Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to shared care arrangements for adults diagnosed with ADHD.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has established to look at attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) service provision and support across sectors, and their impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.
General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors that provide services for the National Health Service. The General Medical Council has published guidance on “Good practice in proposing, prescribing, providing and managing medicines and devices content”. This includes guidance on shared care arrangements between a specialist service and the patient’s GP to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities for any condition. The guidance is available at the following link:
NHS clinicians need to be content that any prescriptions, or referrals for treatment, are clinically appropriate. All shared care arrangements are voluntary, so even where agreements are in place, practices can decline shared care requests on clinical and capacity grounds.
If a shared care arrangement cannot be put in place after the treatment has been initiated, the responsibility for continued prescribing falls upon the specialist clinician; this applies to both NHS and private medical care.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will amend the key performance indicator for waiting times for children’s mental health services to include the length of time between referral and the start of treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working towards implementing the clinical review of standards and as a first step have started publishing data on waits from referral to start of treatment.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
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 help improve waiting times for children’s mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are too long. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to cut waiting times and ensure that people can access treatment and support earlier.
We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
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 local authorities complete timely financial audits of social care providers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Adult social care services are provided through a largely outsourced market of commercial organisations and charities. Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations, and to develop and build local market capacity.
That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support options available to them, and that they can access the services that best meet their needs.
Local authorities also have a duty under the Care Act 2014 to ensure continuity of care in the event of business failure. This means that people continue to receive the care and support they need if their adult social care provider is no longer able to carry on delivering services.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2024 to Question 11001 on Animal Experiments: Public Consultation, whether his Department plans to publish the names of the organisations it consults with.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of the Labour Manifesto’s commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, the government has been consulting civil society as this process unfolds. This includes attending meetings with and considering documentation sent by animal protection organisations. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year which will consider these discussions. However, the strategy will not be publishing the specific names of the organisations it consults with.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2024 to Question 11001 on Animal Experiments: Public Consultation, what progress his Department has made on consulting with civil society and animal protection organisations.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government has been consulting civil society as this process unfolds. This includes attending meetings with animal protection organisations and considering documentation sent by such organisations to the Government. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of HMRC online services for older people with limited forms of ID.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Users may gain access to HMRC online services by signing up for a Government Gateway account.
A new Government Gateway account can be created with only an email address with no documentation required. The customer is provided with a unique username (Government Gateway ID) and is asked to create a password.
This account will not have identity verification associated to it, so can only be used to access Government services which do not require identity proofing.
Where a customer needs to access services requiring identity checking, additional Identity Verification steps are provided by Government Gateway, based on the identity information the customer has available to them.
It is recognised that this can be difficult for some customers, particularly those with limited digital skills or limited documented identity sources.
To prove their identity users will need their National Insurance number or postcode and can use any 2 of the following:
• a valid UK passport
• a UK photocard driving licence issued by the DVLA (or DVA in Northern Ireland)
• details from a Self Assessment tax return if one was made
• information held on their credit record if they have one
From Spring 2025 onwards, HMRC will begin to migrate new and existing Government Gateway customers to GOV.UK One Login. This is the Government’s new strategic authentication and identity checking system, operated by the Government Digital Service in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which is making it easier and faster for users to prove and reuse their identity to access the government services they need.
Improving accessibility is at the heart of GOV.UK One Login; it offers multiple ways for people to prove who they are, including an in-person option, and a customer support centre to help users with lower digital skills.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many sub-postmasters in the Group Litigation Order Compensation Scheme have (a) not received any compensation payments and (b) have received above the minimum payment of £75,000.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of 31 January, the Department had received 408 completed claims from eligible GLO postmasters. 257 claimants have agreed full and final redress, of whom 153 accepted the £75,000 fixed offer. A further 229 individuals have received partial or interim redress payments, including people who have not yet submitted full claims.
The government remains committed to issuing first offers in 90% of cases within 40 working days of receiving complete claims. The same target applies to offers which are challenged after 1 December 2024.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions on non-profit social care providers for under 65s.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process. To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26. Overall, core local government spending power is increasing by 6.8% in cash terms.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of provision of secondary school places in areas of high population density in Shrewsbury constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools. The funding is not ring-fenced, subject to the conditions set out in the published grant determination letter, nor is it time bound, meaning local authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities.
Shropshire Council has been allocated just over £4.4 million to support the provision of new school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.
The department engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible.
The department is aware that Shropshire Council are exploring local solutions to address localised secondary sufficiency challenges in Shrewsbury, including the potential for a new setting in the medium term.