Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve GP retention in the NHS Greater Manchester ICS area.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We are working with NHS England, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England, including in Greater Manchester. This includes measures to improve recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new schemes, alongside continued support for existing recruitment and retention schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, the New to Partnership Payment and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department takes to monitor the performance of the provision of local retention initiatives in the NHS Greater Manchester ICS area.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England retains oversight of local workforce plans and is updated on vacancy rates. However, recruitment and retention are undertaken at trust level. The NHS People Plan focuses on improving the retention of National Health Service staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. In 2022/23, £45 million has been allocated to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs, the Professional Nurse Advocates programme and expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service.
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care System is currently developing a retention plan and is engaging with partners in the health and care system. It is also working with NHS England to consider current and future data collection to monitoring the impact and sustainability of local retention initiatives.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to NHS Greater Manchester ICS to support with GP retention for 2022-23; and how much was spent for that purpose in 2021-22.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care System’s (ICS) projected expenditure through NHS England’s national general practitioner (GP) retention scheme for 2022/23 is £221,000. In 2021/22, its spending was approximately £195,000.
In addition, through the Greater Manchester Primary Care Workforce Programme, in 2021/22 the ICS invested £639,000 in GP workforce development programmes which supported recruitment and retention. Its projected investment in 2022/23 is approximately £644,000.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs who had been previously working in NHS Greater Manchester ICS area have left the profession in the last three years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
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 availability across health providers of (a) cognitive behavioural therapy, (b) eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing and (c) dialectical behaviour therapy.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The ‘Health Education England Adult IAPT Workforce Census 2021’ reported that in March 2021, 92% of providers offered cognitive behavioural therapy through local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and 88% offered eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing. Dialectical behaviour therapy is not offered through IAPT services.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out an ambition to expand and transform community mental health services for adults, including increasing access to evidence-based psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing and dialectical behaviour therapy. No assessment has been made of the availability of psychological therapies provided by adult and children and young people’s community health services.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
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 8 June 2022 to Question 3475 on Mental Health Services: Children and Young People, what criteria are used to determine whether health and wellbeing measures affecting children and young people are to be afforded statutory protection; and which measures have been afforded that protection in the last 12 years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Any decision to place such measures on a statutory footing would be subject to the Department’s policy development process, any legal obligations such as the Public Sector Equality Duty, any relevant impact tests such as the family test, consultation with interested parties and value for money, with the final decision made by Minsters. The information on the specific measures afforded this protection in the last 12 years is not held in the format requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he received on the needs of children and young people during public consultations on the White Paper on Reforming the Mental Health Act.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Government consulted on the proposals for legislation made by the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018, including the white paper ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’, which received more than 1,700 responses. Of the responses, 1,449 were used in the qualitative analysis, of which 1,119 responses were received from individuals. This included 74 from people aged under 25 years old; 1,020 from people aged 25 years old and over; and 25 respondents did not specify their age. There were also 330 responses received on behalf of organisations, including those representing the needs of children and young people.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to address the needs of children and young people as part of the proposed reform of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
A draft Mental Health Bill will be published shortly. The legislative reforms aim to give greater autonomy to children and young people to inform their care and treatment and ensure that inpatients, whether or not they are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, are given improved support to access their rights under the Act.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to pursue a non-statutory strategy in matters concerning early intervention and school and community-based measures for the mental health support of children and young people; what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a non-statutory basis for that strategy; and what consideration he gave to providing a statutory basis for these services.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper’ and the NHS Long Term Plan set out the policy concerning early intervention and school and community-based measures for the mental health support of children and young people. These do not require a statutory basis to implement. No assessment of the merits of a non-statutory or statutory approach for these services has been made since the publication of the green paper and the Long Term Plan.
We continue to consider the Committee’s recommendations in the context of the development of a new long term, cross-Government plan for mental health. We will update our response to the Committee’s recommendations once the final plan is published. A call for evidence to inform the development of the plan is open until 7 July 2022.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide an update on his Department's response to each of the 25 recommendations made by the Health and Social Care Committee in its Eighth Report, Children and Young People's Mental Health, HC 17, published on 9 December 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We welcome the Committee’s report. In our response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report, we set out where we agreed with its recommendations or where we are taking forward the recommendations in part or in full. We will be considering the recommendations in full during the development of a new long term cross-Government plan for mental health. We are launching a wide-ranging discussion paper and call for evidence to support development of the plan. The Committee’s inquiry and evidence from witnesses will be considered during this process.