Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their Women’s Health Strategy for England, published on 30 August 2022, what steps they are taking to address the high rates of poor mental health amongst girls and young women.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for mental health services in England by 2023/24, supporting an additional two million people, including girls and young women, to get the National Health Service-funded mental health support that they need.
We also continue to make progress on rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges, with 287 in place in over 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing common mental health issues. The number of teams is expected shortly to have increased to 399.
We know that girls and women are more likely to experience an eating disorder, so as part of the NHS Long Term Plan investment, we are putting an extra £1 billion into community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness by 2023/24. This will give 370,000 adults and older adults with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, greater choice and control over their care and will support them to live well in their communities.
Since 2016, extra funding is going into children and young people's community eating disorder services every year, with £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country.
The NHS Long Term Plan also includes measures to improve safety, quality and continuity of care and a commitment for a further 24,000 women to be able to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24. This care will also be available from preconception to 24 months after birth, which will provide an extra year of support. This expansion includes 33 new Maternal Mental Health Services, which bring together psychological therapy, maternity services and reproductive health for women who have mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These will be available across England by March 2024.
As outlined in the Women’s Health Strategy, women are one of our priority groups when promoting our Every Mind Matters resource, which includes content to support issues affecting women’s mental health, including life changes such as pregnancy.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total spend on unregistered alternative provider education placements in England, broken down by (1) school, (2) local authority, and (3) region of England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Data is collected in the alternative provision census on the placement of pupils in unregistered alternative provision providers by local authorities. Since 2022, this data is also collected on arrangements made by schools. This is collected via the schools census.
Information on the total spend on unregistered alternative education placements by school, local authority, or region, is not collected by the department, and cannot be derived from this data.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pupils registered with a state-funded school spend (1) less than two days per week, (2) two or more days per week, (3) three or more days per week, and (4) four or more days per week, in an education placement with an unregistered alternative provider.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Via the alternative provision census, the department collects information on pupils aged 2-18 who local authorities have placed in unregistered providers.
Since the 2022/23 academic year, the department has also collected information on placements made by schools via the school census, with the first mandatory collection being in the spring census. The information is not currently available whilst the spring census is collected and returns validated.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) mean, and (2) median, amount spent on an unregistered alternative provider place in England by (a) Pupil Referral Units, (b) state-funded schools not classified as a Pupil Referral Unit, and (3) local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Data is collected in the alternative provision census on the placement of pupils in unregistered alternative provision providers by local authorities. Since 2022, this data is also collected on arrangements made by schools. This is collected via the schools census.
Information on the mean or median amount spent by Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), state funded schools not classified as PRUs, or local authorities is not collected by the department, and cannot be derived from this data.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Pupil Referral Units sub-commission unregistered alternative providers to supply education placements for their children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Since the 2022/23 academic year, the department has started to collect data from schools via the school census about the alternative provision (AP) they arrange. This includes AP in unregistered settings. The first mandatory collection is currently being carried out within the spring census, and so the information is not yet available.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Metropolitan Police (1) officers, and (2) staff, are currently on the sex offenders register, broken down by rank.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police officers or staff who are registered sex offenders
The statutory Vetting Code of Practice 2017 stipulates that all applications for a position of police officer or member of police staff must be rejected, where the applicant is a registered sex offender
The Government has asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for vetting, making the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer
The Home Secretary has also now launched a review into the process of police officer dismissals, ensuring that the system is fair and effective at removing those officers who are not fit to serve their communities. The Terms of Reference for this review have now been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-officer-dismissals-review-terms-of-reference.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish NHS Resolution's annual report.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department and its bodies, which includes NHS Resolution, have a statutory requirement to produce an annual report and accounts (ARA) following the end of the financial year. NHS Resolution is responsible for ensuring its ARA is laid before Parliament in accordance with Departmental guidance. NHS Resolution has advised that it intends to lay its ARA before the summer recess.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish a consultation on fixed recovery costs for clinical negligence claims; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are developing proposals to introduce fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims under the value of £25,000. We plan to consult on these measures in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the HIV Action Plan will be published.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The HIV Action Plan is currently being developed and is planned for publication later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to enable pre-exposure prophylaxis treatment for HIV to be accessed in (1) GP practices, and (2) community pharmacies.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is routinely available in specialist sexual health services throughout the country. The settings in which PrEP is made available outside of sexual health services, such as general practitioner practices and community pharmacies, will be considered as part of our ongoing work on the development of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and the HIV Action Plan, which we plan to publish later this year.