Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the previously agreed Review of the Clinical Pathway for Sleep Apnoea is no longer included on NICE's priority lists.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Review of the Clinical Pathway for Sleep Apnoea is included on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s priority lists and scoping will begin in the new year.
There are no plans of establishing a national programme to provide fast-track treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea for vocational drivers.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference too the explanatory notes of the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017, how the 33 additional health-based places of safety were calculated.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The methodology is set out in paragraphs 31 to 60 of the detailed impact assessment prepared for the Policing and Crime Act 2017. This is available at:
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake an assessment of the effectiveness of the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The effectiveness of the changes to be introduced by the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017 will be assessed by the Care Quality Commission as part of its duty to monitor the working of the Act and to report annually on its findings.
The National Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat Steering Group for England and Wales provides an overarching structure through which a wide range of national stakeholders can provide feedback through regular contact with the Home Office and the Department of Health.
Emerging information from the monitoring of the operation of the new provisions will be fed into the wider Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983, chaired by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, which was launched on 4 October 2017.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the latest figures on section 136 detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the places of safety patients are taken to.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Information on s136 detentions where the person is taken to a health based place of safety is published annually by NHS Digital. The most recent report, Mental Health Act Statistics, Annual Figures: 2016-17, Experimental statistics was published in October and is available at
https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30105
Information on s136 detentions where the person is taken to a police station as a place of safety is published annually by the Home Office. The most recent report, Police powers and procedures England and Wales year ending 31 March 2017 second edition was published in October and is available at:
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Care Quality Commission's online map of designated places of safety includes details of every designated place of safety in England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Care Quality Commission's (CQC’s) online map shows all the health-based places of safety known to it at August 2017. It shows places of safety that are located in mental health units on mental health hospital or acute hospital sites, as well as accident and emergency departments in acute hospitals that are designated as places of safety.
The CQC has functions under the Mental Health Act s120 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It has the power under s120 of the Mental Health Act to keep under review and, where appropriate, investigate the exercise of the powers and the discharge of the duties conferred or imposed by the Mental Health Act so relating to the detention of patients, their reception into guardianship or those liable to be detained under the Act.
When exercising this reviewing function the CQC will take into account whether providers of Mental Health services have had regard to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. This is statutory guidance for providers and must be taken into account and reasons for not doing so recorded. It is not statutory guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) but is considered beneficial to them in carrying out their duties. The Code of Practice at chapter 16 states that local authorities, NHS Commissioners, hospitals, police forces and ambulance services should have local partnership arrangements in place to deal with people experiencing mental health crisis.
The CQC may consider the local policy arrangements and the effectiveness of the monitoring of these arrangements when conducting a review under s120 of the Mental Health Act. It does not have any specific power to ensure that CCGs identify and inform police forces and ambulance services of health-based places of safety in their area. It is expected that this would be transparent in the joint local policy arrangements. The CQC has no powers to compel CCGs to take any action. There is a power under s48 of the Act to review and/or investigate commissioning but this requires the approval of the Secretary of State for Health
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what real-time information NHS England provides to the police and ambulance services on the availability of health-based places of safety.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England does not provide real-time information to the police and ambulance services on the availability of health-based places of safety. It is for providers of health-based places of safety – most often National Health Service mental health trusts – to determine the information that is shared with police and ambulance services regarding the real-time availability of health-based places of safety.
NHS England has funded three areas to pilot digital tools to inform the development of capacity and demand management functionality. These tools show the capacity of local services to health and social care professionals, joint ‘triage’ teams and the police, providing them with real-time access to information on the nearest available section 136 suites. NHS England is currently in the process of determining how best to share the learning from these pilot areas.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what powers are available to the Care Quality Commission to ensure that Care Commissioning Groups (a) identify and (b) inform police forces and ambulance services of health-based places of safety in their area.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Care Quality Commission's (CQC’s) online map shows all the health-based places of safety known to it at August 2017. It shows places of safety that are located in mental health units on mental health hospital or acute hospital sites, as well as accident and emergency departments in acute hospitals that are designated as places of safety.
The CQC has functions under the Mental Health Act s120 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It has the power under s120 of the Mental Health Act to keep under review and, where appropriate, investigate the exercise of the powers and the discharge of the duties conferred or imposed by the Mental Health Act so relating to the detention of patients, their reception into guardianship or those liable to be detained under the Act.
When exercising this reviewing function the CQC will take into account whether providers of Mental Health services have had regard to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. This is statutory guidance for providers and must be taken into account and reasons for not doing so recorded. It is not statutory guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) but is considered beneficial to them in carrying out their duties. The Code of Practice at chapter 16 states that local authorities, NHS Commissioners, hospitals, police forces and ambulance services should have local partnership arrangements in place to deal with people experiencing mental health crisis.
The CQC may consider the local policy arrangements and the effectiveness of the monitoring of these arrangements when conducting a review under s120 of the Mental Health Act. It does not have any specific power to ensure that CCGs identify and inform police forces and ambulance services of health-based places of safety in their area. It is expected that this would be transparent in the joint local policy arrangements. The CQC has no powers to compel CCGs to take any action. There is a power under s48 of the Act to review and/or investigate commissioning but this requires the approval of the Secretary of State for Health
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to establish target times for the assessment of places of safety under the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has no plans to do so.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 10.3 of the explanatory memorandum to the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017, whether funding has been provided as detailed in that paragraph.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department is making £30 million funding available to improve the provision of places of safety. £15 million of this is for the period 2016-18, and the application process is currently open for local Crisis Care Concordat areas that would like to bid against the £15 million that will be available for the period 2018-20. Information is available at:
http://www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk/beyond-places-safety-bpos/
In addition, to support the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, the Department is investing an additional £1 billion in mental health services by 2020 to increase the provision of Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams, to provide mental health support in accident and emergency departments.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the safety implications for patients of more than 50 per cent of staff in mental health facilities commissioned by NHS England being agency staff.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We have made no such assessment. NHS Improvement introduced the agency rules in October 2015 and this has seen the overall expenditure on agency staff reduce by £1 billion. In implementing the rules, NHS Improvement has been very clear that the safety and welfare of patients is paramount.
As such there are no plans to introduce any restrictions on the number of staff that can be engaged via an agency. NHS Improvement continue to monitor the safer staffing reports and work with trusts to ensure that staffing levels are maintained and patient safety is not compromised. All NHS services are also subject to inspections for quality and safety by the Care Quality Commission.