Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 12 October 2021 to Question 51702 on NHS: Expenditure, how much NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and integrated care boards spent in aggregate on (a) mental health services, (b) acute health services, (c) social care services, (d) primary medical services, (e) specialised services, (f) NHS continuing healthcare and (g) all other recorded spending categories in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much those organisations plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in the (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested up to 2023/24 is in the attached table due to its size. NHS England continues to work with integrated care boards (ICB) to develop their financial plans for 2024/25. Until that process is complete, we will not have a final agreed set of financial plans for the year ahead.
The £38 billion increase in clinical commissioning group and ICB direct commissioning spend between the 2019/20 and 2023/24 budgets reflects the record settlement for health and social care funding confirmed at the 2021 Spending Review.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that people experiencing acute or chronic side effects from taking gabapentin do not have to wait for a (a) referral and (b) assessment by mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
While we have no specific plans to do so, we are committed to expanding and transforming mental health services in England through the NHS Long Term Plan, so that more people, including those experiencing side effects from taking gabapentin, can get the mental health help and support that they need.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund the national roll-out of mental health support teams across all schools and colleges in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental health support teams now cover approximately 44% of pupils in England and we are working to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils by March 2025. The further rollout of mental health support teams will be subject to future spending decisions.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what practical assistance is available for those with a physical or mental condition which prevents them from doing medical tests at home, such as bowel cancer screening, unaided.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the issues faced by some people with physical or mental health conditions that can make attending a screening appointment, or carrying out a home test, more difficult. Currently, national screening IT systems do not have the facilities to flag conditions for individuals which could make it more difficult to carry out the bowel cancer screening, fecal immunochemical test (FIT) at home. It is therefore recommended that individuals contact their general practice (GP) in these situations, so that GPs can work with the screening provider to arrange further support. For example, carrying out a FIT test at the GP or at home, with the support of a family member or community nurse.
NHS England has started work to improve its national screening IT systems through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will enable screening providers to flag heath issues that may make carrying out a FIT test at home more difficult, and to offer any appropriate support.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which groups have a lower-than-average rate of participation in home-kit bowel cancer screening; and what plans they have to increase participation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national IT system for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme does not routinely collect data that could identify groups that have a lower-than-average uptake rate of the fecal immunochemical bowel cancer screening test.
Research has found that groups which are less likely to take part in bowel screening include men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people in more deprived areas. Physical or mental health conditions can also make carrying out a home test more difficult.
NHS England has started work to improve its national screening IT systems through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will enable screening providers to record protected characteristics, to more accurately identify groups with the lowest uptake, and target initiatives to improve uptake.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024 on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) early and (b) timely help to affected families.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.
At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.
The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.
In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.
The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.
The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.
Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.
The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.
The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024, on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.
At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.
The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.
In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.
The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.
The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.
Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.
The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.
The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Orpheopolis system of French orphanages for the orphaned children of police officers; and what assessment they have made of the benefits of introducing such a facility in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has no plans to introduce a facility specifically for orphaned children of police officers.
The death of an officer is devastating for all in policing, but most deeply felt by their loved ones and children. It is important that bereaved families have access to the appropriate support, primarily from the police force. Depending on the particular circumstances, there is a range of benefits payable to children on the death of an officer under both the occupational pension and injury benefit schemes. There are also a number of police charities providing support for bereaved families and children, which provide access to counselling and peer support.
This Government also introduced the Police Covenant, to support the police workforce and their families, recognising the risks and demands that can be involved. We have funded the National Police Wellbeing Service to develop and launch the first national family support package, providing advice for the families of officers on mental health and fatigue, as well as practical resources for those with young children to help them understand the role of policing.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult mental health patients have been held in inappropriate out of area placements since March 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
12,960 inappropriate out of area placements were started between April 2021 and 31 December 2023, although some patients may have had more than one placement within the reporting period.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance she issues to mental health services on their obligations to a people that (a) police and (b) local authorities find too unwell to be in the community.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.