Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the rates of tooth decay among children in England in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The former National Health Service Dental Epidemiology Programme collected data in 2007/08 and 2011/12 for five year olds. It showed 31% and 28% were affected by tooth decay respectively. The programme also collected data for 12 year olds in 2008/09 and found 33% were affected by dental decay.
For all age groups, no data are available for 2010 and 2011.
The 2013 Child Dental Health Survey collected data on five year olds, eight year olds, 12 year olds and 15 year olds. It showed that: 31% of five year olds; 49% of eight year olds; 37% of 12 year olds and 44% of 15 year olds are affected by dental decay.
Data on three year olds was collected in 2012/13 by Public Health England (PHE) Dental Public Health Intelligence Programme and this shows that 12% of three year olds are affected by dental decay.
In 2013/14 PHE Oral Health Survey collected data on five year olds and 12 year olds attending special support schools which shows that, in England, 22% of five year olds and 29% of 12 year olds attending special support schools had experience of obvious dental decay.
In 2014/15 PHE Dental Public Health Intelligence Programme collected data on five year old and this shows that 25% of five year olds are affected by dental decay.
Results from the latest oral health survey of five year old children in England will be published in the oral health survey of five-year-old children 2016-17 report by Public Health England by June 2018.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children who have had a general anaesthetic for dental extraction had been (1) registered with, and (2) treated by, a dentist in the previous two years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No data is held centrally on the number of children who have had a general anaesthetic administered for dental extractions that had been registered with and treated by a dentist in the previous two years.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to ensure that regular dental checks are carried out on children in school.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There are no plans to introduce regular dental checks on children in school. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee advised in 2006 that population screening for dental disease in children aged six to nine years should be discontinued as it was ineffective; a review in 2013 upheld this recommendation.
NHS England commissions National Health Service dental services and free NHS dental treatment is available for children under 18 and under 19 in full time education.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to declassify transgender as a mental disorder.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government is not responsible for the classification of mental illnesses. The most widely used relevant classification systems for the diagnosis of illnesses is the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), published by the World Health Organization, and for mental illness, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) edited by the American Psychiatric Association.
The DSM removed references to transgender as a mental disorder in its last revision in 2013. The ICD still contains classifications of gender identity as mental disorders, and this aspect is currently subject to revision.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what requirement there is to check the validity of staff qualifications in the NHS.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Employers are responsible for undertaking proportionate and appropriate checks when validating qualifications.
The NHS Employment Check Standards issued by NHS Employers outline six primary checks that National Health Service organisations must adhere to as part of normal recruitment practice. The standards are subject to periodic review to ensure they remain accurate and fit for purpose. The six primary checks are:
- Identity checks;
- Professional registration and qualification checks;
- Employment history and reference checks;
- Right to work checks;
- Work health assessments; and
- Criminal record checks.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cases of staff providing fraudulent qualifications have been detected in the NHS over the last three years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Data on the number of cases of staff providing fraudulent qualifications detected in the National Health Service over the last three years is collected by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority. The information is shown in the following table.
Financial year | Number of cases |
2015 - 16 | 14 |
2016 - 17 | 15 |
2017 - 18 | 2 |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the NHS budget has been spent on (1) clinical negligence payments, (2) insurance premiums, and (3) legal fees, for each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
A table showing total expenditure on clinical negligence, insurance premiums and legal fees for the past five years, and as a percentage of Department’s Total Departmental Expenditure Limit, has been attached owing to the size of the data.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they recognise the condition Aphantasia; and, if so, what support is offered to sufferers.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Recognition and classification of disorders is a matter for clinicians and academics in the relevant field. Relatively little is known about aphantasia and the impact it may or may not have on health and wellbeing.
If someone believes they may have the condition and it is impacting on their health and wellbeing they should discuss this with their general practitioner.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to promote healthy eating among children and young people.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Change4Life is Public Health England’s flagship behaviour change social marketing campaign. It encourages families across England to ‘eat well and move more’.
The campaign uses a variety of tools to provide advice and ideas to help children eat healthily. The Change4Life Sugar Smart and Be Food Smart apps, for example, allow users to scan the bar code of more 100,000 products to see at a glance how much sugar, salt and saturated fat they contain. So far there have been over three million downloads of these apps.
Since its launch, more than four million people have signed up to Change4Life and it now has more than 200 national partners.
In 2016, the Government’s Eatwell Guide was distributed to all primary, secondary and independent schools in England, which included middle, junior, infant and first schools.
Start4Life also helps pregnant mums-to-be and parents of babies aged zero to five to adopt healthy behaviours that give their babies and young children the best start in life.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote the benefits of school and nursery milk as part of their childhood obesity strategy.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As part of the Childhood Obesity Plan, the Government will publish and promote example menus for early years settings in England later this year. This will help settings to meet the latest Government dietary recommendations.
Where the school food standards apply, milk must be available during school hours and offered free to disadvantaged pupils, and free milk is also available to infants if served as part of their lunch.