Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 estimate of the number of uncompleted Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard applications per year since 2009.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessments consist of data collected from local authorities in England, who are the supervisory bodies for authorising deprivations of liberty for adults in care homes and hospitals. The aim of this publication is to inform users about aspects of DoLS activity.
Since the Cheshire West court ruling in 2014, the definition of a ‘deprivation of liberty’ under DoLS widened, and so did the number of cases local authorities had to assess. The increase in cases has led to a backlog. The following table shows the number of Deprivation of Liberty Protection Safeguard applications received, completed, and not completed, each year from 2013/14 to 2023/24:
Year | Total number of applications received | Total number of completed applications | Total number of applications not completed |
2013/14 | 13,715 | 13,040 | N/A |
2014/15 | 137,540 | 62,645 | N/A |
2015/16 | 195,840 | 105,055 | 101,740 |
2016/17 | 217,235 | 151,970 | 108,545 |
2017/18 | 227,400 | 181,785 | 125,630 |
2018/19 | 240,455 | 216,005 | 131,350 |
2019/20 | 263,940 | 243,300 | 129,780 |
2020/21 | 256,610 | 246,025 | 119,740 |
2021/22 | 270,650 | 254,215 | 124,145 |
2022/23 | 300,765 | 289,150 | 126,100 |
2023/24 | 332,455 | 323,870 | 123,790 |
Source: data is published by NHS Digital, and is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-capacity-act-2005-deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards-assessments
Data was not routinely collected on applications not completed prior to 2015/16.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard to be processed for standard authorisation per year since 2009.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessments consist of data collected by NHS Digital from local authorities in England, who are the supervisory bodies for authorising deprivations of liberty for adults in care homes and hospitals. The aim of this publication is to inform users about the aspects of DoLS activity. NHS Digital collects data on the average length of time for all completed DoLS applications. The statutory deadline for a standard authorisation is 21 days, and seven days for an urgent authorisation. This data was not routinely collected prior to 2016/17.
The following table shows the number of granted authorisation of standard applications and the mean average number of days for standard authorisation of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards applications, each year from 2016/17 to 2023/24:
Year | Number of granted authorisations from standard applications | Mean duration of actual authorisation period in days for standard applications |
2016/17 | 30,865 | 226 |
2017/18 | 51,995 | 250 |
2018/19 | 63,020 | 264 |
2019/20 | 69,895 | 271 |
2020/21 | 75,995 | 270 |
2021/22 | 68,565 | 269 |
2022/23 | 75,065 | 270 |
2023/24 | 80,150 | 276 |
Source: data is published by NHS Digital, and is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-capacity-act-2005-deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards-assessments
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 6368 tabled by the hon. Member for Richmond Park on 4 October 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 October 2024 to Question 6368.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 6369 tabled by the hon. Member for Richmond Park on 4 October 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 October 2024 to Question 6369.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the funding for pharmacy services under the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care was spent on administration fees since May 2023.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, announced in May 2023, announced an allocation up to £645 million up until March 2024. This supported the launch of Pharmacy First as well as the expansion of the Blood Pressure Checking service and Pharmacy Contraception Service.
Funding from this allocation has been used to pay fees for the Pharmacy First, Blood Pressure Check or Contraception service delivery or invested in the development of IT infrastructure to enable the safe and effective delivery of the services and a mass media campaign to help increase awareness and public engagement. None of the allocated funding has been used for administrating the new services.
The staff costs associated with the development of service specifications, governance and monitoring, and agreeing payments to contractors have been met by extant Departmental and NHS England budgets.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to pharmacy services as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care since May 2023.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, announced in May 2023, announced an allocation up to £645 million up until March 2024. This supported the launch of Pharmacy First as well as the expansion of the Blood Pressure Checking service and Pharmacy Contraception Service.
Funding from this allocation has been used to pay fees for the Pharmacy First, Blood Pressure Check or Contraception service delivery or invested in the development of IT infrastructure to enable the safe and effective delivery of the services and a mass media campaign to help increase awareness and public engagement. None of the allocated funding has been used for administrating the new services.
The staff costs associated with the development of service specifications, governance and monitoring, and agreeing payments to contractors have been met by extant Departmental and NHS England budgets.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203897 on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Drugs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure an adequate supply of (a) methylphenidate, (b) lisdexamfetamine and (c) guanfacine.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department has been working with manufacturers of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to ensure that action is taken to address the supply issues as quickly as possible. As a result of our continued work with the pharmaceutical industry, some issues have now been resolved, including with guanfacine. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, including methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine. We have been informed that these should be largely resolved by April or May 2024.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be. While we cannot always prevent supply issues from occurring, the Department has a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and help mitigate risks to patients. We work with the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, the devolved administrations, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when supply issues arise.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11392 on Department of Health and Social Care: Ministers' Private Offices, what the cost was of the refurbishment to ministerial offices in 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The total cost of refurbishment of the ministerial offices in 2023 was approximately £140,000. This answer was previously shared in the answer to the hon. Member for Ilford North on the 20 of September 2023 to Question 198375.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any refurbishments have been made to ministerial offices in her Department in each of the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
There was a refurbishment of ministerial offices in 2023 in the Department. There was no refurbishment of ministerial space in 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
No ministerial red boxes have been reported either lost or stolen in the Department within the last three years. If this were to occur, the Departmental security unit records and investigates each reported loss from the Department. Additionally, if appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.