operating Companies, Rail Safety & Standards Board and rail unions.

The British Transport Police is a signatory of the Crisis Care Concordat which aims to support people experiencing a mental health crisis. The Department of Health also provided funding support in 2014/15 to enable the British Transport Police to expand its suicide prevention programme to include the North of England as well as the South of England. The programme aims to reduce suicides on the transport network by identifying people who might be considering suicide on the transport network and linking them with support services.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016, whether the £290 million of investment announced for perinatal mental health care is in addition to the (a) £1.25 billion investment for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health announced by the then Deputy Prime Minister in March 2015 and (b) £660 million investment for mental health announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Alistair Burt

The £290 million announced by the Prime Minister for perinatal mental health is in addition to the £1.25 billion announced by the Deputy Prime Minister. It is funded from within the Department’s overall Spending Review Settlement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22307, on parents: mental illness, if she will make it her policy to collect such data.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Department for Education does not intend to collect this data.

Information on parental status and mental health illness is collected through the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 19556, on mental illness: discrimination, if he will provide (a) an update on the discussions with Time to Change, and its other funding partners, about the next phase of the programme and (b) the dates these discussions took place.

Alistair Burt

Departmental officials have regular discussions with colleagues at the Time to Change programme and its funders to monitor progress with the programme and to manage the grant funding that is provided to Time to Change from the Department and other funders. We are currently discussing the next phase of the programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23474, when the detailed criteria for the Life Chances Fund will be published.

Mr Rob Wilson

The Life Chances Fund is being designed and delivered by the Cabinet Office. More detailed guidance about how the fund will work will be published before the House rises for summer recess in 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women have taken their own lives in the first year after the birth of their child in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

This information is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 26077, on suicide: females, if he will make it his policy to collect that information centrally.

Alistair Burt

There are currently no plans to make the collection of this information a policy.

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 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in England with severe mental illness are registered with a GP; and how many such people had an annual physical health check in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

This information is not available in the format requested.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is published annually, and includes mental health indicators, which capture information on patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses and other patients on lithium therapy. The information captured does not relate specifically to whether patients have received an ‘annual physical health check’, but does include counts of those patients who have a record of blood pressure, alcohol consumption, or body mass index (BMI).

The relevant indicators are available from the year 2011/12. The data in the table below are snapshots as at 31 March of the reporting year.

Number of patients included in the QOF mental health register with records of blood pressure, BMI and alcohol consumption – England 2011/12 – 2014/15

Year	Register1	BP record2	Alcohol consumption record2	BMI record2
2014/15	500,451	350,751	345,730	..
2013/14	483,933	354,146	337,603	336,373
2012/13	470,971	369,223	356,519	352,501
2011/12	452,608	355,834	335,922	335,652

Notes:

1. For the years 2013/14 and 2014/15, ‘register’ includes all patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses and other patients on lithium therapy. For the years 2011/12 and 2012/13, ‘register’ includes all patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses.

2. Blood pressure record, alcohol consumption record and BMI record include all those patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who have a record of blood pressure, alcohol consumption and BMI respectively in the preceding 12 months for the years 2013/14 and 2014/15, and in the preceding 15 months for the years 2011/12 and 2012/13.

Due to the changes in the definitions of the register and indicators, the data from 2013/14 onwards are not comparable with data prior to this time.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre do not recommend using the figures provided to calculate percentages, for the following reasons:

― The register for 2013/14 to 2014/15 includes ‘other patients on lithium therapy’, while the blood pressure, alcohol consumption and BMI records do not consider these patients.

― The indicators are published as achievement scores in QOF; the calculation of these proportions includes consideration of exclusions and exceptions as defined in the framework, which are not reflected in the numbers presented here.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the mortality rate of people with mental health issues has been (a) nationally and (b) in each local authority in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

Information on the mortality rate of adults under 75 years old with serious mental illness in England and in each local authority in England between 2010/11 and 2013/14 is given in the attached table Mortality rate of people with mental health issues in (a) England and (b) in each local authority in England between 2010/11 and 2013/14.