Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) support young people with mental health conditions into work and (b) help reduce the number of young people signed off work due to mental health conditions.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Get Britain Working White Paper set out the government’s plans to drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity, create an inclusive labour market in which everybody can participate and progress in work, and meet the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. The White Paper set out three major reforms: to create a new Jobs and Careers Service, address the growing and unsustainable problem of people being out of work due to poor health, and establish a new Youth Guarantee.
The Youth Guarantee will be for all 18-21 year olds in England and will ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work, starting in eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas this Spring.
Department for Work and Pensions already provides young people aged 16-24, who are claiming Universal Credit, with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work. Youth Employability Coaches specifically work closely with Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions.
The Government also recognises that many people find health conditions and disabilities, including mental ill health, a barrier to employment. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
There are a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals with health conditions to stay in work and get back into work, which involve joint working between Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Health and Social Care. Support includes Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support programme for people with severe mental illnesses, and Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme aimed at disabled people with complex barriers to employment. In addition, Department for Health and Social Care’s Early Support Hubs also provide employment advice and broader mental health and wellbeing support to young people aged 11-25.
Policy relating to waiting lists for people referred for mental health support sits with my Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Health and Social Care, and you may wish to raise the matter with them.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether political (a) advisers and (b) aides in his Department declared potential conflicts of interest in the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar
Cabinet Office set the current declaration of interests policy for special advisers. All special advisers declare any relevant interests to the Permanent Secretary.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department takes to ensure the fairness, and transparency in its recruitment and appointment processes for officials and advisers.
Answered by Edward Argar
It is a requirement of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 that selection for recruitment to the Civil Service must be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. This requirement is assured by an independent body, the Civil Service Commission. All Departmental recruitment and appointment policies and processes are underpinned by the requirements set out in the Act.
Special advisers, who are temporary civil servants, are appointed pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Department complies with these provisions. The Cabinet Office oversees any special adviser appointment process.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of Friday 26 January 2018 to Question 123604, on Special Educational Needs, if he will publish the ministerial letters sent to local authorities inspected under the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission Special Educational Needs and Disability inspection framework, that had significant weaknesses; and what steps are being taken to monitor the progress of those local authorities that were not required to produce a Written Statement of Action.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department’s policy is for ministers to write to local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups in all local areas shortly after the publication of their inspection report. Ministers write again, a year later, to areas where inspectors identified significant concerns, to reflect on the progress made. These letters form part of our work to support and challenge the work of local leaders as they improve services; and to recognise where services have improved.
We have no plans to publish these letters, which are copied to all relevant MPs and the Leader of the Council, but they are intended for public use. In areas where inspectors identified significant concerns, we copy the letters to all relevant MPs and the Leader of the Council. We encourage local council leaders to share the letters with their partners, including parents, to inform and support their work to improve services. Some areas, for example, Rochdale and Surrey, have published these ministerial letters and I would encourage others to do the same.
We have been encouraged by the commitment of council leaders to using the local area Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) inspections as a catalyst to improve services. The government recently provided a further £29 million (in addition to £223 million since 2014) to support local authorities with ongoing implementation of the SEND reforms. The department will also continue to provide funding of £2.3 million per year for parent carer forums in 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as specialist SEND advisers to work directly with local authorities, to hold services to account and support them to improve.
In those local areas where inspectors have not requested a written statement of action, we follow up on the strengths and areas for development as part of on-going local area performance monitoring. We also draw on a wide range of intelligence, including surveys; research; and feedback, including from parents and the specialist SEND advisers. Where local area performance, such as the commissioning of services, is a particular concern, officials work closely with partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, to engage jointly with local areas to provide support and challenge.