Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the implementation plan for the Medical Technology Strategy.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department’s inaugural Medical Technology (Medtech) Strategy was published on 3 February 2023. The strategy identified four key priorities to achieve the vision of right product, right price, right place. The Medtech Directorate is currently working in collaboration with industry and delivery partners across the United Kingdom to determine key actions and initiatives for the four priorities of the implementation plan. We aim to publish the plan by June 2023. In parallel, the Directorate is setting up a governing board to oversee strategy implementation.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
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 potential merits of social prescribing for supporting mental health and wellbeing in children and young people; and what steps his Department is taking to increase access to social prescribing for children and young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. The Department recognises the value of social prescribing for children and young people. NHS England training programme for social prescribing link workers includes a module to support social prescribing for children and young people.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether funding for all 40 NHS Wellbeing Hubs will continue beyond March 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The staff mental health and wellbeing hubs were set up in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, using additional non-recurrent funding until 2022/23. A final decision is yet to be made on the funding of these hubs for 2023/24.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment on the impact of the Minimum Income Guarantee on disabled users of social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. The level of the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is reviewed annually, with the next review ongoing. Following the last review, from 6 April 2022 the MIG was increased in line with inflation. The impact of this uprating was taken into account in the Social Care Charging Reform Impact Assessment. Any revised rates for next year will be published in a Local Authority Circular.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase support for people living with (a) Down's Syndome and (b) other disabilities throughout all stages of life.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
To increase access to support for people with Down’s Syndrome and for disabled people we are developing guidance aimed at improving support for people with Down’s Syndrome, as required by the Down Syndrome Act which received Royal Assent in April 2022. This guidance will set out practical steps that organisations should take to meet the needs of people with Down’s Syndrome. It will also help to clarify the support and services people with Down’s Syndrome can expect to receive.
The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is developing a new Disability Action Plan, which will be consulted on and published this year. The Plan will set out the actions the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives.
There will also be mandatory training for all health and social care staff on learning disability and autism and commissioning analysis on the health needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) so these can be better met through effective workforce planning.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Mental Health Bill will include provisions for every child to (a) have access to a (i) counsellor and (ii) play and creative arts therapist registered by a (A) Government and (B) Government-approved agency within school and (b) for all schools to have a mental health support team.
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 on 20 December 2022 to Question 108084.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had the (a) World Health Organisation and (b) World Organisation for Animal Health on the risk of zoonotic diseases being spread to humans from fur farms globally, in the context of the H5N1 avian flu outbreak in winter 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Fur farming is banned in England. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has not been involved in any discussions with the World Health Organization or the World Organisation for Animal Health specifically on the general risk of zoonotic disease spread from fur farms globally.
UKHSA continues to work closely with animal health colleagues at the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency as well as international partners to assess any specific risks that are identified globally which would have potential implications to the United Kingdom public health.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on increasing Veteran Aware accreditation in NHS trusts; and if he will take steps to extend the Veteran Aware accreditation scheme to all GP practices in the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As of 1 October 2022, 60% of National Health Service trusts have been accredited as Veteran Aware, including acute hospitals, ambulance services, mental health and community trusts. This has increased from 51% as at July 2022. NHS England’s Veteran Covenant Health Alliance Programme continues to work with trusts to support accreditation.
With the Royal College of General Practitioners, NHS England is working to accredit all general practitioner practices in England as 'veteran friendly'. As of 30 September, 24.4% of practices have been accredited as veteran friendly. While accreditation is currently open to practices in England, the Royal College of General Practitioners is working with the devolved administrations to extend the programme.