Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has her department made of the adequacy of support available for staff members working at mental health centres in relation to dealing with patients who are aggressive towards staff members.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community-based mental health centres are designed to provide open access mental health support for people living within the centre’s local footprint who have a mental health need. There are no referral requirements or service thresholds for access. People who are receiving treatment for alcohol or drug use may also experience mental health needs and should not be excluded from centres solely on this basis, and people who have self-harmed, with a mental health need, are able to access support through a community-based mental health centre. The nature of assessment, treatment, and onward support for all patients accessing support through these centres, will be determined according to their individual circumstances and clinical needs.
The centres will work in partnership with local authorities, voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations and other agencies to support people with a wide range of needs, including housing, welfare, and social inclusion. They are expected to provide outreach to underserved groups and work collaboratively across neighbourhood systems to improve access to support, which could include people who are homeless and who have a mental health need.
The Department recognises that National Health Service organisations have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for staff. Employers are expected to have appropriate arrangements in place to manage risks associated with violence and aggression. Community-based mental health centres will be expected to follow the same standards, policies and procedures that apply across NHS mental health services. Local providers remain responsible for ensuring that staff have access to appropriate training, supervision, support, and risk management arrangements.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the new NHS mental health centres that the Government has announced will be opened, what provision will be put in place for this centres to support patients who are homeless.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community-based mental health centres are designed to provide open access mental health support for people living within the centre’s local footprint who have a mental health need. There are no referral requirements or service thresholds for access. People who are receiving treatment for alcohol or drug use may also experience mental health needs and should not be excluded from centres solely on this basis, and people who have self-harmed, with a mental health need, are able to access support through a community-based mental health centre. The nature of assessment, treatment, and onward support for all patients accessing support through these centres, will be determined according to their individual circumstances and clinical needs.
The centres will work in partnership with local authorities, voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations and other agencies to support people with a wide range of needs, including housing, welfare, and social inclusion. They are expected to provide outreach to underserved groups and work collaboratively across neighbourhood systems to improve access to support, which could include people who are homeless and who have a mental health need.
The Department recognises that National Health Service organisations have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for staff. Employers are expected to have appropriate arrangements in place to manage risks associated with violence and aggression. Community-based mental health centres will be expected to follow the same standards, policies and procedures that apply across NHS mental health services. Local providers remain responsible for ensuring that staff have access to appropriate training, supervision, support, and risk management arrangements.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether new NHS mental health centres will accept patients who are in treatment for (a) alcohol and (b) drug treatment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community-based mental health centres are designed to provide open access mental health support for people living within the centre’s local footprint who have a mental health need. There are no referral requirements or service thresholds for access. People who are receiving treatment for alcohol or drug use may also experience mental health needs and should not be excluded from centres solely on this basis, and people who have self-harmed, with a mental health need, are able to access support through a community-based mental health centre. The nature of assessment, treatment, and onward support for all patients accessing support through these centres, will be determined according to their individual circumstances and clinical needs.
The centres will work in partnership with local authorities, voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations and other agencies to support people with a wide range of needs, including housing, welfare, and social inclusion. They are expected to provide outreach to underserved groups and work collaboratively across neighbourhood systems to improve access to support, which could include people who are homeless and who have a mental health need.
The Department recognises that National Health Service organisations have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for staff. Employers are expected to have appropriate arrangements in place to manage risks associated with violence and aggression. Community-based mental health centres will be expected to follow the same standards, policies and procedures that apply across NHS mental health services. Local providers remain responsible for ensuring that staff have access to appropriate training, supervision, support, and risk management arrangements.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the new NHS mental health centres accept patients who have self harmed.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community-based mental health centres are designed to provide open access mental health support for people living within the centre’s local footprint who have a mental health need. There are no referral requirements or service thresholds for access. People who are receiving treatment for alcohol or drug use may also experience mental health needs and should not be excluded from centres solely on this basis, and people who have self-harmed, with a mental health need, are able to access support through a community-based mental health centre. The nature of assessment, treatment, and onward support for all patients accessing support through these centres, will be determined according to their individual circumstances and clinical needs.
The centres will work in partnership with local authorities, voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations and other agencies to support people with a wide range of needs, including housing, welfare, and social inclusion. They are expected to provide outreach to underserved groups and work collaboratively across neighbourhood systems to improve access to support, which could include people who are homeless and who have a mental health need.
The Department recognises that National Health Service organisations have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for staff. Employers are expected to have appropriate arrangements in place to manage risks associated with violence and aggression. Community-based mental health centres will be expected to follow the same standards, policies and procedures that apply across NHS mental health services. Local providers remain responsible for ensuring that staff have access to appropriate training, supervision, support, and risk management arrangements.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Protecting What Matters action plan, how the proposed cross-governmental integration strategy will support people seeking protection and refugees.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that a new approach to integration is required to effectively integrate new arrivals and existing communities.
In Protecting What Matters, we outlined the steps government is taking to implement a new approach to integration based on values, including:
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Protecting What Matters action plan, what the timeline is for developing and implementing the cross-governmental integration strategy.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Work to develop the cross-government integration strategy is ongoing, and we will update in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department has any plans to A.) cancel B.) pause the accumulation of interest on student loan debts when an individual is unable to work due to ill health.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As repayments are income-contingent, borrowers earning below the relevant repayment threshold make no repayments. For borrowers with undergraduate loans who earn no income, interest accrues at Retail Price Index, so the balance does not increase in real terms.
Student loans may also be cancelled where a borrower is permanently unfit for work because of a disability and meets the relevant eligibility and evidence requirements. At the end of the loan term, any outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is written off. The government continues to look for opportunities to improve the student finance system as part of its ongoing consideration of higher education funding.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps she is taking to ensure that that public contracts are not awarded to companies that engage in blacklisting workers who are members of trade unions.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists of trade union members.
Suppliers may be excluded for blacklisting offences under the Procurement Act exclusion regime in certain circumstances. We will make use of those powers where there is evidence of wrongdoing.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer given to written question UIN 111113, when does her department plan to publish an equalities impact assessment on the freeze to the Plan 2 student loan repayment threshold due to take effect in April 2027.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is expected to publish an equality impact assessment in relation to the Plan 2 repayment threshold and interest threshold freeze after the next Autumn Budget. This assessment will include consideration of the impact on borrowers' lifetime repayments, alongside other impacts on borrowers.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many of the recommendations from the 2024 Civil Aviation Authority report into the 2023 National Air Traffic Service failure have been a) implemented in full and b) partially implemented.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The CAA confirmed in June 2026 that all of the 34 recommendations made following the independent review into the NATS Technical Failure of August 2023 have either been completed or embedded in its ongoing regulatory programme.