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Written Question
Maternity Disparities Taskforce
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the maternity disparities taskforce (a) last met and (b) is next scheduled to meet.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Maternity Disparities Taskforce brings experts from across the health system, governmental departments, and the voluntary sector to explore and consider evidence-based interventions to tackle maternal disparities. The taskforce last met on 31 January 2024, and is due to meet again in the coming months in spring.


Written Question
Autism and Learning Disability: Housing
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much capital funding NHS England plans to make available for housing for people with a learning disability and autism in the 2024-25 financial year; and if she will make an estimate of the number of people who will be provided housing through this funding.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

NHS England’s 2024/25 Learning Disability and Autism Housing Capital Programme plans to support up to 85 people with learning disabilities or autism who need housing to be discharged from a mental health hospital or to avoid hospital admission. This estimate is based on an expected £13 million capital allocation for 2024/25. Please note that this includes housing schemes that were initiated in 2023/24, as well as schemes that will continue into 2025/26.


Written Question
Autism and Learning Disability: Patients
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to set targets from April 2024 on reducing the number of people in inpatient settings with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a commitment to reduce reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. NHS England will publish their Operational Planning Guidance for 2024/25, which will set out the planning expectations for National Health Service systems to support delivery of NHS services next year.


Written Question
Psychiatric Hospitals: Autism and Learning Disability
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle variations between Integrated Care Boards in levels of adults in mental health hospitals with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Each integrated care board (ICB) produces a five-year joint forward plan with partner trusts and foundation trusts. This will encompass the needs of the entire local population, including people with a learning disability and autistic people.

NHS England will continue to work with regional teams and local systems to identify and share areas of good practice, where services have been successful in reducing avoidable admissions to hospital, and helping people to leave hospital when they are clinically ready for discharge.

We expect ICBs, as set out in NHS England statutory guidance published 9 May 2023, to assign an executive lead role for learning disability and autism to a suitable board member. The named lead will support the board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autistic people and to have effective oversight of, and support improvements in, the quality of care for people in a mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient setting.


Written Question
Building the Right Support Delivery Board
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Building the Right Support Delivery Board will continue beyond March 2024.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

While we have made progress on reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health inpatient settings, we recognise that there is more to be done. The Building the Right Support (BtRS) Delivery Board will continue to work collectively to oversee the implementation of remaining BtRS action plan commitments, and to consider what next step actions are required.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8607 on Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists, if she will provide this data by NHS provider.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The information requested is shown in the attached tables.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Staff
Thursday 18th January 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the number of (a) clinical and (b) non-clinical staff employed in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services by NHS provider in each quarter between 2015 and 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. From this data, the attached tables present the number of full time equivalent clinical and non-clinical staff who have an area of work recorded as ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)’. Data is presented for each quarter from March 2015 to September 2023 split by the body employing the staff.

It is likely that some staff working on IAPT may be recorded against other areas of work, therefore these figures likely undercount the total number of staff involved. Differing recording practices may also limit how comparable figures for different trusts are.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Staff
Wednesday 17th January 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the number of full time equivalent (a) trainee and (b) qualified cognitive behavioural therapists employed by NHS provider in each quarter between 2015 and 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. From this data, the attached tables present the number of full time equivalent staff who have a job role recorded as being either trainee or qualified cognitive behaviour therapists or high intensity therapists. A small number of those with the job role ‘high intensity therapists’ may not be cognitive behavioural therapists. Data is presented for each quarter from March 2015 to September 2023 split by the body employing the staff.

It is possible that some staff working as cognitive behavioural therapists may be recorded against other job roles, therefore these figures may undercount the total number of staff involved. Differing recording practices may also limit how comparable figures for different trusts are.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Staff
Wednesday 17th January 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the number of full time equivalent (a) trainee and (b) qualified psychological wellbeing practitioners employed by NHS provider in each quarter between 2015 and 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), the human resources system for the National Health Service. From this data, the attached tables present the number of full-time equivalent staff who have a job role recorded as being either trainee or qualified psychological wellbeing practitioner. Data is presented for each quarter from March 2015 to September 2023 split by the body employing the staff.

It is possible that some staff working as psychological wellbeing practitioners may be recorded against other job roles, therefore these figures possibly undercount the total number of staff involved. Differing recording practices may also limit how comparable figures for different trusts are.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of referrals to NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services waited less than (a) two, (b) four, (c) six and (d) 19 weeks to begin treatment by NHS provider in each quarter between 2021 and 2023.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the counts and proportions of referrals finishing a course of treatment in the quarter who accessed services, which also indicates starting treatment, up to six and 18 weeks after the referral was received:

Period

Count of finishing referrals that accessed services within 6 weeks

Percentage of all finishing referrals that accessed services within 6 weeks

Count of finishing referrals that accessed services within 18 weeks

Percentage of all finishing referrals that accessed services within 18 weeks

January-March 2021

146,030

92.7

155,475

98.7

April-June 2021

157,886

92.6

168,354

98.8

July-September 2021

156,033

91.8

167,953

98.8

October-December 2021

145,607

90.6

158,229

98.5

January-March 2022

146,002

89.3

160,893

98.4

April-June 2022

148,586

88.9

164,638

98.5

July-September 2022

154,384

88.8

171,022

98.4

October-December 2022

145,220

89.3

159,521

98.1

January-March 2023

153,064

90.2

166,886

98.3

April-June 2023

149,428

90.0

163,593

98.5

July-September 2023

153,145

89.2

168,553

98.1

Source: NHS Digital

Notes:

  1. NHS Talking Therapies data are given as a count of patient referrals not patients.
  2. A referral has finished a course of treatment in the quarter if the referral ended in the quarter with the patient having at least two attended treatment appointments or Internet Enabled Therapy logs recorded against it.
  3. A referral has accessed services when the patient has had their first attended, treatment appointment or an Internet Enabled Therapy log has been recorded for them.
  4. Data is taken from the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset held by NHS England. NHS Talking Therapies, for anxiety and depression is a National Health Service programme implemented in England that offers NICE-approved therapies for treating people with depression or anxiety.
  5. Waiting times data at two, four and 19 weeks is not routinely produced. Data is shown for each quarter from January-March 2021 to July-September 2023 which is the latest available quarterly data.