Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to improve the mental health of prisoners.
Answered by Norman Lamb
NHS England is improving prison mental health services through nationally developed service specifications, which are being rolled out across the prison estate in England, ensuring that there are national standards against which services can be measured.
In addition, the Government’s Mandate with NHS England commits NHS England to develop better healthcare services for people in the criminal justice system. We have also asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop guidelines on improving the mental health for people in prison, which it expects to publish in 2016.
Liaison and diversion services seek to identify offenders who have mental health, learning disability or substance misuse vulnerabilities, and who come into contact with the criminal justice system, so that they can either be supported through the criminal justice pathway or diverted into treatment, social care service or other relevant intervention or support service. NHS England is currently rolling out a new standard model of liaison and diversion service to ensure that services are consistent and can support people of all ages. From April 2015, there will be 22 liaison and diversion sites across England covering over 55% of the population. If the model is successful, services will then be rolled out nationally by 2017/18 subject to HM Treasury approval of the full business case.
Work is currently underway with the Ministry of Justice on developing mental health care in the criminal justice system, which will ensure that prisoners receive mental health treatment equivalent to what they would receive in the community and support continuity of treatment between custody and community.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to improve drug treatment in prisons.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Across government, we have sought new ways to help rehabilitate offenders from drug dependency to live drug and crime free lives. As part of this, wing-based, abstinence-focused, drug recovery services have been piloted. These focus on providing dedicated prison accommodation, treatment and support to those who are dependent on drugs and alcohol while in custody and connecting them with community support on release.
Building on the drug recovery wing ethos, the Department and Ministry of Justice have jointly funded an initiative to improve the “through the gate” provision for prisoners who are dependent on drugs and alcohol. Ten prisons in the North West are currently piloting a range of innovative interventions to provide more intensive support and supervision for people leaving custody which include the use of peer mentors, recovery housing services and take-home naloxone as they return to the community. The learning from this approach will be used to inform wider roll-out in the new system in line with implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme.
The Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) programme, implemented in prisons between 2006 and 2010, sought to improve the standard and quality of drug treatment in prisons. Through IDTS, prisoners could get access to evidence-based opioid substitution treatment in prison, which they could continue in the community after release. The principles of IDTS continue to be adopted by partners responsible for commissioning health services.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in levels of eligibility for social care set by councils between 2005 and 2010.
Answered by Norman Lamb
During 2005/06 to 2009/10, the number of councils which set their local eligibility at the “substantial” banding within the existing guidance increased by nearly a third, and the number of councils setting their eligibility at “moderate” decreased by a similar proportion. This indicates councils making restrictions in access and eligibility over this period.
The following table sets out the percentage of councils in each of the bandings between 2005/06 and 2009/10. The bandings were set out in 2003 guidance and updated in 2010 by Prioritising Need in the Context of Putting People First: A whole system approach to eligibility for social care, which retained the same eligibility framework based on four bandings.
Percentage of LAs at Critical | Percentage of LAs at Substantial | Percentage of LAs at Moderate | Percentage of LAs at Low | |
2005/06 | 2.2% | 55.0% | 36.7% | 6.1% |
2006/07 | 1.4% | 62.2% | 33.2% | 3.2% |
2007/08 | 2.1% | 69.7% | 26.5% | 1.7% |
2008/09 | 2.1% | 70.5% | 25.7% | 1.7% |
2009/10 | 2.0% | 71.1% | 25.0% | 2.0% |
Source: The Care Quality Commission. This is provided as % as the total number of local authorities (LAs) providing social care changed over this period.
To resolve substantial and longstanding concerns from people with care needs that the existing framework is opaque and not applied consistently across England, the Government is introducing a national minimum eligibility threshold for adult care and support from 1 April 2015. This will provide more clarity on what level of needs are eligible for care and support. LAs will no longer be able to tighten the criteria beyond this threshold, but they will have the flexibility to meet other needs that are not eligible, if they chose to do so.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many doctors and nurses, including agency staff and locums, are working in the NHS in England; and what the equivalent figure was in 2009-10.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Between May 2010 and October 2014, the official statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that the full-time equivalent (FTE) number of National Health Service directly employed doctors, including locums, increased by 9,300 and the number of NHS directly employed nurses, midwives and health visitors increased by 5,800.
In addition, over the same period, it is estimated that service from agency nurses increased by approximately 6,000 FTE. The use of agency doctors remains unchanged.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average (a) chief executive/secretary remuneration and (b) number of full-time equivalent staff was in each of his Department's (i) advisory non-departmental public bodies, (ii) executive agencies, (iii) executive non-departmental public bodies, (iv) non-ministerial departments and (v) tribunal non-departmental public bodies in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs) do not generally employ staff but are supported by their parent department. Seven of the Department’s eight ANDPBs do not have staff and the eighth, the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, reported two full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the Public Bodies 2014 Report.
Of the eight ANDPBs, the Independent Reconfiguration Panel has a paid Chief Executive/Secretary position with a salary of £112,200.
The average Chief Executive remuneration for the executive agencies is £167,500.
The average number of FTE staff for the Department’s executive agencies as at 31 October 2014 was 3,244.
The average Chief Executive remuneration for executive non-departmental public bodies is £175,357.
The average number of FTE staff for the Department’s executive non-departmental public bodies as at 31 October 2014 was 1,635
Non-ministerial departments (Food Standards Agency):
The last period for which figures are available is the 2013-14 financial year.
For that period the Chief Executive remuneration was a salary of between £140,000 and £145,000 plus bonus of between £10,000 and £15,000.
The average number of FTE staff was 1,264 for 2013-14. This figure excludes the board and temporary staff (contractors, agency staff, casuals and staff on fixed term contracts). The average FTE staff including temporary staff and Board members was 1,787. Both figures exclude staff who are members of the FSA Scientific Advisory committees.
The last annual report and accounts for the FSA can be found at:
http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/publication/fsa-report-accounts-2014.pdf
The Department does not have any tribunal non-departmental public bodies.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications of recent research on the effect of pre-exposure prophylaxis for reducing the spread of HIV.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In the United Kingdom, the PROUD study (http://www.proud.mrc.ac.uk/), co-sponsored by the Medical Research Council, University College London and Public Health England, is an open-label trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among most-at-risk human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) negative gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM).
A major aim of the study is to determine whether PrEP reduced new HIV infections while taking into account changes in risk behaviour and adherence. The study has announced interim results showing that the use of PrEP is highly protective against HIV acquisition:
http://www.proud.mrc.ac.uk/PDF/PROUD%20Statement%20161014.pdf.
However, we must await the full analysis before we can assess the impact that PrEP may have on reducing the spread of HIV in the MSM population.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many contracts of what value were signed by NHS commissioners with non-NHS providers in 2009-10.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department does not collect information on which providers have been awarded contracts at local level.
It is for local commissioners to decide how best to secure local services and take a decision on which are the most capable providers to deliver those services in the best interests of their patients. There is no requirement for commissioners to put all services out to competitive tender.
Whether NHS services are provided by the public, voluntary or private sector, they remain publicly funded and free at the point of delivery with access based on clinical need.