Baroness Fall Portrait

Baroness Fall

Conservative - Life peer

Became Member: 22nd October 2015


Baroness Fall is not a member of any APPGs
1 Former APPG membership
Women in the Penal System
International Relations and Defence Committee
1st Jul 2019 - 31st Jan 2023
Political Polling and Digital Media Committee
29th Jun 2017 - 20th Mar 2018


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Baroness Fall has voted in 318 divisions, and 3 times against the majority of their Party.

13 Jan 2021 - Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill - View Vote Context
Baroness Fall voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 13 Conservative Aye votes vs 208 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 339 Noes - 235
8 Dec 2021 - Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill - View Vote Context
Baroness Fall voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 9 Conservative No votes vs 128 Conservative Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 211 Noes - 82
3 Jul 2023 - Illegal Migration Bill - View Vote Context
Baroness Fall voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 6 Conservative Aye votes vs 144 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 226 Noes - 152
View All Baroness Fall Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative)
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
(16 debate interactions)
Baroness Berridge (Conservative)
(8 debate interactions)
Lord Bethell (Conservative)
(8 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department of Health and Social Care
(6 debate contributions)
Department for International Trade
(5 debate contributions)
Ministry of Defence
(3 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Online Safety Act 2023
(747 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Baroness Fall's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Baroness Fall, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


Baroness Fall has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

Baroness Fall has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 19 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
26th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 22 January (HL12047), whether they collect data on the level of self-harm amongst young and adolescent boys outside of mental health hospitals; if so, what was the such level since 23 March 2020; and if not, why not.

NHS Digital separately collects data though hospital episode statistics on the number of accident and emergency (A&E) attendances due to intentional self-harm and the number of finished admission episodes with a secondary diagnosis of intentional self-harm for male patients under the age of 18 years old.

Between 23 March 2020 and 30 November 2020 there were 4,011 A&E attendances due to intentional self-harm for male patients under the age of 18 years old and 2,022 finished admission episodes with a secondary diagnosis of intentional self-harm for male patients under the age of 18 years old. This information only represents activity serious enough to require hospital treatment.

26th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 22 January (HL12045), why they have not set a national access and waiting times standard for child and adolescent mental health services.

We have made good progress on carrying out the core proposals of the children and young people’s mental health green paper, including piloting a four-week waiting time to access specialist National Health Service children and young people’s mental health services.

In 2018 we announced the first 25 trailblazer sites delivering 59 mental health support teams in and near schools and colleges. Twelve of the trailblazer sites are also testing four-week waiting times specialist NHS services. The pilots will inform a recommendation to Government on the potential development and roll out of access and waiting time standards for all children and young people who need specialist mental health services.

26th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 22 January (HL12044), what progress they have made on the piloting of a four-week waiting time for specialist NHS services in relation to children and young people’s mental health; and whether there is any difference between such a waiting time and a national access and waiting times standard.

We have made good progress on carrying out the core proposals of the children and young people’s mental health green paper, including piloting a four-week waiting time to access specialist National Health Service children and young people’s mental health services.

In 2018 we announced the first 25 trailblazer sites delivering 59 mental health support teams in and near schools and colleges. Twelve of the trailblazer sites are also testing four-week waiting times specialist NHS services. The pilots will inform a recommendation to Government on the potential development and roll out of access and waiting time standards for all children and young people who need specialist mental health services.

26th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 22 January (HL12047), what steps they are taking to improve the collection of data in relation to the level of (1) extreme anxiety, (2) self-harm, and (3) suicide, amongst young and adolescent boys.

We are working with NHS Digital, mental health providers and partner organisations to improve the collection of data in the mental health services data set on people referred to secondary mental health services for anxiety and those who self-harm whilst an inpatient. We also fund the Multicentre for Self-Harm to provide representative and reliable data on self-harm in England.

Data on suicide registrations by coroners is collected by the Office for National Statistics and there is a time lag due to the length of time it can take to hold an inquest. Public Health England is piloting a national real-time surveillance system to monitor suspected suicide, by collecting early real time data which can be used to identify patterns of risk and causal factors, to inform national and local responses. HM Treasury has announced £1.2million funding to help support the development of the national system.

26th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 22 January (HL12046), what assessment they have made of the reasons for the “poor diagnosis recording in the Mental Health Services Data Set” on incidence of anorexia nervosa among young and adolescent girls under the age of 18 years old; and what steps they are taking to address any such poor diagnosis recording.

Diagnosis recording within the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) is not mandatory and not all providers submit this information. The recording of diagnoses within the MHSDS is entered using clinical coding which some providers may be unable to do for various reasons. Additionally, a diagnosis may not be confirmed immediately for some patients. There are also other data quality issues around non-completion. Month on month reporting by providers can also be irregular. We are working with NHS Digital, providers and partner organisations to address these issues.

12th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the reported level of (1) anorexia nervosa, (2) self-harm, and (3) suicide, amongst young and adolescent girls since 23 March 2020; and what were the reported such levels from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.

Information on the incidence of anorexia nervosa among young and adolescent girls under the age of 18 years old is not available due to poor diagnosis recording in the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS).

Between 23 March 2019 and 22 March 2020 there were 493 reported incidents of self-harm amongst girls under the age of 18 years old reported in MHSDS by the secondary care mental health services. For the period 23 March 2020 to 30 November 2020, there were 399 incidents. These numbers are based on the data submitted by the secondary care mental health services to MHSDS and include only incidents of self-harm in the mental health hospitals. The numbers include November provisional data and are likely to be an undercount of the true activity. This is the latest data available to NHS Digital.

For suicide, the Office for National Statistics reports that there were 63 suicide registrations relating to girls aged 10-19 years old in 2019 (49 registrations between Jan-Sept 2019). Provisional information for January to September 2020 (Jan-Sep) shows that there were 24 suicide registrations relating to girls aged 10-19 years old. All deaths caused by suicide in England are investigated by coroners. Given the length of time it takes to hold an inquest, most deaths are registered around five to six months after they occurred. The number of suicides registered in 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the pandemic causing further delays on the coroner’s service resulting in further delays to inquests.

12th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the reported level of (1) extreme anxiety, (2) self-harm, and (3) suicide, amongst young and adolescent boys since 23 March 2020; and what were the reported such levels from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.

Between 23 March 2019 and 22 March 2020, there were 34,754 boys reported in the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) under 18 years old who were referred to secondary mental health services with a primary reason for referral of anxiety. For the period 23 March 2020 to 30 November 2020, 20,842 boys were referred.

The MHSDS shows that between 23 March 2019 and 22 March 2020 there were 122 incidents of self-harm reported by boys under the age of 18 years old, and between 23 March 2020 and 30 November 2020, there were 82 incidents of self-harm. These numbers are based on the data submitted by the secondary care mental health services to MHSDS and include only incidents of self-harm in the mental health hospitals. The numbers include November provisional data and are likely to be an undercount of the true activity. This is the latest data available to NHS Digital.

For suicide, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that there were 123 suicide registrations relating to boys aged 10-19 years old in 2019 (92 registrations between January and September 2019). Provisional information for January to September 2020 shows that there were 80 suicide registrations relating to boys aged 10-19 years old. All deaths caused by suicide in England are investigated by coroners. Given the length of time it takes to hold an inquest, most deaths are registered around five to six months after they occurred. The number of suicides registered in 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the pandemic causing further delays on the coroner’s service resulting in further delays to inquests.

12th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the average waiting time between referral to, and treatment by, child and adolescent mental health services since 23 March 2020; and what was the average such time from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.

The information requested is not held. In order to measure waiting times to mental health services, or to determine if an assessment took place after the patient entered treatment, an access and waiting times standard for the service must be defined for analysis purposes. A national access and waiting times standard has not yet been defined for child and adolescent mental health services.

12th Jan 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of referrals of children with mental health issues referred for treatment from (1) GPs, and (2) other health professionals, have been treated through child and adolescent mental health services since 23 March 2020; and what was the percentage of such referrals from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.

This information is not held in the required format. We remain committed to delivering the core proposals of the children and young people’s mental health Green Paper, including the introduction of senior leads in mental health and mental health support teams in schools and colleges, as well as the piloting of a four-week waiting time for specialist NHS services. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, an additional 345,000 children and young people will be able to access support through NHS-funded services or school and college-based mental health support teams by 2023-24.

3rd Mar 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 26 February (HL1565), what advice they give to local clinical commissioning groups on the support they should offer children on waiting lists for treatment by child and adolescent mental health services, and to the parents of such children; and what assessment they have made of the quality of support commissioned by local clinical commissioning groups for such children and parents.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have not published advice or guidance on support that clinical commissioning groups should offer to children on waiting lists and their parents/carers, nor have they assessed local approaches to providing this support.

Children and young people’s mental health covers a wide range of needs and there is no single service model. Commissioners and providers must consider the needs of children and young people and their families and set out how they will provide a range of services to form a comprehensive children and young people’s mental health offer in their local transformation plans.

These plans are whole-system plans that set out how local areas will work together to lead and manage change for children and young people’s mental health. These are refreshed and republished each year.

3rd Mar 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 26 February (HL1564), for those referrals for treatment by child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) what was (1) the average waiting time, and (2) the assessment by CAMHS after the waiting period as opposed to the initial assessment from the referral.

The information cannot be provided because a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s health services has not yet been defined.

We are piloting a new four-week waiting time for children and young people’s mental health services in 12 areas to inform the development of a new national access and waiting times standard.

Information is not collected centrally on the clinical thresholds used by services to determine access to treatment or whether referrals meet these thresholds.

3rd Mar 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of referrals of children with mental health issues referred for treatment from (1) GPs, and (2) other health professionals, are treated through child and adolescent mental health services; what is the average waiting time between referral and treatment; what are the reasons given for any rejected referrals; and what thresholds must be met for referrals to be successful.

The information cannot be provided because a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s health services has not yet been defined.

We are piloting a new four-week waiting time for children and young people’s mental health services in 12 areas to inform the development of a new national access and waiting times standard.

Information is not collected centrally on the clinical thresholds used by services to determine access to treatment or whether referrals meet these thresholds.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the total NHS budget is spent on child and adolescent mental health services.

Approximately 1% of the total National Health Service budget was spent on children and young people’s mental health services in 2018/19 through clinical commissioning group spend and NHS specialised commissioning.

It should be noted that this does not include other areas that may include spending on children and young people’s mental health services, such as primary care and health and justice.

We are spending more than ever before to transform community mental health services, expand crisis care and improve services for children and young people. The Government has also committed to a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 of extra investment in mental health services to support 380,000 more adults and 345,000 more children.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of referrals of children from school-based teams are referred for treatment through child and adolescent mental health services; and what is the average waiting time between referral and treatment.

This information is not available. The Mental Health Services Data Set does not contain data specific to ‘school-based teams’.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what reasons are given for the rejection of referrals to child and adolescent mental health services from school-based teams.

This information is not available. The Mental Health Services Data Set does not contain data specific to ‘school-based teams’.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence of deterioration in the mental health of those referred to child and adolescent mental health services in the period between initial assessment at the point of referral and treatment; and how they assess any such deterioration.

The information is not held in the format requested.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available to the children on waiting lists for treatment by child and adolescent mental health services, and to the parents of such children.

We do not hold information nationally on what support is available for children on waiting lists and their parents.

Local clinical commissioning groups commission a wide range of services based on the needs of their patients, and this may include additional or online support that might be helpful to children and their parents when on a waiting list.

12th Feb 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of mental health trailblazer areas; and whether they plan to roll out the scheme more widely.

The first 59 Mental Health Support Teams will become operational very soon as part of the first wave of 25 ‘trailblazer’ areas, and 12 of these will also test the four-week waiting time for children’s and young people’s mental health services. In July 2019, NHS England confirmed a further 57 areas, where 123 new teams will be deployed from the end of 2020 to early 2021.

We are aiming to roll out Mental Health Support Teams to at least a fifth of the country by the end of 2022/23, with what we have learned from the first wave informing our approach.