Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish proposals for a new acute adult care pathway for mental health.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The pathway for acute adult mental health care has been developed in draft and is currently being considered for publication over the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their response to the report of the Commission on Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Care.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England, working with other arm’s length bodies, has prepared a response to recommendations from the Commission on Adult Psychiatric Care in England. The response will be published in due course.
Inappropriate out-of-area placements are unacceptable and the Government has committed to eliminate these in non-specialist, acute mental health care by 2020/21.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the challenges faced by YoungDementia UK Homes in establishing a care home in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The charitable sector, including small charities, plays a critical and integral role in the delivery of local care and support services, and provides a broad range of services to different client groups. Charities’ unique understanding of local communities, and the needs of the specific client groups they serve, mean that they are in a position to provide tailored, high value services.
The Department has not made the specific assessments requested.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of (1) the barriers facing small charities in establishing facilities for the care of people with early-onset dementia, and (2) how these barriers could be overcome.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The charitable sector, including small charities, plays a critical and integral role in the delivery of local care and support services, and provides a broad range of services to different client groups. Charities’ unique understanding of local communities, and the needs of the specific client groups they serve, mean that they are in a position to provide tailored, high value services.
The Department has not made the specific assessments requested.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the role that small charities can play in providing care for adults with early-onset dementia.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The charitable sector, including small charities, plays a critical and integral role in the delivery of local care and support services, and provides a broad range of services to different client groups. Charities’ unique understanding of local communities, and the needs of the specific client groups they serve, mean that they are in a position to provide tailored, high value services.
The Department has not made the specific assessments requested.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support refugees arriving in the UK, who are medical students or trainees, to complete their training.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Health Education England is supporting a range of initiatives to help refugees who are qualified or student health professionals to access support to enable them to complete their training and register, so that they can practice in the United Kingdom. These include language support, work placements and courses to refresh skills and knowledge for those returning to practice.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have decided not to proceed with the proposed refugee medical fellowships for refugee doctors which were planned for London, Manchester and Oxford.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
There are no agreed plans for medical refugee fellowships. However, NHS England has been discussing opportunities, including the idea of fellowships, to provide additional support for refugees who wish to practice as a doctor in the National Health Service in England, to see whether such support would help to increase the number of doctors working in general practice by 2020-21. A decision has yet to be taken on this issue.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (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 findings of the recent British Medical Association report <i>In Good Hands: Tackling labour rights concerns in the manufacture of medical gloves</i>.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department has worked with its national contracting and logistics partner, NHS Supply Chain to develop a range of ethical procurement interventions that increase the scrutiny applied to suppliers, based on the risks presented.
All suppliers contracted by NHS Supply Chain are required to adhere to the NHS Supply Chain – Supplier Code of Conduct. A copy of the Code of Conduct is attached.
This code of conduct includes requirements for suppliers to work in line with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and makes specific reference to forced and compulsory labour. The Supplier Code of Conduct has been a contractual requirement of all Framework Agreements since 2009.
For categories of products where the risk of labour standards abuses has been assessed as high, by the nature of the manufacturing processes, employment practices or location, NHS Supply Chain require all suppliers to implement a Labour Standards Assurance System to specified standards.
NHS Supply Chain continually review the wider contract portfolio, and where appropriate, the Labour Standards Assurance System requirements will be applied to new contract areas.
Contract terms will require suppliers to implement and improve their Labour Standards Assurance System, in line with stipulated milestones, during the life of the framework agreement.
Suppliers are contractually required to evidence compliance by providing details of independent third party audits conducted on their Assurance System.
Where suppliers do not meet the specified standard within the stipulated timescales, their contract will be suspended in the first instance, and then terminated if remediation actions are not undertaken in a suitably timely manner.
NHS Supply Chain provides support for suppliers required to implement a labour standards assurance system with webinars that provide access to expert support and capability building material.
In relation to the British Medical Association (BMA) report In Good Hands, all suppliers awarded on the current Framework Agreement for Examination and Sterile Surgical Gloves are subject to the NHS Supply Chain Code of Conduct and contractual requirements to operate a Labour Standards Assurance System.
Since the framework agreement launched in December 2015, a webinar workshop has been held with all suppliers to explain the Labour Standards Assurance System and implications of the Modern Slavery Act.
Of the manufacturers named in the BMA report, two are currently awarded under the NHS Supply Chain national framework agreement for medical gloves.
In both cases the Department in conjunction with NHS Supply Chain has investigated the allegations thoroughly by working with specialist independent third party audit bodies, who have undertaken assessments at the identified facilities.
Audit findings have not identified any specific cases of slavery or human trafficking, or any serious systemic abuses of worker or human rights, however, improvements in management procedures, communications and training were recommended to reduce the potential for abuses to arise.
Both suppliers have acknowledged these findings and have agreed actions, as part of contractual remediation plans, to address these.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that the NHS supply chain does not include products that are produced with forced labour or modern versions of slavery.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department has worked with its national contracting and logistics partner, NHS Supply Chain to develop a range of ethical procurement interventions that increase the scrutiny applied to suppliers, based on the risks presented.
All suppliers contracted by NHS Supply Chain are required to adhere to the NHS Supply Chain – Supplier Code of Conduct. A copy of the Code of Conduct is attached.
This code of conduct includes requirements for suppliers to work in line with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and makes specific reference to forced and compulsory labour. The Supplier Code of Conduct has been a contractual requirement of all Framework Agreements since 2009.
For categories of products where the risk of labour standards abuses has been assessed as high, by the nature of the manufacturing processes, employment practices or location, NHS Supply Chain require all suppliers to implement a Labour Standards Assurance System to specified standards.
NHS Supply Chain continually review the wider contract portfolio, and where appropriate, the Labour Standards Assurance System requirements will be applied to new contract areas.
Contract terms will require suppliers to implement and improve their Labour Standards Assurance System, in line with stipulated milestones, during the life of the framework agreement.
Suppliers are contractually required to evidence compliance by providing details of independent third party audits conducted on their Assurance System.
Where suppliers do not meet the specified standard within the stipulated timescales, their contract will be suspended in the first instance, and then terminated if remediation actions are not undertaken in a suitably timely manner.
NHS Supply Chain provides support for suppliers required to implement a labour standards assurance system with webinars that provide access to expert support and capability building material.
In relation to the British Medical Association (BMA) report In Good Hands, all suppliers awarded on the current Framework Agreement for Examination and Sterile Surgical Gloves are subject to the NHS Supply Chain Code of Conduct and contractual requirements to operate a Labour Standards Assurance System.
Since the framework agreement launched in December 2015, a webinar workshop has been held with all suppliers to explain the Labour Standards Assurance System and implications of the Modern Slavery Act.
Of the manufacturers named in the BMA report, two are currently awarded under the NHS Supply Chain national framework agreement for medical gloves.
In both cases the Department in conjunction with NHS Supply Chain has investigated the allegations thoroughly by working with specialist independent third party audit bodies, who have undertaken assessments at the identified facilities.
Audit findings have not identified any specific cases of slavery or human trafficking, or any serious systemic abuses of worker or human rights, however, improvements in management procedures, communications and training were recommended to reduce the potential for abuses to arise.
Both suppliers have acknowledged these findings and have agreed actions, as part of contractual remediation plans, to address these.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (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 need for increased funding for the infrastructure costs associated with mental health research.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Mental health research is vital for better prevention of mental illness, development and evaluation of effective treatments, and to inform organisation and delivery of high quality care. Research funders are working together in this field to identify priorities and co-ordinate activity. In November 2015, the Department and Royal College of Psychiatrists held a joint meeting to identify key questions for mental health research. Following this meeting, funding organisations met on 6 January to discuss the strategic co-ordination of mental health research.
In 2014/15, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) spent £27.7 million on mental health through its research programmes – expenditure higher than in any other disease area including cancer (£19.8 million). In all, the NIHR spent a total of £72.6 million on mental health research in that year, including research infrastructure and fellowships.
Total NIHR investment in mental health research infrastructure (including that provided through NIHR biomedical research centres and the NIHR Clinical Research Network) has nearly doubled from £23.8 million in 2009/10 to £41.8 million in 2014/15.
The NIHR has launched a new, open competition for biomedical research centre funding from April 2017 to March 2022. In this competition, a number of clinical areas of particular strategic importance to the health of patients are highlighted including mental health.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network supports delivery in the National Health Service of studies funded by the NIHR itself and by eligible partners including the United Kingdom Research Councils and medical research charities. To date in 2015/16, the network has recruited 23,778 participants in 273 studies where mental health is recorded as the main specialty. The network will continue to monitor the study pipeline for mental health.