Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure that people with Parkinson's disease who are digitally excluded and have symptoms of the motor speech disorder dysarthria can access psychological therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the National Health Service has been clear on the importance of maintaining face to face care for those patients who need it, and of patient choice in determining suitability for digital appointments.
When delivering face to face appointments, mental health services are expected to follow the latest guidance on the use of personal protective equipment in healthcare settings to support infection prevention and control. Services will be further enabled by the roll out of the NHS Test and Trace service to reduce transmission risk and deliver face to face services in as safe a way as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when a decision will be made on whether the current suspension of face-to-face assessments for welfare benefits will be extended, and how this will be communicated.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Our priority throughout this health emergency continues to be to protect the public and staff, while ensuring people get the benefits they are entitled to quickly and safely. Reviews and reassessments remain suspended while we review what activity we can gradually start reintroducing in line with the latest public health advice. We will confirm next steps as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the suspension of new Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigations on the mental health of (1) informal carers, and (2) people accessing social care.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has restarted suspended complaints and anticipates reopening for new complaints in the coming weeks. Members of the public will not lose their right of appeal, and complaints regarding the COVID-19 outbreak period will be considered in due course. The Ombudsman is not an emergency service, and members of the public are required by law to first have their complaints investigated by their council or care provider. The Ombudsman has also opened up a helpline to give advice and support to concerned members of the public.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve services for people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
NHS England established the National Neurology Advisory Group (NNAG) with the Neurological Alliance which led the development of a national collaborative clinical leadership model, bringing together key stakeholders such as Parkinson’s UK, a range of national clinical leaders and patient groups with the aim to seek alignment between programmes in NHS England, arm’s length bodies and system partners and to guide the strategic development of work to improve outcomes for people living with neurological conditions including Parkinson’s.
Throughout 2018, the NNAG has organised a number of condition specific meetings with the aim of defining what good neurology looks like for patients with neurological conditions including Parkinson’s, and identifying the barriers to achieving that.
NHS England also supports local transformation through their national programmes, as highlighted in the NHS Long Term Plan. NHS RightCare has published a number of intelligence tools and resources to support reduction in unwarranted variation in neurology services. For 2018/19, 37 of 195 clinical commissioning groups submitted delivery plans that include neurological problems as improvement projects as part of their NHS RightCare programmes. Of these 37, six systems have explicitly referenced Parkinson’s in their delivery plans. Interventions in these plans primarily focus on ensuring that patients are linked into end of life care recording and reviewing effective primary prescribing of Parkinson’s disease drugs.
NHS England Specialised Commissioning has also recently approved a national review of specialised adult neuroscience services, working alongside and closely with the Getting It Right First Time programme.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions have taken place between the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care about the costed breakdown of proposed cuts to the national budget of NHS Continuing Healthcare; whether they intend to provide a detailed rationale to account for the planned reductions in spending; and if so, whether they will publish that rationale.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The Department works closely with NHS England and has regular discussions about NHS Continuing Healthcare.
NHS Continuing Healthcare expenditure is forecast to increase over the period to 2020/21. The identified £855 million efficiency opportunity is not predicated on changes to the National Framework in respect of eligibility or on limiting the care packages available.
There should be no quota or cap on access to NHS Continuing Healthcare funding and NHS England does not aim to reduce spending on NHS Continuing Healthcare, but to reduce the rate of growth of expenditure. NHS England understands that there is variation on how individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are commissioning these services, and the NHS Continuing Healthcare Strategic Improvement Programme will be developing a range of commissioning tools to support CCGs in this role to deliver more efficient services.
The detailed rationale is published in the Treasury Minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twelfth to the Nineteenth reports from Session 2017-19. The extract is as follows:
“CHC expenditure (after efficiencies) is forecast to increase over the period to 2020/21, and the identified efficiency opportunity is not predicated on changes to the National Framework in respect of eligibility or on limiting the care packages available.
How any efficiency is delivered in practice will of course be determined by CCGs locally, consistent with their statutory duties and national guidance in respect of access to CHC. National modelling based on variations in CHC expenditure and practice suggests the following notional efficiency opportunities in 2020/21, amounting to circa £855 million, which it is anticipated will inform local commissioning decisions:
A copy of the Treasury Minutes is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of people in England receive free prescriptions.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether prescriptions collected using the pre-payment certificate are recorded in their statistics as prescriptions that are dispensed free of charge; and if so, what percentage of free prescriptions are collected using the pre-payment certificate.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of all paid for prescriptions are paid for (1) on collection, and (2) by the prescription prepayment certificate.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the response by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 January (HL Deb, cols 527–528), what steps they have taken to consult political parties on increasing the number of women who stand as candidates for political and public office; and what have been the results of any such consultations.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Government Equalities Office has met with a range of representatives from political parties to consider what could help to increase the number of women standing for elected office. As part of the response to this the Centenary Fund supported an Ask Her to Stand event in London. 350 women who are interested in standing for elected office heard from women politicians from the main parties and took part in workshops providing practical advice on getting into politics and public life.
In addition, the Government Equalities Office has been funding projects through the Government’s £5m Suffrage Centenary Fund that help deliver our aim to increase women’s participation in politics.
Some of these projects are providing women with practical training in political skills – for example a political leadership programme for women in Bradford and Birmingham, and training in public speaking and media relations for women in the East Midlands, West Midlands and London.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to commence section 106 of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
We keep any uncommenced provisions from the Equality Act 2010 under review. However, political parties are responsible for their candidate selection and should lead the way in improving diverse representation. I welcome the many efforts already ongoing from political parties to do so.
We believe diversity is important, as reflected in this Parliament as the most gender and LGBT diverse ever, but there is still more to do. The Government Equalities Office continues to work on supporting political participation, we have recently announced a fund to support disabled candidates to seek electoral office.