Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of the Healthwatch publication, Accessible Information Standard: Findings from our evidence review, published in February 2022, on levels of (a) training and (b) awareness of the standard.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England is responsible for the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), and has completed a review of the AIS considering a wide range of evidence to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss are met in health and care provision.
The review considered the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice, and identified recommendations for improvement. One of the aims of the review was to strengthen assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of National Health Service and social care services to measure their performance against the AIS and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation.
Following publication of the revised standard in due course, NHS England will continue work to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement and updated e-learning modules on the AIS to ensure NHS staff are better aware of the standard and their roles and responsibilities in implementing it. NHS England is developing the updated e-learning training modules on the AIS. NHS England has and will continue to work with the voluntary sector and those with lived experience to ensure that the modules are fully accessible, reflective of people’s experience in using services and cover a range of examples across health and adult social care. These actions should support better and more consistent implementation of the standard.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling the NHS to access and share data from social services for assessing for autism.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service and local authorities improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service. As referenced in the guidance, as part of an assessment process, when feasible, and consent-permitting, it can be useful to speak with professionals who are currently or have recently been in contact with the person, such as professionals working in health and social care, education, the criminal justice system or third sector organisations. The guidance is available at the following link:
In addition, we expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services, including autism assessments. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 reduce barriers faced by blind and partially sighted people in accessing health and care information.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Loughborough on 15 December 2023 to Question 5695.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specialist service provision the NHS provides for people with (a) psychosis and schizophrenia, (b) eating disorders and (c) bipolar.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan committed £1 billion of extra funding per year to transform and expand community mental health services. By the end of 2023/24, it is expected that 370,000 adults and older adults with severe mental health problems will be supported within newly transformed models of care in line with the Community Mental Health Framework.
The Community Mental Health Framework is applicable to people irrespective of their diagnosis, aiming to reorganise community mental health services to provide comprehensive holistic care and treatment to give them greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities.
As part of this new integrated offer, systems are supported to develop specialist services for adult eating disorders and early intervention for psychosis, while the expansion of psychological therapies includes extending the specific treatments people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Therefore, through expansion of community-based services, adults with severe mental health problems will be able to access treatment earlier, and closer to home, leading to better outcomes for them and their families.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on obesity rates among children in the last five years; and when he plans to publish his Department's most recent data on Overweight children.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on the weight status of children aged 4-5 years (Reception) and 10-11 years (Year 6). The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes national and local level data on Fingertips. The following table shows data on national obesity prevalence from the NCMP in the last five years.
Prevalence of obesity (including severe obesity) in England | ||
Year | Reception (%) | Year 6 (%) |
2017/18 | 9.5 | 20.1 |
2018/19 | 9.7 | 20.2 |
2019/20 | 9.9 | 21.0 |
2020/21 | 14.4 | 25.5 |
2021/22 | 10.1 | 23.4 |
The most recent NCMP data on overweight children will be published by NHS England on Thursday 19th October 2023. The report will present analysis of height and weight data recorded among children in reception (aged 4-5) and year 6 (aged 10-11) for the school year 2022/23.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the results of the independent evaluation of the NHS England Special Schools Eye Care Service; and what clinical data will be published on the eye care history of relevant children.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
NHS England are currently considering the independent evaluation of this programme and will set out next steps for how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned shortly. Decisions about publication of data will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding is available for children’s cancer in the current financial year; and how much funding has been available for children's cancer in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally. National Health Service commissioners receive allocations for a range of services and specific funding for children’s cancer services is not recorded separately.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the current provision of play specialists is (a) across the NHS and (b) specifically for children with cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally. However, NHS England has established a taskforce with stakeholders, including the Starlight Foundation, National Association for Hospital Play Specialists. This group aims to develop guidance on play services for National Health Service providers and recognised practice standards. It will also explore options for the regulation of health play specialists.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meals per day are provided to children who are admitted to a NHS hospital.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Competitions and Market Authority publication entitled Advice on PCR travel tests, published 10 September, what plans he has to implement the recommendations.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are considering and already implementing many of the Competitions and Market Authority’s recommendations. We have established a test validation and the United Kingdom Accreditation Service accreditation process, which ensures that providers meet minimum standards before they are able to enter the market. We also continually monitor the pricing situation for travel testing, carrying out daily price checks on listings in addition to regular audits and reviews.