Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraphs 1.296 and 1.297 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what progress his Department has made by estimated capacity of land sold since March 2016 in identifying and disposing of land to meet the Government's commitment.
Answered by David Mowat
Increasing the supply of land for new homes is central to this Government’s vision of a country that works for everyone. As a major landowner the Government has a crucial role to play in managing its estate more efficiently to secure best value for money for the taxpayer, boost growth and help support the building of new homes.
The Government has an ambition to sell land with capacity for at least 160,000 homes by the end of March 2020. Progress towards meeting this ambition is set out in Table 3 of the Public Land for Housing Programme Annual Report published in February 2017, which shows that between 8 May 2015 and 30 September 2016, the Department released land with capacity for 3,516 homes.
Public Land for Housing Annual Report 2017 (published February 2017):
Housing capacity of sites sold by the five largest landowning departments:
Department | Year 1 (2015/16) | Year 2 (Q1 and 2) | Cumulative total |
Ministry of Defence | 856 | 678 | 1,534 |
Department for Transport | 71 | 1,602 | 1,673 |
Department for Communities and Local Government | 4,211 | 2,407 | 6,618 |
Department of Health | 2,971 | 545 | 3,516 |
Ministry of Justice | 135 | 0 | 135 |
Other departments | 221 | 120 | 341 |
Totals | 8,465 | 5,352 | 13,817 |
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The Department’s target of £1.95 billion (referred to in paragraph 1.297 of the Spending Review publication referenced in the question) relates to the Spending Review period from 2016-17 to 2020-21. Information on the value of disposals for the 2016-17 financial year is not yet available.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what additional support services his Department is planning to provide for veterans with mental health problems from April 2017.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is currently in the process of tendering for a veterans mental health service to begin in April 2017. The service will offer consistent support across England for both veterans and serving personnel on a pathway to leave the service and build on the veterans mental health services already in place following the Fighting Fit report by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Andrew Murrison).
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the standard and availability of support for veterans with mental health problems provided by the voluntary sector.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department does not assess services provided by the voluntary sector.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in the joint commissioning of services to support former service personnel with mental health problems.
Answered by David Mowat
Following a national engagement exercise during 2016 on mental health services for veterans, NHS England commissioned a pathfinder transition, intervention and liaison mental health service for armed forces serving personnel approaching discharge and after discharge.
The service has been launched and is a joint initiative between the National Health Service and the Ministry of Defence and will run until the end of March 2017. The evidence from this service will help to shape the service specification from April 2017.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which month the Carers Strategy for England will be published.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department expects to publish the new national strategy for carers in the spring. No publication date has yet been set.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of identified carers in England have been assessed by their local authority under the terms of the Care Act 2014.
Answered by David Mowat
Local authorities carried out 255,750 carer assessments in 2015/16, following the Care Act coming into force in April 2015. This figure represents around two-thirds of the total number of carers identified by local authorities in England (386,910) in that year.
The diversity of caring roles – and the impact that caring might have on the carer - means that not every carer will want or need an assessment; and not every carer will want or need formal support through local adult care services.
The forthcoming national Carers Strategy will therefore take a wide view of carers and their caring roles. Crucial to this will be increasing public awareness of caring, in order to improve timely identification, ensure carers are aware of the range of support available to them, and can take advantage of that which best meets their needs.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the (a) forthcoming Housing White Paper and (b) delivery of retirement housing across all tenures.
Answered by David Mowat
Discussions have taken place between officials at the two departments regarding the forthcoming White Paper, and the opportunities around ageing, health and care. I have also made more formal representations to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Hence, the dialogue is ongoing.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the scope is of the current consultation on the Government National Carers Strategy.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Government recognises the valuable contribution made by carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing support to family members, friends and neighbours and they must receive support.
This is why the Department is leading on a new cross-Government National Carers Strategy to look at what more we can do to support existing and future carers.
On 18 March the Department launched the National Carers Strategy call for evidence for carers and those who support them. This is focussed on improving knowledge of local practice and hearing from carers about the kind of support that helps them. The consultation will end on 30 June 2016. We intend to publish the new strategy towards the end of 2016 but want to ensure that it is based on an academically robust examination of evidence and draws on a wide range of views and ideas.
As the strategy develops, we will consider evidence around the economic impact of caring and what role it plays within the health and care sectors and wider society. We will also look at both international and national best practice to see what support works best for carers so that they can find a healthy balance between providing high quality care and support and maintaining their own life and wellbeing.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the period will be for a decision to be made on applications to the Primary Care Trust Fund.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England will publish further guidance about the Primary Care Transformation Fund later this month.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the decision making process will be for the allocation of funding to (a) premises and (b) IT services related to applications to the Primary Care Trust Fund.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS England will publish further guidance about the Primary Care Transformation Fund later this month.