Lord Cotter

The European Commission’s Annual Report on European SMEs 2014/15 found that, access to finance for SMEs across the EU has decreased in importance with only 13% (down from 15% in 2013) citing it as the most pressing problem in 2014 behind a number of other issues. The UK’s SME Finance Monitor also found that 79% of SME loan and overdraft applications were successful in the 18 months to 2015 Q2, up from 67% in Q4 2013.

The Government continues to take steps to improve access to finance. The British Business Bank, for example, is supporting £2.4 billion of finance to over 40,000 smaller businesses, and participating in a further £3.3 billion of finance to small mid-sized businesses, as of the end of June. In addition, the implementation of measures in the Small Business and Employment Act 2015 will require the largest banks to refer customers who have been declined finance to alternative providers via designated platforms.

The report also highlights that finding customers remains a problem for SMEs but that this is relatively less problematic than in previous years. We are supporting SMEs by providing advice on a range of issues through Growth Hubs, which join up local resources; the My Business Support Tool which helps businesses find the support they need quickly; and the Business Support Helpline.

Government has made public contract opportunities easier to find by making them all accessible on an improved single online portal. The Contracts Finder contains current public sector contracts (above £10,000 in Central Government and £25,000 in the wider public sector) and a forwardpipelineof potential contract opportunities up to 2020.

Of the 50,000 plus businesses that make up the customer base of UK Trade & Investment, some 90% are SMEs.

UKTI provides tailored help for SMEs, including: working out which markets suit their business; identifying export opportunities; introducing them to key contacts and setting up business meetings; and helping firms exhibit their goods and services at trade fairs.

Good mental health is a priority for the Department. It can have a profound impact on the whole of a child’s life, not just their attainment. Schools have an important role to play, but teachers are not mental health professionals. They need support from specialist services, which is why we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in children and young people’s mental health services to 2020.

The Prime Minister announced earlier in the year that a member of staff in every secondary school in the country would be offered mental health first aid training. This training has now begun. It will equip those undertaking the training with the knowledge needed to identify and make an initial response to mental health concerns, which they can share with colleagues. The Prime Minister also announced a number of pilots to develop practice and evidence about what works in promoting good mental wellbeing, putting peer support schemes in place and developing joint working with specialist mental health services. We are procuring organisations to run these projects and will announce the results as soon as possible.

We have published a blueprint for school counselling services, which provides schools with advice on delivering high quality counselling to all pupils.

We have funded the development of MindEd, a free online resource which allows all those working with children and young people to access training and information on a range of mental health issues.

The Department has also issued advice on behaviour and mental health providing teachers with information and tools to identify pupils who need help, and to provide effective and early support.

We will be considering with the Department of Health how best to build on this work. We will include proposals in a joint children and young people’s mental health green paper, to be published by the end of the year.

Good mental health is a priority for the Department. It can have a profound impact on the whole of a child’s life, not just their attainment. Schools have an important role to play, but teachers are not mental health professionals. They need support from specialist services, which is why we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in children and young people’s mental health services to 2020.

The Prime Minister announced earlier in the year that a member of staff in every secondary school in the country would be offered mental health first aid training. This training has now begun. It will equip those undertaking the training with the knowledge needed to identify and make an initial response to mental health concerns, which they can share with colleagues. The Prime Minister also announced a number of pilots to develop practice and evidence about what works in promoting good mental wellbeing, putting peer support schemes in place and developing joint working with specialist mental health services. We are procuring organisations to run these projects and will announce the results as soon as possible.

We have published a blueprint for school counselling services, which provides schools with advice on delivering high quality counselling to all pupils.

We have funded the development of MindEd, a free online resource which allows all those working with children and young people to access training and information on a range of mental health issues.

The Department has also issued advice on behaviour and mental health providing teachers with information and tools to identify pupils who need help, and to provide effective and early support.

We will be considering with the Department of Health how best to build on this work. We will include proposals in a joint children and young people’s mental health green paper, to be published by the end of the year.

We work constructively with the European Commission and other Member States to ensure that the European organic standard works at a practical level for UK producers including through the development of a new organic regulation currently being negotiated.

Supporting our farmers and protecting the environment will form an important part of our exit from the EU. We are now focused on making sure that all our policies are delivering for the UK and to grow our world-leading food and farming industry.

Organic produce is likely to be more expensive than its non-organic equivalent due to the increased production costs inherent in the system.

In recognition of these additional costs, as well as funding available to all farmers, there is funding available to increase the area of organic farming within the current Rural Development Programme.

Under Rural Development, organic farming is supported via the Countryside Stewardship Scheme where there are options available for conversion to organic farming, and also for ongoing management of land registered as organic. In addition organic farmers have access to a wide range of capital and land management options, within Countryside Stewardship, to improve further the environmental benefits delivered on their farms.

This support recognises the additional costs associated with organic farming and delivers enhancements to the countryside.

The Government will create a network of Her Majesty's Trade Commissioners to head nine new regional overseas posts. These Commissioners will bring together export promotion, investment, and trade policy overseas. The Department is currently finalising the scope of the roles and will begin recruitment shortly.

The Department is not party to the contracts made with any of the companies that provide the bedside telephone service to patients and it has not made an assessment of the contingency arrangements National Health Service trusts have in place, should their service provider be unable to fulfil its contractual obligations. Therefore it has no authority to impose any price changes on the suppliers of the services.

Patients can use their mobile phones as an alternative in specified areas of the hospital and payphones should be available as an alternative.

It is the responsibility of the NHS trust to consider contingency arrangements, should it wish to continue to provide this service to its patients. The telephone company contracts are made between individual NHS trusts and their chosen suppliers. Trusts do, in fact, have the ability to renegotiate their terms.

The bedside telephone is an additional service to that which existed in the past so alternatives already exist in hospitals. It is still possible for relatives and friends to contact a hospital via its main switchboard, and then be transferred to the nurses’ station on a ward to enquire about their relative’s health, as they have always been able to do in the past.

The Government set out parity of esteem in physical and mental health in law in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Government also set up the first waiting times for mental health – to improve access to psychological therapies and early intervention in psychosis, we have also introduced a waiting time for General Practitioners, reflecting commitments which had existed in physical health for some time. The Government further retained this commitment by welcoming the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report in February 2016. The report set out a strategy for change in four key areas to drive forward improvements in mental health: promoting good mental health and helping people lead the lives they want to live, integrating care, creating a seven-day National Health Service for mental health and hard-wiring mental health across health and social care. The Government accepted all the report’s recommendations in January 2017 and published a detailed action plan for taking forward the recommendations, including how we will monitor progress and report transparently. NHS England’s implementation plan for the Five Year Forward View, published in July 2016, also set out a robust plan for delivering the commitments set out in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.

Organic food production is based on low input, sustainable systems which provide environmental benefits. The Government’s view is that there is no firm evidence to support claims of consistent differences in the nutrient content of organic food, compared to conventional, or to confirm beneficial health effects associated with their consumption.

For the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer, the Government encourages individuals to adopt a healthy balanced diet, as represented in the Eatwell Guide. This means increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, oily fish and fibre, and reducing the consumption of energy (calories), saturated fat, salt and sugar. A copy of the Eatwell Guide is attached.

The referral scheme is not yet up and running but the Government is committed to delivering this policy which will help small and medium sized enterprises access the finance they need to grow and expand.

Since the Government announced the Finance Platform policy it has consulted, passed primary legislation and is now close to making secondary legislation.

The British Business Bank is currently undertaking a due diligence process on Finance Platforms that have expressed an interest in becoming designated and will advise HM Treasury on designation in the Spring; with the policy expected to ‘go live’ later in 2016.