Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to take forward the plans for community hubs supporting young people’s mental health mentioned in the Labour Party Manifesto 2024; if so, which Department is responsible for their delivery; whether these hubs will be open-access; and how many they intend to fund through the programme.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to rolling out a network of Young Futures Hubs. These will bring together services to help improve children and young people’s access to support to reduce crime and improve mental health and careers opportunities.
This is a cross-government endeavour and expertise has been brought together from across departments to deliver on this manifesto commitment. The government will be engaging with national and local partners, local communities and children and young people to explore options for the design and delivery of the hubs.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Department has lead responsibility for children and young people’s mental health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has lead responsibility for children and young people’s mental health, working closely with the Department for Education.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funding to the independent What Works Centre for Wellbeing, and what assessment they have made of the support that the Centre is able to provide in fulfilling the aims of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.
Answered by Lord Evans of Rainow
The What Works Centre for Wellbeing currently receives funding from Cabinet Office, DCMS, and the Department for Transport. This includes work supported by the Evaluation Accelerator Fund, details of which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-accelerator-fund.
The department will continue working with a variety of partners to deliver levelling up.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households had deductions from legacy benefits to repay debt due to previous overpayment for the most recent month available; and what was the average amount that was deducted for those households.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
During May 2022, 170,000 individual claimants had deductions taken from their legacy benefits in order to repay overpaid benefits. The average deduction taken in that month was £61.
DWP has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate social security legislation. However, we seek to discharge that duty without causing undue financial hardship.
We therefore have an established route by which anyone experiencing difficulties with repayments is encouraged to contact DWP Debt Management in order to negotiate a possible reduction in their rate of repayment, or a temporary suspension of repayment, depending on financial circumstances.
In exceptional circumstances there is also discretion to waive recovery of an overpayment, but only were there are compelling grounds to show that recovery of the overpayment is detrimental to the health and/or welfare of the debtor or their family.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants in each parliamentary constituency had sums deducted from their claim to repay debt due to previous overpayment, including advances, in the most recent month for which data is available; and what were the (1) average, and (2) total, sums deducted in each constituency.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 30 % to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt.
The information requested is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households had deductions to their Universal Credit award to repay debt due to previous overpayment, including advances, for the most recent month available; and what was the average amount that was deducted.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 30 % to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt.
The information requested is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Department for Education press release 'Schools and colleges to benefit from boost in expert mental health support', published on 10 May, what is the percentage of schools that will benefit, by the end of the 2021-22 academic year, from (1) the accelerated roll-out of Mental Health Support Teams, (2) the new training for senior mental health leads, and (3) both of these initiatives.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government estimates that around 400 Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), covering an estimated 3 million children and young people (around 35% of pupils and students in England), will be in place in schools and colleges by 2023. Over 180 MHSTs have already been established across the country covering approximately 15% of the pupil and student population in England, and we expect teams to reach 20-25% coverage by the end of financial year 2021/22 – a year earlier than originally planned.
A grant for senior mental health lead training will become available at the start of the new academic year 2021/22, enabling up to 7800 schools and colleges (approximately a third of all schools and colleges) to access training to help them implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing before 31 March 2022. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing. Funding beyond 1 April 2022 is subject to future government spending decisions and as schools and colleges are yet to apply for a senior mental health lead training grants, no data is available on the percentage of schools and colleges receiving both MHST support, and senior mental health lead training.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the increase in unexpected patient deaths reported by England’s mental health trusts; and what steps they are taking to reduce the number of such deaths.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government wants to make the National Health Service the safest, most transparent healthcare system in the world - the first step towards this ambition is to collect safety data more reliably. The level of reported harm has increased as a result of our very deliberate improvements in the way such events are recorded and investigated.
The Government has introduced requirements for the reliable reporting of any safety incidents, all of which should be investigated fully at a local level then reported to NHS England.
From April 2017, all NHS trusts and foundation trusts will be required to publish numbers of avoidable deaths and how they are improving care.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the additional £1.25 billion in funding for mental health services announced in the last Parliament will be spent on specialist services for children in care and young people who have been in local authority care.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
No recent assessments have been made of the mental health outcomes amongst care leavers, or of their access to services. However, one of the themes of Future in mind, published in March 2015 was care for the most vulnerable, including looked after children and care leavers. Although care leavers may be adults, the report addressed the needs of those in transition to adult services and looked at how services could be improved for those with mental health conditions reaching the age of 18 when they generally transfer to adult services.
The Government is currently considering how best to take forward proposals in Future in mind to deliver system-wide, sustainable transformation as well as the way in which the additional £1.25 billion made available in the 2015 Spring budget for children’s mental health over the course of the current Parliament will be used. However, decisions on how to allocate funding to best meet the needs of individual groups of children and young people will be made locally and reflected in local transformation plans.
A copy of Future in mind is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of access to specialist mental health services for young people who have been in local authority care.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
No recent assessments have been made of the mental health outcomes amongst care leavers, or of their access to services. However, one of the themes of Future in mind, published in March 2015 was care for the most vulnerable, including looked after children and care leavers. Although care leavers may be adults, the report addressed the needs of those in transition to adult services and looked at how services could be improved for those with mental health conditions reaching the age of 18 when they generally transfer to adult services.
The Government is currently considering how best to take forward proposals in Future in mind to deliver system-wide, sustainable transformation as well as the way in which the additional £1.25 billion made available in the 2015 Spring budget for children’s mental health over the course of the current Parliament will be used. However, decisions on how to allocate funding to best meet the needs of individual groups of children and young people will be made locally and reflected in local transformation plans.
A copy of Future in mind is attached.