Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme in supporting at-risk children of alcohol dependent parents.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Reducing Parental Conflict programme aims to improve child outcomes by reducing parental conflict that is frequent, intense and unresolved.
In 2018 the DWP and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched the Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents (CADeP) programme. This included funding of £5.7 million for 9 areas (13 local authorities), to reduce parental conflict alongside improving existing systems of treatment for parents with alcohol dependency.
To ensure that the learning from the programme was shared, DHSC commissioned an independent evaluation of the innovation fund. This evaluation has been published and can be found at Evaluation of the Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents programme innovation fund: full report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The following findings of the evaluation were of particular interest to DWP in relation to the RPC elements of this programme:
The current phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme runs between 2022 and 2025, with up to £19 million to fund training, delivery of support, co-ordination and evaluation. This supports Local Authorities to choose activity that best suits local need.
This government remains committed to strengthening the support available to children and families, working with local authorities through government funded programmes including Reducing Parental Conflict, Supporting Families and Family Hubs /Start for Life.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to improve (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we will invest almost £1 billion extra in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness by 2023/24. This will give 370,000 adults with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities. As part of this we are expanding community eating disorder services capacity, including crisis care and intensive home treatment.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country.
NHS England is refreshing guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, including to increase the focus on early identification and intervention. Updated guidance will highlight the importance of improved integration between dedicated community eating disorder services, wider children and young people's mental health services, schools, colleges and primary care to improve awareness, provide expert advice and improve support for children and young people presenting with problems with eating, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist support as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 help newly immigrated nurses integrate into NHS workplaces.
Answered by Will Quince
All nurses new to the National Health Service will be supported with an appropriate induction programme. In addition, NHS England has funded a grant programme to support international nurses and midwives' integration into the United Kingdom and NHS. This will include hosting wellbeing and career development webinars and building digital platforms to signpost culture-specific information.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take with NHS England on supporting Integrated Care Systems to share best practice and strategies for quality improvement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England have shared case studies of best practice in guidance for integrated care boards and integrated care partnerships.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will assess integrated care systems (ICSs) across three key themes set out in the Health and Care Act 2022 which includes quality and safety, integration, and leadership; assessment reports will include required improvement and best practice.
NHS England host an online collaboration platform, FutureNHS, that enables all health and social care professionals to connect, share knowledge and collaborate.
Best practice is also facilitated via established forums including the Local Government Association (LGA), NHS Place Development Programme, and the ICS Network hosted by the NHS Confederation.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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) address the backlog in NHS England's diabetes service, (b) promote greater integration of diabetes services with other NHS services, (c) promote greater co-ordination of diabetes services with other NHS services and (d) improve diabetes services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To address the backlog in NHS England’s diabetes service, in 2022/23, £36m was allocated to integrated care boards (ICBs) to support the recovery of routine diabetes care. In addition, the 2023/24 ‘NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance’ asked that ICBs update plans for the prevention of ill-health including a continued focus on diabetes in their joint forward plans.
On 17 May 2023, the Government launched a call for evidence to inform the Major Conditions Strategy on how best to prevent, diagnose and manage six groups of major conditions, including diabetes.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 adequacy of the (a) support and (b) training provided to pharmacy staff on recognising the symptoms of (i) Crohn’s Disease, (ii) Ulcerative Colitis and (iii) other conditions.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Pharmacy professionals are required to revalidate annually with the General Pharmaceutical Council by submitting records to show how they have carried out and recorded revalidation activities demonstrating that their clinical knowledge and skills are up to date, suitably addressing any gaps in knowledge that are identified. This is to ensure they continue to demonstrate how they provide the safe and effective care that patients and the public expect, as set out in the standards for pharmacy professionals.
To support this, the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education offers a wide range of training courses to support pharmacy professionals in their continued professional development, including a Gastro-Intestinal: inflammatory bowel disease e-learning to support healthcare professionals to provide effective care for patients.
The clinical role of pharmacy professionals is set to expand over the coming years; the Pharmacy Integration Programme is also investing a further £15.9 million over the next four years to support the expansion of frontline pharmacy staff in primary and community care, to provide increased access to educational, prescribing and clinical training and development opportunities for post-registration pharmacy professionals to meet the needs of patients and local communities. In 2021, the General Pharmaceutical Council introduced new professional standards for initial education and training. This will ensure that the next generation of pharmacists are equipped with essential clinical skills, and from 2026 they will be able to prescribe medicines at the point of registration within the bounds of their clinical competence.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the paper published by the Commission for Countering Extremism in October 2019 entitled Mainstream Islamism in Britain: educating for the Islamic Revival.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department acknowledges the report published by the Commission for Countering Extremism in 2019. This report raises several issues related to integration, extremism, and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).
The department is clear that education plays a vital role in promoting integration and ensuring children and young people are prepared for life in modern Britain, including through learning about the values that underpin and unite our society. All schools have specific duties to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils and to prepare them for the opportunities and responsibilities of adult life. Schools are required to promote the fundamental British values (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
The department is committed to keeping children safe from extremism and has taken strong action to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools across the country, including:
Since 2020, relationships and health education has been compulsory in all primary schools, and relationships, sex and health education has been compulsory in all secondary schools. The department set out the topics that schools should teach about in RSHE statutory guidance, which is clear that schools are responsible for what they teach and should ensure that all content is factual, age appropriate and politically impartial, particularly when using materials produced by external organisations. When teaching, schools should take into account the age of pupils and their religious and cultural background. The department’s statutory guidance on RSHE is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The department continues to keep this area under close review. On 8 March, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced that the department has started a review of the guidance. This will cover the full scope of the statutory guidance, and we will be working closely with our stakeholders and experts to draw on the best available evidence about high quality RSHE which meets the needs of young people.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 support people with eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government has earmarked additional funding to bolster existing mental health services, including eating disorder services, until 2024. Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2023/24. This extra funding continues to enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country. We expect integrated care boards to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard so that investment in mental health services increases in line with their overall increase in allocation for that year.
NHS England continues to work with system leaders and regions and to ask that areas prioritise service delivery and investment to meet the needs of these vulnerable young people to help ensure funding flows to these services as intended. To support this, NHS England is refreshing guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, including to increase the focus on early identification and intervention. Updated guidance will highlight the importance of improved integration between dedicated community eating disorder services, wider children and young people's mental health services, schools, colleges and primary care to improve awareness, provide expert advice and improve support for children and young people presenting with problems with eating, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist support as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total amount of funding disbursed by the Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund is to date; and how many local authorities have received funds under that scheme to date.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF) is a £14m cross-government initiative which aims to increase the self-sufficiency and integration of newly-granted refugees, helping them to move into work, learn English, access housing and build links in their local communities.
The programme is piloting a holistic and place-based approach across 26 Local Authorities to address the challenges and barriers faced by newly granted refugees.
The programme is utilising a Social Impact Bond model and is trialling an outcomes-based commissioning model, whereby payments are made by the Home Office to social investors for specific outcomes as they are achieved. The spend for the 22/23 financial year is not yet finalised as providers can submit outcomes claims until the end of the financial year.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) evacuating children without their parents and (b) other instances of families being separated during their evacuation from Afghanistan under Operation Pitting on those people.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Following the evacuation of Kabul any children who we became aware of in the UK, that were not with their parents, have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. When this has happened, we work in close collaboration with social services and the relevant local authority.
The Government has provided, and it continues to provide, a warm welcome to Afghans arriving in the UK. This includes the provision of accommodation, food, integration support, English lessons, and healthcare.
The situation in Afghanistan remains very complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country. This includes the eligible family members of those who arrived during Operation Pitting.
For those evacuated from Afghanistan and resettled under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), without their immediate family members, further information will be made available in due course about options for reuniting with them.
Otherwise, anyone without refugee status - including those resettled under ACRS Pathway 1 and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - wishing to bring family members would need to apply through the regular family visa route under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules.