Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health staff have left the NHS since 31 May 2018.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.
In England, 12,7981 mental health staff left the National Health Service between 31 May 2018 and 31 October 2018, headcount.
The figure above provides the widest possible view of the mental health workforce available from NHS Digital and includes:
- All staff in mental health, learning disability and care trusts;
- Psychiatry doctors;
- Nurses specialising in ‘community psychiatry’, ‘other psychiatry’, ‘community learning disabilities’, ‘other learning disabilities’
- Staff with a primary area of work of ‘psychiatry’, for example a paediatrician whose primary area of work is ‘psychiatry’.
Data for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is not available on the Electronic Staff Record and therefore, not included in the figure above.
Note:
1Source: NHS Digital, NHS HCHS workforce statistics.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) posts and (b) vacancies were there in mental health NHS trusts in England in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The most recent data reported in Q2 2018/19, as at the end of September 2018, shows that in mental health National Health Service trusts there are 190,185 whole time equivalent (WTE) workforce staff in post, with 19,889 vacancies. This is a vacancy rate of 9.5% out of a total workforce establishment (210,074 WTE).
There are 53 mental health NHS trusts, defined as those with over half of their outpatient activity in mental health specialties. Not all staff in these trusts provide mental health services and some mental health services are provided by other trusts.
NHS Improvement collect vacancy rates from individual NHS providers and publish them as part of their ‘Quarterly performance of the NHS provider sector’ report. NHS Improvement defines a vacancy as the current workforce gap between current substantive staff in post and the required staffing level for the respective period.
NHS Improvement count staff working substantively within a designated mental health NHS trust in England as one definition of the size of the mental health workforce. Currently, there is no single agreed way to count the entire mental health workforce. The Department, working together with NHS Digital, Health Education England, NHS Improvement and NHS England, are in a process of agreeing a new definition to count the mental health workforce in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to tackle antisemitism against women.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government was pleased to support the Sara Conference in November 2018. The conference focused specifically on the intersectionality between antisemitism and sexism, looking particularly at the experience of Jewish women in public life. The conference brought together an excellent cross-section of policy makers, academics, and other experts, and set the agenda for what key organisations in this regard, such as the Antisemitism Policy Trust, will do going forward. The Government will continue to work closely with the Antisemitism Policy Trust, to understand this specific threat and to support their work.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Sara conference of 26 November 2018, what plans his Department has to encourage more Jewish women to participate in public life.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government was pleased to support the Sara Conference in November 2018. It was an important platform for policy-makers, public figures, and experts to discuss the intersectionality between antisemitism and sexism, and an important start to understanding how antisemitic abuse targeted at women can be tackled. The conference set the future direction for organisations dedicated to this issue, such as the Antisemitism Policy Trust. We will continue to work closely with the Antisemitism Policy Trust as they develop this important work and encourage women to enter public life.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how much funding her Department has allocated to interfaith projects in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government Equalities Office has not allocated any funding to interfaith projects during the last three years.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether there was a tendering process for the £70,000 contract awarded to develop an online map to help carers and disabled people find Changing Places toilets.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department was approached jointly by Mencap and the British Toilet Association Ltd to provide support for a proposal to develop an online map to help carers and disadvantaged people find Changing Places toilets. This was done by means of a grant payment of £74,300 made under Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who was awarded the £70,000 contract to develop an online map to help carers and disabled people find Changing Places toilets.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department was approached jointly by Mencap and the British Toilet Association Ltd to provide support for a proposal to develop an online map to help carers and disadvantaged people find Changing Places toilets. This was done by means of a grant payment of £74,300 made under Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What assessment her Department has made of the effect of explicit consent restrictions placed on advice agencies on the ability of people to make a claim for universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Explicit consent is not required to make a new claim. If claimants cannot make or manage their claim on-line, they can receive face to face support through their local jobcentre or assistance through our Freephone telephone number. Once the claim is made, claimants who require agencies to act on their behalf can provide explicit consent.
In our response to the Social Security Advisory Committee in November 2018 in respect of the managed migration regulations, we have agreed to explore options for improving the process of explicit consent in collaboration with the committee.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what equality impact assessment his Department has undertaken under the Equality Act 2010 on (a) gender and (b) other protected characteristics of the level of VAT on sanitary products.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC estimates that VAT receipts from the sale of women’s sanitary products were approximately £15 million in each of the last five years. The Government does not anticipate any significant change in the foreseeable future. The exchequer cost of introducing a zero rate of VAT for women’s sanitary products would therefore be approximately £15 million per year.
In January 2018, the European Commission brought forward a legislative proposal with an implementation date of 2022 to enhance Member States’ flexibility to apply reduced and zero rates of VAT. This proposal remains under discussion between officials and, if agreed to by Member States, would give the UK the legal ability to zero rate women’s sanitary products.
In Finance Act 2016, the Government committed to apply a zero rate of VAT to women’s sanitary products as soon as legally possible. In line with both our legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and the Government’s strong commitment to gender equality, ministers carefully consider the impacts for women, along with the impacts for others sharing protected characteristics, when developing fiscal and other policies.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on a potential timeframe for the abolition of VAT on sanitary products.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC estimates that VAT receipts from the sale of women’s sanitary products were approximately £15 million in each of the last five years. The Government does not anticipate any significant change in the foreseeable future. The exchequer cost of introducing a zero rate of VAT for women’s sanitary products would therefore be approximately £15 million per year.
In January 2018, the European Commission brought forward a legislative proposal with an implementation date of 2022 to enhance Member States’ flexibility to apply reduced and zero rates of VAT. This proposal remains under discussion between officials and, if agreed to by Member States, would give the UK the legal ability to zero rate women’s sanitary products.
In Finance Act 2016, the Government committed to apply a zero rate of VAT to women’s sanitary products as soon as legally possible. In line with both our legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and the Government’s strong commitment to gender equality, ministers carefully consider the impacts for women, along with the impacts for others sharing protected characteristics, when developing fiscal and other policies.