Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise timely identification of autism can play an important role in enabling children and young people to get appropriate support, which is crucial in preventing escalation of needs. We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population in line with these NICE guidelines, including in relation to autism assessment. While we want every area to meet NICE guidance, we recognise that this is not happening everywhere.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services in an online-only format. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service. This includes guidance to local areas on how to manage referrals and the support that should be available whilst people are waiting for an assessment and after.
In 2023/2024, £4.2 million of funding is available across England to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services. We are also working in partnership with the Department for Education and NHS England on ‘Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in School’ (PINS), with £13 million of funding to test ideas that will improve access to specialist support for neurodiverse children in mainstream primary schools.
Each ICB in England is expected to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, supporting the Board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autistic people, including in relation to appropriate autism assessment pathways. NHS England has published guidance on these roles.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures are in place to train healthcare professionals in understanding and supporting the specific medical needs of individuals with autism.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are several measures being put in place to train healthcare professionals in understanding and supporting the needs of autistic people.
From 1 July 2022, the Health and Care Act 2022 requires providers registered with the Care Quality Commission to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. We are rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism to support this. This training will help to ensure that staff have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe and compassionate care, including how to provide reasonable adjustments, for autistic people. Over 1.4 million people have completed the first part of Oliver’s Training, an e-learning package.
NHS England has commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver the National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists in response to the need and demand for better autism training from within the profession. The training is co-produced and co-delivered with autistic people and offers a short foundation training course for psychiatrists working across a variety of settings, and a longer, more enhanced development course, aimed at psychiatrists and higher trainees who are seeking to increase their specialist knowledge and skills in autism. The provision of this training will help reduce diagnostic overshadowing, play a significant role in preventing unnecessary admissions to mental health hospitals for autistic people and improve autism appropriate care. The ambition is that this may contribute to reducing the number of inappropriate admissions, interventions such as seclusion and segregation along with the length of stay for those who need hospital care.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for autism spectrum disorder assessments for children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism, when commissioning services. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
In 2023 NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for all age autism diagnostic assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve all age autism assessment services and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service.
We have invested in improving autism assessment services over recent years, including £2.5 million in 2022/23 to support local areas with improvements in autism assessment pathways. For 2023/2024, £4.2 million of funding is available across England to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.
NHS England publishes quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment and for how long. While these are experimental statistics, the data does provide useful information nationally and locally, to support local areas in improving their performance and reducing assessment waiting times.
Each ICB in England is expected to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, supporting the board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autism, including in relation to appropriate autism assessment pathways. NHS England has published guidance on these roles.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
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 26 February 2024 to Question 15040 on Autism and Learning Disability: Community Care, whether the funding flows task and finish group have developed plans to (a) fund support effectively across the health and social care system and (b) improve oversight of expenditure on the Building the Right Support Action Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The aim of the Funding Flows task and finish group was to look at how to improve national oversight of the National Health Service and local authority spend on services and support for people with a learning disability and autistic people who are, or are at risk of being, admitted to mental health inpatient services.
The Funding Flows task and finish group has been looking at relevant data currently collected for the NHS and local government, to explore whether it could be brought together to help meet this objective. The final report from the Funding Flows task and finish group will be shared with the Building the Right Support Delivery Board in due course.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the prevalence of abuse of people of restricted growth.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We have a robust legislative framework to respond to all forms of hate crime, including those which target a person’s disability.
Whilst the police are operationally independent and work in line with the College of Policing’s operational guidance to respond to hate crime, we expect them to fully investigate these offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 1% reduction in disability hate crime compared with the previous year. However, any instance is one too many and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring these offences are stamped out.
A person of restricted growth is not necessarily a disabled person. A disability hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability or perceived disability, or any disability including physical disability, learning disability and mental health or developmental disorders. This will be a question of fact in each case.
Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. We delivered our commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023 and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak in March 2010 before the Police Uplift Programme.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand support available through Jobcentres in Bournemouth East constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting jobs fairs and delivering sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs), the Jobcentre is working with Bournemouth and Poole College, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Citizens Advice, Faithworks, Seetec Plus, Aspire Training, Skills & Learning, International Care Network, Parks in Mind, the Boscombe Towns Fund and many other partners and organisations to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers..
SWAPs are either active or planned in Facilities Management, Hospitality, IT and Communications, Education, Construction, Security, Manufacturing, Administration and the Civil Service through a range of local providers and these are being promoted through both Bournemouth Jobcentres closest to this Ward.
Disability Employment Advisers are supporting the Community Support Hub at a Health and Support Pop-Up: Community Wellness Event between the 18th and 28th March at the Bournemouth Arts Depot in Boscombe, where local people can access high-quality health services completely free of charge. This is in collaboration with BEAF Arts Co, Boscombe Innovation Hub, Help & Care, Community Action Network (CAN), and Healthwatch.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support available to adults with complex mental health needs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Through the NHS Long Term plan, the Government is providing record levels of investment, and increasing the mental health workforce, to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England. Almost £16 billion was invested into mental health in 2022/23, enabling 3.6 million people to be in contact with mental health services.
As part of this, we’re set to reach nearly £1 billion of additional funding invested by 2023/24, to transform community mental health services. This is the largest area of investment within the NHS Long Term Plan for mental health, aiming to support more people with the care that is most appropriate for their needs, and that is integrated between primary and community mental health services. Over the last full financial year, 2022/23, 288,000 adults and older adults with severe mental illness were able to access mental health support through these new models.
The safety and care of mental health patients is of paramount importance. Those with complex mental health needs in an inpatient mental health facility deserve to receive safe, high-quality care, and to be treated with dignity and respect.
NHS England has established a Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme. This programme is working to support cultural change and a new model of care for the future, across all NHS-funded mental health, learning disability, and autism inpatient settings.
The ambition is to increasingly shift mental healthcare towards early intervention and prevention, with treatment primarily delivered in the community. This includes increasing the number of personalised care roles, such as peer support workers, with expansion focused on mental health services where need is greatest.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the eligibility criteria for NHS sight tests does not include people with learning disabilities within the classification of groups at high risk of eye disease.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning National Health Service sight testing services to meet the local need, which could include commissioning adapted sight testing services to meet the needs of adults with learning disabilities. People over the age of 14 years old with a learning disability are entitled to a general practice led annual health check, to maintain their health. This can help identify undetected health conditions early, including problems with vision.
All children under the age of 16 years old, and those under the age of 19 years old in full time education, as well as adults aged 60 years old or over, are entitled to an NHS sight test. Those on a low income, and defined categories of people at particular risk of developing eye disease are also entitled to free tests. Sight tests will also be made available to all children attending special day and residential schools during 2024/25.
For adults, although having a learning disability does not provide exemption grounds, we would expect those with severe learning disabilities would meet the eligibility criteria in other ways. We therefore do not believe there is a need to extend eligibility further.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce inequalities in eye care for adults with learning disabilities.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning National Health Service sight testing services to meet the local need, which could include commissioning adapted sight testing services to meet the needs of adults with learning disabilities. People over the age of 14 years old with a learning disability are entitled to a general practice led annual health check, to maintain their health. This can help identify undetected health conditions early, including problems with vision.
All children under the age of 16 years old, and those under the age of 19 years old in full time education, as well as adults aged 60 years old or over, are entitled to an NHS sight test. Those on a low income, and defined categories of people at particular risk of developing eye disease are also entitled to free tests. Sight tests will also be made available to all children attending special day and residential schools during 2024/25.
For adults, although having a learning disability does not provide exemption grounds, we would expect those with severe learning disabilities would meet the eligibility criteria in other ways. We therefore do not believe there is a need to extend eligibility further.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which external (a) speakers and (b) organisations have spoken in Civil Service diversity, equity, and inclusion training since 2020.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In the Autumn Statement last year, the Chancellor set out that the Government is considering introducing a presumption against external EDI spending and increasing ministerial scrutiny of EDI spending whilst streamlining EDI training and HR processes with a view to getting value for the taxpayer.
The Civil Service offers limited diversity and inclusion specific training through the cross Civil Service learning offer. The Civil Service work with a range of external suppliers to design and deliver these courses, a full list of which is provided here. Speakers are not part of the training provided in the learning offer.
Civil Service Expectations - e-learning course
Collaborating effectively in cross-cultural teams - MindGym
Creating an Inclusive Culture - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Creating Inclusive Virtual Teams - Bailey & French
Creating Team Inclusivity - Capital Training Ltd
Cultivating your Cultural Intelligence - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Dealing with Everyday Racism - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Disability inclusive management - KPMG Specialist Faculty
Ignite inclusion - MindGym
Inclusive leadership - KPMG Specialist Faculty
Leading inclusive teams - KPMG Specialist Faculty
Managing Inclusion - Korn Ferry
Modern Leadership – skills for managing a diverse workforce - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Neurodiversity in the workplace - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Power of choice - Korn Ferry
Respect Training - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Sexual Harassment - Red Snapper
Understanding multiple perspectives - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd
Working with different cultures – a Managers Toolkit - Berkshire Consultancy Ltd