Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that the social care workforce receives training on dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Through Skills for Care, the Government provides resources and practical toolkits for social care providers to attract, train and retain staff. This includes the Workforce Development Fund, which enables employers to apply for financial support towards the development of staff and can include training for staff to care for those with dementia.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require (a) early intervention and (b) preventative measures to help tackle children and young people's mental health and wellbeing; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
There are no current plans to bring forward specific legislative proposals.
The Government has launched a public call for evidence to support the development of a new cross-Government 10 year plan for mental health, including supporting children and young people’s mental health. The call for evidence is open until 7 July 2022 and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of research from the National Literacy Trust and Audible on the impact of listening to audiobooks on people's health and wellbeing; and if he will make it his policy to support the campaign to reduce VAT on audiobooks.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No specific assessment has been made. Taxation is a matter for HM Treasury.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of research from the National Literacy Trust and Audible on the impact of listening to audiobooks on the mental health and wellbeing of adults in the UK.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No specific assessment has been made. Taxation is a matter for HM Treasury.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with representatives of mobile operators on zero-rating GP websites to ensure that virtual GP appointments do not rely on internet data plans.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
General practices are independent contractors and manage their websites. In March 2020 the Government worked with Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three to secure free online access to the following websites:
- NHS.UK;
- 111.nhs.uk;
- wales.nhs.uk;
- nhsinform.scot;
- nidirect.gov.uk; and
- publichealth.hscni.net.
These provisions were temporary and ceased at the end of 2020. There are currently no further plans to zero-rate these or general practice websites.
Patient preferences should be taken into account to determine the most appropriate consultation method and online tools must be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels. Patients unable to access video consultations for any reason should therefore be offered an alternative appointment mode.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2022 to Question 119402, on Special Educational Needs: Ophthalmic Services, how many day special schools are part of the Proof-of-Concept programme to provide sight tests and dispensing of glasses on school premises; and how many children attending day special schools have been seen under that programme to date.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
There are currently 93 day special schools participating in the Proof-of-Concept programme. To date, claims submitted by contractors indicate that 2,695 children have received a sight test, of which 1,152 required and received glasses. The programme will be evaluated later this year.