Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help encourage companies to transition away from testing products on animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Animal testing of chemical substances is permitted under UK REACH only as a measure of last resort; this principle is reinforced by the Environment Act 2021. Moreover, UK REACH states that test methods should be regularly reviewed with a view to reducing animal testing and it encourages the use of alternative methods. Testing and assessment of final products is not a part of UK REACH.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicinal products. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available and the VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes and this commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
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 ensure that the Major Conditions Strategy includes additional material on mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since announcing the Major Conditions Strategy in January 2023, we have been working with a range of stakeholders in the health and care system, including those representing mental health conditions. This is to identify what would make the most difference in tackling the six major condition groups, which includes mental health, that account for approximately 60% of ill-health and early death in England.
The strategy will consider how we can ensure that mental health is effectively integrated with physical health, as well as delivering preventative, proactive, and person-centred care across the major conditions. This strategy does not seek to describe everything that is being done or could be done to meet the challenges of individual conditions in isolation, it instead focuses on the changes likely to make the most difference across the six groups of major conditions.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support exists for those with (a) Huntington’s disease and (b) other complex neurological conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with neurological conditions, including those with Huntington’s disease. At a national level, NHS England commissions the specialised elements of neurological care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England’s RightCare toolkit and Getting It Right First Time programme aim to improve care for people with neurological conditions, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
New optimal clinical pathways for a range of neurological conditions were developed by the National Neurosciences Advisory Group, which ceased operation in 2022. These pathways set out what good treatment, care, and support should look like across a range of neurological conditions. They also help to guide and facilitate the commissioning of high-quality, effective neurology services by ICBs. The optimal clinical pathway for movement disorders outlines the care pathway that patients with Huntington’s disease should receive. Further information on the optimal clinical pathways are available at the following link:
https://www.nnag.org.uk/optimum-clinical-pathways
The Department funds research on neurological conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the Department spent £272.1 million on research into neurological conditions. This covers research into conditions such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. In 2022/23, the most recent year for which we have data, the Department, via the NIHR, spent £65.3 million on research into neurological conditions.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Early Intervention Hubs.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In July 2023, the Department secured just under £5 million from HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund, for a project to boost and evaluate the impact of 10 early support hubs. The Department has since provided an additional £3 million to increase the number of hubs being funded across the country to 24.
Crucially, alongside boosting 24 hubs, the funding is also being used to evaluate the impact of the services, and inform any potential expansion of the model in the future. The evaluation aims to report its findings by Summer 2025.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on delivering a mental health support lead within primary and secondary schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has offered all state-funded schools and colleges in England a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. The department continues to deliver on the commitments that it made in the government’s 2018 response to the consultation on 'Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: a green paper' and to deliver on next steps. The government’s response to the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision-a-green-paper.
As at 30 November 2023, 15,100 schools and colleges had taken up this offer and claimed a grant, which represents 63% of the total number of settings that are eligible to apply. Breakdowns of the data, including by setting type, can be found in the department’s transparency data release which has been updated annually since the programme started and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.
A list of schools and colleges receiving a senior mental health lead training grant is also published and updated throughout the year, which can be found here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F65b0cb50160765001118f741%2FSenior_mental_health_lead_training_January_2024_Update.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide training to teaching assistants on (a) autism and (b) other neuro-diverse conditions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government values and appreciates the dedication, professionalism and hard work of teaching assistants (TAs), and the department knows the valuable contribution they make to pupils’ education alongside excellent teachers, particularly when supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Reaching over 70% of schools and further education (FE) colleges, the Universal Services programme will help the school and FE workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, earlier and more effectively.
The department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development (CPD) and support for the school and FE workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people. The contract offers autism awareness training and resources delivered by the Autism Education Trust (AET). Over 135,000 education professionals have undertaken autism awareness training as part of AET's ‘train the trainer’ model since the Universal Services programme commenced in May 2022.
School and college staff have completed over 7,000 online SEND CPD units to support them in delivering an inclusive experience for every learner. The Universal Services contract will run until spring 2025, with a budget of nearly £12 million.
On 22 November 2023, the department announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This new programme, backed by £13 million of investment, will bring together integrated care boards, local authorities, and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children.
The programme will deploy specialists from both health and education workforces to upskill school staff including TAs in around 1,680 (10%) mainstream primary schools and build their capacity to identify and meet the needs of children with autism and other neurodiverse needs.
Ultimately, schools are best placed to make decisions on the CPD that best meets the needs of their support staff, as they do for teachers' CPD.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support children with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a range of guidance on care and support for children and young people and adults with cerebral palsy, to support healthcare professionals and commissioners. The guidance recommends service providers develop clear pathways that allow patients with cerebral palsy access to multi-disciplinary teams, specialist neurology services and regular reviews of their clinical and functional needs.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country.
The majority of services for people with cerebral palsy are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to make decisions according to local need. Nevertheless, at a national level, the Government is working closely with NHS England to continue to improve services for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy.
The NHS Long-term Workforce Plan (LTWP) aims to grow the number and proportion of National Health Service staff working in mental health, primary and community care. The LTWP, published in 2023, sets out an ambition to grow these roles 73% by 2036/37, including plans to increase the community workforce specifically by 3.9% each year. By growing the community workforce, we will be better able to support people to participate in daily living, including those with cerebral palsy.
As set out in the LTWP, NHS England’s ambition is that, by 2028, no child or young person will be lost in the gaps between any children’s and adult services, and that their experience of moving between services is safe, well planned and prepared for so they feel supported and empowered to make decisions about their health and social care needs. The Department is working closely with NHS England to support this work, and the Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme has developed a national framework for transition which includes the key principles of a 0-25 model of care, including for young people with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support adults with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a range of guidance on care and support for children and young people and adults with cerebral palsy, to support healthcare professionals and commissioners. The guidance recommends service providers develop clear pathways that allow patients with cerebral palsy access to multi-disciplinary teams, specialist neurology services and regular reviews of their clinical and functional needs.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country.
The majority of services for people with cerebral palsy are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to make decisions according to local need. Nevertheless, at a national level, the Government is working closely with NHS England to continue to improve services for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy.
The NHS Long-term Workforce Plan (LTWP) aims to grow the number and proportion of National Health Service staff working in mental health, primary and community care. The LTWP, published in 2023, sets out an ambition to grow these roles 73% by 2036/37, including plans to increase the community workforce specifically by 3.9% each year. By growing the community workforce, we will be better able to support people to participate in daily living, including those with cerebral palsy.
As set out in the LTWP, NHS England’s ambition is that, by 2028, no child or young person will be lost in the gaps between any children’s and adult services, and that their experience of moving between services is safe, well planned and prepared for so they feel supported and empowered to make decisions about their health and social care needs. The Department is working closely with NHS England to support this work, and the Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme has developed a national framework for transition which includes the key principles of a 0-25 model of care, including for young people with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what is his planned timetable for the consultation on a new Permitted Development Right for subdividing houses into two flats.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of early intervention mental health support in schools for children and young people.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The mental health of children is a priority for this government, and the department understands that early intervention in schools can play a vital role. The department is committed to ensuring schools and colleges are safe, calm and supportive environments which promote and support mental wellbeing.
The department knows that school-based provision such as counselling works best in schools that take a whole-school approach, with all staff clear about how mental health is supported. That is why the department is offering senior mental health lead training grants to all state schools by 2025, with over 14,400 settings claiming a grant so far.
The department is also extending NHS Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to cover at least 50% of pupils in schools and learners in further education by spring 2025. These teams deliver direct interventions for mild to moderate mental health needs, support education staff with their whole-school approach, and liaise with external specialists to help children and young people get the right support. The MHSTs programme received early independent evaluation, available at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/brace/projects/children-and-young-people%27s-mental-health-trailblazer-programme.aspx. An independent impact evaluation of both MHSTs and the senior mental health lead training programme is expected in 2026.
Bodies such as the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) have also produced reports reviewing the effectiveness of a variety of mental health interventions. A 2021 report from the EIF is available at: https://www.eif.org.uk/report/adolescent-mental-health-a-systematic-review-on-the-effectiveness-of-school-based-interventions.