Danny Chambers

The United Kingdom has long championed improved global finance to address anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The Department has committed £450 million of Official Development Assistance budget to tackle AMR in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through improving laboratory capacity and surveillance on resistance. The UK has also funded £106.6 million through the Global AMR Innovation Fund to develop innovative solutions to AMR which focus on the needs of LMICs.

We welcome the adoption of the political declaration on AMR at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and its call for the World Bank to work with the Quadripartite to facilitate improved access to existing funding for AMR.

I attended the 4^th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah on 15 and 16 November 2024. At the event I worked with other global leaders to secure progress that is being made to deliver the commitments agreed at the UNGA High Level meeting and build momentum on the actions needed, particularly on sustainable financing to tackle AMR.

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support such as respite and breaks for carers. The Better Care Fund also includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including for short breaks and respite services for carers.

As part of the Carers Partnership in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the Carers Trust has published a Carer Contingency Campaign Pack. This will help support local carer organisations’ work with local partners to deliver carer contingency plans for carers in their area. Further information on the pack is available at the following link:

https://carers.org/resources/all-resources/150-carer-contingency-campaign-pack-supporting-carers-and-strengthening-local-care-systems

We know that people, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has produced an e-learning module, Motor development in children: assessment and red flags. This module is designed to help general practitioners (GPs) assess children’s motor development. It identifies opportunities to perform a brief developmental assessment, describes an approach to assessing children of different ages, and highlights what typical and atypical motor development looks like, including important red flags. It also advises GPs on what steps to take if they do have concerns about a child’s motor development. Further details about the module are available at the following link:

https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/info.php?id=601

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has also produced an e-learning module on neuromuscular disorders, which includes guidance to clinicians on how to apply a clear, structured approach to assessing motor development in children aged zero to five years old, and how to use their skills and knowledge to recognise atypical motor development. Further details about the module are available at the following link:

https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/recognising-neuromuscular-disorders-online-learning.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on developmental follow-up of children and young people born preterm, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng72

The NICE guidance recognises that children who are born preterm are at an increased risk of developmental problems, including motor function problems and cerebral palsy.

The NICE has also produced a quality standard on cerebral palsy in children and young people and the guidance, Cerebral palsy in under 25s: assessment and management. The NICE quality standard includes specific reference to referral for children with delayed motor milestones. Further information on the quality standard on cerebral palsy in children and young people and the guidance on cerebral palsy in under 25-year-olds is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs162

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng62

The NICE guidance also recommends using the General Movement Assessment during routine neonatal follow-up assessments for children between zero and three months who are at increased risk of developing cerebral palsy. It recommends that all children with delayed motor milestones should be referred to a child development service for further assessment. Additionally, the guidance states that clinicians should recognise that the most common delayed motor milestones in children with cerebral palsy are:

• not sitting by eight months, corrected for gestational age;
• not walking by 18 months, corrected for gestational age; and
• early asymmetry of hand function, hand preference, before one year, corrected for gestational age.

We have not made such an assessment. However, the Government’s new mission-led approach puts health, and children and young people at the heart of our priorities. The Government aims to provide all children, including disabled children and disabled young people, with opportunities to access high-quality sport and physical activity, especially those who are less likely to be active.

The Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines for disabled children highlights the importance of tailoring activities to meet individual needs, breaking an activity into chunks and making everyday movement enjoyable. Providing these inclusive opportunities for disabled children is a core principle of the Department of Education’s Inclusion 2024 programme, and the Government funded School Games Network, which works with organisations, including Cerebral Palsy Sport, to create inclusive environments in sport and physical activity for children with cerebral palsy.

The Department is working with partners in the devolved administrations to develop the first ever clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment for the United Kingdom, which will promote and support good practice and improve the quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes for people experiencing alcohol dependence and alcohol related harms.

Through our Health Mission, the Government has committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how best to reduce alcohol-related harms.