Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of NHS expenditure was spent on mental health services in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
National Health Service mental health spend from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 totaled £12.7 billion. As a proportion of total recurrent NHS mandate spend of £142.4 billion, this was 8.9%. Of that mental health spend, £1.9 billion or 15% was spent on children and young people’s mental health services, including mental health support teams in schools.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults against prison staff took place in England in 2023, broken down by prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We publish the number of assaults against prison staff, broken down by prison, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, in Table 8e of the summary tables, available at the following link:
Safety in custody: quarterly update to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Figures up until September 2023 have been published at the above link, however figures for the whole of 2023 are not due for publication until April 2024 and cannot be released at this time.
We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs.
To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we are continuing to roll out PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it.
We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. They are supported by a new Policy Framework which mandates the wearing of the cameras.
The new Body Worn Video Camera system will be fully networked and accessible via current prison IT improving access to footage and the ability to share it with other agencies, with the overall aim of increasing use and transparency. The cameras will provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against prisoners who commit assaults.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days of time off in lieu are prison officers at Wandsworth Prison owed in total as of 25 January 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Time off in lieu is given in respect of additional duties performed in excess of an officer’s weekly hours, where such duties cannot be covered effectively by other means.
At HMP Wandsworth, as of 25 January 2024, an average of 13.4 hours was owed per Band 3 prison officer.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 9028 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, can he provide a full list of the UK aid supplies for Gaza that have been refused entry by the Israeli authorities since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
UK supplies have been passed on to our partners in the region and the majority are already in Gaza.
The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much his Department has spent on official development assistance for sexual and reproductive health and rights in each year since 2010.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annually reports on Official Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure via the Statistics on International Development publications (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development).
We report spend in line with OECD Development and Assistance Committee sector codes and do not readily hold spend on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which can span across the OECD sector codes.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former prisoners were given tents to live in when leaving prison in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no official policy to issue tents as part of releasing people from prison, therefore the Ministry of Justice does not collect data on the number of tents issued. As such no information can be provided.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes delivering our transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), which provides up to 84 nights of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless.
CAS-3 launched in five initial probation regions in July 2021. The service was expanded to Wales in June 2022, with expansion to the remaining six probation regions in England by the end of last year, to support the thousands of offenders who leave prison homeless.
Between 01 July 2021 and 31 March 2023 5,796 individuals, who would have otherwise been homeless, were accepted on to CAS-3.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate he has made of how much UK aid has reached people in the northern Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
On 3 January, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Lyme Bay delivered 87 tonnes of aid into Port Said. Delivery includes over 10,000 thermal blankets, nearly 5,000 shelter packs and medical supplies to be transferred to Gaza through the Rafah crossing. This is in addition to 74 tonnes of aid previously delivered. We have also supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 metric tons of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery in December and a second delivery of 315 tons was made last week.
The UK is supporting the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS), who are leading and coordinating the delivery of all national and international aid to Gaza within its auxiliary role to the Government of Egypt. The ERCS is working with other humanitarian actors, including the UN, to improve the tracking system of aid deliveries for this extremely complicated operation.
We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to get aid to where it is desperately needed.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether any UK aid has been refused entry to Gaza by the Israeli authorities.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
UK funded humanitarian aid supplies destined for Gaza are being delivered to the Strip. However, alongside significant congestion at the Rafah border, some items which Israel consider to be of potential "dual use" - civilian or military, such as solar lights and water filters, have been stopped and returned to Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) warehouses in Al-Arish. The UK is supporting the Egyptian ERCS, who are leading and coordinating the delivery of all national and international aid to Gaza within its auxiliary role to the Government of Egypt. The ERCS is working with other humanitarian actors, including the UN, to improve the tracking system of aid deliveries for this extremely complicated operation. This will help to provide more detail on the goods that have and have not been permitted to enter Gaza. The UK continues to press Israel to increase the flexibility and visibility on goods allowed into Gaza and improved efficiency of screening processes, and the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and I have prioritised getting significantly more aid into Gaza. The Foreign Secretary has recently appointed his Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories who will actively engage with international partners and those operating on the ground to help unblock bottlenecks to delivery.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of staff safety at prisons operated by HM Prison Service.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prison Officers are some of our finest public servants, and we do not underestimate the challenges faced by everyone working in prisons. We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers – staff must be able to expect a safe and decent work environment.
We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs. To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we have rolled out PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it.
We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. The cameras will provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against prisoners who commit assaults.
We continue to take action to strengthen the frontline. Between the end of December 2022 to the end of September 2023, the number of prison officers has increased from 21,632, to 23,058 FTE an extra 1,426 additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE) band 3-5 prison officers.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings his Department has held with the Prison Officers Association since 7 September 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Prison Officers Association (POA), as a recognised trade union, has regular engagement meetings with HM Prison & Probation Service.
In the three months since 7 September, more than 50 meetings have taken place at national level. POA branch committees have also met regularly with local management in every public sector prison during this period.