Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
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 adequacy of community provision of mental health services to under-18s.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department keeps the mental health of children and young people and the services available for them, under continuous assessment through studies such as the Mental Health and Young People Survey 2017 and its follow up reports. The mental health services dataset indicates that 689,621 under 18 year olds were supported through at least one contact with National Health Service funded mental health services in the year up to July 2022.
The NHS Long Term plan commits to increasing investment into NHS mental health services in England by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 and aims for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need.
In recognition of the increased demand created by the COVID-19 pandemic, we invested an extra £79 million in 2021/22 to significantly expand children’s mental health services, including enabling around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
There are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issue. Mental health support teams now cover 26 per cent. of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned and this will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35 per cent. of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Sir Mike Richards report of the independent review of adult screening programmes in England, whether he is taking steps to deliver a new IT system in the Breast Screening Programme.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England have launched the Digital transformation of screening programme in response to the report’s recommendations. Discovery work on a new breast screening IT system has recently been completed.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
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 when a second provider will be commissioned for MR-guided focused ultrasound in the (a) North and (b) south of England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made regarding the number of patients with essential tremor in Liverpool. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust provide this treatment in England and meet patient demand. There are no current plans to expand the number of providers.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of life expectancy in Liverpool Wavertree constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No specific assessment has been made.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of Integrated Care Systems in involving local authorities in decision making and governance.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Care Act 2022 established integrated care boards and required the creation of integrated care partnerships as statutory elements of integrated care systems. Both organisations have governance and decision-making roles for local government.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made on the potential merit of local authorities providing adult social care services based on an in-house, insourced service model.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of care and support services to meet the needs of the local population. The Health and Care Act 2022 includes provisions for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to assess the performance of local authorities' of delivery adult social care duties, as set out under the Care Act 2014. The CQC has been working with local government and the care sector to develop a framework for these assessments, which includes consideration of how local authorities undertake commissioning and market shaping duties.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when her Department last discussed the local government finance settlement in respect to adult social care service provision demands across local council areas with the Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have regular discussions with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on adult social care service delivery and budgets.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 made an additional £3.7 billion available to councils compared to 2021/22. Through the settlement, local authorities have access to an additional £1 billion for social care in 2022/23.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of private sector provision of adult social care services on the (a) quality of care outcomes and (b) ability to recruit and retain staff in England and Wales.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of care and support services to meet the needs of the local populations. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape local markets to ensure a range of high quality, sustainable, person-centred care and support services are provided.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps her department is taking to help tackle NHS workforce shortages in Liverpool Wavertree constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Liverpool Wavertree.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her department is taking to help support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of mental health specialists in Liverpool Wavertree constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan stated the aim of increasing the mental health workforce in England by an additional 27,000 professionals by 2023/24. NHS England and Health Education England are working with local integrated care systems, including in NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, to confirm plans for service models, supply, retention and recruitment until 2024.
NHS England continues to support local systems, including in NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, to develop tailored health and wellbeing offers to meet the needs of the local mental health workforce. This includes mental health hubs in each integrated care system and occupational health services which are being supported through the Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing national programme.