Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Luciana Berger, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to require public authorities to have regard to the need to consider physical and mental health impacts in the exercise of their functions; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to amend the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to give health and safety inspectors the power to apply for a court order to freeze the assets, or parts thereof, of a company under investigation following a death or serious injury at work; and for connected purposes.
Stalking Protection Act 2019 - Private Members' Bill (Ballot Bill)
Sponsor - Sarah Wollaston (LDEM)
Tyres (Buses and Coaches) Bill 2017-19 - Private Members' Bill (under the Ten Minute Rule)
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (LAB)
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 - Private Members' Bill (Ballot Bill)
Sponsor - Karen Buck (LAB)
The current definition of ‘long term’ conditions under the Equality Act 2010 allows the courts flexibility when applying the law in individual cases. We recognise that there are concerns that the protections offered by the Act can be hard to access for people with fluctuating conditions. The robustness of the definition is one of the issues we are exploring in our consideration of extending protections from discrimination in the workplace for those with mental health disorders.
The Government Equalities Office has approximately 50 staff members, and therefore a small number of Senior Civil Servants. To avoid the possibility of individuals being identified, we are unable to release the data requested.
I have sent Christmas cards to a wide range of people, as previous Prime Ministers have done. All expenditure incurred in the purchase and posting of these cards is in accordance with the departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety.
Gender pay gaps are calculated by comparing the median male hourly wages (excluding overtime) with the median female hourly wages, as a proportion of the male wage.
The department does not hold this data by city regions or by sector for city regions.
The following link to Table 5 of the Office of National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) for 2015 provides the average hourly wages for males and females on a regional industry basis: http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/regionbyindustry2digitsicashetable5
The House of Commons started work on this earlier in the year, as reported in the Head of Diversity and Inclusion’s quarterly update to the House of Commons Commission in January. The National Autistic Society has conducted its mystery shopping part of the accreditation. We are aiming to submit our evidence for the remainder of the assessment by June this year.
The PSHE Association resource on Body Image was accessed 4396 times in the first six months after launch. In addition to direct access through the PSHE Association website, the Association has over 100 local authority representatives on their mailing lists. Those who have accessed the resource will be able to share documents with all teachers and schools in their area.
The Government takes these issues seriously. Higher Education Institutions, as autonomous and independent bodies, have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with mental health conditions.
Ensuring the wellbeing of students is important to our universities. Institutions are best placed to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students and to ensure mechanisms are in place to identify students in need.
New guidance from BIS to the Director of Fair Access published on 11 February, asks him to focus on addressing a range of gaps in the access, retention and outcomes for students, including providing more help for those with mental health needs, through Access Agreements agreed with universities.
There is a great deal of guidance and support available to institutions from a range of sector and medical bodies. In February 2015, Universities UK published a Good Practice Guide on student mental wellbeing in higher education. It aims to support institutions in building and improving their provision for students
Employers must fulfil their duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 for apprentices as they would for other employees.
Under the Equality Act (2010), employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities (including mental health impairment) in order to ensure that they have the same access to everything that involves gaining or keeping employment as a non-disabled person.
Advice is also available to help employers and training providers understand disabilities and how to better support disabled apprentices. We have funded NIACE to produce an employer toolkit http://www.employer-toolkit.org.uk/ for employers who want to develop a more inclusive and accessible apprenticeship offer.
An Apprenticeships Equality and Diversity Advisory group helps government understand and address any apprenticeship equality and diversity issues in order to reduce barriers and make apprenticeships as inclusive as possible.
The Start-Up Loans programme provides loans and mentoring support to enable entrepreneurs aged 18 and over from all parts of society and based in the UK to start a business. So far, over 34,300 entrepreneurs have received support from the programme, which in turn has facilitated over £187 million worth of lending to date.
The programme operates through a network of Delivery Partners, who make individual lending decisions based on criteria set by the Start-Up Loans Company. Delivery Partners are required to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. A condition of this authorisation is that they adhere to the FCA’s Treating Customers Fairly principles, which include reference to the treatment of customers with mental health issues.
A full list of principles is available on the FCA’s website
The PSHE Association guidance on body image is available for download from the PSHE Association website. This is a freely available resource that can be accessed by anyone wishing to find out further information on how to address this topic, and what resources are available to do so. Anyone accessing the website, including teachers, can download the document here: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=1437
The Media Smart media literacy resource is owned by Media Smart, which is an arm of the Advertising Association. The resource is currently being updated and will be available on their website in due course.
Details of my visits within the United Kingdom are published on the gov.uk website.
Most recently, on 11 January I visited Family Action in London where I announced £290 million of new investment over the next 5 years to provide mental healthcare for new mums, £247 million to invest in liaison mental health services in emergency departments, over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital and expanded services to help teenagers with eating disorders. This builds on previous government funding commitments for mental health over the last 12 months, including £150 million for young people with eating disorders and £1.25 billion for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health.
The Start-Up Loans programme provides loans and mentoring support to enable entrepreneurs aged 18 and over from all parts of society and based in the UK to start a business. So far, over 34,300 entrepreneurs have received support from the programme, which in turn has facilitated over £187 million worth of lending to date.
The programme operates through a network of Delivery Partners, who make individual lending decisions based on criteria set by the Start-Up Loans Company. Delivery Partners are required to adhere to Financial Conduct Authority Regulations on Treating Customers Fairly which include reference to the treatment of customers with mental health issues.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HESA does not collect information on whether students come specifically from a working-class background, nor does it have a definition of the term working-class.
Information on the ethnicity and socio-economic classification of young entrants (those aged less than 21 years old) to medicine subjects at English and Welsh Higher Education Institutions in the academic year 2013/14 is provided in the table. Information on older entrants by socioeconomic background is not available.
Full-Person Equivalent (FPE)(1) young entrants(2) studying Medicine(3) by Sex, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Classification (SEC) | |||||||||
English and Welsh Higher Education Institutions | |||||||||
Academic Year 2013/14 | |||||||||
Male | Female | Total | |||||||
White | Other | Unknown | White | Other | Unknown | White | Other | Unknown | |
Higher managerial & professional occupations | 550 | 330 | 10 | 650 | 335 | 10 | 1200 | 665 | 20 |
Lower managerial & professional occupations | 290 | 130 | 5 | 390 | 155 | 5 | 680 | 285 | 10 |
Intermediate occupations | 120 | 70 | 5 | 125 | 70 | 0 | 245 | 140 | 5 |
Small employers & own account workers | 35 | 50 | 0 | 55 | 50 | 0 | 90 | 100 | 0 |
Lower supervisory & technical occupations | 30 | 15 | 0 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 65 | 25 | 0 |
Semi-routine occupations | 35 | 50 | 0 | 70 | 80 | 0 | 105 | 130 | 0 |
Routine occupations | 10 | 20 | 0 | 30 | 25 | 0 | 40 | 45 | 0 |
Never worked & long-term unemployed | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Not classified | 180 | 130 | 5 | 195 | 135 | 5 | 375 | 265 | 15 |
Total | 1255 | 800 | 30 | 1545 | 865 | 20 | 2800 | 1665 | 50 |
Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record. | |||||||||
Notes: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals. | |||||||||
(1) Counts in the table refer to Full Person Equivalents (FPEs). FPEs are derived by splitting student instances between the different subjects that make up their course aim. | |||||||||
(2) Young entrants are defined as those younger than 21 years old at August 31st of their first academic year | |||||||||
(3) Subject information is defined using the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS2). Medical Subjects were defined as those in JACS Codes A0, A1, A3 and A9 |
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.
In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.
A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.
In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.
A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.
In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.
A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.
In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.
A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.
It has been the practice of successive Governments not to disclose information relating to internal discussions.
My Rt. Hon. friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has not had any such meetings.
Eleven grant offers were issued to businesses in the video games industry under Innovate UK's Smart Programme in 2013-14. The total value of those grants was £971,179.
Innovate UK is responsible for determining its spending priorities, in the context of the Tasking Framework Letter issued to it by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills after each Spending Review.
The main competition that has supported games businesses is Innovate UK’s £15M "Cross-Platform Production in Digital Media" programme, which is directed towards encouraging games, film and TV sectors to innovate together. This competition is now closed and Innovate UK has no more planned competitions within the current Spending Review period.
Video games businesses have wider capabilities which make them suited to addressing challenges in areas such as healthcare management, transport management and urban living. Innovate UK funds are available for innovation in each of these areas, and games businesses expertise may have a strong role to play, but the award of any funding will be subject to Innovate UK’s normal competitive processes.
Also, Innovate UK support for small and medium-sized businesses is continually available through programmes like its Smart scheme, which is open to businesses in all technology areas.
United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) works with the video games sector, to support exports and attract inward investment. A new international strategy for the Creative Industries has been co-produced with the sector, and there is a joint commitment to its implementation. For example UKTI and the UKIE worked together to deliver the Digital Gaming event at the International Festival of Business in Liverpool in July this year.
UKTI supports sectorally-focused groups, including those from the games sector, through both the Trade Access Programme (TAP) and through the Events and Missions Programme. The amount allocated specifically to the video games sector under these two programmes are shown in the table below together with a figure which gives the value as a percentage of programme expenditure as a whole (across all sectors). In addition, video games companies enjoy the support of UKTI through general services available to all companies.
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Total TAP Support for Video Games Sector | £53,400 | £68,560 | £220,100 |
% of Total TAP Funding | 0.80% | 0.80% | 1.40% |
|
|
|
|
Video Games Events & Missions Spend | £69,000 | £0 | £25,000 |
% of Total Events and Missions Spend | 0.82% | n/a | 0.18% |
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Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board.
In 2011/12 Innovate UK did not provide any funds to organisations in the video games sector. In 2012/13, it provided £277k (0.06% of its core budget) to organisations in the video games sector and in 2013/14 it provided £1.9m (0.4% of its core budget).
The figures above do not include any awards made under Innovate UK’s Smart or Knowledge Transfer Partnership programmes, as this information can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Department made £3 million available in funding for the training of Green Deal Advisors and Installers. This was delegated to Asset Skills and Construction Skills respectively to allocate on our behalf. With support from the funding, 841 Green Deal Advisors and 750 installer operatives have completed their training. DECC has not run a scheme specifically to train apprentices.
Government regulations (effective from 1st October 2013) apply to quoted companies in the UK to disclose the numbers of men and women on boards, in senior management and in the business as a whole. This aims to help companies to spot areas of talent block within their own organisations.
We follow a voluntary approach in the UK to increase the numbers of women on boards and engage closely with organisations who are active on building the pipeline of female talent such as the 30% Club.
In 2012, the 30% Club carried out research with one of the leading global management consulting firms, McKinsey & Company to aggregate results looking into the numbers of women in UK partnerships in Professional Services Firms. Their study made recommendations to help firms get more women to the top. Many of these firms including KPMG, Deloitte, Linklaters and PWC are members of the 30% Club (at Chairmen and CEO level) whose goals are to achieve better gender balance at all levels of an organisation.
This approach complements the work and progress of the Lord Davies business-led initiative to achieve 25% of women on boards by 2015.
As explained in my reply of 15 July 2014 (Official Report) Column Ref: 591W the aim of our Northern Futures initiative is to facilitate a new kind of conversation about how we rebalance our economy. We did not announce a “Northern Futures Board” on July 4th and there are no plans to create one. However, Liverpool is strongly encouraged to join the Northern Futures conversation by submitting ideas to the email address northernfutures@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
The aim of our Northern Futures initiative is to facilitate a new kind of conversation about how we rebalance our economy. There are no plans to create a “Northern Futures Board”, but Liverpool is strongly encouraged to join the Northern Futures conversation by submitting ideas via northernfutures@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
The Government is introducing online registration as of 10th June in England and Wales which will make it more convenient to register to vote.
In addition, five national organisations and every Electoral Registration Officer in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration, as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration. These organisations have received funding to find new ways of reaching a range of under registered groups such as young people and encouraging them to register to vote.
There were no members of the Senior Civil Service in the Attorney General’s Office, Serious Fraud Office, Crown Prosecution Service or Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate who had sickness absence due to mental health issues in the last 5 years.
In the last 5 years, less than 5 members of the Senior Civil Service in the Government Legal Department had sickness absence due to mental health issues.
The Law Officer’s Departments are committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions.
* Data has been drawn over the past full five financial years to provide an accurate historical response. To retrieve data from the creation of each department would represent a disproportionate cost.
** Data is based on the WHO absence reason of 'Mental Disorder' which according to the WHO website covers the following; Anxiety, Stress, Affective Psychoses, Alcoholism, Depressive Disorder, Emotional Upset, Mental Disorder, Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia, Work Related Stress.
Children and young people’s mental health is a priority area for this Government. The Attorney General’s Office, however, does not have responsibility for investigations into the compliance of clinical commissioning groups' resourcing.
The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to taking into account the mental health condition of an offender when considering bringing a prosecution. Each case is considered on its merits, taking into account all available information about any mental health issues, and their relevance to the offence, in accordance with the principles set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors (the Code).
The Code explains that there is a balance to be struck between the public interest in diverting a defendant with significant mental illness from the criminal justice system and other public interest factors in favour of prosecution, including the need to safeguard the public.
The Cabinet Office is not aware of the existence of an Operation Black Swan.
The Cabinet Office is not aware of the existence of an Operation Black Swan.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.
It is not possible to provide figures for the number of senior civil servants who have taken leave of absence from work in my Department due to mental illness in each month of each year since its creation. As part of the Transparency Agenda, my Department publishes quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these are available from the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .
The Cabinet Office is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service, where appropriate, for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.
It is not possible to provide figures for the number of senior civil servants who have taken leave of absence from work in my Department due to mental illness in each month of each year since its creation. As part of the Transparency Agenda, my Department publishes quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these are available from the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .
The Cabinet Office is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service, where appropriate, for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.
The Cabinet Office does not hold this information centrally. This information is held by individual departments.
Overall departmental absence data is also published by government departments on GOV.UK.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
There are a broad range of charitable trusts and foundations working in this area, including Action Against Addiction, Mind and the Lifeline Project. Institutional investors such as Big Society Capital and Bridges Ventures have a track record of investing in programmes focused upon tackling complex social problems of this type. We will be working closely with all of these stakeholders to ensure that the Life Chances Fund has a real impact in helping to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.
The Life Chances Fund is being designed and delivered by the Cabinet Office. More detailed guidance about how the fund will work will be published before the House rises for summer recess in 2016.
The Government has actively supported the growth of the social investment market over the last five years. This includes through the establishment of Big Society Capital which is investing up to £600m in growing the social investment market, and the Social Investment Tax Relief which is incentivising individual investors to make social investments. Other social investors investing in social impact bonds include charitable trusts and foundations as well as institutional investors and dedicated social impact funds.
The Life Chances Fund is an £80m outcomes fund that will focus upon supporting the creation of locally developed social impact bonds tackling a range of social problems. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced that up to £30m of the Life Chances Fund would be made available to support drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The detailed criteria for the fund, including timescales, is being developed but it will provide a portion of outcome payments for locally commissioned social impact bonds where some of the benefits and savings generated fall to central government.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The Cabinet Office continues to work with colleagues across government to monitor and assess the risk posed to the UK by the current Ebola epidemic. The advice from the Chief Medical Officer is that the public health risk in the UK remains low.
I refer the Hon Member to the statement made by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health on 13 October 2014.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
It is important that our workforce is equipped with the skills needed to adapt to changing technological advances, including green technologies. Our reforms to apprenticeships are one of the ways that we are supporting employers to develop the skills they need now and in the future.
New apprenticeship standards across all levels are being designed and driven by industry and there are now more than 500 different apprenticeship standards available, including plumbing and domestic heating technician, smart home technician and dual fuel smart meter installer: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/.
Prior to its launch in 2013, there was consideration by Government and stakeholders of whether the Green Deal could offer opportunities for apprenticeships, and £3 million was made available in funding for Green Deal advisors and installers.
The better regulation framework sets out the grounds on which the independent Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) can rate an impact assessment. The RPC has only published an assessment without a rating once (for the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill). Relating to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, the independent Regulatory Policy Committee noted that it appreciates the assessment the Government has provided and recognises that the analysis undertaken is the best possible in the time available.
The Regulatory Policy Committee’s (RPC) opinion on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill was published on 21 October 2019 and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-withdrawal-agreement-bill. Under the better regulation framework the RPC would be expected to review a revised impact assessment if there are changes to the legislative proposals that would significantly change the impacts on business.
We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to health. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the proposals, with researcher-led proposals welcomed into any aspect of human health, with the primary considerations being research excellence and importance to health.
Within UKRI, the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the primary, but not exclusive, funder of medical research. Over the last five years, MRC has provided the following health funding:
MRC Health Research (HRCS) | 2013/14 (£) | 2014/15 (£) | 2015/16 (£) | 2016/17 (£) | 2017/18 (£) |
All Health Categories | 617,605,780 | 625,128,039 | 723,428,975 | 599,790,930 | 585,079,573 |
Of which Mental Health | 30,240,645 | 31,222,399 | 30,585,328 | 28,557,922 | 39,879,007 |
Of which Neurological | 79,901,444 | 79,832,753 | 109,809,894 | 80,286,626 | 74,631,328 |
All Prevention Research | 26,587,238 | 24,479,417 | 22,348,094 | 24,157,949 | 30,297,781 |
Of which Mental Health | 815,707 | 587,725 | 453,152 | 391,856 | 415,533 |
Of which Neurological | 17,006 | 22,812 | 25,047 | 33,037 | 36,383 |
Please note this does not represent the MRC’s entire research spend as some investments, such as infrastructure and underpinning research are not included in the analysis.
Research relating to mental health is funded by all UKRI councils. As well as UKRI, other government bodies fund health research, such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The UK Clinical Research Collaboration undertakes UK Health Research Analysis. An analysis of data for 2018 is expected to the published in summer 2019. The most recent report (in 2014) included data from seven of UKRI’s nine councils as well as other government departments and charitable organisations. The report and data are available at https://hrcsonline.net/reports/analysis-reports/
Further related initiatives include:
On 5 December 2018, the government announced up to £79 million of Industrial Strategy funding for a new programme of research that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and big data to dramatically change the way major diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated. The funding, which forms part of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal 2, will support the establishment of a landmark cohort of up to five million people to take part in research aimed at revolutionising early detection and diagnosis of a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The programme will bring together the NHS, industry and leading charities including Alzheimer’s Research UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to health. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the proposals, with researcher-led proposals welcomed into any aspect of human health, with the primary considerations being research excellence and importance to health.
Within UKRI, the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the primary, but not exclusive, funder of medical research. Over the last five years, MRC has provided the following health funding:
MRC Health Research (HRCS) | 2013/14 (£) | 2014/15 (£) | 2015/16 (£) | 2016/17 (£) | 2017/18 (£) |
All Health Categories | 617,605,780 | 625,128,039 | 723,428,975 | 599,790,930 | 585,079,573 |
Of which Mental Health | 30,240,645 | 31,222,399 | 30,585,328 | 28,557,922 | 39,879,007 |
Of which Neurological | 79,901,444 | 79,832,753 | 109,809,894 | 80,286,626 | 74,631,328 |
All Prevention Research | 26,587,238 | 24,479,417 | 22,348,094 | 24,157,949 | 30,297,781 |
Of which Mental Health | 815,707 | 587,725 | 453,152 | 391,856 | 415,533 |
Of which Neurological | 17,006 | 22,812 | 25,047 | 33,037 | 36,383 |
Please note this does not represent the MRC’s entire research spend as some investments, such as infrastructure and underpinning research are not included in the analysis.
Research relating to mental health is funded by all UKRI councils. As well as UKRI, other government bodies fund health research, such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The UK Clinical Research Collaboration undertakes UK Health Research Analysis. An analysis of data for 2018 is expected to the published in summer 2019. The most recent report (in 2014) included data from seven of UKRI’s nine councils as well as other government departments and charitable organisations. The report and data are available at https://hrcsonline.net/reports/analysis-reports/
Further related initiatives include:
On 5 December 2018, the government announced up to £79 million of Industrial Strategy funding for a new programme of research that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and big data to dramatically change the way major diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated. The funding, which forms part of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal 2, will support the establishment of a landmark cohort of up to five million people to take part in research aimed at revolutionising early detection and diagnosis of a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The programme will bring together the NHS, industry and leading charities including Alzheimer’s Research UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to health. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the proposals, with researcher-led proposals welcomed into any aspect of human health, with the primary considerations being research excellence and importance to health.
Within UKRI, the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the primary, but not exclusive, funder of medical research. Over the last five years, MRC has provided the following health funding:
MRC Health Research (HRCS) | 2013/14 (£) | 2014/15 (£) | 2015/16 (£) | 2016/17 (£) | 2017/18 (£) |
All Health Categories | 617,605,780 | 625,128,039 | 723,428,975 | 599,790,930 | 585,079,573 |
Of which Mental Health | 30,240,645 | 31,222,399 | 30,585,328 | 28,557,922 | 39,879,007 |
Of which Neurological | 79,901,444 | 79,832,753 | 109,809,894 | 80,286,626 | 74,631,328 |
All Prevention Research | 26,587,238 | 24,479,417 | 22,348,094 | 24,157,949 | 30,297,781 |
Of which Mental Health | 815,707 | 587,725 | 453,152 | 391,856 | 415,533 |
Of which Neurological | 17,006 | 22,812 | 25,047 | 33,037 | 36,383 |
Please note this does not represent the MRC’s entire research spend as some investments, such as infrastructure and underpinning research are not included in the analysis.
Research relating to mental health is funded by all UKRI councils. As well as UKRI, other government bodies fund health research, such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The UK Clinical Research Collaboration undertakes UK Health Research Analysis. An analysis of data for 2018 is expected to the published in summer 2019. The most recent report (in 2014) included data from seven of UKRI’s nine councils as well as other government departments and charitable organisations. The report and data are available at https://hrcsonline.net/reports/analysis-reports/
Further related initiatives include:
On 5 December 2018, the government announced up to £79 million of Industrial Strategy funding for a new programme of research that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and big data to dramatically change the way major diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated. The funding, which forms part of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal 2, will support the establishment of a landmark cohort of up to five million people to take part in research aimed at revolutionising early detection and diagnosis of a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The programme will bring together the NHS, industry and leading charities including Alzheimer’s Research UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
The Government has set out the largest upgrade to workers rights in a generation. We are committed to supporting carers and to do so in a way that takes account of their own health and wellbeing, life chances and promotes access to employment and retention.
The Government is taking action to address the practical challenges of balancing work and caring responsibilities, as set out in the action plan that we published in June 2018. The Department is considering the question of dedicated employment rights for carers alongside existing employment rights (such as the right to request flexible working and the right to time off for family and dependants), and we are working with colleagues across Government to ensure that any emerging proposals are the most effective.
Government committed through the Life Sciences Sector Deal to working with the sector to reinforce the skills base across the UK and enable highly-skilled immigration, and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Education are working closely on this agenda. This also includes collaboration with industry bodies such as the Science Industry Partnership which brings members together to identify and address the skills challenges the sector faces.
The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science and innovation in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge. The UK economy gets a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity. The UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spend on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles. The UK draws in proportionally more internationally mobile investment in Research & Development than other large countries. For further information: http://oecd.org/sti/msti
The Government wants the UK to be the go-to place for researchers, innovators and investors across the world, and we intend to secure the right outcome for UK research and innovation as we exit the European Union.
The UK and the EU fully intend UK entities’ eligibility in Horizon 2020 to remain unchanged for the duration of the programme, as set out in the Joint Report[1] and reflected in the text of the draft Withdrawal Agreement[2]. This includes eligibility to participate in all Horizon 2020 projects and to receive Horizon 2020 funding for the lifetime of projects. Independently of these agreements, the Government’s underwrite guarantee of Horizon 2020 funding remains in place. Through the underwrite guarantee, the Government has committed to ensuring all successful UK Horizon 2020 bids submitted before exit are funded for the duration of the project, including those bids who are only informed of their success or sign agreements after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Our future partnership paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation[3] sets out the UK’s desire to conclude a far-reaching science and innovation pact’ with the EU. As the Prime Minister set out on Monday 21 May, we would like the option to fully associate ourselves with the excellence-based European science and innovation programmes including the successor to Horizon 2020.
In order to promote research in the UK, we are investing an additional £7 billion in R&D funding over five years to 2022. This is the biggest increase in public R&D funding for over 40 years and as part of the Industrial Strategy[4] the Government made clear our ambition to increase R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-withdrawal-agreement-19-march-2018
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-building-a-britain-fit-for-the-future
The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge.
The UK economy gets a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity. The UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spent on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 was administered by HEFCE, working with the HE funding councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The funding bodies consult widely on the arrangements for the REF and on their respective funding allocation processes.
Overall funding from HEFCE for “Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience" research increased by over 16% as result of REF2014 from 2015-16. This was the largest increase across all the life sciences. In addition HEFCE continued to consider funding allocations for these disciplines very carefully, including holding discussions with key parties in the research community. As a consequence of work with an expert panel to assess the balance of clinical and non-clinical work within these disciplines, the HEFCE Board agreed to increase the cost weighting with effect from 2017-18. Decisions on research funding allocations for 2018-19 onwards are now a matter for Research England.
Once allocations are made the funding is unhypothecated and it is the Higher Education Institutions themselves who will determine how it is spent.
Detailed guidance for the next REF exercise in 2021 is now in development. The outcomes of REF 2021 will inform the allocation of research funding from 2022-23. It will be important to ensure that this assessment information can inform an appropriate approach to funding research for these disciplines. The REF team has begun exploring this with representatives from the relevant subject communities and will develop, with the expert REF panels, appropriate proposals, which will be subject to consultation with the HE sector in summer 2018.
Every region in the UK has a role to play in boosting the national economy, driven by local leadership and ambitious visions for the future.
As stated in the Industrial Strategy: Life Sciences Sector Deal regional representatives from the Northern Health Science Alliance, MedCity, Life Sciences Hub Wales, NHS Research Scotland, Northern Ireland life sciences cluster and the GW4 Alliance have come together to welcome the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.
As highlighted in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, the sector’s commercial activity is very broadly spread across the whole of the UK and there are a number of strong and emerging life sciences clusters that are well placed to attract investment. The Sector Deal highlighted successes around the UK in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow, South Wales and the South East.
As articulated within the Life Sciences Sector Deal published in December 2017, we have committed to working regionally with the established clusters of life science organisations including the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA), and my officials are working with them to progress this.
The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge.
We get a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity - and the UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spent on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles.
The UK has the largest independent multi-year rolling programme for evaluating the quality and impact of our investment in science through the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The 2014 REF, which reported in 2015, found that the quality of research from UK universities has improved significantly since 2008, consistent with other independent evidence. Just over three quarters of submissions were either ‘World Class’ or ‘Internationally Excellent’. Preparations for the next REF due in 2021 have already started.
The number of Acas fulltime equivalent staff and payments to them for 2015/16 and 2016/17 are set out in the table below:
Year | No of staff FTE (average) | Amount |
2015/16 | 783 | £45,050,000 |
2016/17 (to end February) | 759 | £39,350,000 |
In each of the months since the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in July, the number of senior civil servants on leave of absence from work due to mental illness is being withheld as the number is less than five in each month.
The Government recognises the importance of our research base, which is why we have protected the science budget in real terms from its current level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament.
The referendum result has no immediate effect on the right of researchers to apply to or participate in EU research programmes. While the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU arrangements continue unchanged. UK participants, including those researching mental health issues, can continue to apply to programmes in the usual way. The future of UK access to these programmes will be determined as part of a wider discussion with the EU.
Information is not held for individual constituencies or boroughs. Figures are recorded for Merseyside and are from the 2007-13 programming period where projects could spend money up to the end of 2015, with some reimbursements taking place in 2016.
The figures for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are:
Year | £m Merseyside |
2009 | £77.30 |
2010 | £25.00 |
2011 | £28.80 |
2012 | £27.00 |
2013 | £29.70 |
2014 | £21.60 |
2015 | £33.50 |
2016 | £20.75 |
Total | £263.65 |
For the European Social Fund (ESF) figures as follows:
Year | £m Merseyside |
2010 | £44.04 |
2011 | £20.58 |
2012 | £11.61 |
2013 | £8.75 |
2014 | £7.70 |
2015 | £9.93 |
2016 | £0.29 |
Total | £102.90 |
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 was administered by HEFCE, working with the HE funding councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The funding bodies consult widely on the arrangements for the REF and on their respective funding allocation processes.
Overall funding from HEFCE for “Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience" research increased by over 16% as result of REF2014 from 2015-16. This was the largest increase across all the life sciences. In addition HEFCE continued to consider funding allocations for these disciplines very carefully, including holding discussions with key parties in the research community. As a consequence of work with an expert panel to assess the balance of clinical and non-clinical work within these disciplines, the HEFCE Board agreed to increase the cost weighting with effect from 2017-18. Decisions on research funding allocations for 2018-19 onwards are now a matter for Research England.
Once allocations are made the funding is unhypothecated and it is the Higher Education Institutions themselves who will determine how it is spent.
Detailed guidance for the next REF exercise in 2021 is now in development. The outcomes of REF 2021 will inform the allocation of research funding from 2022-23. It will be important to ensure that this assessment information can inform an appropriate approach to funding research for these disciplines. The REF team has begun exploring this with representatives from the relevant subject communities and will develop, with the expert REF panels, appropriate proposals, which will be subject to consultation with the HE sector in summer 2018.
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
A joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper will be published shortly, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures to tackle online harms, including clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep their users safe online.
Broadcast and non-broadcast advertising are governed by a system of co-regulation and self-regulation respectively, overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The Advertising Standards Authority does not impose fines, but it can refer those advertising or promoting products to other bodies for the further action, such as Trading Standards.
As part of the Childhood Obesity Plan, the Government is investing millions in the National Institute for Health Research Obesity Policy Research Unit to look at evidence on how all forms of marketing (including broadcast and online) affect children’s food preferences and consumption to help inform further thinking on this. The OPRU will begin publishing their findings later this year.
We also recently announced the Digital Charter, which aims to make the UK the safest place to be online. As you will have seen from the recently published Internet Safety Strategy, as part of the Digital Charter’s work programme, Government will work with regulators, platforms and advertising companies to ensure that the principles that govern advertising in traditional media – such as preventing companies targeting unsuitable advertisements at children – also apply and are enforced online.
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Applications to the £80m Life Chances Fund go through a two-stage process. In the first phase, applicants submit an expression of interest. If successful, applicants are then invited to develop a full application for funding. Final decisions on the allocation of the outcomes fund will be taken between July 2017 and July 2018 as applications are received and assessed.
There is a substantial commitment by national government for superfast broadband rollout and £5.46 million of central government funding has been allocated to the Merseyside Connected project. This has led to 39,216 additional homes and businesses now being able to access superfast broadband as a result of the local project, with the aim to have 42,204 additional premises by the end of the project. This will bring superfast coverage in Merseyside to 99% of premises.
The Department does not hold data specifically for businesses. The table below shows estimates of the number of premises (both residential and business) without access to superfast broadband in all of the Merseyside and Liverpool City Region constituencies.
Constituency
Number of Premises
Premises Without Access To Superfast Broadband
Birkenhead
44,111
458
Bootle
47,396
304
Garston and Halewood
45,355
836
Halton
44,739
1,098
Knowsley
48,681
596
Liverpool, Riverside
54,717
9,022
Liverpool, Walton
43,483
157
Liverpool, Wavertree
41,345
215
Liverpool, West Derby
40,579
0
Sefton Central
37,979
792
Southport
43,576
1,209
St Helens North
45,188
1503
St Helens South and Whiston
49,194
2,410
Wallasey
42,239
562
Wirral South
33,425
760
Wirral West
32,212
816
Improving mobile coverage remains a priority for the Government, and our landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) for each to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017 will significantly improve coverage in the UK, including the Liverpool City Region. The additional licence obligation on Telefonica, which the other MNOs have publicly stated they will match, will deliver significant improvements in 4G coverage - covering 98% of UK premises by the end of 2017.
In support of this work, the Government is also reforming mobile planning laws (in England only) and the Electronic Communications Code to make it cheaper and quicker for industry to invest and deliver coverage improvements.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 are clear that organisations may only send marketing emails to individuals if the individual has agreed to receive them, or where there is a clearly defined customer relationship and the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing the use of their contact details for the purposes of such marketing.
The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds the rules and regulations governing unsolicited emails, and offers advice to consumers on reporting abuses. The Gambling Commission has been working with the Information Commissioner’s Office to raise awareness of the rules across the gambling industry.
The Government will be providing over £12 million of public funding via the Arts Council to support arts organisations in Liverpool in 2015/16. The Arts Council has also supported major capital projects in Liverpool including over £16 million towards the redevelopment of the Everyman Theatre and over £7 million towards the refurbishment of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Venues in Liverpool such as Constellations, Lomax and the Zanzibar Club demonstrate the impact of Government's approach to entertainment licensing, planning guidance and business rates relief, all aimed at supporting and promoting music across the UK.
The Government supports the UNESCO Creative City Network, including Liverpool as a designated City of Music through its membership of UNESCO. The UK National Commission for UNESCO will be holding a workshop with Liverpool and the UK’s other Creative Cities to consider new opportunities and practical ways of working together to enhance the benefits that UNESCO accreditation brings, both nationally and internationally.
Information relating to the number of requests under section 42 of the Data Protection Act that have been made in respect of (a) Google Commerce Limited, (b) Google Inc, (c) Google Payment Limited and (d) Google UK Limited is outlined below:
Year | Google Inc | Google UK Ltd | Google Payment Limited |
2012/2013 | 4 | 16 | 0 |
2013/2014 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
2014/2015 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2015/2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), any person who is, or believes that he is, directly affected by the processing of personal data, can ask the Information Commissioner to consider whether the processing is likely to comply with the law. On receiving such a request, the Commissioner is obliged to consider the concern and make an assessment. Any such request, and cases taken forward are dealt with by the ICO's customer contact and performance improvement business areas. The ICO does not cost up S42 assessments separately from other data protection casework, but the total staffing costs for these two business areas for the last five financial years are set out below:
2015/16 (April-Nov) | £2,883,256.14 |
2014/15 | £3,879,782.83 |
2013/14 | £3,969,104.17 |
2012/13 | £3,581,161.82 |
2011/12 | £3,389,336.87 |
Numbers of assessments received and concluded for each of the past 5 years are set out below:
Financial years | |||||
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | |
Number of assessments received under s42 DPA | 13034 | 12980 | 13760 | 14738 | 14268 |
Number of assessments completed under s42 DPA | 14276 | 12725 | 14280 | 15492 | 15052 |
The recorded outcomes of those assessments are set out below:
Financial years | |||||
Outcome of s42 assessment | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
Not progressed | 14% | 11% | 13% | 14% | |
Compliance likely | 22% | 21% | 22% | 19% | |
Compliance unlikely | 33% | 31% | 35% | 34% | |
Ineligible/Made too early | 27% | 36% | 30% | 33% | |
Reopened - pending final outcome | 4% | 1% | |||
No Action for Data Controller | 35% | ||||
Data Controller Action required | 22% | ||||
Concern to be raised with Data Controller | 17% | ||||
compliance advice given to Data Controller | 10% | ||||
Response needed from Data Controller | 7% | ||||
Complaint not applicable under DPA | 4% | ||||
General advice given to Data Controller | 4% | ||||
Data Controller outside UK | 1% | ||||
Improvement action plan agreed with Data Controller | 1% |
Search engines are data controllers if they process information about living, identifiable people, for example within a search result based on a person’s name.Data controllersmust comply with the data protection principles, for example by explaining to customers how their information is collected and used. Although the main search engines are international operations, if they have an establishment in the UK, then their activities will be subject to UK data protection law.
The ICO ensures thatdata controllerscomply with the lawfor example by investigating complaints and carrying out enforcement or liaison work. The ICO will continue to engage with the search engines to ensure that the right balance is struck between online access to information and individuals’ privacy rights.
[Three licensing objectives in the Gambling Act 2005 underpin the regulation of Gambling in Great Britain. The first licensing objective is "preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime". Consequently] all operators licensed by the Gambling Commission are required - as a condition of their operating licence - to put in place effective systems to identify and prevent criminal spend.
The Gambling Commission has dealt with a number of cases of potential money laundering, mainly involving criminal "lifestyle" spend, connected to Category B2 ('FOBT') gaming machines. It has also dealt with some cases involving other forms of gambling including remote betting, non-remote casino and “ticket in ticket out” (TITO) facilities in connection with gaming machines.
The Gambling Commission and the Government are continuing to work across the gambling industry to further strengthen processes and procedures to identify and prevent money laundering.
Companies in receipt of British Film Institute (BFI) Lottery Film Funding are subject to employment law.
DCMS and the Department for Health held a joint Ministerial round table earlier this year to discuss the ways in which the arts can impact on health and wellbeing. We have published two reports on the social and wellbeing impacts of culture which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-the-social-impacts-of-sport-and-culture and www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-and-valuing-the-wellbeing-impacts-of-culture-and-sport
The Government is funding a What Works Centre on Wellbeing, working with Public Health England to develop further evidence on the impact of culture on wellbeing so that this can be communicated directly to local level practitioners.
The UK is home to world class studios and production facilities such as Pinewood, Warner Brothers Leavesden and Elstree, as well as award-winning visual effects houses such as Framestore and Milk who are supporting British films and television dramas such as ‘Paddington’ and ‘24’. The Government has recently made changes to its Film Tax Relief (FTR) to provide further support to the film industry and attract inward investment productions to the UK. In 2013-14 alone, the Government paid £220 million in film tax reliefs which supported 327 films made in the UK.
The Government is also investing up to £16m for skills and innovation in the creative content sectors to meet the demand from production attracted by the new tax reliefs and to maintain its reputation for producing world-class crew and award-winning talent.
This data is not included in our Creative Industries Economic Estimates. However, a census carried out by the relevant sector skills council, Creative Skillset, in 2012 reported that 14% of the games workforce were women. This was an increase from 6% in their 2009 census. Creative Skillset will be re-evaluating the proportion of video games sector employees who are women in their next survey, which is due in 2015.
To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.
The information requested is not held centrally.
The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom and flexibility to use specific examples from history to teach pupils about the history of Britain and the wider world. Schools and teachers themselves can determine which examples and topics to use to stimulate and challenge pupils and reflect key points in history.
Additionally, there is scope within the citizenship curriculum to highlight relevant key historical events. A high-quality citizenship education helps to provide pupils with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society. The Department expects schools to go beyond the core knowledge set out in the shorter programmes of study to deliver other aspects of citizenship. Schools themselves are best placed to determine the most effective way of including these challenges within the school curriculum.
This government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services. The NHS Long Term Plan includes a commitment for a further 24,000 women to be able to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24, building on the additional 30,000 women who will access these services each year by 2020/21 under pre-existing plans. Specialist care will also be available from preconception to 24 months after birth, which will provide an extra year of support. We do not however routinely collect information on the extent to which services are provided through children’s centres.
In January 2019, the Department launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. This includes commitments to radically simplify the accountability system, limit the amount of change that schools have to deliver and provide extra support to tackle challenging pupil behaviour. It is also introducing an Early Career Framework for teachers, which includes mentor support, so that newly qualified teachers receive the support they need. The strategy can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-strategy.
The strategy sets out the areas where Government can make the most difference most quickly. It also marks the beginning of a conversation with head teachers about how the Department can support them to set a culture in their school that reduces unnecessary planning, marking and data requirements, supports teachers to deal with disruptive behaviour, and establishes a culture that values continued professional development and flexible working at all career stages.
The Department continues to work with unions, teachers and Ofsted to challenge and remove unnecessary workload. A joint letter from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State and other key national organisations was sent to school leaders in November confirming their support to help reduce workload in schools. The Department has accepted all the recommendations of the Making Data Work report and published a workload reduction toolkit as part of an ongoing programme to tackle excessive workload in schools. The report and Government response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-workload-advisory-group-report-and-government-response.
The evidence from the Department’s supporting mental health in schools and colleges survey gave the first nationally representative indication of the range of activities schools and college were taking on mental health. It did not go into detail on the level of observation or supervision of those activities. The qualitative work linked to the survey reinforced that schools felt the need for more support regarding what safe and effective actions they can take. The work also showed a demand for better links to specialist mental health services.
The Government recognises the importance of schools and colleges having access to specialist expertise to help assess the safety and effectiveness of what they do to support mental health and wellbeing of their pupils. That is why we are introducing new mental health support teams, which will provide schools with better access to such expertise. The interventions provided by the new teams will be clinically supervised.
It will also be important to assess how mental health support teams themselves work in practice. That is why the Government starting implementation with a trailblazer scheme which will allow the evaluation of practice as it develops.
The consultation on the draft guidance and regulations for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education closes on 7 November 2018. The draft statutory guidance sets out the core content that primary and secondary schools should teach.
The Department is also seeking views through the consultation on what support schools will need to deliver these subjects. In addition, the Department is working with stakeholders, including unions and expert organisations to help determine the appropriate school support.
The consultation can be found via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/. Once the consultation period is complete, the Department expect to lay regulations in spring 2019.
Schools can make a real difference to the mental wellbeing of their pupils, which is why it is already a priority for many schools. Tools already exist that schools can use to measure pupil wellbeing, but they often find it difficult to determine the appropriate resource. The Department is developing a guide which schools can use as a framework to discuss their pupils’ wellbeing. This will also support teachers and the new designated mental health leads to take steps to boost good mental health in their school.
The consultation on the draft guidance and regulations for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education closes on 7 November 2018. The draft statutory guidance sets out the core content that primary and secondary schools should teach.
The Department is also seeking views through the consultation on what support schools will need to deliver these subjects. In addition, the Department is working with stakeholders, including unions and expert organisations to help determine the appropriate school support.
The consultation can be found via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/. Once the consultation period is complete, the Department expect to lay regulations in spring 2019.
The consultation on the draft guidance and regulations for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education closes on 7 November 2018. The draft statutory guidance sets out the core content that primary and secondary schools should teach.
The Department is also seeking views through the consultation on what support schools will need to deliver these subjects. In addition, the Department is working with stakeholders, including unions and expert organisations to help determine the appropriate school support.
The consultation can be found via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/. Once the consultation period is complete, the Department expect to lay regulations in spring 2019.
The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals is published at the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018.
For 2018, the number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals by local authority can be found in Tables 8a to 8e, in the Schools pupils and their characteristics 2018 - LA tables of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2018’ statistical release.
Information for earlier years (from 2008 onwards) can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Figures on looked after children who died in each year can be found in Table D1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017 but the cause of each death is not collected.
The number of reviews of child deaths with a category of ‘suicide or deliberate self-inflicted harm’ for the year ending 31 March 2017 is given in Table 4 of the statistical release ‘Child death reviews: year ending 31 March 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-death-reviews-year-ending-31-march-2017 but this is not limited to looked after children.
We recognise that this is a very serious issue, and we are piloting new approaches to the assessment of mental health needs that looked-after children receive on entry to care – ensuring that their individual needs are understood and at the centre of the process. Up to 10 sites across the country will benefit from a share of £650,000 to deliver this scheme. The expression of interest for pilots went live 24 September and the deadline for applications is set for noon 19 October. We welcome the appointment of Jackie Doyle Price as suicide prevention minister.
Work on supporting students in making the transition into university and on exploring disclosure agreements has continued to progress in the period since formal announcement of these policy areas was made in June.
Stakeholders from across the sector have been involved in this work and will continue to be called on to contribute in the specific areas where their expertise can add most value.
We shall also be working with parents and carers, and legal and health experts as well as sector partners in the specific area of developing advice on disclosure and consent, as highlighted in the suicide prevention guidance published on 5 September by Universities UK.
Work on supporting students in making the transition into university and on exploring disclosure agreements has continued to progress in the period since formal announcement of these policy areas was made in June.
Stakeholders from across the sector have been involved in this work and will continue to be called on to contribute in the specific areas where their expertise can add most value.
We shall also be working with parents and carers, and legal and health experts as well as sector partners in the specific area of developing advice on disclosure and consent, as highlighted in the suicide prevention guidance published on 5 September by Universities UK.
The University Mental Health Charter announced on 28 June 2018 will encourage universities to demonstrate a level of excellence in supporting students’ mental health. This will be an important feature of an institution’s offer to prospective students and their families.
The Charter is being driven by Student Minds and will start to go live in 2019/20. Development, led by the sector, will begin this year and will include consultation with institutional leaders and staff from across their organisations, mental health practitioners (including occupational therapists), students’ unions and students.
Referral pathways for occupational therapy are agreed by local commissioners, based on local need, reflecting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines and other relevant commissioning guidance.
Through the Children and Families Act 2014, the Department for Education requires local authorities and their partner commissioning bodies to make arrangements to work together to meet the education, health and care needs of children and young people (0-25 years old) who have special educational needs and disabilities, who may be in need of occupational therapy. The Department for Education, and Department for Health and Social Care are working with NHS England, local authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups and other partners to support local bodies to work together to jointly commission services to meet individual needs of children and young people.
Sixth form colleges have duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to co-operate with local authorities in the provision of services and use their best endeavours to support young people where additional needs have been identified.
As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for Higher Education Institutions to determine what therapy services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
In addition, we are in the process of introducing a University Mental Health Charter, backed by the government and led by the sector. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing.
All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn.
The Teachers’ Standards 2012 state that teachers, as part of their professional duties, should safeguard children’s wellbeing.
Statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), sets out that governing bodies and proprietors should ensure policies/procedures are in place for appropriate action to be taken to safeguard and promote children’s welfare. This includes a staff behaviour policy (code of conduct). When drafting staff behaviour policies, consideration should be given to Section 16 of The Sexual Offences Act 2003, whereby it is an offence for a person aged 18 or over to have a sexual relationship with a child under 18 where that person is in a position of trust to the child.
All staff should undergo safeguarding/child protection training at induction and know of the systems in their school or college that support safeguarding. This training should be regularly updated.
Part 4 of KCSIE provides detailed advice on managing allegations of abuse made against teachers and other staff. Where a person is dismissed or the employer ceases to use the person’s service, or the person resigns, schools and colleges have a legal duty to refer to the Disclosure and Barring Service anyone who has harmed, or poses a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult, for consideration of whether to bar the person from working with children. In cases involving teaching staff, schools also have a duty to consider a referral the Teaching Regulation Agency to consider prohibiting the individual from teaching.
The information requested is not held centrally. The ‘number of sickness absence days taken per teacher’ in state funded schools in England was 4.1 in academic year 2015/16, continuing a fall from 4.3 and 4.2 over the previous two years. This information is available in table 16 within the statistical first release ‘School Workforce Census in England, November 2016’ available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.
2016/17 information will be published in June.
The table below shows what proportion of the department’s staff that have had days lost due to mental illness or stress.
1 January – 31 December | Working days lost due to mental illness/stress | Number of staff absent | Percentage of all staff employed in period |
2015 | 4471 | 175 | 4% |
2016 | 4916 | 159 | 3% |
2017 | 5617 | 235 | 4% |
There is no supply model to determine the number of early years teachers required and there is not a target set for recruitment of such teachers.
We continue to make early years initial teacher training places available based on demand as evidence shows that the quality of early years provision is higher when led by specially trained graduates.
Experimental statistics on new entrants to early years initial teacher training for the academic year 2017/18 are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018.
This information is in the public domain as the Department publishes statistics on attainment in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) for children at the end of reception year.
The percentage of children achieving at least the expected level across all the learning goals in the Literacy area of learning, for years 2013 to 2017, is published within table 2b of the ‘Early years foundation stage profile results: 2016 to 2017’ statistical first release.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.
Early Years Teacher Status was introduced in 2013. Therefore, we do not hold information dating back to 2010.
The Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England (2013) did not collect data on Early Years Teachers, but did record the overall number of practitioners qualified to level 6 (degree level) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355075/SFR33_2014_Main_report.pdf.
The next wave of the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England conducted in 2016 included a new question to collect information on those holding Early Years Teacher Status (Figure 4.6) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.
We are considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce, including in disadvantaged areas and their feasibility. This work is still underway.
The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.
Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.
The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.
The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.
Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.
The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.
The Department has conducted a thorough and wide-ranging engagement process, including a call for evidence that closed on 12 February, on the scope and content of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, and on the future status of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.
The Department is currently considering the responses to the call for evidence and representations through the engagement process.
The Department will announce its plans in due course.
As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for higher education institutions (HEIs) to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
Government does not hold information on the number of students accessing university counselling and wellbeing services.
An independent research report in this area was published on 4 September 2017 by the Institute for Public Policy Research, ‘Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities’ (https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees).
This report states that: “Our survey reveals that HEIs have – over the past five years – experienced significant increases in demand for (overall) student services… 94 per cent report an increase in demand for counselling services, while 61 per cent report an increase of over 25 per cent”.
The department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on mental health in higher education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on 4 September 2017, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper published on 4 December 2017 outlines government’s plans to set up a new national strategic partnership focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds. This partnership will support and build on the work of UUK and consider the Green Paper’s proposed initiatives to improve the mental wellbeing of students in higher education.
The attached table provides the number of educational psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2010 to November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.
The figures may also undercount the actual number of EPs in England and do not provide a comparable national year-on-year series because it is based on a varying percentage of local authorities returns in each year (between 91 and 95 per cent).
Figures for educational psychologists in service in all local authorities in 2017 are not available until Summer 2018.
The attached table provides the number of Educational Psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.
Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in society, allowing them to enjoy continuity in their care arrangements, and adopt a more gradual transition to adulthood and independence. It is therefore right that foster carers receive the support that they need, including financial support, to help them meet the needs of those that they care for. In Staying Put arrangements, the amount paid to foster carers is determined locally, by the carer’s local authority or fostering agency.
The department does not hold information on the number of schools that have banned students from consuming energy drinks on school premises.
The new standards for school food came into force on 1 January 2015. The School Food Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided. They apply to all food and drink provided to pupils on and off school premises and during an extended school day (up to 6pm), including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending and after school clubs.
The only drinks permitted are: Plain water (still or carbonated); lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk; fruit or vegetable juice (max 150mls); plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; plain fermented milk (e.g. yoghurt) drinks; combinations of fruit juice and lower fat milk or plain yoghurt, plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; cocoa and lower fat milk; flavoured lower fat milk, all with less than 5% added sugars or honey; tea, coffee, hot chocolate
Combination drinks are limited to a portion size of 330mls. They may contain added vitamins or minerals, and no more than 150mls of fruit or vegetable juice. Fruit or vegetable juice combination drinks must be at least 45% fruit or vegetable juice.
The department does not hold information on the number of schools that have banned students from consuming energy drinks on school premises.
The new standards for school food came into force on 1 January 2015. The School Food Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided. They apply to all food and drink provided to pupils on and off school premises and during an extended school day (up to 6pm), including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending and after school clubs.
The only drinks permitted are: Plain water (still or carbonated); lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk; fruit or vegetable juice (max 150mls); plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; plain fermented milk (e.g. yoghurt) drinks; combinations of fruit juice and lower fat milk or plain yoghurt, plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; cocoa and lower fat milk; flavoured lower fat milk, all with less than 5% added sugars or honey; tea, coffee, hot chocolate
Combination drinks are limited to a portion size of 330mls. They may contain added vitamins or minerals, and no more than 150mls of fruit or vegetable juice. Fruit or vegetable juice combination drinks must be at least 45% fruit or vegetable juice.
The full-time equivalent (FTE) number of contracted staff whose role is defined as that of ‘pastoral support’ or of ‘learning mentor’, employed by state funded primary and state funded secondary schools in England, November 2010 to 2016 is provided in the table attached.
Information for ‘educational psychologists’ is not available by phase. These figures may also undercount the actual number of educational psychologists in England and do not provide a comparable national year-on-year series because it is based on a varying percentage of local councils returns in each year (between 68 and 74 per cent).
Data is not available for ‘counsellors’.
The department committed to undertaking a survey of education provided in Inpatient Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services following a recommendation from the Health Select Committee in 2014. The survey was conducted this year and we expect to publish the findings shortly.
Mental Health is a priority for this government. This is why the Department for Health, together with the Department for Education, have published a joint green paper on Children and Young People which sets out plans to transform specialist services and support in education settings and for families.
In higher education, there is already much work underway to improve the quality of mental health services for students, alongside services provided by the NHS, including through the NHS programme 'Improving Access to Psychological Therapies'. The recently published green paper sets out plans for a new national strategic partnership with key stakeholders focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds by encouraging more coordinated action, experimentation and robust evaluation.
As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for Higher Education Institutions to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.
In addition, the department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on Mental Health in Higher Education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on September 4, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach. UUK has also worked in partnership with the Institute for Public Policy Research to strengthen the evidence-base on mental health in higher education. Their independent report, Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities, was published on 4 September 2017: https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees.
The department collects data that allows people undertaking apprenticeships to declare a mental health problem through the Individualised Learner Record.
We will be conducting a survey in early 2018 with 15,000 people currently undertaking further education or an apprenticeship, which will ask whether they have a physical or mental health condition.
The department publishes data on the number of apprentices who complete and achieve their apprenticeships by self-declared learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem. This can be found in the apprenticeships demographic tool in the apprenticeships FE data library:
The head count of educational psychologists reported as employed by all local authorities in England in November 2016 is 1,600. This figure will undercount the actual number of educational psychologists because only 64 per cent of local authorities provided data in the latest year. Information is not yet available for 2017.
The information requested is not collected centrally.
It is up to pupil referral units (PRUs) to decide what staff and support arrangements to be put in place. Some PRUs put in place joint working arrangements with local mental health services. To support all types of schools and colleges to build links with local mental health services, we recently announced that we will be extending our pilot of joint training for single points of contact in education and mental health services to up to 1,200 schools in 20 areas. The initial pilot ran last year and the evaluation will be published later this year. Initial results showed that the training had a positive effect on joint working to secure access to mental health support.
For each month of each year from May 2010 to December 2016, there have been fewer than five senior civil servants in the Department on leave of absence from work due to mental illness.
In 2015, there were 409,300 full-time equivalent support staff employed in state funded schools in England. Of these, 1,900 full-time equivalent support staff were employed as Behaviour Managers. In addition, there were 90 full-time equivalent teachers in England whose main additional role was that of a Behaviour Manager.
Time series statistics for Liverpool local authority and England are available in the following table. Statistics for Liverpool, Wavertree constituency are not available.
Full-time equivalent behaviour managers in service in state funded schools in Liverpool local authority and England, November 2010 to 2015. | ||||
| Liverpool LA | England | ||
| Support Staff | Teachers[1] | Support Staff | Teachers |
2010[2] | .. | .. | .. | .. |
2011 | 10 | 0 | 1,500 | 90 |
2012 | 10 | 0 | 1,650 | 80 |
2013 | 10 | 0 | 1,720 | 90 |
2014 | 10 | - | 1,860 | 90 |
2015 | 10 | - | 1,900 | 90 |
[1] ‘-‘ less than 5 teachers. | ||||
[2] November 2010 figures are not available on a comparable basis. | ||||
Source: School Workforce Census | ||||
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. |
Good mental health and resilience are a priority for the Department. We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential, both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing.
Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health of children and young people. It is for schools to decide what training their staff need, reflecting their individual circumstances. We trust head teachers to put in place the right training, drawing on what is available. Sources of mental health training include e-learning modules on a wide range of mental health issues, via MindEd, a free online portal funded by Government aimed at everyone who works with children and young people.
We are currently conducting a large scale survey asking schools what activities and support they have put in place, as well as what they find are the most effective. The results will be published next Spring.
However, we realise that teachers are not mental health specialists and need to know how to help pupils access specialist support. We have contributed to a £3m joint pilot of joint training between single points of contact in schools and children and young people’s mental health services to improve local knowledge amongst school staff and develop effective referrals to allow pupils to access timely specialist support.
To improve the quality of initial teacher training (ITT), in July 2016, the Government published a new framework of core content for ITT, developed by an expert group chaired by Stephen Munday CBE. The new framework of content will help to ensure that all trainee teachers are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level.
We want to provide all young people with a curriculum that prepares them to succeed in modern Britain. The majority of schools and teachers already recognise the importance of good PSHE education and know that healthy, resilient and confident pupils are better-placed to achieve academically and be stretched further.
Schools and teachers have the freedom to decide what to cover as part of their PSHE lessons, based on the needs and views of their pupils. Schools are encouraged to teach pupils about mental health and emotional wellbeing as part of a developmental PSHE education curriculum.
To support schools in developing their PSHE curriculum, we have funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans to teach about mental health, including self-harm. The guidance is available at: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/curriculum-and-resources?ResourceTypeID=3.
We recognise that we need to look again at how schools deliver high quality PSHE and we are considering all options.
The Department does not hold information on absence due to a mental health condition.
We want to provide all young people with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life. High quality personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education teaching has a vital role to play in this, helping young people understand the world around them, building resilience, and helping them to make good choices and stay safe. We have made it clear in the introduction to the national curriculum that all schools should make provision for PSHE education, drawing on examples of good practice.
In its report on PSHE education in schools in 2012, Ofsted found that overall, learning in PSHE education was good or better in 60% of schools and required improvement or was inadequate in 40%. The report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/not-yet-good-enough-personal-social-health-and-economic-education
We will continue to keep the status of PSHE under close review and work with schools and head teachers to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationships education.
The Department contributed a written submission to the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools in 2016. This is published on the Parliament website.[1] The Committee published the report of its inquiry on 13 September, and the Government will make a formal response to the usual timetable.
The Department does not collect information on the number of cases of sexual harassment or sexual violence either by pupils or by teachers – and it has not produced any estimates.
The closest information held on levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence by pupils is the number of permanent and fixed period exclusions for sexual misconduct, which includes lewd behaviour, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual bullying, sexual graffiti and sexual harassment.
Exclusions information, broken down by reason for exclusion, is published annually by the Department in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release.[2]
The 2015 National Foundation for Educational Research’s teacher voice survey is a nationally representative survey commissioned by the Department. Teachers were asked questions on a range of topics, including common forms of bullying. Sexual bullying was not included as a category, however, a minority reported that homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic bullying was common at their school. The report and data have been published by the Department.[3]
The closest information held on sexual harassment and sexual violence by teachers relates to the number of cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct reported to the Department. However, cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct cover a broad range of incidents and it is not recorded whether these relate to incidents that took place on school sites.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-voice-omnibus-june-2015-responses
Colleges own this information. They are required to publish the information on their own website and the Skills Funding Agency publish a collated picture on GOV.UK. All the information requested for this question is already in the public domain: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-financial-management-college-accounts
Schools have the autonomy to decide on the provision of mental health support. We have recently commissioned an extensive survey which will provide nationally representative estimates of what provision schools and colleges offer for mental health and character education. The fieldwork will begin in the summer term.
We have also contributed to a £3m joint pilot with NHS England for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed.
The Department has contracted with the Autism Education Trust since 2011 to deliver autism training to education professionals. The Trust has now trained more than 90,000 education professionals. The Department is also funding work by the National Autistic Society to provide information and advice to parents and professionals on exclusions, and work to integrate into the Autism Education Trust training the learning from a previous project by Ambitious about Autism on strategies for supporting transition from school to college for students with autism.
We have also supported Nasen’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Gateway (www.sendgateway.org.uk). This offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for meeting the needs of children with SEND, including those with autism. In 2015-16, the Department also funded Nasen to develop a free universal offer of SEN Continuous Professional Development for teachers.
The National College for Teaching and Leadership has produced a series of specialist online courses, one of which focuses on autism. The training materials are designed to support teachers in mainstream schools who want to improve their skills in teaching pupils with SEND. The training materials can be found at: www.education.gov.uk/lamb.
In order to be awarded qualified teacher status, trainees must satisfy the Teachers’ Standards, which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.
Following Sir Andrew Carter’s independent review of the quality and effectiveness of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses, the Secretary of State appointed an independent working group made up of expert representatives from the sector to develop a framework of core ITT content. This includes considering Sir Andrew’s recommendations around the SEND content of the proposed framework. The working group is due to report to the Department soon. We will consider their recommendations carefully and determine how they should be taken forward.
In January 2015, there were 35,030 children in mainstream primary schools and 30,845 children in mainstream secondary schools who were identified as having autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need[1].
Under the SEND Code of Practice all maintained schools are required to identify the special educational needs of pupils, including those with autism. Where any pupil makes less progress than expected, schools should assess the pupil’s needs, put in place suitable support to meet those needs and review it regularly to ensure it continues to be appropriate. If, despite additional support provided by the school, a pupil continues to make less progress than expected, the school (or the parents) can ask the local authority to carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment of the pupil’s needs. If the local authority decides to issue an EHC plan, it will specify the provision needed to support the pupil’s needs and what additional resources will be funded by the local authority.
The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced significant reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system which will better support children and young people with autism in the education system. This includes the publication of ‘local offers’ of SEND services by local authorities, the introduction of streamlined EHC plans, and new statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education.
The Act also makes provision to ensure that parents, children and young people are able to access impartial information, advice and support about the SEND system. This is available through a local, dedicated and easily identifiable service which includes help to prepare them for meetings with schools, health professionals or other agencies that may be supporting them in their education.
Under the Department’s Free Schools programme, there are now nineteen special free schools open across the country, including several that are specifically for children with Autism, such as the Rise free school in Hounslow, the Lighthouse free school in Leeds and the National Autistic Society’s Church Lawton free school in Cheshire. There are a further eleven special free schools due to open in the future, five of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Heartlands Autism free school in Haringey and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard free school in Lambeth. The other six will offer some places for children with autism.
[1] National Statistics: Special Educational Needs in England 2015, Table 8, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015).
This is a matter for schools to decide. We have recently commissioned an extensive survey which will provide nationally representative estimates of what provision schools and colleges offer for mental health and character education. The fieldwork will begin in the summer term.
We are also contributing to a £3 million joint pilot with NHS England for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed.
The Department is aware of a small number of cases in the last few years where parents and carers have complained about a school either asking a child with autism to stay at home on Ofsted inspection days, or diverting the child to other non-academic activities on those days.
Whenever such complaints have been received, we have been absolutely clear that any request for a child to stay at home during an Ofsted inspection would be an unlawful exclusion and that parents and carers should make a formal complaint to the school’s board of governors. Taking a child out of normal timetabled lessons during an inspection is unacceptable and should be drawn to the attention of the school’s board of governors.
Parents can also ask the Secretary of State to make a determination under Sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996, which give her the power to direct a governing body where it has failed to discharge a statutory duty or has done so unreasonably. Any such direction would have to be expedient, in that there must be something the Secretary of State could direct the school to do which would put matters right.
Depending on the circumstances, parents and carers could also bring a claim of disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).
Ofsted’s school inspection framework requires inspectors to take account of schools’ use of exclusion. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that falls within the inspectorate’s remit. If, during the course of an Ofsted inspection, inspectors become aware that a school has unlawfully excluded pupils for the period of the inspection, this will be taken into account in judging the effectiveness of the school and its leadership. If the evidence emerges after the inspection, the matter will be investigated by Ofsted and could lead to the school receiving an unannounced inspection visit.
The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.
The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.
Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions
The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.
The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.
Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions
The Department does not collect data on schools which have restricted the school trips that children with autism can attend.
Public sector bodies, including maintained schools, are covered by the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. When carrying out their functions they must have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between disabled and non-disabled children and young people. This duty is anticipatory, which means that schools must take into account the needs of disabled pupils, such as those with autism, when planning school trips and other events.
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 emphasises that school leaders should establish and maintain a culture of high expectations that expects those working with children and young people with SEN or disabilities to include them in all the opportunities available to other children and young people so that they can achieve well. This would include opportunities to socialise and attend external school trips.
If parents believe that a school has discriminated against their autistic child in planning school trips, they can make a claim for disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal.
Section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in April 2015, imposes a duty on local authorities to to “…take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are young carers within their area who have needs for support.” Once a young carer has been assessed, the local authority must consider whether the child has needs that could be met by services provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, that is, whether they should be supported as a child in need.
The Department currently supports the Carers Trust to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners to embed good practice, including good practice surrounding whole family support. This approach is intended to ensure effective, joined up, support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families. We will draw on the learning from that work when considering further action.
The Department for Education does not intend to collect this data.
Information on parental status and mental health illness is collected through the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
The Department does not collect information on the number of children at any stage of school whose parents are suffering from mental illness.
This information is not available to the Department.
From April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support by the local authority. These new provisions work alongside those in the Care Act 2014 for assessing adults to enable ‘whole family approaches’ to assessment and support. This means that when a child is identified as a young carer, the needs of everyone in the family will be considered. This will cause both children’s and adults’ support services to assess why a child has a caring responsibility, what needs to change, and what would help the family to prevent children from taking on this responsibility in the first place.
This reform is intended to ensure effective, joined-up support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families.
An estimated 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and more have lower level problems. We know that all forms of mental health disorder in children are associated with disruption to education and absence from school. We also know there is a strong association between conduct disorders in adolescence and a lack of qualifications in early adulthood.
This is why the government has made good mental health, character and resilience a high priority. We want all children and young people to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing. The Department of Health has committed an additional £1.4 billion of funding which will be used to help radically improve mental health services for children, young people and new mothers over the next 5 years.
Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the resilience and mental health of children and young people. To support schools develop approaches that suit the particular needs of their students we have:
The Department for Education does not routinely collect the information requested. While perinatal mental health is important to the government, we believe that children’s centres are best placed to decide which services to offer, based on an assessment of local needs.
Providing children with good-quality education and care in their earliest years can help them succeed at school and later in life. This contributes to creating a society where opportunities are equal regardless of background. We believe we can improve early education by building a stronger and better-qualified early years workforce. We also aim to provide more good-quality affordable childcare.
Professor James Heckman has published a number of (mostly US based) studies, which form part of a much wider evidence base on the substantial benefits of investing in early education. Professor Heckman reports that early education has significant positive impacts on a child’s development and attainment and finds that these impacts can be larger for disadvantaged children. Taken as a whole, the evidence underpins the Department’s policy to provide an entitlement to 570 hours of free early education or childcare a year for all 3 and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds.
The Department for Education has no current plans to make an assessment of the potential implications for policy on early years interventions of Professor Heckman’s most recent work.
The new school food standards which came into effect on 1 January 2015 define the foods and drinks that must be provided to pupils, those which are restricted, and those which must not be provided at all. They apply to all food and drink provided on and off school premises during an extended school day up to 6pm, including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending machines and after school clubs.
Full details of permitted foods are available in the school food regulations at:
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made
Departmental advice is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england
The review had a budget of £100,000, which included the costs of the reviewer, the costs of the research he commissioned, the consultations he undertook and the publishing costs.
Responsibility for action to tackle child maltreatment and respond to the needs of vulnerable children rests primarily with local government, alongside other local agencies, including health services and the police. This work is co-ordinated by local safeguarding children boards. Our statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, sets the framework within which local agencies should work on a multi-agency basis to safeguard children. Ofsted inspects local authority services for children in need of help and protection, and inspections focus on the quality of these services, including whether the right decisions are made for young people and whether they are made at the right time.
The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of schools in England where lead paint is present.
The School Food Trust (now the Children's Food Trust) wrote to more than 1,500 academies in January 2012. Of the 641 academies that replied, 635 said they were committed to following the new food standards, even though they are not required to do so.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Figures on looked after children who died in each year can be found in Table D1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017 but the cause of each death is not collected.
The number of reviews of child deaths with a category of ‘suicide or deliberate self-inflicted harm’ for the year ending 31 March 2017 is given in Table 4 of the statistical release ‘Child death reviews: year ending 31 March 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-death-reviews-year-ending-31-march-2017 but this is not limited to looked after children.
We recognise that this is a very serious issue, and we are piloting new approaches to the assessment of mental health needs that looked-after children receive on entry to care – ensuring that their individual needs are understood and at the centre of the process. Up to 10 sites across the country will benefit from a share of £650,000 to deliver this scheme. The expression of interest for pilots went live 24 September and the deadline for applications is set for noon 19 October. We welcome the appointment of Jackie Doyle Price as suicide prevention minister.
During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards, and representatives from the Leon Foundation will be attending the Academies Show on 30 April with a view to encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.
99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards. All academies and free schools signing their funding agreements from spring 2014 are required to adhere to the new, less bureaucratic school food standards.
Since Defra was created in June 2001, there have been 39 instances covering 9 Senior Civil Servants who have taken sickness absence for mental health reasons which amounts to 535 days. However, for reasons of anonymity it is not possible to provide a monthly breakdown in the answer as the numbers are too small to report.
Defra is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness. We have an active Wellbeing network (Break the Stigma) which shares best practice, activities and events relating to all aspects of wellbeing. Mental health has been a key priority since the network was established. Defra’s Wellbeing Advisors work closely with the network’s organisers to support events and develop group communications including a series of inspiring blogs by staff.
Our Employee Assistance Provider can be contacted 24/7, 365 days a year and employees can receive up to 6 sessions of free counselling. The Charity for Civil Servants which is another superb source of support, also offers advice on a wide range of issues.
We certainly support this partnership of local authorities with organisations in the Defra Group, and its aim to increase woodland cover to 20 per cent of the Mersey Forest area. This supports our national commitment to plant 11 million more trees by the end of this Parliament and to continue to expand woodland cover in England.
The Mersey Forest partnership has transformed the Mersey area since it was set up in 1991. It has planted 9 million trees and doubled woodland cover in the area, providing great places for local people to enjoy as well as a wide range of economic and environmental benefits. The Mersey Forest is one of eight Community Forests in England that together deliver urban, economic and social regeneration, helping to transform areas that have seen significant industrial restructuring, by reclaiming brownfield land to create high-quality environments for millions of people. This wider network of Community Forests has planted over 10,000 hectares of new woodland and brought more than 27,000 hectares of existing woodland into management.
Whilst it is for the constituent local authorities to agree their ongoing commitment, Defra Group organisations will continue to support Mersey Forest in its ambition to increase woodland cover to 20 per cent.
The Government is committed to improving air quality in the UK. Between 2010 and 2014, emissions of nitrogen oxides fell by 17 per cent.
To make further progress, the Government published the national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide in December last year. The plan clearly set out how we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies such as electric and ultra-low emission vehicles. This included a plan for the achievement of EU air quality limit value for nitrogen dioxide in the North West and Merseyside.
Alongside national action, local authorities have a crucial role to play in improving air quality in their areas. They are required to review and assess air quality in their areas and to designate Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) and put in place Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) to address air pollution issues where national air quality objectives are not being met.
Nitrogen dioxide pollution from road transport is the predominant source of air pollution in Liverpool and the Merseyside area.
Since 2008, Liverpool City Council has declared the whole city and its boundaries as an AQMA, while both Sefton and St Helens Councils have designated five and four AQMAs respectively. No AQMAs have been designated by Knowsley and Wirral Councils. All three Merseyside local authorities with designated AQMAs have AQAPs in place to improve air quality in their areas. Most of the measures set out in the AQAPs are aimed at promoting sustainable transport initiatives.
Since 2010 a total of £265,526 in air quality grant funding has been awarded to Liverpool City Council, Sefton Council and St Helens Council in support of various projects aimed at improving air pollution monitoring and promoting greener transport in the region.
Regulations to require the compulsory microchipping of all dogs in England by 6 April 2016 came into force on 24 February 2015. Defra is working closely with a number of partners including veterinary organisations, animal welfare charities and others to promote the message on compulsory microchipping using a range of channels including social media and the websites www.chipmydog.org.uk and www.gov.uk.
We put forward proposals for reductions of direct payments to farmers as part of our wider consultation on CAP reform in October 2013. The consultation included estimates for the amounts which would be transferred annually to Rural Development programmes arising from reductions of 5% and 100% (i.e. capping), further analysis was included in the evidence paper published alongside the consultation. These can both be found at consult.defra.gov.uk/agricultural-policy/cap-consultation. We announced in December that reductions would be applied at 5% on amounts in excess of €150,000; however, we no longer take the view, contained in our response to the consultation, that we have no power to make further or alternative reductions at a higher threshold such as €300,000.
Local authorities have duties to arrange for the collection and disposal of household waste. Clinical waste produced at domestic property is treated as household waste.
Total Funding allocated to local projects across England by Defra's Air Quality Grant Programme since 2010:
Financial year | Final award |
|
|
2010/11 | £2,361,000 |
2011-12 | £3,078,745 |
2012-13 | £3,100,000 |
2013-14 | £1,000,000 |
Total | £9,539,745 |
The Government recognizes the impact poor air quality can have on human health and the environment and has put in place a framework for delivering improvements via the Air Quality Strategy and Local Air Quality Management. The European Commission also has requirements for Member States to meet legally binding limits for key pollutants to protect public health and ecosystems.
The Government is committed to ongoing work to reduce this impact and has invested many billions of pounds in measures that will help to reduce air pollution from transport, energy and industrial sources, including over £1 billion in ultra-low emission vehicles and sustainable transport measures, incentives and infrastructure projects for electric and hybrid vehicles, a Local Sustainable Transport Fund of £490 million, a fund of around £100 million for less polluting bus services and investment in measures to promote cycling and walking. All these measures are helping to reduce transport emissions, which are the main contributor to air pollution in towns and cities.
In addition to these national measures, local authorities have a responsibility to manage local air quality and to put in place plans to improve air quality where national objectives are not met. Local action is also supported by the Government's air quality grant programme, which has provided over £50 million since 1997 for innovative projects.
Defra works with Public Health England, the Department of Health and other Government departments to maintain and develop methodologies for assessing air quality impacts on health and the environment, and to develop evidence-based measures to ensure air quality is appropriately prioritised and integrated into local strategies. For instance the Government has established an Air Quality Indicator as part of the new Public Health Outcomes Framework. Local authorities will be expected to deliver against 68 measurable outcomes (indicators) for health, including for air quality.
The provisions around laying treaties for 21 sitting days in section 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act relate to the treaty itself, and not to the domestic implementing legislation.
We will introduce the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill as soon as possible once the final deal has been approved by Parliament. The Government is committed to doing everything it can to ensure that Parliament has the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill in the time available.
When we leave the EU, we will no longer have a right to nominate UK judges to the CJEU. The UK judges currently appointed to the CJEU will therefore depart from the court at the point at which the UK exits the EU.
Based on self-declaration rates held on our HR systems, the number of staff in the Department for Exiting the European Union who are:
foreign nationals is 12, which is 2% as a proportion of those on the Department’s HR systems.
non-UK EU citizens is 10, which is 1.7% as a proportion of those on the Department’s HR systems.
Information on dual nationality is not available from our systems.
These figures are based entirely on people identifying themselves as a foreign national or an EU national on the Department’s HR systems.
As a new Department DExEU is not in a position to provide information prior to 2016/17. In 2016/17, no staff were off sick due to mental illness or stress and fewer than 10 individuals were absent in 2017/18 due to stress or mental health conditions and therefore the Department is not in a position to release this information as individuals may be identifiable.
The Civil Service has set out five priorities for the health and wellbeing of its employees, including priorities in relation to physical and mental wellbeing. In addition, the Civil Service has also committed to being a leading employer on mental health support, in line with the recommendations set out in the recently published independent review Thriving At Work.
Health and Wellbeing forms part of the Department for Exiting the European Union’s commitment to making the Department a great place to work. The Department is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental health illness and has a number of services and initiatives in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. To date 32 DExEU staff have been trained by Mental Health First Aid England as mental health champions and staff also have access to the Employee Assistance Programmes.
The Department has a dedicated mental health and wellbeing group who have been leading on a number of wellbeing activities across the Department to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of staff employed in the Department. This includes: in February 2017 the Department signed up to the Time for Change pledge to demonstrate the Department’s commitment to reducing the stigma attached to mental health, and marking world mental health day with a panel discussion sharing mental health and wellbeing experiences.
The Department for Exiting the European Union is committed to ensuring staff with mental health problems do not face any barriers to success. The Department has a dedicated senior equalities champion who sits on the Department's Executive Board and provides an insight for all protected characteristics as well as an equalities network. DExEU has recently run mental health first aid training to ensure that support is in place should staff experience mental illness. The Department is committed to the steps established in the 2016 Talent Action Plan to help the Civil Service become the most inclusive employer in the UK.
Due to the small numbers of staff affected the Department is unable to release this information as disclosure would contravene one of the data protection principles. As part of the Transparency Agenda, the Department will publish quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these will be available on the department’s website.
To support the Nursing Now campaign, DFID will allocate £5 million of the Stronger Health Partnerships for Stronger Health Systems programme to deliver partnerships that will train nurses and midwives, including in leadership development. This new programme will start in 2019 and will support the priorities identified by countries to invest in their health workforces and strengthen their health systems.
The numbers related to absence due to mental illness for senior civil servants are so low that providing this information could potentially identify individuals.
Since the department's creation as a legal employer from 9th November 2016, no Senior Civil Servants have had a leave of absence due to mental illness.
The Government does not require London Heathrow Airport to use facial recognition technology for security checks. London Heathrow Airport has taken a commercial decision to use biometrics in the hope that this will assist to streamline the passenger journey through the airport. All security checks will remain unchanged. The Department regularly discusses and reviews airport security with all regulated UK airports.
The Government does not require airports to use facial recognition technology for security checks.
Some airports are planning to introduce biometric technology which they hope will assist the passenger journey through their airports. This use of biometrics will not change the required security checks. The Department regularly discusses and reviews airport security with all regulated UK airports.
I met Peel Ports on 12 September to discuss various issues. My officials are also in regular contact with Peel Ports. These discussions are intended to ensure that the right preparations are being considered and taken under all EU exit scenarios.
I met Peel Ports on 12 September to discuss various issues. My officials are also in regular contact with Peel Ports. These discussions are intended to ensure that the right preparations are being considered and taken under all EU exit scenarios.
In general terms, my Department would not expect there to be a major effect on the Port of Liverpool of leaving the EU without a deal, nor therefore, through such impacts, on the regional or national economy.
In general terms, my Department would not expect there to be a major effect on the Port of Liverpool of leaving the EU without a deal, nor therefore, through such impacts, on the regional or national economy.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency withdrew the facility for driving test candidates to use foreign language voiceovers during theory tests and interpreters during theory and practical tests on 7 April 2014 following a full public consultation.
Some of the reasons for this change were included to address concerns about road safety, specifically the ability of non-English or non-Welsh speakers to understand road signs and other information provided to drivers in the course of their journeys; and to reduce fraud, addressing the problem of an interpreter attending for test with a learner driver and communicating advice beyond a strict translation of the theory test questions or the instructions given by the examiner.
The department has no plans to assess the reintroduction of translation services for non-English speaking candidates taking car and motorcycle theory driving tests.
The then-Driving Standards Agency (now Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) undertook a full consultation between 5 February and 2 April 2013 before withdrawing voiceover and interpreter facilities for driving test candidates whose first language was not English.
The DVSA supports candidates whose English is a second language, or those who have difficulty understanding written English, by offering an English language voice over and writing the multiple-choice theory test questions in an easily understood way.
The DVSA has no evidence to suggest there is a need to make an assessment of the effect on the level of unlicensed drivers since the withdrawal of foreign language voiceovers and interpreters during the theory test on 7 April 2014.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) withdrew the facility for driving test candidates to use foreign language voiceovers during theory tests and interpreters during theory and practical tests on 7 April 2014.
The DVSA monitor applications and the overall pass rates for car and motorbike theory tests and has not seen any discernible effect of the withdrawal of foreign language voice-overs and interpreters.
As part of the conditions of the franchise agreement it is the responsibility of the train operating company to ensure both adequate track capacity and train numbers, to support their proposed timetable changes.
There were a total of 252 suicides on the national rail network in 2015-16.
The figure for 2016-17 has not been released, and is due to be published on 12 July 2017.
This figure does not include suicides on London Underground or light rail and tram networks. Figures for these networks are published at the following link: http://www.orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/statistical-releases.
This information is not available as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not categorise driving licence revocations under broad terms such as ‘mental illness’. Revocation information is recorded on the basis of specific medical conditions.
Network Rail last undertook detailed examinations of the affected slip area on 7 December 2014, and a further visual examination on 25 December 2016.
The majority of cuttings leading into Liverpool Lime Street Station are inspected every two or five years depending on their categorisation. Rail bridges and tunnels, however, are categorised individually and have different inspection regimes tailored to the age and condition of the structure.
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Network Rail, as the infrastructure owner, to discuss a wide range of topics which have included the collapse of the wall outside Liverpool Lime Street Station on 28 February 2017. We look to Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road (as the regulator) to ensure that the infrastructure is fit for purpose.
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Network Rail, as the infrastructure owner, to discuss a wide range of topics which have included the collapse of the wall outside Liverpool Lime Street Station on 28 February 2017. We look to Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road (as the regulator) to ensure that the infrastructure is fit for purpose.
Records in the current reporting system go back to the beginning of 2009. Since this date, fewer than five senior civil servants have taken leave of absence for reasons related to mental health. Due to the low number of instances this figure cannot be broken down any further.
The Secretary of State intends to make an announcement about the remainder of the HS2 route, including the Manchester junction, later this autumn.
Transport for the North are leading the development of a number of potential options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including options that make use of sections of the HS2 network.
Should Northern Powerhouse Rail be integrated directly with sections of the HS2 network, the rolling stock will be specified to operate on HS2 infrastructure.
Tolling levels for the Mersey Tunnels and the future Mersey Gateway Crossing are the responsibility of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Halton Borough Council respectively. Any assessment of the local impact of these tolls is therefore a matter for these bodies rather than this Department. The Department’s assessment of the business case for the Crossing included a consideration of the overall impacts effects of tolling levels on road users and showed that the new Crossing will reduce congestion and improve journey times for users. This assessment was not disaggregated to the level of individual local areas.
Highways England encourages and supports the private sector operators of motorway service areas to provide charge points at their facilities. There are 112 motorway service areas in England and over 95% have rapid charge points installed, which can provide a charge to an electric vehicle in 20 to 30 minutes.
The nearest motorway service area to Liverpool is Burtonwood Services at Junction 8 on the M62, where there are two charging facilities.
The Department for Transport does not assess the total number of people working in logistics and transportation who experience mental health problems.
The total number of suicides recorded as having taken place on National Rail in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
Total suicide or suspected suicide: GB | |||||
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | |
National Rail | 208 | 249 | 245 | 277 | 293 |
Source: ORR
The Government is fully supportive of initiatives which the rail industry is taking, led by Network Rail, in liaison with the Samaritans and other organisations, to reduce the number of suicides on the network. The initiatives include measures to reduce the ease of access to platforms passed by fast trains, and to train staff to intervene to help people near the railway who may be in a distressed state.
Local councils are responsible for setting pedestrian crossing timings with reference to the Department for Transport’s guidance walking speed of 1.2 metres per second given in Local Transport Note 1/95: ‘The Assessment of Pedestrian Crossings’, Local Transport Note 2/95: ‘The Design of Pedestrian Crossings’, and Traffic Advisory Leaflet 5/05: ‘Pedestrian Facilities at Signal-controlled Junctions’.
The Department recommends that where a crossing may be used by a large number of older people or those with mobility issues, for example outside residential care homes, this should be taken into account when setting timings.
The Department expects to bring the successor to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, which will include all pedestrian crossing types, into force in 2015 and once that is complete will consider the need to update existing guidance.
It is a matter for the Train Operator to ensure that the appropriate standards of cleanliness are met on trains.
More information can be obtained from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) which can be contacted at:
2nd Floor
200 Aldersgate Street
London
EC1A 4HD
Tel: 020 7841 8000
The HS2 Growth Taskforce launched its final report in March 2014, delivering 19 recommendations to government to help get our cities, transport network, people and businesses ready to maximise the growth potential from HS2.
While the taskforce membership was drawn from across the country and represented many different fields of expertise, it was not possible to include representatives from every area that will benefit from HS2.
Recognising the importance of engaging closely with Liverpool in producing their recommendations, the taskforce went to the city in January 2014 to hear the views of local partners and businesses from across the city region.
The Department has no plans to commission such an investigation. Ensuring that appropriate standards of cleanliness are met is a matter for train operators.
The Department does not record mortality rates or information on the causes of benefit claimants’ deaths, as there is no causal relationship between somebody claiming a benefit and their death.
The Government has been clear that leaving the EU with a deal is its preferred option. The Government is, however, continuing to plan for a range of scenarios, including a no deal exit from the EU. These contingencies ensure that DWP can continue to provide our vital services and that individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
On the 21 November 2018 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published revised guidance for employers on compliance with the existing Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (http://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/needs-assessment.htm). HSE developed this revised guidance with Mental Health First Aid-England to clarify and increase employer understanding that mental health should already be considered alongside physical health when undertaking a first aid needs assessment. The findings from this assessment will help direct employers to decide what measures they need to put in place. There are a range of actions that employers can undertake, but their choice should be guided by the outcomes of their first aid needs assessment and will depend on factors such as employee needs, the type of work and size of company.
HSE has communicated this clarified guidance directly to key stakeholders involved in the design and delivery of first aid at work training courses.
HSE is also taking opportunities to raise awareness through existing activity under its Health and Work programme, where preventing work-related mental ill health is a key priority. There is also related wider government activity led by the Joint DWP/DHSC Work and Health Unit to promote mental health core standards from the Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer ‘Thriving at Work’ review published in October 2017, to help employers implement a comprehensive approach to managing mental health in the workplace.
The employment rate gap between disabled and non-disabled people fell from 33.1% in April-June 2013 to 31.3% in April-June 2017.
We remain committed to further improving outcomes for disabled people. The manifesto commitment to get one million more disabled people in work by 2027 gives us a clear, ambitious, and time bound goal.
We set out our continued commitment to improving employment rates for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions in Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability. We believe people should get the support they need whatever their health condition or disability, whether that’s from their employer, from the health system or from the welfare system.
We have invested in our Personal Support Package, which includes £330 million of funding over four years with a range of new interventions and initiatives designed to provide support that is tailored to the individual needs of claimants. We have recruited 300 additional Disability Employment Advisers and we are introducing 200 new Community Partners, bringing specialist advice and support into the Jobcentre.
We are supporting employers to help them recruit and retain disabled people and people with health conditions through Disability Confident, the Access to Work scheme, and specialist advisers in Jobcentres.
Recognising the importance of keeping people in work, we want to reform the Statutory Sick Pay system so that it more effectively supports returns to work, and we are exploring how to shape, fund and deliver transformational change to provide effective occupational health services that can support people in work.
The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.
We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.
We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.
The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.
We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.
We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for regulating first aid provision in the workplace, as set out in the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. The Regulations require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work. The Regulations apply to all workplaces including those with less than five employees and to the self-employed.
Employers should undertake a needs assessment, to ensure that first aid provision adequately reflects the needs of their particular workplace or organisation and that appointed first aid personnel receive appropriate training. It is the responsibility of employers to choose their training providers and apply due diligence in doing so.
We do not require formal disclosure of abuse to establish split payments for Universal Credit claimants, and we do not ask for any evidence relating to the abuse. An individual can be accompanied by a representative from a third party organisation to provide expert support when disclosing domestic abuse to a work coach.
All personal information is treated in confidence, and we do not disclose information to third parties without explicit consent. If requested, we can provide access to a private area where information can be disclosed.
Research carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that only 2 per cent of married couples and 7 per cent of cohabiting couples keep their finances completely separate. So the starting point in Universal Credit is one single monthly payment which people in the household then manage as they see fit. We recognise that there will be circumstances in which this is not appropriate and so split payments are also available. This option is designed to prevent hardship to claimants and their families, where there is vulnerability in the household leading to financial mismanagement. Where a claimant suffering from domestic abuse asks for a split payment we will support them in putting this arrangement in place.
In April 2018 we updated our Universal Credit learning products to include additional information on domestic abuse, covering physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and financial abuse, and controlling and coercive behaviour. These products are regularly reviewed.
Our jobcentre staff undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to claimants.
Specific training and guidance is provided for staff who work with different vulnerable groups, including people who have been the victims of domestic abuse. Work coaches can also signpost claimants to national and local organisations who provide specialist support.
In our Command Paper, Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability, we announced wider support to assist people with health conditions and disabilities in moving closer to the labour market. We are testing a three-way voluntary conversation between customers, work coaches and healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists, and we will make decisions on further rollout in due course.
We have made an assessment about the suitability of Universal Credit single payments in cases of financial abuse towards one person in a couple. This was outlined in the attached letter, dated 15 May 2018, to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
The Government responded to the full review as part of our response to the consultation on the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper on 30th November. As part of our recently published command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability, we set out a broad ranging strategy to further support disabled people and people with health conditions – including mental health conditions - to enter and thrive in work. This publication also included our formal response to all of the Stevenson/Farmer review’s recommendation. The Government is overseeing progress across recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.
The Prime Minister accepted the recommendations that apply to the Civil Service and NHSE as employers on the day of publication. The Civil Service is in a good place to meet the standards and has identified areas of positive practice particularly surrounding mental health awareness, support and demonstration of accountability, and the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which will be published in the summer.
The Government responded to the full review on 30th November as part of the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability. As set out in this publication, we agree with the review’s recommendation on the need to provide leadership and accountability, and maintain the momentum generated by the review. We will set out further plans shortly.
The latest available estimates are given below. They are published annually and show the estimated number of days lost (full day equivalent) due to self-reported stress, depression or anxiety, caused or made worse by work, for people working in the last 12 months in Great Britain. Figures are not separately available for the United Kingdom.
Year | Estimated days lost | 95% Confidence interval |
2014/15 | 9.9 million | 8.4m to 11.6m |
2015/16 | 11.7 million | 9.6m to 13.7m |
2016/17 | 12.5 million | 10.5m to 14.6m |
Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)
In November 2016 DWP launched its health and wellbeing strategy covering mental wellbeing. DWP supports mental wellbeing through a number of initiatives including: 24/7 sign-posting to mental health support in DWP; an Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7 offering confidential counselling (face to face, telephone and live chat), advice and information services for all colleagues and managers, including critical incident debriefing services; an immediate or early referral to Occupational Health for expert advice on how to handle mental health conditions at work; and a range of wellbeing programmes and a series of campaigns to raise awareness of mental health/wellbeing and help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental ill-health.
The Department has also established a network of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) who provide acute, short-term and structured support to individuals, provide reassurance, and signpost colleagues to DWP and external sources of support as appropriate. They also actively promote and raise awareness of mental health agenda within their local area. 200 colleagues are currently trained to fulfil this role with a further 300 to be trained by 2019.
The percentage of staff absence and the Working Days lost for reasons related to stress or mental health is as follows:
| No. People | Percentage Staff | Working Days Lost |
1 Apr 15 to 31 Mar16 | 6,866 | 8.0% | 157,648 |
1 Apr 16 to 31 Mar-17 | 7,038 | 8.2% | 161,806 |
1 Apr 17 to Mar-18 | 7,695 | 9.1% | 153,923 |
*The figures include those absences recorded under the following categories: Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Issues or Stress until March 2017 and Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Other, Stress, Mental Health Anxiety and Depression or Mental Health Issues for 2017-18. Working days lost excludes weekends but does include public holidays. Numbers of staff includes those currently on nil pay.
The Work and Health Programme is now in place across England and Wales, offering a more personalised local approach to supporting disabled people and those with mental health conditions to overcome barriers to employment. Better integration of health support is a particular priority, and providers will deliver integrated support to customers with multiple barriers. Across the whole programme we have been guided by the evidence, learning from the best of the Work Programme and Work Choice, and have set up the programme with high quality evaluation built in.
As the Government confirmed in its response to recommendation 7 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, individuals, even with similar barriers or characteristics, can respond differently to those barriers, and so require tailored support. This is why we have elected to give providers considerable freedom in how they support claimants to move into lasting work rather than specify particular services. This is supported by a payment model which gives providers a strong incentive to deliver outcomes, including a price accelerator element which seeks to deliver better performance by increasing the return for investment for those who are harder to help.
The key area on recommendation 11 is to stress that “The Government announced in October 2017 that it no longer intends to extend Local Housing Allowance rates to social sector tenants and in particular to those living in supported housing. The Government has also made clear that it is keen to ensure that those living in supported housing, and those who provide it, receive appropriate protection. The welfare system will therefore continue to fund long-term supported accommodation along with sheltered and extra care housing.
The information requested is not available because our Management Information is not recorded/collated in that format.
However, using the average claimant volumes for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit Live Service customers who are normally required to attend on a fortnightly basis, an estimation of numbers visiting Edge Hill and Wavertree Jobcentres daily would be:
Edge Hill – 159
Wavertree – 96
I refer the Hon. Member to the statement made by myself, Official Report, 30 January 2018, Columns 703 – 704.
My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions and we are working across government to provide and improve integrated health and employment support. We are more than doubling the number of employment advisers in talking therapies and we will be investing nearly £115m to implement trials which will build our evidence base on what works to help people with health conditions to return to or gain employment
In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.
Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced the first steps in our plan to transform the way we deal with mental health problems at every stage of a person’s life. A range of new measures were announced, including two new reviews. In addition, the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and NHS England’s Implementation Plan set out a series of actions to prevent mental ill health, improve services and reduce stigma.
My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course. My department is also continuing to invest in trials, proofs of concept and feasibility studies to build our evidence base on the best specialist and integrated support for people with mental health conditions.
Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced the first steps in our plan to transform the way we deal with mental health problems at every stage of a person’s life. A range of new measures were announced, including two new reviews. In addition, the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and NHS England’s Implementation Plan set out a series of actions to prevent mental ill health, improve services and reduce stigma.
My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course. My department is also continuing to invest in trials, proofs of concept and feasibility studies to build our evidence base on the best specialist and integrated support for people with mental health conditions.
We are committed to listening to stakeholders, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.
We are committed to listening to stakeholders, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.
The information available on the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants by phase of claim and medical condition is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
We want employers to create inclusive workplaces which support good mental health, and prevent discriminatory language and practices.
Many employers already have a strong track record in this area and we want to learn from their success, as well as support other employers to create supportive workplace cultures.
There is already a wealth of information available on how employers can support people with mental health conditions. Government sought views on what would further support employers in “Improving Lives - the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’ and we are now analysing responses to the consultation.
We will also be considering what further guidance could be made available to employers through the internal review of protections from workplace mental health discrimination, announced by the Prime Minister in January.
The Department publishes a range of Official Statistics on PIP here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics
These include data tables showing a breakdown of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment by their main disabling condition.
We have systems in place to ensure that Jobcentre staff can identify customers at risk of suicide or self harm and refer them to appropriate local sources of help.
Local housing allowance rates will not be introduced in the social rented sector for general needs housing until April 2019, and only then where tenancies have been taken out or renewed on or after 1 April 2016; and the tenant’s rent is higher than the Local Housing Allowance rates set for private sector tenants.
Pensioners in the private rented sector have been subject to Local Housing Allowance rates since 2008. It is therefore only right that we bring about parity of treatment across both sectors, but pensioners in the social rented sector are unlikely to be affected unless they are substantially under-occupying their properties or they have high service charges.
Discretionary Housing Payments remain available for those who need help transitioning to the change.
According to the latest data (November 2016) there were 143 thousand Housing Benefit claimants aged 65 or over who were subject to the local housing allowance rules in the private rented sector. As the local housing allowance system will not be introduced into the social rented sector until April 2019 figures will not be published until August 2019.
There are no daily work clubs at Wavertree Jobcentre or Edge Hill Jobcentre.
Jobcentre Plus does not contract for the delivery of Work Clubs and we are not responsible for the delivery. Work Clubs can be set up or supported by any suitable group including voluntary sector organisations, local authorities, community groups, and both local employers, and national employers through their local outlets. The role of Jobcentre Plus is to signpost claimants to local Work Clubs where they exist and where advisers believe the support offered will help the claimant find work. There is no requirement for follow up on the number of claimants who subsequently attend.
The Department has used information from local transport provider websites, such as Traveline, that provide services in Liverpool to calculate travel costs.
Distances and journey times have been calculated using variety of methods to improve accuracy, including Google Maps which has been cross verified using the AA route mapping tool and information collected about local public transport routes with input from local DWP colleagues.
The information requested is not available. However, such information that is available is (a) the number of Lone Parents claiming Income Support within Liverpool Wavertree Parliamentary Constituency; plus in the table (b) the number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Wavertree and Edge Hill Jobcentres.
(a) The number of Lone Parents claiming Income Support within Liverpool Wavertree Constituency at August 2016 is 770.
(b) The number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Wavertree and Edge Hill Jobcentres.
Period | The number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Wavertree Jobcentre | The number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Edge Hill Jobcentre |
January 2016 to December 2016 | 60 | 103 |
Throughout the development of these proposals, the Department has been mindful of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Consideration of the potential impact on staff and customers has been informed by statistical analysis of population data, local knowledge and consultation.
As we obtain further local, site-specific information for all sites, including those in the Liverpool Wavertree constituency, we will ensure any issues identified are also taken fully into consideration when the final decisions are made. We intend to complete this work within the next 12 weeks; equality analysis is not generally published separately but it will be used to inform final decisions.
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost
The safety of claimants is vitally important and is an issue we have taken very seriously as part of these proposals. Where we are proposing to close a Jobcentre we are taking all possible precautions, not only to minimise disruption for claimants, but also to protect vulnerable people by providing home visits and postal claims where it is appropriate to do so.
Throughout the development of these proposals, the Department has been mindful of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Our continued focus on equality analysis will be important in helping to assess any risks for individual claimants brought about by these proposals. As we obtain further local, site-specific information we will ensure any issues identified are taken fully into consideration when the final decisions are made.
The larger sites are all geographically based in locations that can offer better services to our customers and access to employers. We are working with partner organisations to ensure individuals have access to the widest range of support during periods of unemployment.
No specific assessment has been made of the proportion of claimants registered at Wavertree and Edge Hill Jobcentres without access to the internet, a computer or a telephone. Increasingly, our customers access many of our services on-line. This includes claiming benefits, looking for jobs and keeping us informed of their efforts to find work.
The roll out of Universal Credit and our reforms of Jobcentre Plus have increased the number of interactions claimants now have with us online. For example, eight out of ten claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance are now made online and 99.6% of applicants for Universal Credit full service submitted their claim online, reflecting increased digital capability and accessibility. This allows the Department to tailor its service so that face-to-face contact can be focused on those who need extra support.
We are committed to retaining an accessible Jobcentre network and continuing to serve customers in all areas and the face to face support our work coaches offer at Jobcentres will continue to be a core part of the service we deliver. In order to be able to support customers in the most appropriate way, we have various means of interacting with them, including face to face, e-mail; telephone and by post. In offices over three miles and 20 minutes away by public transport, we are carrying out local consultation prior to implementing any changes to help inform decisions about additional provision, such as outreach services.
To clarify my responses to Questions 64227, 64643 and 64644, there is only one Jobcentre; Toxteth Jobcentre which is based at High Park House 7 High Park Street L8 8DY. The Department has not undertaken an assessment of the number of buses or the public transport costs for journeys to Toxteth and Huyton Jobcentres based on claimants’ residential addresses.
The falling claimant count and the increased use of our online services in recent years mean that 20% of rent is going toward space we are not using. In response, we have sought to redesign our estate in a way that delivers value for the taxpayer while continuing to deliver vital support to our claimants. Many of our offices across Liverpool are currently underutilised, meaning that we are spending money on rent for space that is unused rather than on services and support. The proposal would see a reduction in the number of sites, from 14 Jobcentres to 10 Jobcentres resulting in a space utilisation improvement from 66% to 95%. Merging our staff and services offers the opportunity to maintain and improve the services we provide to claimants across Liverpool while offering the best value for money for the taxpayer.
With 19 front of house and 16 back of house full time equivalent staff occupying 820 m2 of space, utilisation is currently 53% at Wavertree Jobcentre.
With 82 front of house and 9 back of house full time equivalent staff occupying 2,307 m2 space, utilisation is currently 60% at Edge Hill Jobcentre.
Detailed site level information on anticipated work coach levels is not yet available, but we are recruiting and expect to have more work coaches in 2018 than we have today.
Our services will continue to be available from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm and the face to face support our work coaches offer at Jobcentres will remain a core part of the service we deliver.
The Department has not undertaken an assessment of the number of buses to Toxteth and Huyton Jobcentres based on claimants residential addresses. This is because the proposals are to relocate Liverpool Edge Hill and Liverpool Wavertree Jobcentres to High Park House Jobcentre. Furthermore, it would not be possible to compare all claimants’ residential addresses with all potential bus timetables and routes.
It is also important to remember that not all claimants will start their journey to the Jobcentre from their home.
As Liverpool Wavertree and Liverpool Edge Hill Jobcentres have higher travel times by public transport to High Park House than to Toxteth Jobcentre, we have opened this proposal up to public consultation. We are seeking views on this proposal, including the impact on travel for individuals.
The Department has not undertaken an assessment of the public transport costs for journeys to Toxteth and Huyton Jobcentres based on claimants residential addresses. This is because the proposals are to relocate Liverpool Edge Hill and Liverpool Wavertree Jobcentres to High Park House Jobcentre. Furthermore, it would not be possible to compare all claimants’ residential addresses with all potential bus timetables and routes. It is also important to remember that not all claimants will start their journey to the Jobcentre from their home.
As Liverpool Wavertree and Liverpool Edge Hill Jobcentres have higher travel times by public transport to High Park House than to Toxteth Jobcentre, we have opened this proposal up to public consultation. We are seeking views on this proposal, including the impact on travel costs for individuals.
Within the context of claimant journeys, we believe that it is a reasonable expectation that a claimant travels an additional distance of up to 3 miles, or 20 minutes by public transport, to the new Jobcentre. This may mean slightly longer and slightly shorter journeys for some individual claimants and we have taken this into account when setting the criteria.
There are large areas of the country where claimants have always travelled further than this. A proportion of claimants may also live closer to the proposed new Jobcentre location, so this will remain a convenient location for those people. We therefore view these criteria to be within reasonable expectations.
No assessment has been made of the distances between Liverpool Edge Hill and Liverpool Wavertree Jobcentres and Huyton Jobcentre. This is because the proposals are to relocate Liverpool Edge Hill and Liverpool Wavertree Jobcentres to High Park House. We have not calculated any distances based on claimants travelling in a straight line as it would be unreasonable to expect them to be able to do so.
According to the information from Google Maps and other sources, the Jobcentre at High Park House, is 1.8 miles away and approximately 8 minutes by car from Liverpool Edge Hill Jobcentre; and 2.9 miles away, approximately 14 minutes by car from Liverpool Wavertree Jobcentre.
Distances and journey times have been calculated using variety of methods to improve accuracy, including Google Maps and AA route mapping, and information collected about local public transport routes with input from local DWP colleagues.
Regardless of the proposed changes, it is important for claimants to allow sufficient time to attend appointments, taking into consideration the time of day and any local traffic conditions, as they do now.
Distances and journey times have been calculated using a number of sources including AA route mapping, Google Maps, local public transport routes and local information provided by DWP colleagues.
Information on the numbers of claimants that attend on a daily, weekly or monthly basis is not available. The number of claimants for each office is as follows:
The JSA claimant count for Toxteth JCP is 851 and UC is 1389
The JSA claimant count for Edge Hill JCP is 647 and UC is 1083
The JSA claimant count for Wavertree JCP is 438 and UC is 742
The JSA claimant count for Huyton JCP is 882 and UC is 2434
This information refers to January 2017, and is available from the following link: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk.
The Department holds information on the number of claimants who have applied for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit but the Department does not hold any Management Information on claims made by post or during a home visit.
The information is not available at the level of detail requested.
All DWP staff undertaking customer-facing roles go through a programme of learning and development to equip them to support vulnerable people who access our services.
This includes a learning product called “Supporting Customers with a Vulnerability”, which covers how to respond to an individual threatening suicide or self-harm, and which staff undertake as part of their foundation learning for a role where they interact directly with DWP customers.
There are additional learning modules on supporting claimants with mental health conditions for telephony staff, and for those who work face-to-face with customers
The Department does not collect information on cause or manner of death of an individual, only a record of the date of death.
Suicide is a tragic and complex issue which we take extremely seriously. If information is received that a DWP client has attempted or completed suicide and it is alleged that DWP activity may have contributed to this, we carry out an internal review to establish whether anything should have been done differently.
The information requested is not available.
The latest impact assessment for the lower benefit cap is published here:
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave the hon. Member for Barnsley Central, Dan Jarvis on 17 October [47998].
The current number of people that receive their benefit or pension payments by Simple Payment in the Liverpool City Region is 1,399.
This Government is committed to tackling disadvantage and extending opportunity so that everyone has the chance to realise their full potential. Our life chances approach will focus on tackling the root causes of poverty such as worklessness, educational attainment and family stability.
The Department for Work and Pensions published the 2014/15 Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics on 28th June 2016. This provides information on individuals living in relative and absolute low income.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201415.
The number of households in relative and absolute low income is not available at constituency or city region level. This is because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.
Decision Makers considering the imposition of a sanction are DWP employees. When a sanctionable failure is identified by a work coach, a referral is made which is randomly assigned to a centralised decision maker to review the circumstances of the case, including any representations from the claimant regarding good reason for non-compliance, and arrive at a decision independently of the work coach.
In some cases, where a claimant would be excluded from work related requirements they will be excluded from the pool of “qualifying claimants”. They will also cease to be part of the scheme if the same circumstances apply after they have been selected. These are:
The Government Social Research code is publicly available online: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150922160821/http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/networks/gsr/gsr-code
The Department considers the ethical implications of trials throughout development, implementation and analysis.
Research on our in-work progression trial adheres to the Government Social Research Code.
Universal Credit claimants who meet the eligibility criteria will be required to participate in the trial. However, we are careful to protect people who are vulnerable. Claimants who are unable to work or earn more due to caring or because of health conditions or disabilities will not be required to participate, and there are a number of further exclusion criteria which generally reflect those applied to out of work UC claimants.
Every claimant participating in the trial will have a tailored Claimant Commitment which is a joint agreement between the work coach and the claimant which sets out clearly what reasonable activity they have agreed to do in order to improve their earnings. Trial participants who fail to engage in the process, or who fail to take the reasonable actions mutually agreed in their claimant commitment without good reason may have their Universal Credit payments reduced under a sanction.
Claimants will be given the opportunity to explain why they have not complied with a requirement. An independent decision maker will consider if a sanction is appropriate and if the claimant had good reason for not complying, taking into account the claimant’s representations. Where a claimant is sanctioned there are clear safeguards in place.
The employment rate for 16 to 64 year olds within the UK is 74.1 per cent; this is based on the latest available figures from the Labour Force Survey covering the period of November 2015 to January 2016.
A measure of those people in contact with mental health services who are 'experiencing enduring and severe mental health issues' is not available as a description to identify this group is not currently defined.
On 15 February, the Prime Minister announced that tens of thousands of people with mental health conditions will be supported to find or return to work. Action will be taken across government, the NHS and private companies to treat potentially debilitating mental health conditions early on through improved access to care and to help those already struggling with mental health issues to find or return to work.
The new approach is based on recommendations from the Mental Health Taskforce which set out a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem and which recognised clear links between work and good mental health and the need for more people to be able to access treatment early on so they can avoid long-term unemployment.
DWP secured over £115m, including at least £40 million for a health and work innovation fund to pilot new ways to join up across the health and employment systems, in addition to existing £43m for a range of mental health trials.
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Claimants with mental health conditions are considered “vulnerable”, therefore if they failed to attend a Work Capability Assessment, attempts will be made to contact them by telephone and, if appropriate, to arrange a “safeguarding home visit” before a decision on entitlement is made.
The Jobcentre Plus sanctions regime has a range of safeguards for vulnerable claimants, including ensuring all requirements are reasonable and taking into account individual capability and circumstances, such as mental health conditions.
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) jointly with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) commissioned an evidence review on the shape, scale and cost of the supported housing sector. The review is being conducted by Ipsos-MORI in partnership with Imogen Blood and Associates and the Housing and Support Partnership. The review report will be published this year.
We welcome the Mental Health Taskforce Report, which sets out how important employment can be in supporting people with mental health conditions, and how to improve current services. We have already gone some way to implementing the recommendation on employment and are improving support by developing a new Work and Health programme, which will be providing employment support to claimants with a health condition or disability and the very long term unemployed. We are investing £43 million in a range of trials to develop our evidence base on what works for those with mental health conditions; and investing in increasing employment support in therapy services. The Prime Minister also recently announced over £50m investment to more than double the number of employment advisors in IAPT services, so that they are linked in to every talking therapy service in the country.
We will publish a White Paper later this year that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities, including exploring the roles of employers, to further reduce the disability employment gap and promote integration across health and employment.
We work closely with the supported housing sector to ensure they are supported as effectively as possible, and highly value the work they do. As part of this we have commissioned an evidence review of supported housing. The results of this research will determine our future policy development and any appropriate exemptions.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has developed Fit for Work to help people who are returning to work after a period of ill health. Fit for Work provides both a supportive occupational health assessment and general health and work advice to employees, employers and General Practitioners (GPs), to help individuals stay in or return to work.
People who have been unemployed due to ill health may be also eligible for support from a number of other programmes, including:
Additionally, an individual who is returning to their current job or a new job after a period of ill health may be eligible for support from Access to Work, which is a discretionary grant scheme that offers financial awards for in-work support for people whose disability or health condition affects the way they work.
The Department will be working through the details of what will be provided by the contracted relationship support provision in the next few months.
The Department will be working through the details of what will be provided by the contracted relationship support provision in the next few months.
This policy is still under development and full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.
This measure is not being introduced until April 2018 and only then where new tenancies have been taken out or existing tenancies renewed from 1 April 2016.
When we formulated Universal Credit (UC) in 2010, we determined that the Severe Disability Premium was a payment for care costs rather than daily living costs so are not part of Universal Credit. Costs for care are picked up through the social care system.
Under UC the more severely disabled claimants will receive more targeted support. They will receive the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity element of UC, which is the same level of support that is provided under Employment Support Allowance. Eligibility for these elements will be determined following the outcome of a Work Capability Assessment.
The Government has no plans to make changes to the existing Severe Disability Premium which is available in means-tested benefits such as Income Support. It is not a qualifying condition for an award of Carer’s Allowance that the person being cared for is entitled to the Severe Disability Premium. Neither Carer’s Allowance nor Universal Credit (which also contains an additional amount for carers) are available to claimants aged under 16.
The Budget 2015 provided £15 million over three years to co-locate Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services in Jobcentres. We are looking to test co-location of IAPT services in two phases in 2015-2018. Within the first phase Canterbury Jobcentre is hosting their local IAPT service within private rooms on site. The second phase will test co-location of IAPT in a wider number of Jobcentres, which have yet to be selected. Some Jobcentres are independently building relationships with their local IAPT services under Freedom and Flexibilities.
The Independent Living Fund closed on 30 June 2015. The information requested is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Such information as is available can be found on page 10 of the equality impact assessment published on 6 March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287236/closure-of-ilf-equality-analysis.pdf.
A copy of the current guidance was placed in the Library on 20th July 2015.
Following Dame Carol Black’s review ‘Improving health and work: changing lives’, published on 25th November 2008, the recommendations were taken forward including the launching of a series of pilots and programmes to help tackle the costs of working-age ill-health and a National Education Programme for GPs from April 2009. In addition, in 2010 the fit note was also introduced to help GPs provide their patients with better fitness for work advice.
Building on the original report, in 2011 the Government asked Dame Carol Black and David Frost CBE to review the sickness absence system across Great Britain to help combat the 130 million days lost to sickness absence every year. Their review ‘Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence’ was published in 2011, with our response published in January 2013. In its response, the Government accepted the recommendation to establish the service now called ‘Fit for Work’ which will launch shortly. Fit for Work will provide an occupational health assessment to employees who have been off sick for four weeks and general health and work advice to GP’s, employers and employees across Great Britain for the first time.
Protection of the health of painters and decorators at work in relation to lead based paint is achieved by restricting access to such paints and by limiting exposure.
The marketing and use of lead based paint is restricted in the UK by the EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals Regulation (REACH). Under the current conditions of the REACH restriction, there is a derogation to allow for limited use of lead based paint in the restoration and maintenance of historic buildings and artwork. Those intending to use lead based paint must provide a declaration of the intended use to both the supplier and to the relevant competent authority before any work commences.
Further protection is afforded by the Control of Lead at Work Regulations (CLAW) 2002. These Regulations apply to activities involved in the application of lead based paint in permitted circumstances as described above and also to refurbishment work such as maintenance of buildings, where the removal of lead based paint can create risks of exposure.
Under CLAW duty holders are required to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, including identifying whether lead based paint or other lead-containing material is present. Informed by that assessment, duty holders must identify, and implement adequate control measures to minimise the exposure of workers to inhalable lead particles and ensuring high standards of personal hygiene. If exposure to lead is likely to be significant, employers are also required to carry out air monitoring and medical surveillance of employees.
Occupational exposure to lead is regulated by the Control of Lead at Work Regulations (CLAW) 2002.
In the last 3 years to April 2014, the Health and Safety Executive has prosecuted the following number of cases in relation to breaches of CLAW:
Year | No. |
2011/12 | 0 |
2012/13 | 1 |
2013/14 | 2 |
The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on the cost to the economy of days lost owing to stress.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) trains staff in the skills required to support all customers and claimants.
DWP does not collate information about the number of such incidents that may occur.
DWP provides guidance to its staff handling vulnerable customers.
We do not require formal disclosure of abuse to establish split payments for Universal Credit claimants, and we do not ask for any evidence relating to the abuse. An individual can be accompanied by a representative from a third party organisation to provide expert support when disclosing domestic abuse to a work coach.
All personal information is treated in confidence, and we do not disclose information to third parties without explicit consent. If requested, we can provide access to a private area where information can be disclosed.
We have made an assessment about the suitability of Universal Credit single payments in cases of financial abuse towards one person in a couple. This was outlined in the attached letter, dated 15 May 2018, to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
The Work and Health Programme is now in place across England and Wales, offering a more personalised local approach to supporting disabled people and those with mental health conditions to overcome barriers to employment. Better integration of health support is a particular priority, and providers will deliver integrated support to customers with multiple barriers. Across the whole programme we have been guided by the evidence, learning from the best of the Work Programme and Work Choice, and have set up the programme with high quality evaluation built in.
As the Government confirmed in its response to recommendation 7 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, individuals, even with similar barriers or characteristics, can respond differently to those barriers, and so require tailored support. This is why we have elected to give providers considerable freedom in how they support claimants to move into lasting work rather than specify particular services. This is supported by a payment model which gives providers a strong incentive to deliver outcomes, including a price accelerator element which seeks to deliver better performance by increasing the return for investment for those who are harder to help.
The key area on recommendation 11 is to stress that “The Government announced in October 2017 that it no longer intends to extend Local Housing Allowance rates to social sector tenants and in particular to those living in supported housing. The Government has also made clear that it is keen to ensure that those living in supported housing, and those who provide it, receive appropriate protection. The welfare system will therefore continue to fund long-term supported accommodation along with sheltered and extra care housing.
NHS England has advised that its interim target of 800 extra Improving Access to Psychological Therapies therapists working in primary care by March 2018 has been met. NHS England is now analysing data to establish if the target to increase this number to 1,500 by March 2019 has been achieved.
Metamizole is a medicine used in some European Union countries to treat severe pain and fever. Metamizole magnesium is authorised in Spain, Portugal and Poland (as a generic medicine and under various brand names including Nolotil in Spain and Portugal and Pyralgina in Poland). The medicine has not been licensed for use in the United Kingdom.
As with all medicines, the safety of metamizole is kept under close review within the EU. A European review was conducted last year to assess all data available concerning the maximum daily dose and its contraindications on pregnancy and breastfeeding. This review was completed in December 2018 and led to agreement of harmonised information on the maximum dose to be used and that it should not be used during the third trimester of pregnancy. It was also recommended that use during breast-feeding should be avoided. As a result, consistent warnings will be available in the product information for patients and healthcare professionals within each country where authorised for use.
A recent evaluation by the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee noted reports of cases of agranulocytosis (lowered white blood cell count) which had occurred in UK residents in Spain. Agranulocytosis is a known risk of metamizole and is described in the product information for healthcare professionals. However, based on the review of available data, the Spanish Medicines Agency has taken further action to strengthen the warnings with regards to the risk of agranulocytosis. We are also aware that in October 2018 a communication was issued to healthcare professionals in Spain reminding them of this risk and the need to advise patients of the signs and symptoms and to avoid use in patients who have risk factors for agranulocytosis.
All medicines are supplied with information for patients which contain information on all known side effects and those signs and symptoms which they need to be aware of. Patients being treated with metamizole medicines who have any questions or concerns should talk to a healthcare professional.
Metamizole is a medicine used in some European Union countries to treat severe pain and fever. Metamizole magnesium is authorised in Spain, Portugal and Poland (as a generic medicine and under various brand names including Nolotil in Spain and Portugal and Pyralgina in Poland). The medicine has not been licensed for use in the United Kingdom.
As with all medicines, the safety of metamizole is kept under close review within the EU. A European review was conducted last year to assess all data available concerning the maximum daily dose and its contraindications on pregnancy and breastfeeding. This review was completed in December 2018 and led to agreement of harmonised information on the maximum dose to be used and that it should not be used during the third trimester of pregnancy. It was also recommended that use during breast-feeding should be avoided. As a result, consistent warnings will be available in the product information for patients and healthcare professionals within each country where authorised for use.
A recent evaluation by the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee noted reports of cases of agranulocytosis (lowered white blood cell count) which had occurred in UK residents in Spain. Agranulocytosis is a known risk of metamizole and is described in the product information for healthcare professionals. However, based on the review of available data, the Spanish Medicines Agency has taken further action to strengthen the warnings with regards to the risk of agranulocytosis. We are also aware that in October 2018 a communication was issued to healthcare professionals in Spain reminding them of this risk and the need to advise patients of the signs and symptoms and to avoid use in patients who have risk factors for agranulocytosis.
All medicines are supplied with information for patients which contain information on all known side effects and those signs and symptoms which they need to be aware of. Patients being treated with metamizole medicines who have any questions or concerns should talk to a healthcare professional.
Metamizole is a medicine used in some European Union countries to treat severe pain and fever. Metamizole magnesium is authorised in Spain, Portugal and Poland (as a generic medicine and under various brand names including Nolotil in Spain and Portugal and Pyralgina in Poland). The medicine has not been licensed for use in the United Kingdom.
As with all medicines, the safety of metamizole is kept under close review within the EU. A European review was conducted last year to assess all data available concerning the maximum daily dose and its contraindications on pregnancy and breastfeeding. This review was completed in December 2018 and led to agreement of harmonised information on the maximum dose to be used and that it should not be used during the third trimester of pregnancy. It was also recommended that use during breast-feeding should be avoided. As a result, consistent warnings will be available in the product information for patients and healthcare professionals within each country where authorised for use.
A recent evaluation by the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee noted reports of cases of agranulocytosis (lowered white blood cell count) which had occurred in UK residents in Spain. Agranulocytosis is a known risk of metamizole and is described in the product information for healthcare professionals. However, based on the review of available data, the Spanish Medicines Agency has taken further action to strengthen the warnings with regards to the risk of agranulocytosis. We are also aware that in October 2018 a communication was issued to healthcare professionals in Spain reminding them of this risk and the need to advise patients of the signs and symptoms and to avoid use in patients who have risk factors for agranulocytosis.
All medicines are supplied with information for patients which contain information on all known side effects and those signs and symptoms which they need to be aware of. Patients being treated with metamizole medicines who have any questions or concerns should talk to a healthcare professional.
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the outcome of the review, confirming that local authorities will continue to take the lead in commissioning sexual and reproductive health, school nursing and health visiting services, at his Royal Society of Medicine lecture on 6 June.
The review consulted a range of stake-holders. Stakeholder forums were organised by the National Aids Trust and the Public Health Systems Group, to which many organisations were invited to express their views. Officials from the Department also met with a number of organisations, and the review received a number of written submissions.
The forthcoming Prevention Green Paper will provide an opportunity for people to give us their views on more we can do to encourage local authorities and National Health Service bodies to work well together in commissioning health services.
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the outcome of the review, confirming that local authorities will continue to take the lead in commissioning sexual and reproductive health, school nursing and health visiting services, at his Royal Society of Medicine lecture on 6 June.
The review consulted a range of stake-holders. Stakeholder forums were organised by the National Aids Trust and the Public Health Systems Group, to which many organisations were invited to express their views. Officials from the Department also met with a number of organisations, and the review received a number of written submissions.
The forthcoming Prevention Green Paper will provide an opportunity for people to give us their views on more we can do to encourage local authorities and National Health Service bodies to work well together in commissioning health services.
The Government is concerned by the number of drug-related deaths, which is largely caused by an ageing cohort of heroin users. We are supporting local areas to develop a more joined up approach to commissioning and delivering the range of services that are essential to supporting recovery and preventing drug-related deaths. In October, the Home Office announced that there would be a major independent review of drug misuse. This will look at a wide range of issues, including the system of support and enforcement around drug abuse, to better inform our thinking about what more can be done to tackle drug harms including deaths. The review will inform our thinking about what more can be done to mitigate the harm caused through drug use.
Local authorities will receive £3.1 billion in 2019/20, ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health, including drug addiction. We are investing over £16 billion in local authority public health services over the five years of the 2015 Spending Review until 2020/21. Public health funding for 2020 onwards, including for addiction services, will be considered carefully in the next Spending Review, in the light of the available evidence.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has provided the following data:
- | Number of active care homes with latest overall rating as ‘Inadequate’ | Total active care homes | Percentage1 of active care homes by latest overall rating |
Liverpool Local Authority | 1 | 89 | 1.1% |
North West Region | 20 | 1,915 | 1.0% |
England | 230 | 15,668 | 1.5% |
Notes: 1Percentages for each latest overall rating are as a proportion of total active care homes, including homes with no published rating to date.
The data provided can be used in accordance with the Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information by acknowledging the CQC as the data source.
In the Prevention Vision document, ‘Prevention is Better Than Cure’, we committed to publishing a Prevention Green Paper setting out Government plans on prevention in more detail, including our approach to health in all policies. This Green Paper will be published in due course.
The National Suicide Prevention Strategy was first published in 2012 as the cross-Government outcomes strategy, ‘Preventing Suicide in England’.
We have published a number of progress reports since then with the third progress report, published in January 2017, updating the 2012 strategy in a number of areas. The latest progress report was published in January 2019 together with a cross-Government suicide prevention workplan which sets out an ambitious programme across central and local government and delivery agencies to reduce suicide. These documents are available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/suicide-prevention-resources-and-guidance
The Department is clear that all staff that are European Union nationals are valued and should be made to feel welcome in the United Kingdom and working in the National Health Service. To this end the Department has supported employers in promoting the EU Settlement Scheme and piloting the scheme from December 2018 to NHS and social care employees, before it was launched to the wider public in March 2019.
It should be noted that the rate of European Economic Area citizens leaving the Nursing and Midwifery Council register decreased by 18.1% between April 2018 and March 2019.
On 21 May 2019, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its ‘Interim Report: Review of restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation for people with a mental health problem, a learning disability and or autism.’ The Government has accepted all five of the recommendations in the CQC’s interim report including the recommendation that an expert group, that includes clinicians, people with lived experience and academics, should be convened to consider what would be the key features of a better system of care for this specific group of people (that is those with a learning disability and/or autism whose behaviour is so challenging that they are, or are at risk of, being cared for in segregation).
The target in the NHS Long Term Plan is to reduce the number of children with a learning disability, autism or both in a specialist inpatient unit to a level equivalent to no more than 12 to 15 children per one million children in England by 2023-24.
On 21 May 2019, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its ‘Interim Report: Review of restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation for people with a mental health problem, a learning disability and or autism.’ The Government has accepted all five of the recommendations in the CQC’s interim report including the recommendation that an expert group, that includes clinicians, people with lived experience and academics, should be convened to consider what would be the key features of a better system of care for this specific group of people (that is those with a learning disability and/or autism whose behaviour is so challenging that they are, or are at risk of, being cared for in segregation).
The target in the NHS Long Term Plan is to reduce the number of children with a learning disability, autism or both in a specialist inpatient unit to a level equivalent to no more than 12 to 15 children per one million children in England by 2023-24.
The interim People Plan, published on 3 June 2019, recognises the need to move to a multi-disciplinary model of care, particularly for people with more complex health and care needs, and places general practitioners at the heart of this model.
In advance of publishing the final People Plan, NHS England will work to implement the plan set out in Health Education England and NHS Improvement’s report, ‘Maximising the Potential: essential measures to support SAS doctors’, published in February 2019.
The aim is to provide further support and flexible training for specialty and associate specialist doctors, and establish a national programme board to address geographical and specialty shortages in medicine. The report can be accessed here:
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/SAS_Report_Web.pdf
Skills for Care and Health Education England are working to ensure that the health and social care workforce have the skills and training they need, including when working with people with complex needs.
NHS Improvement is leading a national retention programme across the National Health Service with an initial focus on improving retention of the nursing workforce, as well as the mental health clinical workforce.
To date 110 trusts have completed the NHS Improvement Direct Support Programme. NHS Improvement is currently working with an additional 35 trusts and will be expanding the programme across the NHS and providing support to all remaining NHS trusts in England.
The latest data from the University and College Admissions Service (February 2019) shows that there has been a 4.5% increase in applicants to nursing or midwifery courses at English universities when compared to this time last year (2018).
The NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next 10 years the NHS will have the staff it needs. This will ensure that nurses are able to offer the expert compassionate care that they are committed providing. To ensure a detailed plan that everyone in the NHS can get behind my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has asked Baroness Harding to lead an inclusive programme of work to set out a detailed workforce implementation plan to be published in due course.
NHS Improvement is leading a national retention programme across the National Health Service with an initial focus on improving retention of the nursing workforce, as well as the mental health clinical workforce.
To date 110 trusts have completed the NHS Improvement Direct Support Programme. NHS Improvement is currently working with an additional 35 trusts and will be expanding the programme across the NHS and providing support to all remaining NHS trusts in England.
The latest data from the University and College Admissions Service (February 2019) shows that there has been a 4.5% increase in applicants to nursing or midwifery courses at English universities when compared to this time last year (2018).
The NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next 10 years the NHS will have the staff it needs. This will ensure that nurses are able to offer the expert compassionate care that they are committed providing. To ensure a detailed plan that everyone in the NHS can get behind my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has asked Baroness Harding to lead an inclusive programme of work to set out a detailed workforce implementation plan to be published in due course.
‘Building the right support’, published in 2015 by NHS England, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) is the national plan in England for reducing the number of people with learning disabilities or autistic people who are inpatients in mental health hospitals. It set out a clear framework for commissioners to reduce inpatient capacity by developing more community services for people with learning disabilities or autistic people with behaviour that challenges. The expectation was for a reduction in inpatient numbers of between 35 and 50% by March 2019.
By the end of April 2019, inpatient numbers had reduced by 22%. National Health Service planning guidance for 2019/20 requires a 35% reduction in inpatients compared to 2015 no later than the end of 2019/20. The LGA and ADASS, as key delivery partners of the Transforming Care programme, will continue to support work to improve provision of suitable accommodation and services in the community and the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education will remain accountable for ensuring that children and young people receive the support they need.
The NHS Long Term Plan prioritises services for children and young people, providing a clear focus on improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people with learning disabilities and/or autism, as well as committing to implementing ‘Building the right support’ in full, achieving at least a 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability or autism who are inpatients, compared to the figure in 2015, by the end of 2023/24.
The Long Term Plan sets out specific commitments to achieve this by developing new models of care to provide care closer to home and investing in intensive, crisis and forensic community support. By 2023/24 children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both with the most complex needs will also have a designated keyworker. These will be initially provided to children and young people who are inpatients or at risk of being admitted to hospital.
Local health systems have been asked to develop plans for implementing the Long Term Plan’s commitments. These plans will be brought together in a national implementation programme for the Long Term Plan to 2023-24, and an NHS workforce implementation plan, by the end of 2019.
The Government consulted on the Breathing Space programme between October 2018 and January 2019. Breathing Space is a statutory debt repayment plan which aims to give people in problem debt the opportunity to take control of their finances and put them on a sustainable footing. The scheme includes a specific mechanism to make it easier for people experiencing a mental health crisis to access support. A response to the consultation will be published in due course.
The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights groups that need tailored approaches to address their mental health needs to reduce their suicide risk, including people who are vulnerable due to social or economic circumstances. We are working with the local government sector to assess the effectiveness of those plans, and a report will be published shortly that highlights areas of best practice and areas for improvement. This report will include an analysis of the extent to which local authority plans are addressing high risk groups.
The maternal mortality rates by suicide, per 100,000 maternities up to one year post-partum are set out in the following table.
Cause of death | 2010-12 | 2011-13 | 2012-14 | 2013-15 | 2014-16 |
Psychiatric Causes – Suicide | 10 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 16 |
Source: MBRRACE-UK, Office for National Statistics, National Records Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Data for United Kingdom.
The inter-ministerial group for mental health met on 29 April 2019. The agenda included discussion on the progress of the Government’s existing mental health commitments and new challenges going forward.
The Department does not hold data on the number of care home closures since 2016. However, data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is available on the change in the number of care homes in England, which reflects both openings and closures over time.
Due to the devolved nature of social care, figures are only available for England and the North West. These are taken from averaging across quarterly CQC data.
The CQC’s data shows that there were 16,839 care homes in England in January 2016 compared to 15,738 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 901 homes, a 6.5% reduction.
However, the total number of beds in England has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 461,793 beds in January 2016 compared to 456,333 beds in April 2019, a 1.2% reduction.
The CQC’s data shows that there were 2,039 care homes in the North West in January 2016 compared to 1,914 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 105 homes, a 6% reduction.
However, the total number of beds in the North West has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 63,005 beds in January 2016 compared to 61,704 beds in April 2019, a 2.06% reduction.
Nationally, England has seen a decrease of 1.5% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.
Year | Average Number of Residential and Nursing Beds |
2015 | 463,792 |
2016 | 460,763 |
2017 | 459,920 |
2018 | 459,001 |
2019 | 456,924 |
In the North West, there has been a decrease of 2% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.
Year | Average Number of Residential and Nursing Beds |
2015 | 63,282 |
2016 | 62,969 |
2017 | 62,657 |
2018 | 62,200 |
2019 | 61,920 |
The Department does not hold data on the number of care home closures since 2016. However, data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is available on the change in the number of care homes in England, which reflects both openings and closures over time.
Due to the devolved nature of social care, figures are only available for England and the North West. These are taken from averaging across quarterly CQC data.
The CQC’s data shows that there were 16,839 care homes in England in January 2016 compared to 15,738 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 901 homes, a 6.5% reduction.
However, the total number of beds in England has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 461,793 beds in January 2016 compared to 456,333 beds in April 2019, a 1.2% reduction.
The CQC’s data shows that there were 2,039 care homes in the North West in January 2016 compared to 1,914 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 105 homes, a 6% reduction.
However, the total number of beds in the North West has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 63,005 beds in January 2016 compared to 61,704 beds in April 2019, a 2.06% reduction.
Nationally, England has seen a decrease of 1.5% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.
Year | Average Number of Residential and Nursing Beds |
2015 | 463,792 |
2016 | 460,763 |
2017 | 459,920 |
2018 | 459,001 |
2019 | 456,924 |
In the North West, there has been a decrease of 2% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.
Year | Average Number of Residential and Nursing Beds |
2015 | 63,282 |
2016 | 62,969 |
2017 | 62,657 |
2018 | 62,200 |
2019 | 61,920 |
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health set a target for every local area to develop a multi-agency suicide prevention plan that demonstrates how they will implement interventions targeting high-risk locations and supporting high-risk groups within their population. As of March 2019 all local authorities have confirmed with Public Health England that they have a plan in place that has been agreed with their local partners.
The Department is working with the Association of Directors of Public Health and local government sector to assess the effectiveness of local suicide prevention plans, and a report will be published in spring with findings and themes, including areas for improvement and areas of best practice which can be shared across local authorities. This process will also inform a Sector-Led Improvement programme which will enable local areas to learn from each other and to further develop their plans.
Information is not held centrally on the number of general practitioner (GP) practices with a mental health specialist, or the number of GP practice nurses that have received mental health training.
There are no official statistics for the number of approved mental health professionals employed by the National Health Service.
The Department does not hold the information requested prior to 2013. Since January 2013, the National Health Service has reported 22 deaths of patients under the care of inpatient children and young people’s mental health services as follows:
- 2013 (four deaths);
- 2014 (three deaths);
- 2015 (two deaths);
- 2016 (two deaths);
- 2017 (three deaths);
- 2018 (four deaths); and
- 2019 (four deaths).
All of these deaths were reported as suspected self-inflicted deaths at the point of notification to the Department. The final determination of cause of death is determined by the Coroner at inquest.
Al deaths of patients under the care of inpatient children and young people’s mental health services are reported to Ministers, the Care Quality Commission, and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health which includes the figures in its annual reports.
NHS England will be setting out more detailed information about implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan in the spring. This will include more detail on funding and ambitions over the first five years of the plan, including the ambitions to improve the capacity of the ambulance services to respond to mental health needs.
The Department has no plans to make an assessment of the effect of police transportation on the recovery and health of people in mental health crisis.
NHS England will be setting out more detailed information about implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan in the spring. This will include more detail on funding and ambitions over the first five years of the plan, including the ambitions to improve the capacity of the ambulance services to respond to mental health needs.
The Department has no plans to make an assessment of the effect of police transportation on the recovery and health of people in mental health crisis.
The Department is working closely with trade bodies, product suppliers, the health and care system in England, the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, to make detailed plans to ensure the continuation of the supply of medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom in the event of a ‘no deal’ European Union exit.
We have also assessed contract risks associated with potential EU exit in the broader National Health Service and within the devolved administrations, and are working with suppliers to ensure adequate mitigations are in place for non-clinical goods and services (e.g. hospital food, laundry, IT contracts etc).
The key risk to supply is reduced traffic flow at the short straits crossing (i.e. between Calais and Dover or Folkestone), which is where the majority of medicines and other medical products imported from the EU/European Economic Area (EEA) come from. Many companies across all sectors, have already taken measures to protect their own supply chain to avoid the possible delays at the Dover Straits. The Department for Transport has also procured additional ‘roll on roll off’ freight capacity equivalent of around an extra 2,200 heavy goods vehicle per week to help companies in importing medicines and medical products into the UK.
The Government recognises the vital importance of medicines and medical products, including insulin, and is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK.
The Government has agreed that medicines and medical products will be prioritised on these alternative routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.
In August 2018, the Department asked suppliers to confirm arrangements in respect of prescription-only and pharmacy medicines that come from or via the EU/EEEA. Company responses have provided the Department with an indication of industry’s ability and preparedness to stockpile six weeks’ worth of additional supply of each of the in-scope medicines in the UK ahead of 29 March 2019.
Since then, we have continued to receive very good engagement and are working closely with industry on a product-by-product basis. Companies share our aims of ensuring continuity of medicines supply for patients is maintained and able to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.
The Department is working closely with trade bodies, product suppliers, the health and care system in England, the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, to make detailed plans to ensure the continuation of the supply of medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom in the event of a ‘no deal’ European Union exit.
We have also assessed contract risks associated with potential EU exit in the broader National Health Service and within the devolved administrations, and are working with suppliers to ensure adequate mitigations are in place for non-clinical goods and services (e.g. hospital food, laundry, IT contracts etc).
The key risk to supply is reduced traffic flow at the short straits crossing (i.e. between Calais and Dover or Folkestone), which is where the majority of medicines and other medical products imported from the EU/European Economic Area (EEA) come from. Many companies across all sectors, have already taken measures to protect their own supply chain to avoid the possible delays at the Dover Straits. The Department for Transport has also procured additional ‘roll on roll off’ freight capacity equivalent of around an extra 2,200 heavy goods vehicle per week to help companies in importing medicines and medical products into the UK.
The Government recognises the vital importance of medicines and medical products, including insulin, and is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK.
The Government has agreed that medicines and medical products will be prioritised on these alternative routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.
In August 2018, the Department asked suppliers to confirm arrangements in respect of prescription-only and pharmacy medicines that come from or via the EU/EEEA. Company responses have provided the Department with an indication of industry’s ability and preparedness to stockpile six weeks’ worth of additional supply of each of the in-scope medicines in the UK ahead of 29 March 2019.
Since then, we have continued to receive very good engagement and are working closely with industry on a product-by-product basis. Companies share our aims of ensuring continuity of medicines supply for patients is maintained and able to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.
The Department is working closely with trade bodies, product suppliers, the health and care system in England, the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, to make detailed plans to ensure the continuation of the supply of medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom in the event of a ‘no deal’ European Union exit.
We have also assessed contract risks associated with potential EU exit in the broader National Health Service and within the devolved administrations, and are working with suppliers to ensure adequate mitigations are in place for non-clinical goods and services (e.g. hospital food, laundry, IT contracts etc).
The key risk to supply is reduced traffic flow at the short straits crossing (i.e. between Calais and Dover or Folkestone), which is where the majority of medicines and other medical products imported from the EU/European Economic Area (EEA) come from. Many companies across all sectors, have already taken measures to protect their own supply chain to avoid the possible delays at the Dover Straits. The Department for Transport has also procured additional ‘roll on roll off’ freight capacity equivalent of around an extra 2,200 heavy goods vehicle per week to help companies in importing medicines and medical products into the UK.
The Government recognises the vital importance of medicines and medical products, including insulin, and is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK.
The Government has agreed that medicines and medical products will be prioritised on these alternative routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.
In August 2018, the Department asked suppliers to confirm arrangements in respect of prescription-only and pharmacy medicines that come from or via the EU/EEEA. Company responses have provided the Department with an indication of industry’s ability and preparedness to stockpile six weeks’ worth of additional supply of each of the in-scope medicines in the UK ahead of 29 March 2019.
Since then, we have continued to receive very good engagement and are working closely with industry on a product-by-product basis. Companies share our aims of ensuring continuity of medicines supply for patients is maintained and able to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.
NHS Digital is working in co-ordination with other arm’s length bodies to improve the reporting of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983.
The official source of detentions changed from the KP90 aggregate collection to the administrative data source Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) from 2016-17 data. Submission to the MHSDS is mandatory for all National Health Service and independent providers that detain patients under the Mental Health Act. The Information Standards Notice makes it a statutory duty for NHS funded mental health services to submit this data to MHSDS.
To support data quality improvement, NHS Digital provides data quality feedback to providers via reports when MHSDS submissions are made, followed by additional feedback to providers in the monthly data submission cycle. Further improvements to this feedback are being planned.
NHS Digital provides comprehensive technical guidance documentation to support the accurate completion of MHSDS data. Providers and suppliers are kept updated with developments via regular workshops and newsletters.
NHS Digital is supporting the Care Quality Commission in their ongoing work to contact former KP90 submitters that have failed to make submissions to the MHSDS about their detentions. This work will provide more detail on the reasons for non-submission and we will work with partners to resolve the issues identified.
Further information is available in ‘Mental Health Act Statistics, Annual Figures: Background Data Quality Report England, 2017-18’, which is available at the following link:
https://files.digital.nhs.uk/3C/C59157/ment-heal-act-stat-eng-2017-18-back-data-qual-rep.pdf
NHS England’s children and young people’s mental health transformation programme, improvements in crisis services, and national specialised commissioning of services are all contributing to ensuring children and young people get the help they need from the right services.
Progress is being made, as evidenced by the continued downward trend in the use of adult mental health beds, as recognised by the Care Quality Commission’s ‘Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2017-18’ report, achieved against a background of rising referrals.
The Department does not comment on leaked documents.
Information on a ‘no deal’ European Union exit planning for adult social care is available on GOV.UK at the following links:
Ministers and the Department have written to social care providers and commissioners about the Government's preparations for a potential ‘no deal’ European Union exit, and about actions that providers and commissioners of social care services should take to prepare for, and manage, the risks of a ‘no deal’ EU exit scenario. This correspondence and guidance is available online on GOV.UK.
If an adult social care provider’s business fails, local authorities have a statutory duty, under the Care Act 2014, to meet people’s care and support needs temporarily until suitable, alternative provision can be arranged.
The Government is working with local authorities and providers to ensure that adult social care services continue as normal. This includes ensuring that effective and up-to-date contingency plans are in place.
The United Kingdom Government appreciates the importance of retaining reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the European Union and has been clear in the negotiations that it wants to protect the rights of UK citizens in the EU. Extensive work to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario, including contingency planning, has been under way for over two years and we are taking necessary steps to ensure the country continues to operate smoothly from the day we leave.
Subject to the Withdrawal Agreement being agreed by Parliament, during the implementation period the current rules on reciprocal healthcare will continue until December 2020. The rights of UK nationals living in the EU, and who fall within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement, will continue to be protected after December 2020, for as long as these individuals remain in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement. This includes state pensioners already benefiting from that cover.
In the event that the UK exits the EU without a deal, EU citizens resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 will be able to stay and continue to access in country benefits and services, including healthcare, on broadly the same terms as now. This demonstrates the UK Government’s ongoing commitment to citizens and removes any ambiguity over their future. We are engaging with EU counterparts to urge them to make the same commitment to protect the rights of UK nationals in the EU.
The reciprocal healthcare system requires reciprocity from the EU or individual Member States and cannot be protected unilaterally. The UK Government is seeking agreements with Member States, so that no individual, including retired UK citizen living in other EU Member States, will face sudden changes to their healthcare cover.
The Government has published updated advice for UK persons resident in countries in the European Economic Area as well as for those wishing to travel to such countries with specific information on potential changes to access to reciprocal healthcare and precautions they may wish to take in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.
General information is available on the GOV.UK website and country-specific advice can be found under the relevant sections of NHS.UK as well. This includes guidance for UK citizens living in European countries and suggestions on alternative arrangements they may wish to make, should existing arrangements such as the European Health Insurance Card scheme cease, which appears as a section under the profile of each individual country.
The information provided on these pages will be updated in light of new developments and changing circumstances.
The United Kingdom Government appreciates the importance of retaining reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the European Union and has been clear in the negotiations that it wants to protect the rights of UK citizens in the EU. Extensive work to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario, including contingency planning, has been under way for over two years and we are taking necessary steps to ensure the country continues to operate smoothly from the day we leave.
Subject to the Withdrawal Agreement being agreed by Parliament, during the implementation period the current rules on reciprocal healthcare will continue until December 2020. The rights of UK nationals living in the EU, and who fall within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement, will continue to be protected after December 2020, for as long as these individuals remain in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement. This includes state pensioners already benefiting from that cover.
In the event that the UK exits the EU without a deal, EU citizens resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 will be able to stay and continue to access in country benefits and services, including healthcare, on broadly the same terms as now. This demonstrates the UK Government’s ongoing commitment to citizens and removes any ambiguity over their future. We are engaging with EU counterparts to urge them to make the same commitment to protect the rights of UK nationals in the EU.
The reciprocal healthcare system requires reciprocity from the EU or individual Member States and cannot be protected unilaterally. The UK Government is seeking agreements with Member States, so that no individual, including retired UK citizen living in other EU Member States, will face sudden changes to their healthcare cover.
The Government has published updated advice for UK persons resident in countries in the European Economic Area as well as for those wishing to travel to such countries with specific information on potential changes to access to reciprocal healthcare and precautions they may wish to take in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.
General information is available on the GOV.UK website and country-specific advice can be found under the relevant sections of NHS.UK as well. This includes guidance for retired UK citizens living in other EU Member States and suggestions on alternative arrangements they may wish to make, should existing arrangements such as the European Health Insurance Card scheme cease, which appears as a section under the profile of each individual country.
The information provided on these pages will be updated in light of new developments and changing circumstances.
We are clear that acute beds must always be available for people who need them, but providers also have a responsibility to offer care in the community as well as in hospitals. The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health set out how the National Health Service will provide more safe, evidence-based alternatives to inpatient beds in the form of intensive community treatment teams, which reduce the number of admissions, and, most importantly, enable patients to be treated closer to home.
There are many different types of mental health bed – from high secure beds in special hospitals to psychiatric intensive care, open rehabilitation beds and recovery houses. The right mix of these beds, and of services that can be delivered in out-patient and non-residential community settings or in people’s homes, will vary by area according to local need.
In February 2016, the Commission on Acute Adult Psychiatric Care published a final report, ‘Old Problems, New Solutions: Improving acute inpatient psychiatric care for adults in England’, which highlighted that the ‘admission crisis’ is not simply due to a reduction of beds, but rather relates to hospital discharge issues and the lack of community care and alternatives to admission. The report is available via the following link:
The Government is committed to ensuring everyone with an eating disorder has access to the best quality of care to meet their needs and so the National Health Service is addressing this commitment by treating more children and young people with an eating disorder than ever before.
As services improve, and as the NHS continues to identify and meet previously unmet need, this is leading to an increase in activity. The latest data shows that over four out of five young people already receive treatment within one week in urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases. This means more young people are getting the right support, at the right time, closer to home.
The NHS Long Term Plan has set out how we will build on this. NHS England’s proposals to improve care for adults include maintaining and developing new services for those who have the most complex needs. The recently published ‘NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2019/20 Annex B: Guidance for operational and activity plans: assurance statements’ to accompany the NHS Planning Guidance for 2019/20 makes clear that these services include services for adults with eating disorders.
This guidance is available at the following link:
Further detail on implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan's commitments to improve mental health services will be available when NHS England publishes its framework for implementation in the spring.
The Government is committed to ensuring everyone with an eating disorder has access to the best quality of care to meet their needs and so the National Health Service is addressing this commitment by treating more children and young people with an eating disorder than ever before.
As services improve, and as the NHS continues to identify and meet previously unmet need, this is leading to an increase in activity. The latest data shows that over four out of five young people already receive treatment within one week in urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases. This means more young people are getting the right support, at the right time, closer to home.
The NHS Long Term Plan has set out how we will build on this. NHS England’s proposals to improve care for adults include maintaining and developing new services for those who have the most complex needs. The recently published ‘NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2019/20 Annex B: Guidance for operational and activity plans: assurance statements’ to accompany the NHS Planning Guidance for 2019/20 makes clear that these services include services for adults with eating disorders.
This guidance is available at the following link:
Further detail on implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan's commitments to improve mental health services will be available when NHS England publishes its framework for implementation in the spring.
Public Health England (PHE) plans to publish its Syphilis Action Plan in spring 2019.
PHE routinely collects data on syphilis diagnoses made at sexual health clinics that are published each summer. PHE is implementing an updated version of the Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset (GUMCAD) sexually transmitted infections (STI) surveillance system from spring 2019 to better detect the complications of syphilis infection. The GUMCAD STI surveillance system can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gumcad-sti-surveillance-system
Additionally, the surveillance of congenital syphilis will form part of the new PHE Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy Screening (IDPS) Programme Integrated Screening Surveillance Service. Further information on the IDPS programme can be viewed at the following link:
Increased professional and public awareness of syphilis in pregnancy and the neonate is planned via a new interactive IDPS e-learning package. The e-learning package can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/nhs-screening-programmes/
The provision of patient information and regional training events for healthcare professionals are being considered.
Public Health England (PHE) plans to publish its Syphilis Action Plan in spring 2019.
PHE routinely collects data on syphilis diagnoses made at sexual health clinics that are published each summer. PHE is implementing an updated version of the Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset (GUMCAD) sexually transmitted infections (STI) surveillance system from spring 2019 to better detect the complications of syphilis infection. The GUMCAD STI surveillance system can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gumcad-sti-surveillance-system
Additionally, the surveillance of congenital syphilis will form part of the new PHE Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy Screening (IDPS) Programme Integrated Screening Surveillance Service. Further information on the IDPS programme can be viewed at the following link:
Increased professional and public awareness of syphilis in pregnancy and the neonate is planned via a new interactive IDPS e-learning package. The e-learning package can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/nhs-screening-programmes/
The provision of patient information and regional training events for healthcare professionals are being considered.
The abortion rate for women aged 30-34 has increased from 15.1 per 1,000 women in 2007 to 18.5 in 2017 but there are a number of factors that need to be considered before drawing conclusions about the reasons for this increase, including any overall increase in conception rates for women aged 30-34.
Public Health England is developing a reproductive health action plan to be published this year which will include actions around reducing unplanned pregnancy.
The priority for NHS England has been to ensure that Capita provide a service that is stable and delivering safely for patients before the change takes place. Early service delivery issues in Primary Care Services England together with recent screening incidents have been the priority to ensure patient safety. The change required to remove the use of National Health Application and Infrastructure Services (NHAIS) is complex due to the aged architecture and local variations in how data is stored on each individual NHAIS database and the sensitivity of that information.
In the meantime, NHS England has asked Sir Mike Richards to lead a review to improve the delivery of adult screening programmes, and will consider how current IT systems support the ambitions of the programmes.
Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer are key priorities for this Government, and the Department is already working closely with NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) to address the issues this useful report highlights.
The Department holds NHS England to account for the delivery of all adult screening programmes through regular Section 7a accountability meetings where the three organisations review all the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the functions of the S7a agreement including screening coverage data, with a focus on review of any service improvement initiatives and mitigating actions NHS England have put in place where there is underperformance. Screening programmes are part of the bundle of preventative services commissioned by NHS England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under the Public Health Functions Agreement (or Section 7A agreement).
NHS England agrees contracts with providers of adult screening programmes to deliver the targets set by the Department, and NHS England manages these contracts to deliver the required performance. National and local levels of performance are measured to reduce variation in local levels of performance against threshold targets.
The Long Term Plan published in January sets an agenda to improve uptake of screening and ensure that all screening and vaccination programmes are designed to support a narrowing of health inequalities.
NHS England also works closely with PHE and the Department and charities on campaigns to boost the proportion of the eligible population that attend for screening. These campaigns aim to increase awareness of the importance of screening and address variations and inequalities.
Furthermore, NHS England announced in November 2018 that Professor Sir Mike Richards will lead a review of the national cancer screening programmes. The review, expected to report by summer 2019 will include recommendations about how best to maximise uptake of screening, and iron out variation in uptake rates between different geographical areas and different population groups.
The Code of Practice for the Mental Health Act 1983 is clear that “hospital or ambulance transport will usually be preferable to police transport, which should only be used exceptionally, such as in cases of extreme urgency or where there is an immediate risk of violence”. There are cases, as recognised in the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, where a patient may request police transportation to minimise their own distress, and where police officers do not request an ambulance.
The Independent Review recommended in December that NHS England should invest capital and revenue to improve the ambulance fleet for mental health conveyance, to create new joined up functions between mental health services, ambulance services and other urgent and emergency care services. NHS England has confirmed in the NHS Long Term Plan that will be the case, and it will introduce new mental health transport vehicles to reduce inappropriate conveyance by police.
The Department has not made an assessment of how police transportation affects the recovery and health of people in mental health crisis.
The Code of Practice for the Mental Health Act 1983 is clear that “hospital or ambulance transport will usually be preferable to police transport, which should only be used exceptionally, such as in cases of extreme urgency or where there is an immediate risk of violence”. There are cases, as recognised in the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, where a patient may request police transportation to minimise their own distress, and where police officers do not request an ambulance.
The Independent Review recommended in December that NHS England should invest capital and revenue to improve the ambulance fleet for mental health conveyance, to create new joined up functions between mental health services, ambulance services and other urgent and emergency care services. NHS England has confirmed in the NHS Long Term Plan that will be the case, and it will introduce new mental health transport vehicles to reduce inappropriate conveyance by police.
The Department has not made an assessment of how police transportation affects the recovery and health of people in mental health crisis.
The following table sets out the total income received by National Health Service ambulance trusts in the last five financial years. Total income has increased each year over this period.
Total income received by NHS ambulance trusts 2013/14 – 2017/18
Financial year | Total NHS ambulance trust income |
2013-14 | 2,088,126 |
2014-15 | 2,179,338 |
2015-16 | 2,194,798 |
2016-17 | 2,333,710 |
2017-18 | 2,465,389 |
Source: Published NHS financial accounts
The National Implementation Framework, which is to be published in the spring, will provide further information on how the NHS Long Term Plan will be implemented. Further details, based on local health system five year plans will be brought together in a detailed national implementation plan in the autumn.
Baroness Harding will present initial recommendations to the Department in spring 2019. A final workforce implementation plan will follow later in the year, taking into account the outcomes of the Spending Review.
The Social Care Green Paper remains a priority for this Government and we will be publishing a Green Paper setting out proposals for reform at the earliest opportunity.
In 2018, the Government had asked Tom Kark QC to carry out a review of the scope, operation and purpose of the Fit and Proper Person Requirement. The review, which was published on 6 February 2019, made seven recommendations, including to develop specified standards of competence that all directors, who sit on the Board, of any health providing organisation, should meet.
The Government accepts this recommendation in principle, and has asked Baroness Dido Harding, the chair of the system-wide Workforce Implementation Steering Group, to look at how best to introduce new standards alongside other proposals on leadership and development of National Health Service managers, which is set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Subject to the Withdrawal Agreement being agreed by Parliament, the two-year Implementation Period will begin on exit day. During the Implementation Period, the United Kingdom would the UK would no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access for goods, including medicines, would continue on current terms.
During the Implementation Period, it will be the Government’s top priority to negotiate a future economic partnership between the UK and the EU. In the Government’s White Paper we committed to securing the freest and most frictionless trade possible in goods between the UK and the EU and to agree on healthcare arrangements.
Whilst a negotiated deal remains the preferred outcome, it is appropriate that preparations are made for all scenarios. The Government has been accelerating preparations that assure the continuity of supply of National Health Service medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
In August 2018, the Department wrote to all pharmaceutical companies that supply prescription-only and pharmacy medicines to the UK that come from, or via, the EU/European Economic Area (EEA) asking them to ensure a minimum of six weeks additional supply in the UK, over and above existing business-as-usual buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019. We recognise, however, that certain medicines cannot be reasonably stockpiled. Where these medicines are imported from the EU or EEA, we have asked that suppliers ensure in advance plans to air freight these medicines from the EU in the event of a ‘no deal’ exit.
We are working to ensure we have sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity on alternative routes to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK. Medicines and other medical products will be prioritised on these routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.
Throughout enacting our plans, we have received very good engagement from industry who share our aims of ensuring that the continuity of supply of medicines and medical products for patients is maintained and able to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.
The Department continues to work closely with cross-Government agencies and NHS Blood and Transplant to ensure that there is no disruption to the supply of blood and blood components in any European Union exit scenario.
NHS Blood and Transplant will collect blood in Kent as usual and will hold the same number of appointments. NHS Blood and Transplant will be collecting the same amount of blood to ensure continued supply of blood to hospitals.
Local authorities (LAs) will receive over £3 billion in 2019/20, ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health. It is for LAs themselves to determine how best to use these resources based on their assessment of local need and with regard to their statutory duties. Regulations require all LAs to provide an open-access sexual health service, and a condition attached to the grant requires them to use it with regard to the need to improve their substance misuse services.
Public Health England monitors and publishes data for every LA on a wide range of indicators of public health, and most are stable or improving. Last year 98% of adults accessed drug treatment services within three weeks, and attendances at sexual health services increased by 13% between 2013 and 2017.
Local authorities (LAs) will receive over £3 billion in 2019/20, ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health. It is for LAs themselves to determine how best to use these resources based on their assessment of local need and with regard to their statutory duties. Regulations require all LAs to provide an open-access sexual health service, and a condition attached to the grant requires them to use it with regard to the need to improve their substance misuse services.
Public Health England monitors and publishes data for every LA on a wide range of indicators of public health, and most are stable or improving. Last year 98% of adults accessed drug treatment services within three weeks, and attendances at sexual health services increased by 13% between 2013 and 2017.
We have been clear from the beginning of this process that we want European Union nationals currently working in the National Health Service, to stay after we leave the EU. As part of this, we opened the public testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme on 21 January 2019. Following a successful private testing phase in December 2018, the scheme is now open to all EU nationals in the United Kingdom.
The Department has undertaken a targeted communications campaign with stakeholders, employers and representative bodies in the health sector to ensure that as many of our EU workforce are aware of the straight forward and user-friendly scheme that allows them to secure their long-term rights to stay and work in the UK after we leave the EU.
Furthermore, to help facilitate as many applications as possible, the Prime Minister announced on 21 January 2019 that, as of 30 March 2019, all applications to the settlement scheme will be free. Additionally, where individuals have applied, or do apply, before that date, and are charged an application fee, then this fee will be refunded.
Public Health England (PHE) routinely collects data on syphilis diagnoses made at sexual health clinics. Data for 2018 will be published in summer 2019. PHE is developing a Syphilis Action Plan, with recommendations for PHE and partner organisations, to address the continued increase in syphilis diagnoses in England.
No neonatal deaths due to syphilis have been reported to Public Health England (PHE) from 2010 to 2018 inclusive.
PHE is developing a Syphilis Action Plan which includes a maternity strand with recommendations to strengthen efforts to control congenital syphilis (babies infected by syphilis while still in the womb) through improved detection, surveillance and clinical management.
The abortion rate for women aged 30-34 has increased steadily from 15.1 per 1,000 women in 2007 to 18.5 in 2017. This is a complex area and overall increases in conception rates for women aged 30-34 need to be taken into account in any assessment. We continue to monitor this trend.
The Thriving at Work Leadership Council is an employer-led group and they are aiming to meet for a second time in April 2019.
The Department has conducted reviews of supply chains across the health and care system to assess commercial risks. The results of these reviews were received at the end of November, and the Department is conducting analysis on the data that will be used to provide additional guidance to trusts and foundation trusts. This additional guidance will be communicated to trusts and foundation trusts during February.
The National Health Service budget will increase by £33.9 billion in cash terms, the equivalent of £20.5 billion in real terms, by 2023/24, reflecting that the NHS is this Government’s top spending priority. The additional funding will allow the NHS to get back on the path to delivering core performance standards. It will also drive the reforms that deliver a better and more sustainable NHS with improved care for patients.
In its estimate of the funding required to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan, the Department has not assumed any change in investment after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. The NHS has confirmed the Long Term Plan is fully costed. The extra funding for the NHS will still apply in all exit scenarios in order to ensure it is there for the long term.
The UK and EU reached an agreement to safeguard the rights of people who have built their lives in the UK and EU, following the UK’s exit from the EU. The agreement will guarantee the rights of the 167,000 EU nationals working in our health and care system. We have been working with health and social care employers across the whole of England to ensure their EU employees are aware of the straightforward and user-friendly EU settlement scheme which will allow them to secure settled status in the UK and enjoy broadly the same rights and benefits as they do now.
The Government remains committed to leaving the EU with a deal. Under the conditions of the Withdrawal Agreement, there will be a two-year Implementation Period within which the Government will negotiate the UK’s future relationship with the EU. During the Implementation Period, there will be no change to the current trading arrangements with the EU and European Economic Area (EEA), meaning the supply of medicines and medical products will continue unhindered.
However, as a responsible Government, we are preparing for all exit scenarios, including the possibility that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The Department is enquiring with parties across Government and industry to ensure continuity of medicines supply for patients is maintained. We asked industry to stockpile an additional six weeks’ supply of prescription-only and pharmacy medicines which come to the UK from or via the EU/EEA, over and above usual buffer stocks.
The Government is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK in a ‘no deal’ scenario. The Department is working closely with the Department for Transport to ensure all medicines and medical products are prioritised on these alternative routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.
On 7 December 2018, the Department wrote to pharmaceutical companies that supply licensed medicines to the UK from or via the EU/EEA, and/or manufacture medicines in the UK, informing them of the updated reasonable worst-case scenario border disruption planning assumptions and asking them about their current transportation routes and their ability to re-route their supply chains if they currently rely on Dover and/or Folkestone. Since then we have been working closely with those companies to better understand their supply chains and the potential for rerouting in a ‘no deal’ scenario.
The Government remains committed to leaving the European Union with a deal. Under the conditions of the Withdrawal Agreement, there will be a two year Implementation Period within which the Government will negotiate the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the EU. During the Implementation Period, there will be no change to the current trading arrangements with the EU and European Economic Area, meaning the supply of medicines and medical products will continue unhindered.
However, as a responsible Government, we are preparing for all exit scenarios, including the possibility that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. In December 2018, the Government announced that preparations were being put in place to mitigate against the potential for up to six months of severe disruption to the short strait crossing routes via Dover and Folkestone. Additional freight capacity on roll-on, roll-off routes has now been secured, and there is cross-Government agreement that all medicines and medical products will have priority access to this capacity, ensuring continuity of supply for patients is maintained.
There are no plans to transfer power to Public Health England to enforce recommended changes in the National Health Service.
Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer are key priorities for this Government, and we are already working closely with NHS England and Public Health England to address the issues this useful report highlights.
These include a national mitigation plan whereby a majority of existing HPV pilot sites have converted more of their cervical screening activity to human papilloma virus (HPV) primary screening. This has freed up cytology capacity which has been used for laboratories experiencing backlogs and therefore, samples have been transferred across the country. This has also been replicated amongst non-pilot sites who have converted to HPV primary screening when all other options for reducing their backlog have not proved successful.
Most recently, a national resilience plan has been introduced whereby all existing laboratories have been given the opportunity to implement, as soon as possible, HPV primary screening prior to the conclusion of a procurement for new laboratory providers. Existing laboratory providers will continue this provision throughout the whole transitional period up to and following the commencement of the new service.
As per the ministerial commitment, full geographical coverage of HPV primary screening within the NHS Cervical Screening Programme will be achieved by the end of December 2019.
Furthermore, NHS England announced in November 2018 that Professor Sir Mike Richards will lead a review of the national cancer screening programmes. The review, expected to report by summer 2019 will include recommendations about future commissioning and delivery of cancer screening programmes in England.
The Infant Feeding Survey can only provide information at national level because of the sample size. It does not have sufficient individual records to provide data at a local level.
Since 2015 Public Health England has published experimental statistics on breastfeeding prevalence at six to eight weeks. These derive from record level administrative data collected on all children, which is collated at a local level and is statistically significant. This makes it possible to benchmark the outcomes for local areas against the national average and other areas of the country.
These data are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/breastfeeding-statistics
The inclusion of additional data points in the National Child Measurement Programme would provide minimal insight but would substantially increase the delivery costs of the programme for local authorities.
It is for local authorities to assess local needs, and to secure services to meet those needs in line with their statutory responsibilities which include provision of open access sexual health services.
Health Education England published a scoping project report on the sexual health workforce in September 2018 which provides an overview of the current workforce delivering sexual health, reproductive health and HIV services; trends in population needs; and service changes affecting the workforce which is available at the following link:
Recognising that ensuring sufficient supply of well-motivated staff will be central to the delivery of the Long Term Plan. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Baroness Dido Harding, working closely with Sir David Behan, to lead a number of programmes to engage with key National Health Service interests to develop a detailed workforce implementation plan.
The Government continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across the health and social care sector, and we are working across Government to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which patients rely following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. We are working with EU nationals to ensure that they stay in the UK, and feel welcome and encouraged to do so.
The Department holds NHS England to account for the delivery of all adult screening programmes through regular Section 7a accountability meetings where the three organisations review all the key performance indicators for the functions of the S7a agreement including screening coverage data, with a focus on review to any service improvement initiatives and mitigating actions NHS England has put in place where there is underperformance.
NHS England agrees contracts with providers of adult screening programmes to deliver the targets set by the Department, and NHS England manage these contracts to deliver the required performance. National and local levels of performance are measured to reduce variation in local levels of performance.
NHS England also works closely with Public Health England and the Department and charities on campaigns to boost the proportion of the eligible population that attend for screening. These campaigns aim to increase awareness of the importance of screening.
The Long Term Plan published in January sets an agenda to improve uptake of screening and ensure that all screening and vaccination programmes are designed to support a narrowing of health inequalities.
Furthermore, NHS England announced in November 2018 that Professor Sir Mike Richards will lead a review of the national cancer screening programmes. The review, expected to report by summer 2019 will include recommendations about how best to maximise uptake of screening, and iron out variation in uptake rates between different geographical areas and different population groups.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan published on 7 January 2019, the Government is investing £487 million in healthcare technology to improve patient care and reduce staff workload. The plan is underpinned by a five-year funding offer, which will see the National Health Service budget grow by over £20 billion a year in real terms by 2023-24.
The NHS Long Term Plan expects the NHS to ensure all screening programmes are designed to support a narrowing of health inequalities and NHS England is taking major steps to make sure the delivery, performance and oversight of screening services meet the high standard NHS patients rightly expect.
- National abdominal aortic aneurysm screening coverage in 2017/18 was 5.5 percentage points (80.5%) above the acceptable standard, however commissioners continue to work with providers where performance dips below standard to improve coverage.
- The bowel screening programme coverage in 2017/18 was 59.6% against a standard target of 60%. NHS England is working closely with key partners including Public Health England to shortly implement the change in the current test used within the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme from the gFOB test to Faecal Immunochemical Test. Evidence shows that this new test is more accurate and will result in improved uptake rates.
NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups and screening units to maximise coverage of eligible men and women in their target population who are not registered with a general practitioner and subsequently not called for screening.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme minimum standard is that 90% of women should be re-invited within 36 months of their previous screen.
The Department delegates NHS England to commission breast screening providers to work to the agreed national service specifications and provides supporting guidance produced by Public Health England (PHE) to ensure standards are met.
Improvements to the current repeat breast screening interval (round length) to meet national standards require providers to balance ever changing parameters, such as the eligible population, availability of breast screening workforce, estates and the logistics of the mobile units, used for mammography.
PHE is addressing the current workforce issue through supporting key stakeholders including Health Education England, the Royal College of Radiologists, and the Society and College of Radiographers to assist in workforce recruitment and retention of Radiographers and Radiologists. NHS England, at local level, is using the framework of the National Health Service contract to work with providers and PHE to also improve this standard.
NHS England has asked Sir Mike Richards to lead a review to improve the delivery of the screening programmes, and will consider how current IT systems support the ambitions of the cancer screening programmes.
In the meantime, Capita, NHS Digital and NHS England are working to remove the reliance on National Health Application and Infrastructure Services by introducing new systems using spine data. These are expected to be delivered by spring 2020.
Funding for mental health will increase by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24, which includes funding to ensure bereavement support in every part of the country by 2023/24. The implementation programme noted in the Long Term Plan will contain further details on the roll-out of these services.
NHS England is responsible for decisions on the weighted capitation formula used to allocate resources between clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). This process is independent of Government. NHS England take advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, a group of academics and other experts.
Over the next five years, NHS England will use the health inequalities adjustments to the national funding formula to target additional funds at areas with high health inequalities. In exchange, those CCGs in receipt of additional health inequalities funding – and the sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems of which they are a part – will for the first time be required to set out transparently how this extra funding is being targeted to improve equity of access and outcomes for inclusion health groups and underserved communities. Furthermore, all local health systems will be expected to set out during 2019 how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023-24 and then by 2028.
On 30 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact trial would be expanded to 26,000 people. Work is underway with partners to take this forward. The PrEP Oversight Board has requested information on local capacity to make the additional places available, and will review this later in February. The Secretary of State also announced the Government’s commitment to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. To support this work, an expert group will be established to develop an action plan over the course of this year. The important role of PrEP, as part of combination HIV prevention efforts, will be considered as part of this process.
On 30 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact trial would be expanded to 26,000 people. Work is underway with partners to take this forward. The PrEP Oversight Board has requested information on local capacity to make the additional places available, and will review this later in February. The Secretary of State also announced the Government’s commitment to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. To support this work, an expert group will be established to develop an action plan over the course of this year. The important role of PrEP, as part of combination HIV prevention efforts, will be considered as part of this process.
On 30 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact trial would be expanded to 26,000 people. Work is underway with partners to take this forward. The PrEP Oversight Board has requested information on local capacity to make the additional places available, and will review this later in February. The Secretary of State also announced the Government’s commitment to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. To support this work, an expert group will be established to develop an action plan over the course of this year. The important role of PrEP, as part of combination HIV prevention efforts, will be considered as part of this process.
The Inter-Ministerial Group for mental health is led by my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and is attended by Secretaries of State and Ministers from a wide range of Government departments, and other Government departments when required.
We are planning to hold the next meeting at the end of April. Invitations to members of the Group will be issued shortly.
Since the last meeting of the Group, the Minister has continued to engage bilaterally with colleagues in other Government departments on specific issues, such as offender health, gambling addiction, physical and mental health of offenders, and in relation to the Online Harms White Paper.
Mental health spend for quarter one of 2018/19 has been published on The Mental Health Five Year Forward View Dashboard. It is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-five-year-forward-view-dashboard/
The Thriving at Work Leadership Council met for the first time on 17 January 2019. The council is an employer-led group that will continue to meet throughout 2019 with the primary objectives to champion the core and enhanced standards and explore innovative solutions to further drive their implementation and adoption. Individual members committed to promoting the standards through their networks and to create sector champions.
The Stevenson / Farmer review was clear that transparency was the best mechanism to drive take-up of the standards. This is why the Government developed the voluntary reporting framework which was launched on 22 November 2018.
The Government encourages employers to take up the Thriving at Work recommendations and is actively promoting these through our business networks and by providing information, advice and support to employers through initiatives like the Mental Health at Work gateway launched in September 2018. Actively attracting, retaining and supporting the progression of valuable skilled employees who are disabled or have health conditions can help businesses to grow and prosper at a time of high employment and a changing workforce.
The Thriving at Work Leadership Council met for the first time on 17 January 2019. The council is an employer-led group that will continue to meet throughout 2019 with the primary objectives to champion the core and enhanced standards and explore innovative solutions to further drive their implementation and adoption. Individual members committed to promoting the standards through their networks and to create sector champions.
The Stevenson / Farmer review was clear that transparency was the best mechanism to drive take-up of the standards. This is why the Government developed the voluntary reporting framework which was launched on 22 November 2018.
The Government encourages employers to take up the Thriving at Work recommendations and is actively promoting these through our business networks and by providing information, advice and support to employers through initiatives like the Mental Health at Work gateway launched in September 2018. Actively attracting, retaining and supporting the progression of valuable skilled employees who are disabled or have health conditions can help businesses to grow and prosper at a time of high employment and a changing workforce.
It is the responsibility of National Health Service trusts to have staffing arrangements in place that deliver safe and effective care. This includes recruiting the staff needed to support these levels and meet local needs.
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Baroness Dido Harding, working closely with Sir David Behan, to lead a number of programmes to engage with key NHS interests to develop a detailed workforce implementation plan. These programmes will consider detailed proposals to grow the workforce, including consideration of additional staff and skills required, build a supportive working culture in the NHS and ensure first rate leadership for NHS staff.
Over the next five years, NHS England will use health inequalities adjustments to the national funding formula to disproportionately target funds at areas with high health inequalities. This means an estimated £1 billion a year being invested in these local areas by 2023/24. In exchange, those clinical commissioning groups in receipt of additional health inequalities funding – and the sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems of which they are a part – will for the first time be required to set out transparently how this extra funding is being targeted to improve equity of access and outcomes for inclusion health groups and underserved communities. Furthermore, all local health systems will be expected to set out during 2019 how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24 and 2028.
The 2015 Spending Review made available £16 billion of funding for local authority public health functions in England over the five-year period. It is for local authorities to determine how best to invest these resources based on assessment of local need and with regard to their statutory duties.
Future funding for local authority public health function will be a matter for the Spending Review.
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which has a broad portfolio of research on child health.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications for funding are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The following table shows information provided by the NIHR on research funding on child health, over each of the last five years. Further information on this research is available through the NIHR Journals Library at the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/
The figure given for 2013-14 excludes Clinical Research Network spend as that year information was not collected in a comparable way.
Financial Year | £ |
2013-14 | 30,743,719 |
2014-15 | 56,062,172 |
2015-16 | 56,210,594 |
2016-17 | 59,976,363 |
2017-18 | 60,373,126 |
There are no current plans to mandate additional weighing points in the National Child Measurement Programme.
NHS England worked closely with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health during the development of the NHS Long Term Plan and will continue to work closely with the College on implementation. The NHS Long Term Plan sets out the ambition for local areas to design and implement models of care that are age appropriate, closer to home and bring together physical and mental health services. Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships will now produce local plans for how they will meet the commitments of the Plan.
It is for health and care leaders and clinicians to decide how best to meet their plan objectives for their local populations. We would expect children and young people’s interests to be appropriately considered at both Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and Integrated Care System level.
Local authorities will receive over £3 billion in 2019/20, ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health. Over the five years of the current spending review period we are making over £16 billion of grant funding available to local authorities in England exclusively for use on improving health. Reported spend on public mental health rose from £42.7 million in 2016/17 to £50.5 million in 2017/18, an increase of 18%.
We are investing £25 million in suicide prevention over the next three years. The first sustainability and transformation partnership (STPs) received their share of this funding last year. The NHS Long Term Plan set out a commitment to ensure this funding is rolled-out to other STP areas and NHS England is determining the priorities for the second round of funding in 2019/20.
Every local authority has a suicide prevention plan in place or in development and we are working in partnership with the local government sector to ensure the effectiveness of those plans. This process will help to identify areas for improvement for local plans and areas of best practice which can be shared across the local government sector. The results will also be used to inform a programme of mutual support over the next two to three years to enable local areas to learn from each other and to further develop their plans.