Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will reply to the letter from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, dated 2 April, about aerosol-generated procedures for speech and language therapists.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care (Jo Churchill MP) replied to the letter from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists on 12 August.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the money raised for the NHS by Captain Sir Tom Moore has been allocated.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The money raised for the National Health Service by Captain Sir Tom Moore has been received by NHS Charities Together as part of the COVID-19 Urgent Appeal. NHS Charities Together launched the COVID-19 Urgent Appeal in March 2020 to help NHS charities support NHS staff, volunteers and patients, in meeting immediate and urgent needs and supporting the long-term recovery from the impact of the crisis.
NHS Charities Together are the chief partner to the country’s NHS Charities and are best placed to make decisions on how the money raised will be distributed. They are working with their members to identify where additional support is most urgently needed by NHS staff, volunteers and patients. They are particularly focused on providing support for people who are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including patients and staff from the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists about the use of aerosol generating procedures.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The evidence around aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) is being kept under review; the evidence review is led by Public Health Scotland.
Public Health England has not held discussions with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists about AGPs.
This guidance has been written and reviewed by all four United Kingdom public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts. It is based on Health Protection Scotland evidence reviews and the evidence and reviews have been endorsed by New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). A rapid evidence appraisal has been conducted by Health Protection Scotland to assess the risk of patient to healthcare worker infection transmission associated with a wide range of potentially aerosol generating medical procedures. An updated evidence review and the position on the presented evidence review from NERVTAG is awaited.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to update the COVID-19 infection and control guidance, published on 6 April, to include all aerosol generating procedures carried out by speech and language therapists.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The evidence around aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) is being kept under review; the evidence review is led by Public Health Scotland.
Public Health England has not held discussions with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists about AGPs.
This guidance has been written and reviewed by all four United Kingdom public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts. It is based on Health Protection Scotland evidence reviews and the evidence and reviews have been endorsed by New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). A rapid evidence appraisal has been conducted by Health Protection Scotland to assess the risk of patient to healthcare worker infection transmission associated with a wide range of potentially aerosol generating medical procedures. An updated evidence review and the position on the presented evidence review from NERVTAG is awaited.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care, Education, and Housing, Communities and Local Government have discussed, or plan to discuss the findings of the Children's Commissioner for England's report We need to talk: Access to speech and language therapy, published on 11 June.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Colleagues across different Departments meet frequently to discuss a range of topics relating to child wellbeing. The Government recognises that speech, language and communication skills are a primary indicator of child wellbeing and will continue to provide strategic leadership across education, health and social care to narrow inequalities.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that speech and language therapists are included in the trailblazer areas anticipated in the Green Paper Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision, published on 25 July.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We will seek to use the trailblazer programme as the opportunity to link mental health support teams within schools and colleges, with the range of professionals already working with young people, including speech and language therapists where appropriate. The design of the new mental health support teams should in particular enable better joint working between health and education services, as well as working with other services.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop a clear definition of joint commissioning for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs; and what discussions they have had with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and I CAN on that issue.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There are currently no plans to introduce a single model of joint commissioning for children and young people with speech, communication and language needs. However, we monitor the effectiveness of local joint arrangements via a rolling programme of inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. These began in 2016, and over five years, will visit every local area, and assess how well commissioners work together to support children and young people with special educational needs.
The Government is working with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and I CAN through the Expert Advisory Group established by Public Health England and the Department for Education, as part of the latter’s Social Mobility Action Plan for Education, ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’.
A model speech, language and communication pathway for services for children aged 0-5 years, built on the best evidence and experience of implementation in practice, is currently in development. This will encourage joint commissioning and service provision.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 5 June (HL8079) on speech and language disorders, when NHS England’s review of the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool will be completed; and whether the findings of that review will be made publicly available.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool Quality Assurance Audit is due to complete by the end of January 2019. It was commissioned as an internal review by NHS England to support their functioning as a commissioner and as such will not be published.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) drug, and (2) alcohol rehabilitation services are currently commissioned in each prison in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England does not hold the information requested centrally.
NHS England is responsible for commissioning healthcare in all prisons in England. This includes integrated substance misuse services.
Commissioning of primary healthcare, mental health and substance misuse services is carried out by local Health and Justice commissioning teams, of which there are 10 across England.
The Welsh Assembly Government and Local Health Boards are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in public sector prisons in Wales.
Asked by: Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Public Health England about providing practitioners with evidence-based red flags that indicate communication and language concerns at each of the statutory review points that are part of the next review of the Healthy Child Programme.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department for Education has an ongoing dialogue with Public Health England on the issue of children’s speech and language development. They have formed a partnership to address the ‘word gap’ and support the speech, language and communication elements of the Healthy Child Programme. This programme of work will include training and resources for health visitors on speech, language and communication needs, incorporating evidence-based red flags on delayed early use of gesture and pointing by young children.