Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 improve mental health support and reduce levels of suicide in (a) South West London and (b) England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In March, we published ‘Preventing suicide in England: fifth progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives’ and an update to the 2019 Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan. We also published the Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Plan, setting out our response to the mental health impacts of the pandemic. Many of the actions in the Plan will support people at risk of self-harm or suicide. The Plan is backed by an additional £500 million, with £5 million to support suicide prevention organisations in 2021/22.
This funding is in addition to the £57 million we are investing in suicide prevention and suicide bereavement support through the NHS Long Term Plan, which will see investment in all areas of the country, including South West London, by 2023/24.
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, what steps he has taken to reduce the risk of suicide for autistic people, as set out in the fourth progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In March, we published ‘Preventing suicide in England: fifth progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives’. It includes an update on work across the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement to reduce suicide rates amongst groups with specific needs and characteristics that may expose them to more risk factors for suicide, including autism.
This work includes NHS England and NHS Improvement’s refreshed approach to the Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) programme, ‘Learning from lives and deaths - people with a learning disability and autistic people’. The LeDeR aims to improve care, reduce heath inequalities and prevent premature mortality of people with a learning disability and autistic people by reviewing information about the health and social care support that people received.
We also published the Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Plan, setting out our response to the mental health impacts of the pandemic. Many of the actions in the Plan will support people at risk of self-harm or suicide, including autistic people. The Plan is backed by an additional £500 million, including £5 million to support suicide prevention organisations in 2021/22.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the need for staff working in contingency asylum accommodation to have relevant experience for that role.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To ensure staff working in all asylum accommodation have the skills and experience for the role the providers have a training programme as required by the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC). Additionally, employees are subject to pre employment checks.
The contracts are published and the requirements of the contract are set out in the Statement of Requirements, this includes provisions around training and the training programme for those with face-to-face contact with our customers.
The Provider must fully equip and train staff (including volunteers) to ensure they are able to fulfil their roles and ensure appropriate and sufficient security provisions are made for all staff undertaking face-to-face activities. Those with face to face contact must cover the following:
As a minimum, provider staff should receive refresher training on the requirements listed above annually (i.e. refresher training completed every twelve (12) months), or more regularly if required.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the need for contingency asylum accommodation contracts to include training for frontline staff to understand the vulnerabilities of people seeking asylum.
Answered by Kevin Foster
To ensure staff working in all asylum accommodation have the skills and experience for the role the providers have a training programme as required by the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC). Additionally, employees are subject to pre employment checks.
The contracts are published and the requirements of the contract are set out in the Statement of Requirements, this includes provisions around training and the training programme for those with face-to-face contact with our customers.
The Provider must fully equip and train staff (including volunteers) to ensure they are able to fulfil their roles and ensure appropriate and sufficient security provisions are made for all staff undertaking face-to-face activities. Those with face to face contact must cover the following:
As a minimum, provider staff should receive refresher training on the requirements listed above annually (i.e. refresher training completed every twelve (12) months), or more regularly if required.
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 his Department has made of the efficacy of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) scheme; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the family members of people with suicidal ideation have access to ASIST training.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have not made a formal assessment. From 2019/20 to 2023/24, we are investing £57 million in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan. This funding can be used by local areas for suicide and self-harm prevention activities and training, which could include ASIST training.
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 steps his Department is taking to ensure that relevant health professionals receive the training necessary to support patients with suicidal ideation to develop a safety plan.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have not taken any such specific steps. We expect health professionals to receive sufficient training to reach the education standards set by the professional regulatory bodies.
Health Education England has commissioned MindEd to provide suicide and self-harm prevention e-learning resources, including on structured care and safety planning in suicide prevention. The most recent module was published in April. All MindEd resources are available to both health and social care professionals.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 ensure that adequate funding is made available from the public purse to help support the mental health of people who are suicidal.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 in mental health services, with £57 million being invested in suicide prevention and suicide bereavement from 2019/20 to 2023/24. In addition, in March 2021 we published our Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Plan, setting out our response to the mental health impacts of the pandemic. Many of the actions in the Plan will support people at risk of self-harm or suicide. The plan is backed by an additional £500 million with £5million made available to support suicide prevention voluntary and community sector organisations in 2021/22.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many members of staff working for asylum accommodation providers have received the training specified in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Statement of Requirements; and whether training for staff who have face-to-face contact with service users is stipulated in Home Office contracts with providers.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC) are published and the requirements of the contract are set out in the Statement of Requirements, this includes provisions around training and the training programme for those with face-to-face contact with our customers.
The Provider must fully equip and train staff (including volunteers) to ensure they are able to fulfil their roles and ensure appropriate and sufficient security provisions are made for all staff undertaking face-to-face activities. Those with face to face contact must cover the following:
As a minimum, provider staff should receive refresher training on the requirements listed above annually (i.e. refresher training completed every twelve (12) months), or more regularly if required.
The Home Office does not intend to publish data on the number of staff employed by accommodation providers, who will be expected to undertake training. However, provider performance and service delivery is discussed on a weekly basis. There are formal performance meetings each month, plus strategic boards with senior provider management, once a quarter.
The Home Office discusses performance of the contracts and service improvements with Local Authorities who participate in asylum dispersal. Durham is the only Local Authority in the North East of England who do not accommodate supported asylum seekers. We would encourage all Local Authorities to play their part and hope Durham will join their neighbours in doing so.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The death of any prisoner is a tragedy and we are focussing our efforts on supporting those at risk of suicide in prisons in England and Wales and keeping them safe. Vulnerable prisoners are supported through the ACCT (Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork) case management and we are currently rolling out further improvements to this framework. We have also given 25,000 new and existing staff self-harm and suicide prevention training to help them better support prisoners with complex needs and refreshed our partnership with the Samaritans who provide the excellent Listeners scheme, which trains selected prisoners to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners.
We are under no illusions about the impact of the measures which were put in place to protect lives during the Covid-19 pandemic and we have made prisoners’ safety and wellbeing our priority. For this reason we have enabled continued family contact through more than 1,500 secure mobile phones and rolled out secure video call technology into every single prison in the male, female and youth estate. Each prisoner is also given £5 PIN credit per week to keep in touch with their loved ones. We are also delivering more in cell-activities such as distraction packs, supplementary food packs, and additional educational materials to mitigate the impact of isolation.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the incidence of (1) self-harm, and (2) suicide, in prisons.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
We take every death in custody very seriously, and we are focussing our efforts to address the levels of self-harm and support those at risk of suicide. This includes tailored action for the women’s prison estate, where a rise has been seen in self-harm incidents since Covid-19 measures were introduced.
We are under no illusions about the impact of the measures which were put in place to protect lives during the Covid-19 pandemic and we have made prisoners’ safety and wellbeing our priority.
We have produced a range of products to support Governors in devising and implementing local safety and welfare plans designed to mitigate risks and promote wellbeing. Over 25,000 new and existing staff have received self-harm and suicide prevention training to help them better support offenders with complex needs. We’ve enabled continued family contact through more than 1,600 secure mobile phones and rolled out secure video call technology into every single prison in the male, female and youth estate. Each prisoner is also given £5 PIN credit per week. We have renewed our partnership with the Samaritans who are providing the excellent Listeners scheme, which trains selected prisoners to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners. We are also delivering more in cell-activities such as distraction packs, supplementary food packs, and additional educational materials to mitigate the impact of isolation.
We have prioritised the roll-out of the revised version of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) multi-disciplinary case management system used in prisons to support people at risk of suicide and self-harm in the women’s estate.
We will also be implementing the Offender Management in Custody model in the female estate in April. This will provide each woman with a dedicated key worker who will be able to better support them and identify concerns at an early stage so that women can receive the right support at the right time.
Every prisoner in the male closed estate should have a key worker allocated to them with vulnerable and priority group prisoners having a daily wellbeing check at the minimum and weekly key work sessions where resource and risk allows whilst in regime level 4.