Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS is taking to provide better pain relief for people suffering from chronic urinary tract infections.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Treating clinicians use National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, which helps practitioners and commissioners get the best care to patients, when assessing, signposting to, and prescribing pain relief medications.
It is a prescriber’s duty when providing clinical care for conditions, such as urinary tract infections, to prescribe medicines, including pain relief, when they have adequate knowledge of the patient’s health and are satisfied that the medicine is clinically suitable for the patient.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to mental health services for young people in London.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, including in London and we know that waits for mental health services are too long. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures Hubs in every community.
There are currently approximately 65 locally-funded early support hubs in England offering early easy access mental health interventions to thousands of children and young people aged between 11 and 25 years old including those from low-income families.
The Department is running an £8 million Shared Outcomes Fund project throughout 2024/25 to boost and evaluate the impact of 24 of these existing early support hubs, including two in London.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle underreporting of stalking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear just going about their daily lives. That is why this Government is fully committed to tackling it.
On 3 December the Government announced six new measures to tackle stalking. This included legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and providing for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. We will bring forward legislation to introduce measures at the earliest opportunity.
The College of Policing provides an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and e-learning on stalking to support the police. This includes guidance on identifying and investigating stalking and applying for and managing SPOs. The guidance and e-learning are being updated to reflect the findings from a recent super-complaint on stalking and will be kept under regular review. The CPS provides guidance for prosecutors with the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions involving stalking.
We know there is a gap between the prevalence of stalking and stalking offences reported to the police. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 3.1% of adults over 16 experienced stalking in the year ending June 2024 while police recorded 131,912 stalking offences. This is why we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
Raising awareness of stalking is an important part of this and there are existing examples of local initiatives funded by police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners or local authorities. We are considering how raising awareness of VAWG crimes including stalking could form part of the upcoming new VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase public trust in the Metropolitan Police Service.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Commissioner’s ‘New Met for London’ plan sets out the force’s work to improve its performance. The Mayor for London established the London Policing Board to hold the Commissioner to account for delivery of the plan. Home Office Ministers are in regular contact with the MPS Commissioner and Mayor of London to ensure progress is being made.
The MPS is also currently in the enhanced ‘Engage’ phase of routine monitoring by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The force has developed an improvement plan and on 13 November, HMICFRS closed one of the four causes of concern that led to the MPS being placed into ‘Engage’. The Home Office will continue to monitor progress through attendance at HMICFRS’s Police Performance and Oversight Board.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason late-night services at Worcester Park station are not being reinstated between Thursday and Sunday.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Worcester Park continues to have a later train on Fridays and Saturdays from London Waterloo, but there is judged to be insufficient demand to justify the costs of a similar provision on Thursdays and Sundays.