Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce alcohol-specific deaths.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
A vital part of delivering the Health Mission shift to prevention will be action to reduce the health harms and resulting deaths from excess alcohol consumption. The Department is continuing to invest in improvements to local drug and alcohol treatment services. Funding for drug and alcohol treatment services is provided through the Public Health Grant. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use.
Earlier this year the Department published guidance for local authorities and their partnerships on how to review adult drug and alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses to prevent future deaths. This is available at the following link:
Additionally, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published Commissioning quality standard: alcohol and drug services, which provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas. Further information on the guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services
The Department will soon publish the UK Clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment, which will include recommendations on developing effective, accessible, and inclusive services. The Department continues to work with all local areas to address unmet need and drug and alcohol misuse deaths, and to drive improvements in the continuity of care. This includes the Unmet Need Toolkit which can be used by local areas to assess local need, and plan to meet it.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, over £30 million of national funding has been invested between 2019 and 2025, on an ambitious programme to establish new, or optimise existing, Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in the 25% hospitals with the highest need, which is 47 out of 188 eligible sites in England. The ACTs identify people in hospital whose ill health is related to alcohol use, commence treatment for alcohol dependence, and refer to community alcohol treatment on discharge.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce death rates from (a) alcohol, (b) drugs and (c) suicide in (a) the North and (b) coastal regions.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
A vital part of delivering the Health Mission shift to prevention will be action to reduce the number of deaths due to alcohol and drug use, especially in deprived areas. In England, rates of drug poisoning and drug misuse deaths have a marked north-south divide, with the North East of England having consistently seen the highest rate of drug and alcohol deaths over the previous decade.
The Department is continuing to invest in improvements to local drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services to ensure that those in need can access high quality help and support. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has an action plan to reduce drug and alcohol-related deaths, which is being reviewed in light of the recent Office of National Statistics data, to ensure that it is grounded in the latest understanding of the drivers of drug and alcohol related deaths, and is responding to these. Additionally, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published Commissioning quality standard: alcohol and drug services, which provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas. Further information on the guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services
The Department continues to work with all local areas to address unmet need and drug and alcohol misuse deaths, and to drive improvements in the continuity of care. This includes the Unmet Need Toolkit which can be used by local areas to assess local need and the causes of mortality, in order to plan to meet it.
Earlier this year the Department published guidance for local authorities and their partnerships on how to review adult drug and alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses to prevent future deaths. This is available at the following link:
It also published guidance on incident planning and preparedness for the emerging threat of potent synthetic opioids.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, over £30 million of national funding has been invested between 2019 and 2025, on an ambitious programme to establish new, or optimise existing, Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) in the 25% hospitals with the highest need, which is 47 out of 188 eligible sites in England. The ACTs identify people in hospital whose ill health is related to alcohol use, commence treatment for alcohol dependence, and refer to community alcohol treatment on discharge.
The Government has committed to tackling suicide as one the biggest killers in this country. The 8,500 new mental health workers we will recruit will be specially trained to support people at risk to reduce the lives lost to suicide. The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in September 2023, identifies a number of targeted actions at a national level. We are exploring opportunities to go further.
79 organisations have been allocated funding up to March 2025 from the £10 million Suicide Prevention Grant Fund and are delivering a broad and diverse range of activity that will prevent suicides and save lives including in the North and in coastal areas. Organisations benefitting include Lancaster Men’s Hub, Stockton and District Advice and Information Service, and Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change Ltd.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in the UK have died in prison while serving custodial sentences in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of deaths of prisoners[1][2][3][4] serving custodial sentences[5][6] in England and Wales, 2014 to 2023
| Year | Number of Deaths |
2014 | 203 |
| 2015 | 205 |
| 2016 | 306 |
| 2017 | 259 |
| 2018 | 267 |
| 2019 | 264 |
| 2020 | 278 |
| 2021 | 318 |
| 2022 | 244 |
| 2023 | 258 |
Data Sources and Quality
These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database.
Figures include incidents during contracted out escorts. Figures include England and Wales only and not the whole UK as we only hold detailed data for England and Wales.
Figures do not include incidents at Medway STC. For more information on Secure Training Centres, please see Youth justice annual statistics at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-annual-statistics.
Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.
In addition to deaths in prison custody, the figures include deaths in custody that occur in hospitals, hospices or nursing homes, and a small proportion will occur while in an ambulance on the way to hospital, while on escort.
Figures includes deaths of sentenced prisoners only, they do not include deaths of prisoners on remand, immigration detainees or non-criminal prisoners.
A breakdown of deaths by sentence type is published within the annual deaths tables, the latest annual deaths detailed data includes deaths up to 2023. Figures for 2024 deaths, including a breakdown by sentence type, will be published in January 2025.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the investigation into maternity incidents at Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust has started.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The trust has committed to a thematic review of all neonatal and maternal deaths since 2019. This has started for neonatal deaths but not for maternal deaths, due to delays identifying an external assessor.
The trust is engaging with the NHS England South West Region to resolve this issue as soon as possible, and remains committed to publishing and sharing the findings from both reviews openly.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the humanitarian and healthcare situation in Gaza; and what representations, if any, they have made to the government of Israel regarding the reported systematic targeting of civilians and critical infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, and reports of continued destruction of health infrastructure, civilian detentions and deaths are deeply troubling. It is unacceptable that northern Gaza now has no fully functioning hospitals after strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital resumed this week. On 5 November, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Middle East raised the UK's grave concerns that Kamal Adwan continues to come under fire with the Israeli Ambassador. This Government has been clear that Israel must do much more to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, including the medics northern Gaza desperately needs. The Foreign Secretary raised this with the then Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, on 28 October. We continue to work with our international partners including at the UN to put pressure on Israel to show the world it is complying with international humanitarian law.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 effectiveness of the Dynamic Support Register in preventing autistic people from being detained in mental health hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published updated policy and guidance on Dynamic Support Registers (DSRs) and Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on 25 January 2023, for implementation from 1 May 2023. The purpose of the updated policy and guidance is to help ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people get the right support in their communities, and to prevent hospital admission.
NHS England produced the updated policy and guidance following a process of reviewing the learning since the inception of DSRs and C(E)TRs, including consultation and engagement with people with lived experience. This process included drawing on the findings of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s review of the deaths of Joanna, Jon, and Ben at Cawston Park in Norfolk and the subsequent safe and wellbeing reviews for all people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals, to ensure they are an effective provision.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the quality of maternity services across England and, in particular, of reports about unnecessary deaths or injuries to mothers and babies in units in Shrewsbury, Telford and Nottingham; (2) of the role played by claimant lawyers in securing justice for victims or their families; and (3) of the impact of the culture of the NHS in responding to claims in respect of such injuries and deaths.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are taking the findings and recommendations made in independent reviews and reports into maternity services, including the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, very seriously. This includes the need to develop and sustain a culture of safety, learning, and support within the National Health Service, which has formed part of NHS England’s Three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. We will carefully consider the findings of the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust when it reports next year.
It is right that where people have been negligently harmed by the NHS, they are able to receive appropriate compensation. It is the role of NHS Resolution (NHSR) to manage clinical negligence claims against the NHS in England. NHSR is accountable to the Department, and its performance is subject to regular review. However, NHSR is responsible for its own management of individual claims. The Government has not made a general assessment of the role claimants lawyers play in NHS litigation claims.
NHSR has a responsibility to resolve claims promptly and fairly, and to defend unmeritorious claims to secure NHS resources. The large majority of claims, 81%, are settled without court proceedings.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to data released by the Office for National Statistics Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2022, published on 22 April, which showed that the North-East had the highest rate of alcohol-specific deaths of any English region in 2022, what steps they are taking to reduce alcohol-related harm in that region.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through the 2021 Drugs Strategy we are making the largest ever single increase in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding, with £780 million of additional investment. Of this, £532 million is being invested to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England, including alcohol treatment services. The Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant is the mechanism by which local authorities receive Drug Strategy funding. This is additional to the amounts invested through the Public Health Grant. The following table shows the SSMTR Grant and the Inpatient Detox (IPD) Grant allocations for the North East, in 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25, as well as the total for those three years:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
SSMTR | £7,051,992 | £13,677,970 | £24,787,253 | £45,517,215 |
IPD | £727,295 | £727,295 | £727,295 | £2,181,885 |
The Department is also providing £1,157,212 in funding to three local authorities in the North East, specifically Middlesborough, Newcastle, and Durham, to improve access to drug and alcohol treatment services for people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, NHS England has made over £30 million available to local healthcare systems to facilitate the delivery of specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals in the areas with the highest rates of alcohol harm and socioeconomic deprivation.
The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities is developing comprehensive United Kingdom guidelines for the clinical management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. The overarching aim of the guideline is to develop a clear consensus on good practice, and improve the quality of treatment and support.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of data by the Office for National Statistics Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2022 on 22 April, which revealed that 2022 was the highest year on record for deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, what plans they have to publish an alcohol-specific strategy.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through the 2021 Drugs Strategy we are making the largest ever single increase in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding, with £780 million of additional investment. Of this, £532 million is being invested to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England, including alcohol treatment services. The Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant is the mechanism by which local authorities receive Drug Strategy funding. This is additional to the amounts invested through the Public Health Grant. The following table shows the SSMTR Grant and the Inpatient Detox (IPD) Grant allocations for the North East, in 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25, as well as the total for those three years:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
SSMTR | £7,051,992 | £13,677,970 | £24,787,253 | £45,517,215 |
IPD | £727,295 | £727,295 | £727,295 | £2,181,885 |
The Department is also providing £1,157,212 in funding to three local authorities in the North East, specifically Middlesborough, Newcastle, and Durham, to improve access to drug and alcohol treatment services for people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, NHS England has made over £30 million available to local healthcare systems to facilitate the delivery of specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals in the areas with the highest rates of alcohol harm and socioeconomic deprivation.
The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities is developing comprehensive United Kingdom guidelines for the clinical management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. The overarching aim of the guideline is to develop a clear consensus on good practice, and improve the quality of treatment and support.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of NHS England’s Dynamic Support Register policy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
NHS England published updated policy and guidance on Dynamic Support Registers (DSRs) and Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on 25 January 2023, for implementation from 1 May 2023. The purpose of the updated policy and guidance is to help ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people get the right support, to stay well in their communities.
NHS England produced the updated policy and guidance following a process of reviewing the learning since the inception of DSRs and C(E)TRs, including consultation and engagement with people with lived experience. This process included drawing on the findings of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s review of the deaths of Joanna, Jon, and Ben at Cawston Park in Norfolk, and the subsequent safe and wellbeing reviews for all people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals.