Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional support the Government is providing to support the mental health of (a) frontline workers, (b) people from different Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and (c) young people in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government recognised at the start of the pandemic the need for enhanced wellbeing support for National Health Service and social care staff and commissioned NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop a comprehensive emotional, psychological and practical support package for NHS staff. Wherever possible we have ensured the same offer is included in the support package that developed for the social care workforce.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with key stakeholders and people with lived experience to support information sharing to encourage timely access to NHS mental health services and improve people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds’ experiences of these services.
We are working to ensure that all children and young people who have or who develop mental ill health can access support if they need to and that schools and colleges, parents and carers can support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing over the coming weeks and months.
The Government has also provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities to support adults and children. This includes charities that offer support to BAME communities and charities like Young Minds.
The Government’s £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme will support school staff to respond to the emotional and mental health pressures some children and young people may be feeling.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to co-ordinate the Government's support for people's mental health and wellbeing in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We know that there is the potential for an increase in demand for mental health services. Ministers in the Department are engaging regularly with their counterparts across Whitehall on how best the Government can prevent and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing.
We are also working with the National Health Service, Public Health England and other key partners to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts and plan for how to support mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many drive through covid-19 tests have been carried out in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) England in each month since 23 March 2020; and how many of those tests had results generated within the 48-hour target.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We do not publish data by region. All information surrounding turnaround times are released weekly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that schools can respond effectively to children and young people’s mental health needs when they return in September 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department for Education has published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance highlights the particular need to focus on pastoral support and mental wellbeing as a central part of what schools provide, in order to re-engage them and rebuild social interaction with their friends and teachers. This will involve curriculum provision as well as extra-curricular and pastoral support, and that Department’s recently published relationships, sex and health education training module will support teachers with preparation to deliver content on mental health and wellbeing.
We are also implementing the core proposals in our response to the consultation ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’ Green Paper including, where possible, adapting the support made available during the COVID-19 outbreak to the circumstances that schools and colleges and children and young people will face once the new academic year starts.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of non-EU nationals who cannot (a) leave the UK during the covid-19 outbreak and (b) afford access to NHS maternity treatment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of non-European Union nationals who cannot leave the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of non-EU nationals who have been charged for National Health Service maternity care but are unable to pay.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of closing all dental practices to non-essential patient care to minimise the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS England issued guidance, on 20 March 2020, setting out expectations for primary care dentistry to minimise spread of disease and protect dentists and patients during the current pandemic. The advice includes radically reducing the number of routine check-ups and agreeing local arrangements to consolidate, where necessary, the provision of any essential, routine National Health Service work that cannot be delayed and urgent dental problems. The guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timescale is for publishing the public health grant allocations for 2020-21.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The local authority public health allocations for 2020/21 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to implement a cancer workforce plan to ensure an adequately skilled and sustainable workforce.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Health Service published the interim NHS People Plan on 3 June 2019. It sets out the long-term vision and immediate actions to meet the challenges of supply, reform, culture and leadership.
The final NHS People Plan will be informed by the Cancer Workforce Plan for England, published in December 2017 by Health Education England. This set out plans to expand capacity and skills in the cancer workforce, including targeting additional training support for seven priority professions such as clinical radiology, histopathology, oncology and diagnostic and therapeutic radiography. Since 2017 there has been a net increase of 833 full time equivalent staff across the seven priority professions.
The final NHS People Plan will be published in early 2020 and will set out a clear framework for collective action on workforce priorities, with a focus on growing and sustaining a well-skilled workforce across the whole National Health Service.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish his proposals for the future of social care.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government will bring forward a plan for social care this year.
Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society.
There are complex questions to address, which is why we will seek to build cross-party consensus, but we have been clear: everybody will have safety and security, and nobody will be forced to sell their home to pay for care.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that Kings Brooks, iCaSH Bedfordshire reopens recruitment for gay and bisexual men on the PrEP impact trial.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is currently provided in England through the three-year PrEP Impact Trial. Participation in the trial is on a voluntary basis and it is for clinics and local authorities to decide the number of allocated places they can accept. The PrEP Impact Trial website includes a map showing the distribution of the 154 clinics level 3 Sexual Health Services participating in the trial at the following link: