Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the report by Sense on 2 March 2017 on reductions in the number of people receiving sensory support in the last year; and what steps he is taking to ensure that such disabled people receive support.
Answered by David Mowat
Clinical commissioning groups and local authorities must work together to meet the needs of people with disabilities, such as sensory impairment, to enjoy independent lives. The Sense report calls for investment in social care.
The Government is giving local authorities in England an additional £2 billion for social care, to help them meet their duties under the Care Act 2014 to determine the social care needs of people, including those with sensory impairment, and to arrange provision accordingly. £1 billion will be provided in 2017-18, ensuring that councils can start to fund more care packages immediately.
The Disabled Facilities Grant allocation is also increasing – from £220 million in 2015-16, to £394 million in 2016-17; this is integrated into the Better Care Fund to support joint planning across housing, health and care for people with disabilities.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that disabled people of all ages have equal access to social care; and with reference to paragraph 6.1 of the Spring Budget 2017, if he will make representations to councils to ensure that funding for social care is equally distributed among disabled people of all ages.
Answered by David Mowat
Social care is a means tested service. The Care Act 2014 requires that local authorities must assess any adult who appears to have a care and support need. The Children Act 1989 places a similar duty in relation to children’s needs. Local authorities are subject to the Public Sector Equality duty, which requires them to take steps to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics (which includes disability), where they are different from the needs of others , and to minimise or remove disadvantages resulting from protected characteristics. Local authorities have a duty to ensure that when someone has been assessed as being eligible for care and support due to a disability, they must commission the services to meet those needs. However, it is up to each local authority to decide what services to provide and how much based on local circumstances.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 6.1 of the Spring Budget 2017, if the Government will engage with third sector organisations and charities during the consultation process for the social care green paper.
Answered by David Mowat
The Government is committed to establishing a fairer, more sustainable basis for funding adult social care, in the face of the future demographic challenges the country faces. We will bring forward proposals in a green paper later this year to put the state funded system on a more secure long-term footing. The Secretary of State for Health, his ministerial team, and officials meet regularly with stakeholders from the voluntary sector. We intend to build on and continue this engagement in developing our proposals. Once published the green paper will provide further opportunity for people across the sector to consider and respond to our proposals.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what key priorities have been agreed by the National Autism Programme Board on improving data and information collected on autism to support the effective commissioning of services for autistic people.
Answered by David Mowat
Since the meeting of the cross government Autism Programme Board on 16 June 2016, discussions with NHS England have focused on taking forward the actions agreed to improve diagnostic waiting times and outcomes for people with autism. The National Autistic Society and the report of the Westminster Commission on Autism have both suggested that NHS England create a new role of National Clinical Director for autism, and this is a matter for NHS England to consider.
The Autism Programme Board at its last meeting also considered current and possible future sources of autism data. The Board asked that further consideration be given to this issue and for the Department to report back to them before their autumn meeting. This work is on-going.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the financial implications of caring for people with cancer and their families.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by unpaid carers and the importance of supporting them in their caring roles. We are also aware that caring for people with cancer and other illnesses or disabilities can have significant financial implications both for those involved and wider society, for example, the Government, Carers UK and business representatives worked together to produce the Supporting Working Carers report of 2013, which estimated the costs to the exchequer of carers being unable to continue working at £1.3 billion a year.
That is why we continue to support implementation of the improved rights for carers that were enshrined in The Care Act 2014. On the appearance of needs for support, carers have a right to an assessment that will look at a carer’s wellbeing and what support they may need in their caring role. The Department has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these rights in 2015/16.
We also made an additional £400 million available to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to provide carers with breaks from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The Better Care Fund includes £130 million of funding for carers’ breaks in 2015/16.
In 2015 the Government extended to carers a right to request flexible working arrangements, and this helps those carers who wish to balance work and care. We are also funding a £1.6 million pilot project to explore how technology can be combined with professional support from the local authority and the assistance of informal networks to ease the pressure of caring.
The Department is also leading the development of a new cross-Government National Carers Strategy that will look at what more we can do to support existing carers and future carers.
We are also aware that the right support for the person they care for is crucial to improving outcomes for carers. The Independent Cancer Taskforce published its report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, in July 2015. It recommended improvements across the cancer pathway, including on patient experience, support, and quality of life. NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward these recommendations.
As part of our approach to support people living with and beyond cancer, we announced in September 2015 that, by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. These recovery packages, developed in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, will be individually designed to help each person live well beyond cancer, including elements such as physical activity programmes, psychological support and practical advice about returning to work.
Asked by: Corri Wilson (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prescriptions were issued for bupropion in each year since 2001.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Information is not collected centrally on the numbers of prescriptions issued. However, information is available on the number of bupropion hydrochloride prescription items dispensed.
Number of bupropion hydrochloride prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England - 2001 to 2014 | |
Year | Items (000’s) |
2001 | 298.8 |
2002 | 131.0 |
2003 | 111.8 |
2004 | 136.8 |
2005 | 131.9 |
2006 | 116.9 |
2007 | 129.9 |
2008 | 62.1 |
2009 | 51.1 |
2010 | 39.3 |
2011 | 32.3 |
2012 | 27.8 |
2013 | 23.7 |
2014 | 22.0 |
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre