Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) testing and (b) support in hospitals for victims of spiking.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested data is not collected centrally. NHS England does not routinely collect hospital admissions data specifically related to spiking, nor the number of tests conducted explicitly labelled as being for spiking in hospitals.
The Home Office has published public guidance for victims and witnesses of spiking, and a statutory report setting out measures to tackle spiking including training for door staff, research into testing, and coordinated policing. The guidance signposts victims to emergency medical care, police reporting, and victim support services. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/spiking-advice-and-support
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many tests for spiking were conducted in hospitals in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested data is not collected centrally. NHS England does not routinely collect hospital admissions data specifically related to spiking, nor the number of tests conducted explicitly labelled as being for spiking in hospitals.
The Home Office has published public guidance for victims and witnesses of spiking, and a statutory report setting out measures to tackle spiking including training for door staff, research into testing, and coordinated policing. The guidance signposts victims to emergency medical care, police reporting, and victim support services. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/spiking-advice-and-support
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on how many people resident outside the UK received medical treatment on the NHS in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect or hold the information requested.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the cost to the public purse of treatment for people who came to Britain only for (a) health and (b) medical treatment in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect or hold the information requested.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 there is adequate mental health support in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning National Health Service mental health services to meet the needs of people in Ashfield.
Nationally, the Government is committed to creating an environment that promotes good mental health, prevents people from developing mental health problems, and improves the lives of people living with a mental health problem including those in the Ashfield constituency.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to transform mental health services to improve access and treatment, and to promote good mental health and wellbeing for the nation. This includes improving assertive outreach, investing in mental health emergency departments and neighbourhood mental health centres, and increasing access to talking therapies and evidence-based digital interventions.
The recently published Medium Term Planning Framework sets targets for integrated care boards to expand coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, expand NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement Support schemes, and eliminate inappropriate out-of-area placements by 2029.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 veterans receive appropriate support for PTSD.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In addition to the mainstream mental health services commissioned by integrated care boards, NHS England commissions Op COURAGE which is the bespoke integrated veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service. The service provides a fully integrated mental health care pathway for veterans, which includes support for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. People benefit from personalised care plans, ensuring they can access support and treatment both in and out of hours. Op COURAGE is available across England and individuals can contact the service to make an appointment or ask someone to do this on their behalf.
The Government recognises that not all veterans want to use veteran-specific mental health services and can instead choose to use mainstream services in the National Health Service, such as talking therapies, which are available to both veterans and civilians.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department currently has an English proficiency requirement for prison officers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The prison officer recruitment process assesses English language proficiency at multiple stages, without requiring a separate English test or formal qualifications such as GCSEs at the point of application. The process for recruiting prison officers across all Public Sector Prisons is the same for all applicants, both UK and non-UK nationals, with candidates appointed based on merit, in line with the fair and open Civil Service recruitment principles.
Once candidates have passed the application and online test stages, they are assessed via His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s centralised Online Assessment Centre (OAC), which is conducted by trained human assessors who evaluate candidates in real time. Candidates undertake a written assessment, role-play exercises and a structured interview, all designed to assess whether they possess the written and spoken communication skills required for the prison officer role.
The centralised OAC process upholds consistent standards across all applicants and cannot be bypassed through automated or multiple-choice responses alone. This approach ensures that any difficulties in understanding instructions or in expressing responses clearly are identified and reflected in the assessment outcome. The assessment process also includes fitness and medical checks, which are applied to the same standard for all candidates, regardless of nationality.
We continuously evaluate our assessment process for all stages of prison officer recruitment to ensure best practice and integrate improvements appropriately as new tools and methodologies become available. Future changes to the assessment process will continue to assess a candidate’s English proficiency against the communication skills required for the prison officer role and will remain aligned with professional attainment levels used across comparable professions.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of foreign nationals in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The number of foreign national offenders in prison is published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly statistics series. The series can be accessed with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the prison population do not have (a) English and (b) another native UK languages as a first language in each of the last five years; and what languages such prisoners did speak as a first language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not centrally recorded.
Collecting it would involve a search of the records of each prisoner in England and Wales over the last five years. It could not, therefore, be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaf individuals have been wrongly assessed under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 as a result of communication barriers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the requested data.