Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels at long covid clinics.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No formal assessment has been made.
NHS England and NHS Improvement operate 90 post-COVID-19 assessment services across England. Integrated care systems have developed service expansion plans, including increasing workforce capacity. Services are currently recruiting a expert clinical teams, including psychologists, physiotherapists, nurses and occupational therapists. This includes the creation of a care coordination role to support integrated care across the local post-COVID-19 pathway. In July 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement announced an additional investment of £100 million bringing total National Health Service funding in England to £134 million.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the UK delegation to the Ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will include a gender balance in line with the WHO's request that representatives follow United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/58/142 on women and political participation.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Our delegation to the Ninth session of the Conference of the Parties consists of four female and two male representatives.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of prison inmates have been (a) offered a covid-19 vaccine and (b) vaccinated against covid-19.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All eligible prisoners in England have been offered a COVID-19 vaccine and according to the latest available data, 44% are now fully vaccinated with two doses. This includes 80% of those over 50 years old and 37% of the under 50 year old population.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to finding by the Parent-Infant Foundation in 2019 that 42 per cent of CCGs reported local CAMHS services would not accept a referral for a child aged two and under, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS CAMHS services do not turn away children under two.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We remain committed to the aim of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an extra £2.3 billion a year into mental health by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people a year, including the youngest children, accessing NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24, if they need it.
Commissioning mental health services for the youngest age groups is a local matter for clinical commission groups. However, the Government recently published it’s Early Years Review which is available at the following link:
Babies and the youngest children in England will get a better start in life following the publication of a review into reducing inequalities in the first 1,001 days of life. This includes every new parent and carer being able to access compassionate and timely mental health support if they need it. To implement this work, the Department will work with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement as well as local authorities to map out the Start for Life journey of parents and carers that captures how they experience digital, virtual and telephone-based services during the 1,001 critical days from conception to the age of 2. We will ensure parents and carers have an NHS-branded online ‘one stop shop’ to access all the information they need.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan goal that all children who need specialist mental health care can access it, what steps he has taken to ensure that the youngest children can access specialist mental health care.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We remain committed to the aim of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an extra £2.3 billion a year into mental health by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people a year, including the youngest children, accessing NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24, if they need it.
Commissioning mental health services for the youngest age groups is a local matter for clinical commission groups. However, the Government recently published it’s Early Years Review which is available at the following link:
Babies and the youngest children in England will get a better start in life following the publication of a review into reducing inequalities in the first 1,001 days of life. This includes every new parent and carer being able to access compassionate and timely mental health support if they need it. To implement this work, the Department will work with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement as well as local authorities to map out the Start for Life journey of parents and carers that captures how they experience digital, virtual and telephone-based services during the 1,001 critical days from conception to the age of 2. We will ensure parents and carers have an NHS-branded online ‘one stop shop’ to access all the information they need.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
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 merits of placing a statutory duty on Integrated Care Systems to deliver a strategy that improves outcomes and reduces inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The proposed legislation for integrated care systems (ICS) is designed to be flexible, allowing the system to continue to evolve and develop new and better ways of working, based on local needs and circumstances.
We expect ICS, in partnership with local agencies, to deliver targeted measures to support people at all stages of life, including measures to address health inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of mandated health visiting checks missed since covid-19 lockdown began in March 2020; and what steps he is taking in response to those mandated health visiting checks being missed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England has made no such estimate. Collection of quarterly and annual health visitor service delivery metrics covering has now restarted with the next publication of official statistics expected later in 2021.
Health visiting services have continued to deliver throughout the pandemic with virtual contact unless there has been a clinical or safeguarding need to ensure children remain safe and protected. The restoration framework for community health services for children and young people outlines a recommendation for services to move to restore health visiting services, following their prioritisation during the containment phase of the pandemic.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of funding required to deliver the two additional health visiting checks recommended in the Healthy Child Programme commissioning guidance published by Public Health England on 17 March 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England has made no estimate.
Commissioning guidance provides a framework for local authorities to use and adapt to meet local needs. Additional, non-mandated contacts are described at ages three months or six months old, based on evidence and are outlined for local consideration. Health visitors should also use their clinical judgement to determine use of targeted interventions or referral.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of emerging Public Health England data indicating that the likelihood of babies receiving mandated health visiting checks varies based on ethnicity and level of deprivation.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England’s experimental statistical release is intended to provide greater visibility and emerging evidence on children who received mandated health visiting reviews accounting for ethnicity, deprivation and other characteristics. This data is in addition to the routinely available health visitor metrics and outcomes. Local authorities and their health visiting providers can use this data to inform their commissioning strategies and needs assessments to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities faced by children of minority ethnic or deprived backgrounds.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve accountability for delivering mandated health visiting checks in response to evidence from the Children’s Commissioner's Best Beginnings in the Early Years report that indicated up to 65 per cent of children were not receiving the two and a half year old check in some local areas.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since publication of the Children’s Commissioner’s report ‘Best beginnings in the Early Years’, Public Health England (PHE) has published updated guidance for mandated health visits to support local decision-making on service commissioning and provision. The guidance is available at the following link:
To monitor implementation, PHE also continues to collect and publishes quarterly data on health visiting service metrics, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-metrics-2019-to-2020