Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses have been allocated to implementing policies introduced as a result of the Learning Disability Mortality Review programme.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress is being made on providing indicative discharge dates or an action plan to people with learning disabilities detained under the Mental Health Act.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Discharge planning should start as soon as possible after admission to a mental health inpatient setting through a Care and Treatment Review. Health commissioners are required to report whether there is a planned date of discharge or transfer via the Assuring Transformation dataset published by NHS Digital. As of May 2021, 43% of current inpatients had a date for discharge or transfer.
We set out our proposed reforms in the Mental Health Act White Paper published on 13 January 2021. A Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that social care needs are met (a) without people losing their family principal private residence when paying for dementia care and (b) when adjusting or supplementing Carer’s Allowance; and what steps he is taking to tackle the disparity between the fees charged by (i) private and (ii) local authority owned care homes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to bringing forward a plan for social care this year to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect, and to find long term solutions for one of the biggest challenges we face as a society.
Carer’s Allowance is a weekly benefit and is not means-tested or contribution-based. This allowance provides a measure of financial support to people aged 16 years old or over, caring for a disabled person in receipt of a qualifying benefit for more than 35 hours a week, provided the carer is not in gainful employment.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role sensible portion sizes play in helping to tackle obesity.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England (PHE) has not made a specific assessment.
The Government’s reduction and reformulation programme includes reducing portion size as one mechanism that can be used by all sectors of the food industry. Calorie-based portion size guidelines covering food and drink consumed in and out of the home have been included in the sugar and calorie reduction programmes that Public Health England oversees for the Government.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to take to promote awareness on healthy portion sizes for food and drink.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England’s (PHE) Better Health programme provides tips on what a healthy balanced diet looks like, including information on portions sizes. For those trying to lose weight, the website and NHS Weight Loss app include suggestions such as trying smaller plates and bowls to help reduce portion sizes at mealtimes, aiming for two or more portions of veg and ensuring wholegrain foods take up no more than a third of a plate.
PHE’s OneYou Easy Meals app provides recipes with suggested portions for each recipe in line with nutritional requirements for adults. All recipes carry front of pack information per portion. The OneYou website also directs to the Eatwell Guide to support people in achieving a balanced diet. The Change4Life website includes information and advice for parents when feeding their children including on ‘me size meals’ and guidance on calories when choosing packaged snacks.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with food and drink manufacturers on reducing portion sizes.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England (PHE) has discussed various approaches that can be taken to reduce portion sizes with industry sectors including retailers, manufacturers and the eating out of home sector. It is for individual businesses to consider and decide how best to apply this.
Reducing portion size is one mechanism for industry action that can be employed in reformulation programmes. Calorie-based portion size guidelines covering food and drink consumed in and out of the home have been set in the sugar and calorie reduction programmes PHE oversees for the Government. The salt reduction programme includes maximum salt targets for portions of food served out of the home. There will be continued engagement with stakeholders on all parts of the programme. Updates on engagement are published regularly at the following link:
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of introducing portion control to support Public Health England’s reduction and reformulation programmes in relation to (a) sugar, (b) salt and (c) calories.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reducing portion size is one mechanism for industry action that can be employed in reformulation programmes.
Calorie-based portion size guidelines covering food and drink consumed in and out of the home have been included in the sugar and calorie reduction programmes Public Health England oversees for the Government. The salt reduction programme includes maximum salt targets for portions of food served out of the home.
Reductions in portion size should reduce the number of calories, and amount of salt and sugar, consumed. An impact assessment, published in September 2020, showed that if the ambitions of the calorie reduction programme were achieved in full by in home retailers and manufacturers, it would result in a 6.8% reduction in calories sold per portion.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of clear portion size labelling on helping people make healthier choices.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s recommended front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme expresses information in a way that should be easily recognised by and meaningful to the consumer. It uses percentage reference intakes for adults, based on the amount of each nutrient and energy value in a portion of the food and drink. Whilst there has been no specific assessment of portion size, we recently consulted on our front-of-pack labelling scheme and will publish a response shortly.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many trusts have redeployed or significantly reduced their epilepsy services during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps he is taking to prevent avoidable epilepsy deaths as a result of the outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No assessment has been made on the number of trusts that have redeployed or reduced their epilepsy services.
National Health Service systems should continue to implement the guidance set out in NHS RightCare epilepsy toolkit. This toolkit provides expert practical advice and guidance on how to address epilepsy-related challenges, including sudden death in epilepsy and recommends that providers implement a standard risk template for people living with epilepsy, including all relevant resources.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of regular steroid use on the susceptibility of users to covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are not aware of a general assessment across all conditions of regular steroid use on the susceptibility of users to COVID-19. However, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published COVID-19 rapid guidelines using the latest available evidence for specific conditions where there is an increased risk of COVID-19. Where relevant, these guidelines include recommendations related to the continuation of treatment of corticosteroids. These guidelines are kept under review.