Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many psychologists were employed in prisons on average in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023. The average number of psychologists is given in table 1 below.
Table 1 - Average number of psychologists1 in HMPPS 2 for each calendar year from 2010 to 2023
(full-time equivalent)
Calendar Year |
| Total |
2010 |
| 568 |
2011 |
| 549 |
2012 |
| 522 |
2013 |
| 507 |
2014 |
| 507 |
2015 |
| 544 |
2016 |
| 615 |
2017 |
| 654 |
2018 |
| 698 |
2019 |
| 762 |
2020 |
| 798 |
2021 |
| 816 |
2022 |
| 874 |
2023 |
| 862 |
Notes
1. Only including staff in HMPPS bands 5 to 11 and will include trainee psychologists. Staff in groupworker or administrative roles in psychology at bands 3 and 4 are excluded.
2. Psychologists employed in the Probation Service are not included.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure that young offenders are provided therapeutic support (a) in the community and (b) in secure settings.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) are central to supporting children in the community who are on the cusp of offending, as well as those who have already offended. Working as multi-agency teams, with representatives from police, probation, education, health and social services, and specialist workers, such as accommodation officers and substance misuse workers, they are able to tailor their interventions and referrals based on an assessment of a child's vulnerabilities, risk and needs. YOTs are increasingly moving towards becoming a ‘trauma-informed’ service, and most have access to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services practitioner who will assess children and provide early intervention to young people coming into contact with the justice system.
In secure settings, in collaboration with Health partners, the Youth Custody Service is committed to the delivery of an individualised, trauma-informed model of care for every child in custody across England and Wales. This approach ensures every child has access to a needs-based programme of therapy, interventions, treatment, and education. Interventions include a range of cognitive behavioural programmes, counselling psychology services and Family Therapy to promote desistance from future offending.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 11 March (HL2772, HL2773, HL2811), what arrangements they have in place to ensure that the 148 residential special schools mentioned in that answer have ready access to psychiatric and clinical psychology services to meet the clinical needs of their residents, especially those with complex autism.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Of the 55 independent residential special schools, five are identified as requiring improvement by Ofsted. One further school met the standards since the previous answer was provided. These schools are The Forum School, Wilds Lodge School, Pioneer TEC, The Fitzroy Academy and The Grange Therapeutic School. Nine schools offer under 20 residential placements, eight schools offer 20 to 40 residential placements, and 38 schools offer residential placements for over 40. None are approved for a single child only.
When the department registers an independent school, it establishes who the proprietor will be, and runs suitability checks on the proprietor. The proprietor is ultimately responsible for the operation of the school. The proprietor is included on the register of independent schools. The department does not record the ultimate beneficial owner of the school. The registered proprietor of each of the 55 independent residential special schools is shown in the attachment provided titled ‘Table of Independent Residential Special Schools’.
Of the 26 residential maintained special schools, six are identified as requiring improvement by Ofsted. These schools are Holly House Special School, Barndale House School, Greenbank School, Kings Mill School, Lindsworth School and Lexden Springs School. One school offers under 20 residential placements, three schools offer 20 to 40 residential placements, and 23 schools offer residential placements for over 40. None are approved for a single child only.
Of the 33 residential non-maintained special schools (NMSS), three are identified as requiring improvement by Ofsted. This number has increased by one since the previous answer provided as the department has identified an additional NMSS that is listed on the register of schools as a further educational college rather than a school. These schools are St Vincent’s School, New College Worcester, and Breckenbrough School. No schools offer under 20 residential placements, one school offers 20 to 40 residential placements, and 32 schools offer residential placements for over 40. None are approved for a single child only.
Of the 34 residential special academy and free schools, four require improvement according to Ofsted. One school no longer offers residential placements since the previous answer provided. These schools are Brompton Hall School, Langham Oaks, Pencalenick School and Charlton Park Academy. No schools offer under 20 residential placements, two schools offer 20 to 40 residential placements, and 32 schools offer residential placements for over 40. None are approved for a single child only.
Historical data does not allow a comparison to be made on Residential Special Schools compared to 2010 and 2015. Data for recorded school types is available in the department’s data releases, which is included in the attached documents titled ‘Index of Tables’ and ‘Table of School Characteristics’.
Local authorities must ensure there are sufficient school places for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. Residential provision may be the right way to meet the needs of some children and young people, but it places them at greater risk by removing them from their families and local support networks. While there will always be a small group of children who require more intensive round-the-clock care alongside their education or healthcare in a residential setting, this should be less necessary as the department better meets children’s needs in mainstream schools and non-residential special schools and provide more early and intensive support for families.
Individual schools are responsible for ensuring they can meet the needs of the children and young people they educate. All residential special schools are required to follow and are inspected against the residential special schools’ national minimum standards (NMS). These standards can be found on the GOV.UK website: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/647f53155f7bb700127fa5c9/Residential_special_schools_national_minimum_standards.pdf.
Amongst other things, the NMS set out the importance of suitably qualified and trained staff, along with a requirement for care staff to have at least a relevant Level 3 qualification. Part D, ‘Health and Wellbeing’, provides comprehensive standards to ensure staff are meeting pupils’ needs, including ensuring pupils have access to appropriate support services. Children and young people in residential special schools away from home are entitled to access local health services in the same way as all children and young people are. Some providers also offer and commission their own clinical expertise and support for children in their residential special schools. Additionally, the National Autism Trainer Programme, funded by NHS England and led by Anna Freud provides a co-produced autism Train the Trainers approach that has been offered free of charge for staff working in residential special schools and colleges to better support them to understand the needs and experiences of autistic children and young people.
Children and young people may only be placed in a special school if they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. If the placement is no longer suitable for the child or young person, the local authority responsible for the EHC plan will need to review it and consider amending it, following the statutory processes set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.
In the meantime, local authorities have a duty to arrange suitable education for any pupil of compulsory school age who, because of illness, exclusion, or other reasons, would not get a suitable education without such provision. This education must be full time, unless a pupil’s medical needs mean that full-time education would not be in their best interests.
It is up to local authorities to determine the most appropriate alternative provision for a child, but they should take into account the views of the pupil, their parents and other professionals.
The department has published statutory guidance on alternative provision, which local authorities must have regard to. The guidance is available on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-provision.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are sufficient qualified staff to deal with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, the department is currently testing measures to deliver a nationally consistent Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan system and improve the quality and speed with which support is put in place. The department is taking steps to increase the capacity of the workforce supporting children and young people with SEND, but it is the responsibility of individual employers, including local authorities, schools and healthcare settings, to plan their staffing levels in line with their local service priorities.
Educational psychologists have a critical role, providing statutory input into EHC plan assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024.
Since 2020, the department has increased the number of educational psychologist trainees that we fund to over 200, from 160 per year. As these larger cohorts complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to EHC plan assessments.
Local authority caseworkers play a vital role in supporting families to navigate the system and ensuring they have good experiences, including through the EHC plan process. To build capacity, the department is providing legal training for local authority caseworkers this year and will consider new guidance to deliver a responsive and supportive casework service.
The department is committed to a joint Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care approach to SEND workforce planning. The departments aim to complete this by 2025. This will build on the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published in June 2023 which sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years.
To support the supply of more speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to the NHS, since September 2020 all eligible undergraduate and postgraduate degree students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation, and travel costs.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the finding that some separated children receive 30 minutes a day out of their cell at HMYOI Wetherby.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Inspectorate’s report explains that the key reason for differences in length of time out of room, was whether children could mix with other children. The Youth Custody Service (YCS) will aim to reduce the length of time for which children at HMYOI Wetherby are separated, and improve the regime provided for them, by introducing new guidance which will make for a consistent approach to carrying out Rule 49 (Removal from association) reviews. A psychologist will provide timely short-term assessments of risk and need, to support efficient reintegration at the earliest opportunity.
The YCS will seek to ensure that reintegration planning commences at the point of separation, and includes input from all key areas, to ensure the child is provided with a purposeful regime including education, gymnasium, wing-based activities and psychology.
We will improve the education provision for all children, and the charity Kinetic Youth will be involved in enhancing provision for separated children.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to reduce levels of mental health conditions of people living with HIV.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living with HIV, which includes providing support for mental health conditions. As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs). This will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including psychosocial support and mental health and counselling services, for a more holistic approach to care.
NHS England has now approved plans to fully delegate the commissioning of appropriate specialised services, including specialised HIV services, to ICBs in the East, the Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England will also continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs, including specialised HIV services, in the South West, South East, London and the North East and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025.
The national service specification sets out the requirement for agreeing pathways which define responsibility for meeting the non-HIV needs of patients and identify shared care, including clinical psychology and psychological support services. The NHS Talking Therapies Programme has also developed an e-learning module for Talking Therapies staff on HIV, which is available at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/breaking-barriers-in-hiv-care/
This will enable therapists to support people with anxiety and depression related to the experience of having HIV. As per the NHS Talking Therapies Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms, from 2018/19 all NHS Talking Therapies services were commissioned to establish pathways for people living with long-term physical health conditions, as a key mechanism to ensure the delivery of increased access to psychological therapies.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2024 to Question 13404 on Prison Officers: Youth Custody, what his planned timetable is for completing the development of the bespoke training for staff working with girls in Young Offender Institution and Secure Training Centre sectors.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) recognises that staff need additional training and support to work effectively with girls in custody. YCS Psychology Services conducted a staff training and development needs analysis which identified various gaps and made associated recommendations. As a result, a programme of additional training for working with girls in custody has been developed which incorporates various modules to meet the identified learning gaps.
Reflecting our commitment to integrated care set out in the YCS and NHS England Framework for Integrated Care (‘SECURE STAIRS’), delivery of the programme is cross-departmental and involves a number of agencies. Implementation has commenced, and the programme will remain in place to ensure the continuous upskilling of new staff. The training needs analysis will be continuously reviewed and updated as this programme proceeds, to ensure any emerging needs are addressed.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
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 help ensure that specialist medical services for Tourette's Syndrome are accessible to people outside of London.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Most services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs) as they are best placed to plan and improve the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and funding. I know, for example, that there have been recent ICB discussions within the provider trust in Leeds related to strengthening the local offer for Tourette’s syndrome.
Nationally, the government is taking steps to alleviate workforce demands to support services for Tourette’s syndrome. This includes, increasing the number of trained clinical psychologists available. Health Education England, now merged with NHS England, supported a 60 per cent expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past two years.
Clinical psychologist trainees are able to undertake specialist placements focusing on Tourette’s syndrome, in addition to Tourette’s syndrome featuring as part of the broader neuropsychology curriculum.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether prison officers working in the youth secure estate receive training on tackling violence against women and girls.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) recognises that girls have specific needs that require a gender-specific approach. A national Girls Oversight Board has been established to lead on the work of providing a dedicated care strategy, appropriate complex case management, and learning and development for staff.
A bespoke training offer is being developed by YCS Psychology Services for staff working with girls in our Young Offender Institution and Secure Training Centre sectors. This will cover a range of gender-specific issues that directly affect girls and young women.
Placement decisions in relation to girls in the youth secure estate take full account of the wider population of children. The Ministry of Justice expects standards of behaviour towards girls and women to be modelled and challenged appropriately by operational staff, and the mixing of cohorts is closely supervised at all times.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people in South Cumbria identified as highly complex or at high risk to self or others are on the waiting list for (a) cognitive behavioural therapy, (b) psychology and (c) family therapy as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested.