Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis they have done to ascertain whether the rate paid to councils to support care leavers who were formerly unaccompanied-asylum seeking children is sufficient to cover the costs of this support.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
All local authorities receive funding via the Local Government Finance Settlement or finance arrangements which apply to the Devolved Administrations. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23. The majority of the funding is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities and the services they provide.
Additionally, the Home Office provides a financial contribution to the costs incurred by local government supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and former UASC care leavers.
Any local authority receiving a child transferred under the scheme receives a funding contribution of £114 or £143 per child per night, dependent on the number of children they accommodate.
In addition, the government increased the contribution for all former UASC care leavers from £240 per person per week to £270 per person per week. These changes follow a significant uplift in funding in June 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people were on waiting lists to access (1) mental health support, and (2) an inpatient mental health bed, on 1 October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham
The information requested is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of children currently have access to a mental health support team in school.
Answered by Lord Markham
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the further roll-out of mental support teams in schools.
Answered by Lord Markham
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide councils with a long-term extension of the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to publish the outcome of the consultation, launched on 7 June, on extending the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits beyond March 2023.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of arrangements to extend the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the policy of supporting a locally-driven response to demonstrations at abortion clinics; and whether they still consider that local authorities have sufficient powers to address any potential challenges arising in relation to such demonstrations.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear that it is unacceptable that patients seeking healthcare advice or staff working in healthcare facilities should feel intimidated or harassed. Since the 2018 review, the Government has continued to keep the matter of abortion-related protest outside clinics under review and continues to believe that a locally-driven response to demonstrations outside abortion clinics in England and Wales is proportionate.
The existing laws give the police and local authorities the powers they need to deal with harmful protests, and the Government expects the police and local authorities to use their existing powers appropriately.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to review the standard NHS practice of not using foetal painkillers before abortion; and what assessment they have made of the consistency of this approach with the current standard NHS practice of using foetal painkillers before foetal surgery from 19 weeks.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The Department does not set or review clinical practice and no specific assessment has been made. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has established a review group to consider the latest evidence on foetal pain and foetal awareness, which is expected to report on its findings by the end of 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have received on foetal viability from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Neonatal Nurses Association and the British Maternal and Foetal Medicine Society, who published joint guidelines in 2019 on caring for premature babies born from the 22nd week of gestation.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
While the Department monitors new evidence on viability, we have not received any such advice from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Neonatal Nurses Association and the British Maternal and Foetal Medicine Society.