Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce (a) suicide and (b) deaths amongst young asylum seekers.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Government is determined to address the unacceptably high number of early deaths among care experienced young people, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and care leavers, who can be among the most vulnerable in society due to their experiences. Last month, a review into care leaver deaths was launched, and deaths of young people who were unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are being considered as part of this work. Findings from the review will be shared later this year and will inform improvements to the support provided to care experienced young people across all aspects of their lives.
The Government continues to work across health, safeguarding, and asylum systems to ensure access to appropriate mental health and wellbeing support.
More broadly, the Government is committed to reducing the number of lives lost to suicide. The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England 2023 to 2028 sets out a cross-Government approach to suicide prevention and identifies children and young people as a priority group for tailored and targeted action at a national level.
The strategy includes a commitment to improve understanding of suicide risk and trends among particular groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, and ethnic minority groups.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16565 on Suicide: Asylum and Refugees, whether the near to real time suspected suicide surveillance system was expanded to include intelligence on refugees and asylum seekers.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department and the police are working together to expand the data used in the near to Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance system in a way that has a wider purpose but includes the potential to improve intelligence on refugees and asylum seekers. This change to the data set is being actively pursued but is not yet in place.
Separately, the current dataset includes a ‘other information’ field that includes a refugees and asylum seekers option. Due to data completeness this field is not used within current routine reporting. There is ongoing work to improve overall data quality and completeness of this data set, and this can lead to more fields being used for reporting. However, there is no specific timeframe to expect reporting on asylum seekers and refugees through this route.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the gap in healthy life expectancy between Bristol Central and the rest of the UK.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Healthy life expectancy at birth in the City of Bristol is currently 60.1 years for both males and females. This compares to the England average of 60.9 years for males and 61.3 years for females, and the United Kingdom average of 60.7 years for males and 60.9 years for females.
The Government has set out an ambitious commitment to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions. We know that reducing the gap will require action on challenges that are more prevalent in areas with lower healthy life expectancy, with a shift from treatment to prevention as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Work is already underway to address this. We are taking action to tackle the obesity crisis and have delivered the Tobacco and Vapes Act which will create our first smoke-free generation.
The Government recognises that reducing the gap is not just a health challenge, which is why we are also taking a range of cross-Government action to tackle health inequalities. This includes the introduction of Awaab’s Law, ensuring landlords will have to fix significant damp and mould hazards; and the introduction of a new statutory health and health inequalities duty for Strategic Authorities.
The population health priorities in the South West focus on improving population health outcomes and reducing health inequalities and health disparities of inclusion health groups such as those who are socially excluded and typically experience multiple overlapping risk factors for poor health, including poverty, trauma, stigma and barriers to accessing services.
This includes increasing the detection and treatment of people with hypertension, improving the uptake of health checks, increasing the number of people supported to stop smoking and increasing the number of people affected by long term sickness who are supported back into employment.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to The New Decent Homes Standard: policy statement, updated 28 January 2025, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the potential impact of the 2035 implementation date for the New Decent Homes Standard on incidence of illness caused by i) damp and mould and ii) other poor conditions in the private rented sector.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department of Health and Social Care works with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the links between housing conditions and health, including the risks associated with damp, mould, and other hazards. The jointly published guidance Understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould in the home sets out the health risks of damp and mould and the steps landlords should take to address these issues. This guidance is available at the following link:
The Decent Homes Standard (DHS) is part of the package of Government action and investment to support improvements in the quality of rented homes, including implementation of Awaab’s Law, the Renters’ Rights Act, and minimum energy efficiency standards. One aim of these measures is to reduce illness linked to damp, mould, and other housing hazards.
The new DHS prioritises safety, decency, and warmth. The Department of Health and Social Care’s engagement has focused on the health-related aspects of the DHS. Decisions on the implementation timetable have been led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and informed by consultation with the sector. The Government expects landlords to begin taking action now to ensure their properties meet the DHS. We recognise, however, that it will take time to plan and deliver works sustainably. The Department of Health and Social Care will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to produce guidance to support implementation of the DHS. The DHS is available at the following link:
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support families who have experienced baby loss in Bristol Central constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both the North Bristol NHS Trust and the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust have dedicated maternity bereavement teams who provide support for families experiencing baby loss. This includes practical help with funeral arrangements, accessing financial support, and investigations, as well as ongoing emotional support, attending appointments, and supporting them when meeting and making memories with their baby.
Counselling or access to psychological support are available, and spiritual or religious support is provided by chaplaincy teams in collaboration with external religious leaders at the family's request. Support for families during subsequent pregnancy is also provided.
Local teams ensure all those experiencing early pregnancy loss are made aware of the resources available to them through partners and charities, many of whom they work with regularly, and will signpost families on to them where appropriate for ongoing support.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
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 25 June 2025 to Question 60392 on Ophthalmic Services, if he will have discussions with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish governments on the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
There are no current plans to have discussions with the Welsh or Scottish administrations about the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the requirement for a pre-visit notification on access to eye care for (a) people experiencing homelessness and (b) care home residents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with his (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish counterpart on the removal of the requirement for a pre-visit notification for eye care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will remove the requirement for a pre-visit notification for eye care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
National Health Service funded domiciliary, mobile sight tests are available for patients who are eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, which includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advance notification to the integrated care board of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh or Scottish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families were in receipt of Healthy Start in Bristol Central constituency on 9 June 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start and does not currently hold data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start. The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The table below shows the number of people on the digital scheme in the relevant local authorities as of 23 May 2025:
Local authority | Number of people on the digital scheme |
Blackpool | 1,434 |
City of Bristol | 2,778 |
County of Herefordshire | 736 |
Southampton | 1,677 |
Worthing | 348 |
Brighton and Hove | 1,041 |
East Suffolk | 1,129 |