Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 ensure access to mental health services in (a) England, (b) areas with fewer mental health services and (c) rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Waiting lists for those referred for support are too high all across England, especially in areas with fewer mental health services, including for those in rural communities. People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve or need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also introduce access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.
In addition, people of all ages who are in crisis or who are concerned about a family or loved one can now call 111, select the mental health option, and speak to a trained mental health professional. National Health Service staff can guide callers with next steps such as organising face-to-face community support or facilitating access to alternative services, like crisis cafés or safe havens, which provide a place for people to stay as an alternative to accident and emergency or a hospital admission. It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards to commission care to meet the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 18950 on Planning Permission: Air Pollution, if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) equality impact and (b) environmental principles assessments made in relation to the new interim guidance on the consideration of the Environment Act PM2.5 targets in planning decision.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The interim guidance on the consideration of the Environment Act PM2.5 targets in planning decisions aims to provide developers and planning authorities with clarity while Defra develops substantive technical guidance. As it is interim guidance, environmental principles assessments and full equality impact assessments were not required at this stage.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of (a) 20 December 2024 to Question 19918 and (b) 3 January 2025 to Question 19918 on Waste: Codes of Practice, for what reason his Department has not issued the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse's enforcement guidance as statutory guidance.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At this stage, the Government has not yet made an assessment of how it can further support local authorities to tackle litter. Any decisions or updates will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19918 on Waste: Codes of Practice, if he will publish the responses to the consultation on making the Code of Practice statutory.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At this stage, the Government has not yet made an assessment of how it can further support local authorities to tackle litter. Any decisions or updates will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2024 to Question 14343 on Litter, if he will publish each response to the consultation on statutory litter enforcement guidance that closed in April 2024.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At this stage, the Government has not yet made an assessment of how it can further support local authorities to tackle litter. Any decisions or updates will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19922 on Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal, whether the Government has issued guidance on the issuing of fixed penalty notices for householders who leave items by the curtilage of their property to be given away and re-used.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are considering whether further guidance is necessary with regards to fly-tipping enforcement. Any announcements on this will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19922, on Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal, if he will take steps to ensure households are not fined for leaving items by the curtilage of their property to be given away and re-used.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are considering whether further guidance is necessary with regards to fly-tipping enforcement. Any announcements on this will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 measure the potential impact of the (a) amount and (b) distribution of funding for mental health services on the (i) quality and (ii) accessibility of those services for patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All integrated care boards met the Mental Health Investment Standard for 2023/24, meaning that their investment in mental health services increased in line with their overall increase in funding for the year. Information for 2024/25 is expected to become available later this year.
NHS England publishes new waiting time metrics in line with the clinical review of mental health access standards. These are published monthly via the mental health services data set, which delivers robust, comprehensive, nationally consistent, and comparable person-based information for children, young people, and adults who are in contact with mental health services.
This dataset is also used to inform the NHS Mental Health Dashboard and provides transparency in assessing how National Health Service mental health services in England are performing, alongside technical details explaining how mental health services are funded and delivered.