Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 effectiveness of steps taken by local authorities to tackle loneliness; and what support the Government has provided to local authorities for such work.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Loneliness can have a significant impact on physical and mental health.
The Department will be working closely to support the Minister for Sport and Civil Society in developing the cross-Government strategy on loneliness, announced by the Prime Minister in January.
A number of existing Departmental supported programmes can help to address loneliness, including dementia friendly communities, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, the Carers Action Plan and social prescribing, and we will be looking to work with local authorities and the National Health Service to tackle loneliness as the strategy develops.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 effectiveness of steps taken by local authorities to tackle loneliness; and what support the Government has provided to local authorities for such work.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Loneliness can have a significant impact on physical and mental health.
The Department will be working closely to support the Minister for Sport and Civil Society in developing the cross-Government strategy on loneliness, announced by the Prime Minister in January.
A number of existing Departmental supported programmes can help to address loneliness, including dementia friendly communities, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, the Carers Action Plan and social prescribing, and we will be looking to work with local authorities and the National Health Service to tackle loneliness as the strategy develops.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) total and (b) per capita funding from his Department's budget on (i) health and (ii) mental health in England has been allocated to Telford and Wrekin CCG since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were created following the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and replaced primary care trusts on 1 April 2013.
NHS England publishes CCG allocations on its website. The table below sets out allocations to NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG for core services since 2013, when it was established. It should be noted that these figures do not reflect any adjustments that may have been made since the time of publication.
NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG | Allocation (£000) | Allocation per head (£) |
2013/14 | 183,831 | 1,053 |
2014/15 | 187,765 | 1,068 |
2015/16 | 190,957 | 1,080 |
2016/17 | 205,369 | 1,143 |
2017/18 | 209,613 | 1,162 |
NHS England does not allocate budgets for specific services such as mental health. CCGs determine the level of expenditure appropriate for their population, based on their assessment of local health needs.
The figures for Telford and Wrekin CCG’s total expenditure on health and mental health, and this as a proportion of NHS England’s budget in 2016-17, are presented in the table below.
NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG | 2016/17 |
Total expenditure | £229.5 million |
Total expenditure as a proportion of NHS England’s budget | 0.22% |
Total expenditure on mental health | £23.8 million |
Total expenditure on mental health as a proportion of NHS England’s mental health budget | 0.25% |
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper, published by his Department in December 2017, if his Department will consider taking steps for (a) children in care and (b) children from deprived areas when implementing actions arising from that green paper.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We know that children in care and children in deprived areas face particular difficulties which may impact their mental health. The proposals set out in the Green Paper aim to improve support for all children who need mental health support, and will in particular help those groups with higher incidences of mental health issues, including children in care and children from deprived areas. We are keen to ensure that the Green Paper proposals also align with the various pieces of work we are taking forward across Government to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of looked after children.
Through the public online consultation for the Green Paper, which is open until 2 March, we are seeking views on how looked after children can easily access the right support and whether deprivation should be a key factor in selecting the trailblazer areas. Trailblazer areas will trial the mental health support teams and waiting time standard pilots (as set out in the Green Paper) and will also test how the mental health support teams can link to the work of other professionals to enhance support for vulnerable children.
The outcome of the consultation will inform how we take forward and implement the Green Paper proposals, and how we select the trailblazer areas.