Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase investment into the children's mental health system to (a) reduce waiting times for and (b) increase access to support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult and children and young people’s mental health services. We are discussing our future investment in children and young people’s mental health services.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education to consider how to deliver our manifesto commitment of accessing a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.
Alongside this we are working toward rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.
The Mental Health Bill currently before Parliament will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, so that it is fit for the 21st century. The Bill will amend the Act, which applies to England and Wales, and give patients detained under the Act greater choice, autonomy, rights, and support.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 ensure that the Mental Health Bill will (a) protect and (b) enhance the rights of (i) children and (ii) young people who are (A) detained in and (B) admitted informally to mental health hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The forthcoming Mental Health Bill will strengthen the rights of children and young people, to ensure they are involved in decisions about their care, that they can challenge these decisions and, above all, ensure that they are only detained for treatment in hospital when it is absolutely necessary. NHS England is working to minimise the number of children and young people informally admitted to inpatient mental health care.
Subject to the passage of the Bill through Parliament, it is proposed that children and young people formally detained under the Mental Health Act will have statutory Care and Treatment Plans, the right to choose a ‘Nominated Person’ to look after their interests and expanded access to Independent Mental Health Advocates. The latter will also apply to voluntary patients who are not detained under the Act.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has carried out impact assessments of the Government’s plans to ban (a) smoking and (b) vaping (i) in pub gardens, (ii) at outdoor restaurant tables, (iii) at outdoor shisha bar seating and (iv) in outdoor nightclubs.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into Parliament, which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, and will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom.
The Government supports measures that will create a smoke-free environment, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Any proposed extension of smoke-free legislation is subject to the approval of Parliament, as well as a full public consultation and further engagement with relevant organisations.
An impact assessment will be published on the new bill after it has been introduced, and further impact assessments will be published on new regulations when they are laid in Parliament. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of banning smoking and vaping outside pubs, restaurants and nightclubs on the (a) night-time economy and (b) viability of local high streets.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into Parliament, which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, and will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom.
The Government supports measures that will create a smoke-free environment, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Any proposed extension of smoke-free legislation is subject to the approval of Parliament, as well as a full public consultation and further engagement with relevant organisations.
An impact assessment will be published on the new bill after it has been introduced, and further impact assessments will be published on new regulations when they are laid in Parliament. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to consult on banning smoking and vaping outside pubs, nightclubs and restaurants; and whether he has a planned timetable for the proposed ban.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into Parliament, which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, and will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom.
The Government supports measures that will create a smoke-free environment, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Any proposed extension of smoke-free legislation is subject to the approval of Parliament, as well as a full public consultation and further engagement with relevant organisations.
An impact assessment will be published on the new bill after it has been introduced, and further impact assessments will be published on new regulations when they are laid in Parliament. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has carried out an impact assessment of the Government’s plans to ban (a) smoking and (b) vaping across university campuses.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into Parliament, which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, and will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom.
The Government supports measures that will create a smoke-free environment, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Any proposed extension of smoke-free legislation is subject to the approval of Parliament, as well as a full public consultation and further engagement with relevant organisations.
An impact assessment will be published on the new bill after it has been introduced, and further impact assessments will be published on new regulations when they are laid in Parliament. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Government's proposals to ban outdoor smoking and vaping in and by pubs on the number of pub closures.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into Parliament, which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, and will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom.
The Government supports measures that will create a smoke-free environment, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. Any proposed extension of smoke-free legislation is subject to the approval of Parliament, as well as a full public consultation and further engagement with relevant organisations.
An impact assessment will be published on the new bill after it has been introduced, and further impact assessments will be published on new regulations when they are laid in Parliament. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Neurosciences centres fulfil the NHS England service specification for neurological care.
Answered by David Mowat
The compliance level for the neurosciences specification is very high with only a small number of services requiring a provider action plan or commissioner action.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will hold discussions with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on patients with muscle-wasting conditions in the area and their access to neuromuscular care advice.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, including services for patients with neuromuscular disorders. NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care that sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services.
The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
National Health Service providers, working with local area teams, may establish patient access to neuromuscular care advisers if they consider it would benefit service provision; such decisions are a local matter.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to encourage leaders of local health and care systems to work together with local services to deliver good-quality end of life care for LGBT and other people.
Answered by David Mowat
Our ambition is for everyone approaching the end of life to receive high quality care that reflects their individual needs, choices and preferences. The Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. To fulfil the pledge in the response to support local leaders to prioritise and improve care, the Government is writing to Health and Wellbeing Boards to remind them of their duty to end of life care.
The NHS England End of Life Care Programme Team have scheduled a webinar on inequalities, featuring Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues, aimed at health and care staff, providers, and commissioners in February 2017. NHS England is also a member of the ‘Ambitions partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care’, a national partnership of 27 statutory and non-statutory organisations who published the ‘Ambitions framework: National framework for local action’ in 2015. The framework centres on six Ambitions, underpinned by a number of building blocks which need to be in place for high quality palliative and end of life care to be a reality. The second of the six Ambitions is “Each person gets fair access to care” which focuses on eliminating inequality. The Ambitions Partnership has undertaken a ‘deep dive’ discussion on inequalities, which included a specific discussion on issues for LGBT people, and are planning a follow up discussion.