Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of placing a statutory duty on Integrated Care Systems to deliver a strategy that improves outcomes and reduces inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Answered by Edward Argar
The proposed legislation for integrated care systems (ICS) is designed to be flexible, allowing the system to continue to evolve and develop new and better ways of working, based on local needs and circumstances.
We expect ICS, in partnership with local agencies, to deliver targeted measures to support people at all stages of life, including measures to address health inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of mandated health visiting checks missed since covid-19 lockdown began in March 2020; and what steps he is taking in response to those mandated health visiting checks being missed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England has made no such estimate. Collection of quarterly and annual health visitor service delivery metrics covering has now restarted with the next publication of official statistics expected later in 2021.
Health visiting services have continued to deliver throughout the pandemic with virtual contact unless there has been a clinical or safeguarding need to ensure children remain safe and protected. The restoration framework for community health services for children and young people outlines a recommendation for services to move to restore health visiting services, following their prioritisation during the containment phase of the pandemic.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of funding required to deliver the two additional health visiting checks recommended in the Healthy Child Programme commissioning guidance published by Public Health England on 17 March 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England has made no estimate.
Commissioning guidance provides a framework for local authorities to use and adapt to meet local needs. Additional, non-mandated contacts are described at ages three months or six months old, based on evidence and are outlined for local consideration. Health visitors should also use their clinical judgement to determine use of targeted interventions or referral.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
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 implications for his policies of emerging Public Health England data indicating that the likelihood of babies receiving mandated health visiting checks varies based on ethnicity and level of deprivation.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England’s experimental statistical release is intended to provide greater visibility and emerging evidence on children who received mandated health visiting reviews accounting for ethnicity, deprivation and other characteristics. This data is in addition to the routinely available health visitor metrics and outcomes. Local authorities and their health visiting providers can use this data to inform their commissioning strategies and needs assessments to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities faced by children of minority ethnic or deprived backgrounds.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve accountability for delivering mandated health visiting checks in response to evidence from the Children’s Commissioner's Best Beginnings in the Early Years report that indicated up to 65 per cent of children were not receiving the two and a half year old check in some local areas.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Since publication of the Children’s Commissioner’s report ‘Best beginnings in the Early Years’, Public Health England (PHE) has published updated guidance for mandated health visits to support local decision-making on service commissioning and provision. The guidance is available at the following link:
To monitor implementation, PHE also continues to collect and publishes quarterly data on health visiting service metrics, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-metrics-2019-to-2020
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the new Office for Health Promotion will take to (a) improve outcomes and (b) reduce inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Office for Health Promotion (OHP) will bring health improvement focused expert advice, analysis and evidence together with policy development and delivery from Public Health England and the Department. This will include children and young people's health. We will present more detail on our plans for the OHP in due course.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for women experiencing mental ill health to be admitted to a community-based mother and baby unit (a) during or (b) in the year following their pregnancy.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The information requested is not held centrally as there is no defined access and waiting times standard for these services.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
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 needs of babies, children and young people in decisions on the restructure of Public Health England.
Answered by Jo Churchill
On Monday 29 March, we published ‘Transforming the Public Health System: Reforming the Public Health System for the challenges of our times’, which sets out our reform plans for the public health system. The publication can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-the-public-health-system
We are proposing to move most of the Public Health England functions that directly support development and delivery of national health improvement policy into the new Office for Health Promotion in the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside existing Departmental capability on prevention and health improvement, as they are integral to policy development and delivery, and directly support national decision-making. This will include subject-matter expertise on a range of important public health issues, including but not limited to obesity and nutrition, physical activity, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sexual health, public mental health, children and young people's public health.
Our proposals will strengthen the system and ensure it can meet the needs of the population. This means improving health throughout the life course; from pregnancy and early years, all the way through to old age. We will present more detail on our plans and ambitions for improving the public's health later in 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish details on the future of Public Health England’s maternity and early years functions.
Answered by Jo Churchill
On Monday 29 March, we published ‘Transforming the Public Health System: Reforming the Public Health System for the challenges of our times’, which sets out our reform plans for the public health system. The publication can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-the-public-health-system
We are proposing to move most of the Public Health England functions that directly support development and delivery of national health improvement policy into the new Office for Health Promotion in the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside existing Departmental capability on prevention and health improvement, as they are integral to policy development and delivery, and directly support national decision-making. This will include subject-matter expertise on a range of important public health issues, including but not limited to obesity and nutrition, physical activity, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sexual health, public mental health, children and young people's public health.
Our proposals will strengthen the system and ensure it can meet the needs of the population. This means improving health throughout the life course; from pregnancy and early years, all the way through to old age. We will present more detail on our plans and ambitions for improving the public's health later in 2021.