Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the delay for a bipolar diagnosis and (b) bring it in line with early intervention targets for other conditions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for people with bipolar disorder. We are determined to change that.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, create a network of open access community Young Futures hubs, recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment, and modernise the Mental Health Act.
We are also committed to new models of care for mental health, including reforming care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. We are testing neighbourhood mental health centres for people aged 18 years old and over with serious mental illness. These six pilot schemes are based in Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Sheffield, York, Birmingham, and Whitehaven.
These models will offer 24/7 open access care closer to home, with an integrated service which includes healthcare providers, local authorities, and the voluntary sector. These pilots build on international evidence that shows that similar models have led to a reduction in hospitalisation and waiting times, and support our efforts to move more care into the community.
Since 2021, all areas of the country have been transforming and increasing access to community mental health services for all people with severe mental illness, including people with bipolar disorder. The vision for the transformation programme was set out in the Community Mental Health Framework, which included ensuring that services were needs led, rather than requiring people to have a specific diagnosis to access care.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to tackle persistent absences in secondary schools in South Suffolk.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.
The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the South Suffolk constituency. Central to this approach is stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance which was made statutory on 19 August 2024 and can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts and local authorities to work with families in addressing attendance barriers.
Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.
The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the government set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2,000 schools and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.
In addition to this work, the department is improving the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
The department recently announced that new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, and empowering schools to better access support and learn from one another. Improving school attendance is one of four national priorities for RISE teams.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn.
The department will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the mental health of farmers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government is committed to supporting the mental health of those working in farming and agriculture.
Following engagement with agricultural mental health charities, Defra established a team dedicated to addressing the particular set of issues driving poorer mental health outcomes in the agricultural industry.
We are also continuing to fund the Farmer Welfare Grant. This funds four charities to deliver projects which will support mental health and build resilience in local farming communities.
As promised in our manifesto, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.
Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of expanding youth schemes to reduce anti-social behaviour in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby
Too many children and young people do not have access to the same enrichment opportunities as their peers, suffer from poor mental health and, in some cases, end up being drawn into crime rather than going on to achieve and thrive.
The government has committed to the creation of the new Young Futures programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to ensure this cohort is identified and offered support in a more systematic way.
Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for children and young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive. Prevention Partnerships will identify children and young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime, including anti-social behaviour, and divert them by offering them suitable support in a more systematic way.
The Young Futures programme is one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape. They will be designed to complement core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing.
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this government and is a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Anti-social behaviour causes great harm and misery to communities and, if left unchecked, can lead to more serious offending. Effective youth anti-social behaviour intervention is crucial in disrupting this pipeline. In many cases, informal and early intervention can be successful in changing behaviour and protecting communities.
As part of the wider youth landscape, this government has launched the co-production of an ambitious National Youth Strategy to set out a new vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help increase interagency working between (a) local authorities, (b) social services and the (c) police to help prevent crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the vital role that interagency working plays in helping to prevent crime. We have committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will embed partnership principles in a network of new Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships.
Prevention Partnerships will drive local multi-agency partnership working, and encourage police, local authorities and other agencies to work in partnership to reduce a young person’s likelihood of becoming involved in crime. This will include effective information sharing between agencies and improved consistency in joined up-working.
Driving down drug-related crime is another key prevention strand of our work. We ensure join-up at a local level through over 100 Combating Drugs Partnerships, which are multi-agency forums that bring together a range of partners at the local level including local authorities, health and police to address drug use and harms.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to improve educational support and engagement for vulnerable young people at risk of becoming involved in knife crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to ensure at risk children and young people are supported in a more systematic way. The Government recognises the vital role community voices can play in the effective delivery of crime reduction initiatives.
This is why the Prevention Partnership model, and its associated functions will be designed in partnership with the communities it intends to support. As we continue to design the Young Futures Programme, we want to ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the existing Violence Reduction Units in this regard. In 2025/26 we are investing £49.7m in Violence Reduction Units, including making over £4.3m available to the West Midlands this year, and £14.4m to Serious Violence Duty Partnerships nationally.
Violence Reduction Units and Serious Violence Duty partnerships bring together key partners, including the local community, to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. As part of the 'whole system' approach to violence prevention, they are required to operate 'with and for' the community. This involves support for community-led and grass-roots organisations to deliver interventions that help to prevent violence, including knife crime.
The Prime Minister has also launched a Coalition to tackle the scourge of knife crime. The Coalition brings together key stakeholders, including community leaders, to help the Government develop an extensive understanding of what causes young people to be drawn into violence.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support community-led initiatives focused on preventing knife crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to ensure at risk children and young people are supported in a more systematic way. The Government recognises the vital role community voices can play in the effective delivery of crime reduction initiatives.
This is why the Prevention Partnership model, and its associated functions will be designed in partnership with the communities it intends to support. As we continue to design the Young Futures Programme, we want to ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the existing Violence Reduction Units in this regard. In 2025/26 we are investing £49.7m in Violence Reduction Units, including making over £4.3m available to the West Midlands this year, and £14.4m to Serious Violence Duty Partnerships nationally.
Violence Reduction Units and Serious Violence Duty partnerships bring together key partners, including the local community, to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. As part of the 'whole system' approach to violence prevention, they are required to operate 'with and for' the community. This involves support for community-led and grass-roots organisations to deliver interventions that help to prevent violence, including knife crime.
The Prime Minister has also launched a Coalition to tackle the scourge of knife crime. The Coalition brings together key stakeholders, including community leaders, to help the Government develop an extensive understanding of what causes young people to be drawn into violence.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships will play in the government's plans to tackle violence against women and girls.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to ensure vulnerable and at-risk children and young people are identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities, through the provision of mental health and careers support.
The new Young Futures Hubs will bring together the support services that tackle the underlying needs of vulnerable children and young people and make them more accessible to those that need them. In doing so, the hubs will promote children and young people’s development, improve their mental health and wellbeing, and prevent them from being drawn into crime.
Prevention Partnerships will drive local multi-agency partnership working, improve evidence-based commissioning via existing and innovative mapping exercises and ensure the right support is available to children at-risk of knife crime, ASB and violence against women and girls.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to support farmers' mental health.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
At the budget we committed £5 billion to farming over the next two years which will see the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our country’s history. We also committed £60 million through the Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by unprecedented extreme wet weather last winter.
More specifically, Defra has set up a dedicated team to look at the particular set of issues driving poor mental health outcomes in the farming and agricultural sector. We will be working in consultation with communities, farming support organisations and experts across the Government to review how we can best support those experiencing poor mental health.
Furthermore, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs, which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.
Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce rates of self-harm by people who work in (a) farming and (b) other agricultural industries.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra has set up a dedicated team to look at the particular set of issues driving poor mental health outcomes in the farming and agricultural sector. We will be working in consultation with communities, farming support organisations and experts across the Government to review how we can best support those experiencing poor mental health.
Furthermore, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs, which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.
Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.