Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of asylum seekers who have (1) self-harmed, (2) attempted suicide, or (3) died by suicide, who are currently either living or lived in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office operates a Safeguarding Hub to support vulnerable individuals. Both the Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of police, NHS, and social services to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.
As well as making safeguarding referrals to the appropriate statutory agencies other actions include attendance at child/adult protection meetings with police and social workers and liaising with both external and internal partners to share information. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to reduce the risk of self-harm amongst asylum seekers living in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office operates a Safeguarding Hub to support vulnerable individuals. Both the Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of police, NHS, and social services to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.
As well as making safeguarding referrals to the appropriate statutory agencies other actions include attendance at child/adult protection meetings with police and social workers and liaising with both external and internal partners to share information. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the food provided to asylum seekers living in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts (1) is adequate, (2) meets minimum quality standards, (3) meets basic nutritional needs, and (4) is culturally appropriate.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Asylum seekers in initial accommodation are provided with three meals a day with a choice of at least one hot, one cold selection and a vegetarian option. Babies and small children are also provided with appropriate foodstuffs and can be fed whenever necessary. Options are provided for any asylum seeker with special dietary, cultural or religions requirements where specified. Food service meets appropriate nutritional standards and accommodation providers ensure that each varied menu is validated by a suitably qualified nutritionist or health professional as being appropriate.
Those in dispersal accommodation are provided with £47.39 per week, to meet essential living needs including food provision.
There are additional payments for pregnant women, children and babies as follows:
Extra payments | Pregnant mother | Baby under 1 | Child aged 1-3 |
Pregnancy payment (per week) | £3 | £5 | £3 |
|
|
|
|
| S95 Applicants | S4 applicants |
|
Maternity Payment (per month) | £300 | £250 |
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Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) adequacy, (2) quality, (3) nutritional content, and (4) cultural appropriateness, of the food being provided to asylum seekers living in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Asylum seekers in initial accommodation are provided with three meals a day with a choice of at least one hot, one cold selection and a vegetarian option. Babies and small children are also provided with appropriate foodstuffs and can be fed whenever necessary. Options are provided for any asylum seeker with special dietary, cultural or religions requirements where specified. Food service meets appropriate nutritional standards and accommodation providers ensure that each varied menu is validated by a suitably qualified nutritionist or health professional as being appropriate.
Those in dispersal accommodation are provided with £47.39 per week, to meet essential living needs including food provision.
There are additional payments for pregnant women, children and babies as follows:
Extra payments | Pregnant mother | Baby under 1 | Child aged 1-3 |
Pregnancy payment (per week) | £3 | £5 | £3 |
|
|
|
|
| S95 Applicants | S4 applicants |
|
Maternity Payment (per month) | £300 | £250 |
|
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the new Victim’s Commissioner will be appointed; and what is the reason for the delay in recruitment.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
A recruitment campaign to appoint the next Commissioner is underway and it is right that the new Lord Chancellor looks at this carefully. We hope to announce the outcome of the campaign as soon as possible.
At both Ministerial and official level, we engage with the victims’ sector on a regular basis to ensure the voices of victims and witnesses are heard while the appointment of the next Victims’ Commissioner is being made.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Donna Ockenden Findings, Conclusions and Essential Actions from the Independent Review of Maternity Services at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published on 30 March 2022, why they have rejected the recommendation contained in that report to increase the annual budget for maternity services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government accepted all the recommendations made in Donna Ockenden’s report following the Independent Review of Maternity Services at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
£165 million of recurring investment has been added to the annual maternity budget since 2021 to grow and support the maternity workforce and improve neonatal care. We continue to keep further funding under review.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the annual assessment by the Care Quality Commission State of Care 2021/22, published on 21 October 2022 and updated on 30 June, what steps they are taking to improve maternity services rated as inadequate or requiring improvement; and what is their timetable for making those improvements.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched a maternity inspection programme to help trusts to take targeted action where improvements are needed. As part of this programme, CQC will inspect all National Health Service acute hospital maternity services that they have not inspected and rated since April 2021. The programme is designed to show how services are responding to current challenges and determine what extra help they may need, and to give hospitals an objective assessment of what they are doing well and how they can improve. It also aims to give women and their families an up-to-date view of the quality of maternity care at their local hospital trust.
Through this programme, CQC will be able to better understand what is working well to share good practice to help services learn and improve, and to show where there needs to be national action to combat the challenges services face.
CQC is working alongside NHS England, who take the lead on driving improvements to maternity services, to ensure people using NHS maternity services across the country receive good, safe care during pregnancy, labour and postnatally. The maternity programme is ongoing and will complete once all relevant maternity services have been inspected.