Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what initiatives are currently in place to ensure that military veterans receive timely access to (1) physical rehabilitation services, and (2) mental health services, specifically those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Op RESTORE is a bespoke physical health and wellbeing service, commissioned by NHS England, which supports individuals who have served in, or are leaving, the British Armed Forces and have physical health injuries and related medical problems attributed to their time in the armed forces.
NHS England also commissioned Op COURAGE, which is the comprehensive veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service. Access to Op COURAGE is via referral or by direct contact from veterans. A campaign to raise awareness of Op COURAGE launched on 9 January 2024.
In addition, The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), which is part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme, is a new 70-bed facility which will benefit all patients, including veterans. Construction started in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how many jobs in the Republic of Ireland are currently dependent on trade with the UK.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
According to the OECD’s Trade in Employment database, exports to the UK supported around 172,500 jobs in the Republic of Ireland in 2020.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have in place to improve coordination between schools, colleges, universities and support services to better assist students struggling with gambling addiction.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to tackling gambling-related harms. While education settings are not mental health or gambling-related harm specialists, they are well placed to identify where a child or young person is struggling and help them to access support, linking them to NHS support and specialist services as needed.
Where gambling problems are affecting the mental health of young people, our programme of Mental Health Support Teams and senior mental health lead training supports schools and colleges to identify individuals in need of further support and make effective referrals to external agencies, to help young people get appropriate, timely support.
The department works closely with the higher education (HE) sector to promote and fund effective mental health support for university students. £15 million of funding this year from the Office for Students (OfS) will go to mental health support and the OfS-funded Student Space continues to provide students with free online mental health resources and confidential support on a range of topics, including addiction support. The OfS has also brought together HE providers and NHS trusts across each region in England to deliver better join up between university wellbeing support and NHS services.
Additionally, schools, colleges and universities have access to the NHS webpage 'Help for problem gambling'. This covers common indicators which could help identify whether individuals may be experiencing gambling-related harm, as well as providing initial signposting to the sources of support available to those in need. A link to the webpage can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/gambling-addiction/.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to expand geographical coverage of treatment for those experiencing gambling-related harm, the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London offers specialist treatment and support for children and young people.
The government White Paper ‘High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age’, published in April 2023, announced the introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators to fund the research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms. This presents an opportunity to consider how best to improve awareness and understanding of gambling-related harms amongst young people, and how to ensure availability of effective support across all educational settings.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training is provided to retailers regarding the gambling risks associated with the National Lottery and other lottery products.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The 2018 Health Survey for England showed that lotteries were associated with the lowest rates of problem gambling of all gambling products considered, and the National Lottery operator is mandated under its licence to have player protection strategies.
The operator’s training programme, ‘Being a Responsible Retailer’, supports National Lottery retailers on risks related to National Lottery products and focuses on supporting healthy playing and preventing underage playing. This consists of online and face-to-face training, healthy playing knowledge checks, and further support where needed. The operator also provides retailers with advice through leaflets and telephone calls to improve awareness and to help the retention of responsible retailing principles. Retailers are also trained in engaging with customers about healthy playing – including direction to GamCare as appropriate – and about signs they should look out for to help identify players who may be at risk.
To ensure that retailers are benefiting from and acting on its training, the operator runs a healthy playing ‘mystery shopper’ programme, alongside the ‘Operation 18’ programme to ensure that retailers are correctly asking for proof of age. As a result of these initiatives, 94% of National Lottery retailers visited in 2022/23 successfully passed a healthy playing knowledge check. If a retailer does not pass these visits or checks, it is offered additional training.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many adult gaming centres have ceased trading during the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission’s Industry Statistics do not capture whether specific premises have closed during the reporting period; rather, they give an overview of all active gambling premises in Great Britain. These figures show that the number of adult gaming centres has increased between 2021/22 and 2022/23.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the UK’s post-Brexit trade deals with key international partners and the economic benefits that are expected to flow from these agreements.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have secured trade deals with 73 countries plus the EU since Brexit, partners that accounted for £1.1 trillion of UK bilateral trade in 2022.
The government publishes analysis to assess the potential impacts of new Free Trade Agreements in advance of negotiations and publishes final impact assessments once the negotiations have concluded. These assessments set out the potential economic impact of the Free Trade Agreements and are available on Gov.UK.
The government publishes analysis that is proportionate to the scope of negotiations and the agreement’s likely impact.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current levels of police recruitment in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The government has delivered its manifesto commitment to deliver 20,000 additional officers. At the end of March 2023, we had the highest number of officers on record in England and Wales, with 149,566 officers in post surpassing the previous peak of 146,030 officers in post in March 2010.
We expect police forces to maintain officer numbers and Chief Constables will be held to account for ensuring that officer numbers continue to match. The next available data on officer numbers will be published as part of the Police Workforce Statistics for England and Wales on 24 January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve early diagnosis and support for individuals with autism, particularly in educational and healthcare settings.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that children and young people with Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND), including autistic children, receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time. We are doing this through working together to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which was published 2 March 2023
In 2023/24, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services, pre and post diagnostic support, and the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme
On 22 November 2023, we announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This new programme, backed by £13m of investment, is a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education and NHS England. It will bring together ICBs, local authorities, and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children, including autistic children. The programme is expected to reach around 10% of mainstream primary schools. It will be evaluated, and learning will be used to inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients diagnosed with dementia are able to access breakthrough treatments as soon as possible.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Several potential new disease modifying treatments for dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease are in development. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS England and the Department are working closely to ensure that arrangements are in place to support the adoption of any new licensed and NICE recommended treatment for dementia as soon as possible.
NICE’s evaluations of two new potential treatments, lecanemab and donanemab, are now underway. NICE has begun work in readiness for the companies submitting their evidence. This includes work done by NICE’s Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory (HTA Lab) to identify the key issues that might arise during planned and future evaluations, based on current knowledge, publicly available evidence and in-depth discussions with researchers, patient groups and National Health Service colleagues. The NICE HTA Lab report found that NICE’s methods and processes for evaluating new treatments for use in the NHS are appropriate for the new class of Alzheimer’s drugs and identified key issues that need to be considered during evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what update they can provide on the progress of initiatives aimed at enhancing the cybersecurity of the UK military; and what measures are in place to protect the UK military's critical infrastructure.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the noble Lord to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement (James Cartlidge), in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (Mr John Healey) in response to Question number 202622.