Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Clinical Commissioning Groups work with local authorities to develop and implement plans for the improvement of children's mental health services as set out in the Future in Mind report published in 2015 by the Department of Health and NHS England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Following the publication of Future in Mind, every clinical commissioning group worked on the development of a local transformation plan for children and young people’s mental health services.
123 such plans were published in 2015, covering the whole of England. Local authorities were involved in the development of the plans as were children and young people and their families. NHS England ensures that local transformation plans are refreshed annually. Since 2016 this has been as part of local sustainability and transformation plans.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 31 January (HL5313), whether the funding that was set aside to implement the cap on care costs and other adult social care reforms will be released to local government immediately following publication of the Social Care Green Paper; and when an announcement on changes to spending decisions is expected.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As stated in my earlier answer to Written Question HL5313, any decisions on funding will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of in-school counselling to successfully deliver early interventions across children’s and young people’s mental health services in England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
School-based counselling can play an important role as part of wider support for the mental health of children and young people. This includes reducing psychological distress that children and young people may experience as a result of facing a range of life difficulties, supporting young people who are having difficulties within relationships with family or friends, and supporting young people who are having difficulty managing their emotions, such as anger. Many pupils report improvements in their capacity to study and learn following counselling and frequently report that counselling helps them to concentrate, as well as increasing motivation for school and schoolwork.
As part of its CYP-Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, NHS England supported Higher Education Institutions to deliver training to enhance the effectiveness of counsellors in delivering evidence-based early interventions for mental health. In 2016/17, 14 counselling therapists were trained to work in a variety of settings and this year a further 13 will be trained to treat anxiety and mild depression. This training is being delivered by two training providers.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they set aside to implement the cap on care costs, as previously scheduled for 2020; whether that money has been spent; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Spending decisions are taken to reflect Government priorities and in light of the evolving fiscal position. We will set out any changes in due course. The Government will publish the Social Care Green Paper by Summer 2018 setting out its proposals for reform, in order to build a sustainable and quality care system for all.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 7 December (HL Deb, col 1197), what assessment they have made of the extent to which additional money made available to the NHS in the Autumn Budget will reduce pressures on the social care system; and how the impact of that additional money on that system will be effectively assessed and monitored.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
At the spring Budget we announced an additional £2 billion will be given to councils over the next three years for social care. In total, we have given councils access to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for social care over the next three years.
The autumn Budget has provided an additional £42 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant for the rest of the 2017-18 financial year, taking funding for this year to £473 million, supporting people on low-incomes to make home adaptations, to help them to live more independently for longer in their own homes.
The additional money made available in the autumn Budget will be directed to NHS services. The autumn Budget announced £2.8 billion of additional resource funding over 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for the National Health Service in England for day to day spending, for example planned operations and emergency care. This will help it to get back on track to meet its performance targets on waiting times in accident and emergency and after patients are referred to treatment. It will ensure that more patients receive the care that they need more quickly. This includes £337 million this winter to help trusts to increase capacity. Of the £337 million winter fund, £150 million will fund NHS plans to deal with a winter surge and ensure sufficient capacity for elective treatment, with a further £50 million to follow. The autumn Budget also committed £3.5 billion of new capital investment by 2022/23 to transform its estate and drive further efficiency savings.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that children between the age of 10 and 19 require hip replacements due to obesity; and what steps they will take to support local government bodies to improve public health in this regard.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No assessment has been made centrally. Local authorities are being given over £16 billion to spend on public health over the five years of the 2015 Spending Review. We know that many are prioritising action to tackle obesity and increase physical activity according to their local need.
Alongside this, our world-leading childhood obesity plan, launched in August 2016, aims to significantly reduce England’s rate of childhood obesity within ten years by helping children and families to recognise and make healthier choices and be more active.
A copy of Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action is attached.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit in order to determine how well GPs are supported in recognising the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The National Cancer Programme will review the outputs of the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit to inform targeted improvements for the earlier diagnosis of cancer, including pancreatic cancer. Early detection of cancer, particularly in primary care, is a key component of our work and is supported by Cancer Alliances across the country.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to meet the pressures on local authority children's services and adult social care identified by the Office for Budget Responsibility in its November 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department for Education (DfE) has responsibility for local authority children’s services.
The Spending Review 2015 made available more than £200 billion to councils for local services (including children’s services) up to 2019-20. Local authorities (LAs) increased spending on children and young people’s services to around £9.2 billion in 2016-17.
To help the children’s social care sector innovate and re-design service delivery to achieve high quality and value for money, DfE has invested £200 million since 2014 in its Innovation Programme and Partners in Practice Programme. As part of this, DfE have committed £20 million to provide additional support to LAs where the risk of service failure is highest.
At the 2017 spring budget the Chancellor announced an additional £2 billion will be given to councils over the next three years for adult social care. This meant that, by the start of this financial year, the Government had given councils access to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for adult social care over the next three years.
The 2017 autumn Budget has provided an additional £42 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant for the rest of the 2017-18 financial year, taking funding for this year to £473 million.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide additional funding for child and adolescent mental health services in England and Wales post 2020.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The current Spending Review period covers the four years from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The Government will consider its plans for funding of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services following 2020 as part of the next Spending Review.