Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what work is being done in prisons to identify victims of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome; and what steps they are taking to introduce appropriate management and treatment regimes for those prisoners identified.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
All people in prison receive an early health assessment through a reception screening process. Every person receives a first and second stage health assessment, which incorporates a mental health screening in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. This screening includes questions and actions relating to their risk of self-harm and/or suicide, learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders.
For women who are pregnant and in prison, a full health assessment is undertaken. Any risks, such as alcohol dependency which could lead to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), should be monitored and managed by the healthcare team, including midwife support. Currently there is no specific treatment for FASD, but where a baby is at risk of FASD, this will form part of the birth plan with the hospital.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has allocated to making road safety improvements intended to help prevent fatal and serious injuries in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Through the Department’s Safer Roads Fund, over the last three financial years Government has invested over £83million in specific infrastructure schemes to make dangerous roads safer, therefore helping to prevent fatal and serious injuries.
In addition, having a well maintained local road network greatly contributes to its safe operation. The Government is spending more than £5.5 billion between 2020 and 2025 into local highways maintenance. This is enough to fill millions of potholes, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country.
Having a safe Strategic Road Network (SRN) is also extremely important. The majority of the capital investment National Highways spend to improve the SRN will help to improve safety in some capacity. Furthermore, National Highways received £140m during the second Roads Investment Strategy (RIS2) period (2020-2025) for its Safety and Congestion Designated Fund. This fund has a focus on providing specific safety improvements to the network including targeting high-risk roads, accident-cluster areas, and potential suicide-cluster areas. Over the first three years of RIS2 approximately £85 million of this funding has already been invested in improvements.
Road safety is however about more than investment in specific infrastructure schemes, a variety of policy and regulatory actions are at the heart of road safety; examples being taking action on using hand-held mobile phones whilst driving, to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency ensuring that the practical driving test continues to allow for an effective assessment of the candidate’s ability to drive safely, to the Driver 2020 research project which has trialled non-legislative measures to help us understand what works best to improve learning and pre-test experiences for young drivers.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of potential merits of introducing a requirement for coroners to inform universities of the death of a student enrolled on a course.
Answered by Mike Freer
Every student death is a tragedy. Where a student’s death is investigated by the coroner, it may be appropriate for the higher education provider to have “interested person” status in the investigation and, where this is the case, would be provided with the Record of Inquest which includes the cause of death. Inquest hearings are public and open for anyone to attend.
In addition, coroners have a statutory duty to issue a report to prevent future deaths (a PFD report) where they consider that an investigation has identified circumstances which should be addressed to prevent or reduce the risk of future deaths. The report must be made to a person or organisation whom the coroner believes could have the power to take action, which may include higher education providers, and recipients are obliged by law to respond.
As coroners are independent judicial office holders, the way in which they conduct their investigations is entirely a matter for them. It would therefore be inappropriate to impose a duty on them to provide information to higher education providers in relation to individual student suicide cases. Moreover, coronial investigations are limited fact-finding exercises, and it cannot be guaranteed that consistent and comprehensive information on a deceased person’s background will be made available to the coroner in every case.
The Government expects all higher education providers to take suicide prevention very seriously, providing information with place for students to find help, actively identifying students at risk, and intervening with swift support when needed. Where a tragedy does occur, this must be treated with the utmost sensitivity by a provider. This approach to suicide prevention is set out in the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus and supported by Government. Supporting mental health and ensuring action is taken to prevent future tragedies is a high priority for Government. That is why we have targeted funding at mental health support measure including, partnerships between higher education providers and NHS services to provide better pathways of care for university students.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 scale of mental ill-health amongst the male population; and what plans his Department has to help reduce the number of deaths from male suicide.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
‘Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2014’
Showed that one in five women (20.7%) and one in eight men (13.2%) were estimated to have symptoms of common mental health disorders.
From 2019/20, we are investing £57 million in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see investment in every area by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have ensured that this funding is testing different approaches to reaching men in local communities.
We also announced in May 2022 that 113 suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprises received a share of £5.4 million funding in 2021/22 to prevent suicide in high-risk groups, including men.
In addition, every local authority area has a suicide prevention plan in place, and the guidance we issued to local authorities highlights the importance of working across all local services, including the voluntary sector, to target high risk groups such as men.
The Department is working closely with the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group and wider stakeholders over the coming months to develop the new National Suicide Prevention Strategy. This will include discussions on issues relating to high-risk groups, such as men.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of recognising gambling as a public health issue; and what steps is he taking to address the relationship between gambling and suicide.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Government remains committed to tackling gambling-related harms and prioritising gambling as a public health issue. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the lead Government department responsible for gambling policy, is currently leading a review of the Gambling Act (2005). The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with DCMS to strengthen the current public health approach, including encouraging actions to prevent harms from arising in the first place.
To address the relationship between gambling and suicide, we are focused on ensuring those experiencing harms are able to access the right treatment and support in a timely manner. NHS England remain on track to deliver against their Long Term Plan commitment to create 15 specialist gambling treatment clinics by 2023/24. As at time of writing, there are now eight of these clinics in operation across England.
On 24 January 2023, we announced that we will publish a new National Suicide Prevention Strategy later this year. As part of the development of the strategy, we will consider the changing pattern of risk of suicide associated with issues such as harmful gambling and the Department will engage with key stakeholders, across both the gambling and health sector, during this process.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty of care for higher education institutions to students aged 18 and over.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The mental health and wellbeing of students, including suicide prevention, is a government priority. The department has been working closely with higher education (HE) providers and health colleagues to ensure that students are well supported during their time at university. We expect all HE providers to take suicide prevention with the utmost seriousness, focusing on prevention, providing information and places for students to find help, actively identifying students at risk, and intervening with swift support when needed.
HE providers are autonomous organisations, independent from the government. HE providers have a general duty of care to deliver educational and pastoral services to the standard of an ordinarily competent institution and, in carrying out these services, they are expected to act reasonably to protect the health, safety and welfare of their students. HE providers have a duty of care to not cause harm to their students through the university’s own actions.
Students with disabilities, including mental health impairments, are protected under the Equality Act 2010 which prohibits discrimination and imposes a duty on HE providers to make reasonable adjustments where disabled students are put at a substantial disadvantage.
The NHS has statutory responsibility for delivering mental health services to the whole population, including students.
We work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Office for Students (OfS), and the HE sector to support the student population. We have asked the OfS to distribute £15 million of funding this year as additional support to help students with the transition from schools and colleges to university. This is also to fund partnerships between universities and local NHS services to provide pathways of care for university students.
The department has been vocal in our support for the University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds and developed in collaboration with students, staff, and partner organisations. The Charter aims to drive up standards of practice across the HE sector. 60 universities on the Charter Programme form part of a UK-wide practice sharing network with access to events and opportunities to come together to improve their whole university approach to student and staff mental health. Programme members can also work towards the Charter Award, an accreditation scheme which recognises universities that demonstrate excellent practice.
The department has appointed university Vice-Chancellor Edward Peck as HE's first ever Student Support Champion. His role is to provide sector leadership and promoting effective practice in areas including mental health and information sharing. Professor Peck is engaging with families who have suffered bereavement due to students taking their own life during their time at university.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
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 merits of publishing a Men's Health Strategy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No assessment has been made. However, the Government is taking action to address conditions that affect men, including suicide, heart disease, cancer and associated risk factors such as smoking. As with other major conditions and drivers of ill health, we consider the impact that each issue has at a population level and the most effective ways to address them, including for the groups most impacted.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data his Department holds on the use of multi-storey car park buildings for suicide attempts in each of the last 10 years; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to reduce the risk of such buildings being used for suicide.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is in the process of setting up a new Building Safety Regulator, one of whose duties will be to keep under review the safety of all buildings, including those containing car parks.
The Department is aware of a number of very sad cases of falling from multi story car parks but does not have historic statistics. I would be happy to receive further information or representations from honourable Members on this matter to pass to the Building Safety Regulator to consider in more detail.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what mental health support is available to prison staff.
Answered by Damian Hinds
In full recognition of the challenging aspects of prison-based work, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service is committed to providing a range of formal and peer led mental health support for prison staff. Modes of support offered include self-referral to counselling via a 24 hours and 365 days a year confidential telephone helpline and self-referral for online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Management led referrals are routed to the Occupational Health (OH) provider where assessments and feedback on fitness for work or work adjustments are relayed back to the manager with employee consent. OH assessments are conducted by qualified specialist nurses, doctors and mental health clinicians. For work related trauma management, face to face or virtual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) is offered if clinically appropriate. OH also offers a Post-Covid 19 syndrome service which provides structured mental health support as well as physical support.
Proactive mental health support, by the means of ‘Reflective Sessions’ is delivered by a third-party provider and mental health qualified practitioners. Reflective Sessions take the form of individual or group sessions at either HMPPS or supplier premises. The sessions aim to both reduce the likelihood that staff will experience adverse effects as a result of working on programmes with offenders or high-risk cases, and to increase the likelihood of the experience of positive effects as a result of this work. A wide range of mental health promotion proactive wellbeing workshops are also offered and delivered either via Teams or in person in prisons.
Peer support groups include Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) practitioners, Care Teams and Mental Health Allies. Chaplains are also well-established to provide mental health support to prison staff and prisoners alike.
Employee wellbeing apps are available to be downloaded on mobile phones and tablets which provide up to date guidance, support and signposting to a range of employee physical and mental health support services.
In September 2020, working in collaboration with the Samaritans and the Zero Suicide Alliance, HMPPS introduced a staff self-harm and suicide prevention campaign, Reach Out, Save Lives. Backed by the Lord Chancellor, the campaign drives a consistent message about reaching out to support one another and seeking assistance and aims to impact and challenge cultural norms around a publicly sensitive topic.
HMPPS Occupational Health and Employee Assistance policy and the Post Incident Care policy are in place to support staff.
A comprehensive section on Stress Risk Assessment is available on the employee intranet Health and Safety site. Guidance includes a stress toolkit designed for both employees and managers.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the impact of safer custody teams on (a) mental health support in prisons and (b) the welfare of prisoners.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We have a continued commitment to ensure that the safety of staff and prisoners is a priority. Each prison has a safer custody team that takes the lead on implementing safer custody policy and plays a major role in positively promoting the welfare of prisoners, but this is also the responsibility of every member of staff within the prison. Safer custody teams vary between prisons according to the function, population and size of the prison. The teams have responsibilities including analysing data on violence and self-harm, responding to investigations into deaths in custody and implementing or disseminating learning from them, and supervising peer support schemes. They also have oversight of the key systems for managing safety risks, including the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork process for those at risk of self-harm and suicide and the Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan for those at risk of violence.
Mental health is a priority for this Government and we recognise that providing the right support and treatment at the right time is vital to improving outcomes for people in the criminal justice system. All prisoners have access to a range of mental health services which are commissioned by NHS England. Together, we are committed to ensuring that people in prison have access to an equivalent standard of health care as is available for people in the community.