Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was spent on emergency and urgent care for children and young people as a proportion of the total 2013–14 budget for emergency and urgent care.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
This information is not held centrally. NHS England and the Department do not monitor the proportion of expenditure on emergency and urgent care, acute care in hospitals and general practitioner and community services for children and young people, as a proportion of the overall National Health Service expenditure on these services.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people with a learning disability completed talking therapy treatment through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme in 2014–15, in the light of measures implemented by NHS England to improve uptake among that group.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This information is not available in the format requested. The table below shows the number of referrals with a learning disability who finished a course of treatment in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, in Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 2014/15. These data are based upon a count of referrals within IAPT services, not distinct people.
| All referrals finishing a course of treatment
| Referrals with a learning disability finishing a course of treatment
|
Quarter 2 2014/15 | 114,697 | 2,786 |
Quarter 1 2014/15 | 110,450 | 1,187 |
Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset
This Government has invested over £400 million over the course of this spending review to make a choice of psychological therapies available for people who need them in all parts of England; this includes people with a learning disability.
In the new five-year plan for mental health, Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, we freed up £80 million for 2015-16. This will, for the first time ever, enable the setting of access and waiting time standards in mental health services, including for people with mental health problems and learning disabilities. The standards will include:
- treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the IAPT programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks; and
- treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis.
The IAPT programme is working with the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities to update its Positive Practice Guide. The update is due later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the <i>Winterbourne View—Time for Change</i> report published in November 2014 and the <i>Transforming Care for People with Learning Disabilities—Next Steps</i> report published January 2015, what plans they have to introduce a national mandatory commissioning framework for community services for people with a learning disability or autism whose behaviour challenges.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
NHS England has a core function to support local commissioning development by setting out clearer expectations about the services which need to be in place to meet standards. It is also able to support commissioners in putting such services in place, but it is not able to mandate a specific way of commissioning services.
The Department is currently consulting on whether to use powers under the Care Act 2014 to mandate pooled budgets between local government and the National Health Service for spending on appropriate community based care for people with learning disabilities. The consultation document was published on 6 March and can be found at:
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made by NHS England in establishing a framework for workforce planning to increase the supply of British Sign Language interpreters within healthcare settings.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
NHS England has no plans to establish a framework for workforce planning to increase the supply of British Sign Language interpreters within healthcare settings.
The provision of language support, including interpretation and translation, is driven by the requirement for all National Health Service organisations to comply with the public sector equality duty. As public sector organisations, NHS bodies have a duty to ensure that all people have equal access to the information and services that they provide.
The provision of interpretation and translation services by NHS bodies is a matter for local determination based on the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
As part of its commitment to improving the experience of patients using NHS services, empowering people to be equal partners in their own care and help reduce unacceptable variation in the quality of reasonable adjustments, NHS England is developing an Information Standard for the provision of accessible, personalised information.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the compliance with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 by Camphill Village Trust Limited with regard to the service provision changes being made at nine of its communities in which people with a learning disability currently live alongside volunteer co-workers.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department has not undertaken such an assessment.
The Department understands that Camphill Village Trust Limited (CVT) is making changes to service provision at its communities in England in order to ensure safe and high quality care and to ensure its compliance with all relevant legislation. These decisions are a matter for CVT.
The Care Quality Commission monitors providers’ compliance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to conduct clinical trials for pronuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer should Parliament approve the draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
If approved, the Draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 will enable mitochondrial donation as a treatment. Safety and efficacy have been considered in depth throughout the consultation process on these techniques. It is recognised that for any new IVF technique there will need to be careful monitoring of the procedure and, subsequently, any pregnancies. Although treatments provided would not take the form of a clinical study, evidence produced from the treatments would form an important part of the ongoing assessment of the safety and efficacy of the techniques.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Mr George Freeman, on 14 January (HC220047), whether Nocodazole has been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; and if so, for what purpose and where the outcomes of the phase 1 clinical trial were published.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
There are no marketing authorisations containing nocodazole approved in the United Kingdom. No clinical trial applications for investigation of nocodazole have been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in working with Health Education England, Skills for Health and partners to develop a national workforce academy to improve the knowledge and skills of health and social care professionals working with people with a learning disability or autism whose behaviour challenges.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Sir Stephen Bubb’s report, Winterbourne View – Time for Change, which was published in November recommended that a national workforce academy should be established. A cross-system response to the report is expected early in the new year and will be coordinated by NHS England.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Public Health England’s recommendation that children and adults with a learning disability should routinely be offered influenza vaccination on uptake among people with a learning disability.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The measures that have been introduced to promote the offer of influenza vaccination to people with a learning disability should result in increased uptake among this group. It is not possible accurately to predict or quantify the scale of the change.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address variations in uptake and quality of annual health checks for people with a learning disability.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
General Practitioners are supported to deliver annual health checks for people with learning disabilities from the age of 14 through the Designated Enhanced Service payment scheme. The promotion of and increased access to annual health checks is a priority for NHS England.
NHS England is working in partnership with the Improving Health and Lives team in Public Health England to deliver workshops for stakeholders, and to improve information to people with learning disabilities and their families and carers to support them to access the services.
NHS England’s work in 2014-15 has focused on analysing the variation in uptake at the level of its Area Teams, including engaging with a range of stakeholders to assess the barriers and obstacles to improving uptake. This early engagement and analysis has highlighted the importance that local clinical leadership has had in driving up uptake in areas where there is higher uptake.