Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on (a) creating a body image and media literacy toolkit and (b) making it a compulsory element of the school curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to an ambitious programme of activity to support good physical and mental health in children and young people. The Department for Education is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to provide support for schools so that they can promote good physical and mental wellbeing amongst their pupils.
As part of this, the Government is making the teaching of health education compulsory in all state-funded schools from September 2020. Relationships education will be taught in all primary schools and relationships and sex education in all secondary schools. Schools are being encouraged and supported to start teaching these new subjects from September 2019.
The statutory guidance for the new subjects sets out that pupils should be taught about the similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world. This should cover the impact of unhealthy or obsessive comparison with others online including through setting unrealistic expectations for body image and how people may curate a specific image of their life online.
The Department is also producing supporting information for schools on how to teach about issues related to internet safety across the curriculum. This will cover information about the types of harms that young people could face online, including the impact that internet content can have on body confidence, along with guidance about teaching children how to assess critically what they encounter online.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of cancer centres that will be delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy services by (a) 2020 and (b) 2029.
Answered by Steve Brine
In 2016/17, regional specialised commissioning teams undertook a review of local access to stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) in the treatment of early non-small cell lung cancer for patients not suitable for surgery, in line with the current clinical commissioning policy, to ensure sufficient capacity. This review resulted in an increase from 17 SABR Centres in England to 25 and all centres underwent an external quality assurance process prior to commencing treatment delivery.
NHS England is committed to expanding access to all forms of evidence based innovative radiotherapy. Such radiotherapy usually involves the highly targeted delivery of a higher radiation dose given in a smaller number of fractions. SABR is an example of this type of radiotherapy.
To support this approach, NHS England has invested in both clinical trials, Commissioning through Evaluation and is also investing £130 million to modernise radiotherapy equipment. This means that new technologies able to deliver innovative treatments using image guidance at the time of treatment are gradually becoming widely available. NHS England is also investing in the establishment of 11 Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Networks which are expected to play an important role in driving the development of local radiotherapy services, including expanding access to innovative radiotherapy and clinical trial participation. At this stage, no estimate has been made of the numbers of radiotherapy centres that will be delivering SABR in either 2020 or 2029.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to support the extension of stereotactic body radiation therapy services for lung cancer in radiotherapy centres throughout England.
Answered by Steve Brine
In 2016/17, regional specialised commissioning teams undertook a review of local access to stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) in the treatment of early non-small cell lung cancer for patients not suitable for surgery, in line with the current clinical commissioning policy, to ensure sufficient capacity. This review resulted in an increase from 17 SABR Centres in England to 25 and all centres underwent an external quality assurance process prior to commencing treatment delivery.
NHS England is committed to expanding access to all forms of evidence based innovative radiotherapy. Such radiotherapy usually involves the highly targeted delivery of a higher radiation dose given in a smaller number of fractions. SABR is an example of this type of radiotherapy.
To support this approach, NHS England has invested in both clinical trials, Commissioning through Evaluation and is also investing £130 million to modernise radiotherapy equipment. This means that new technologies able to deliver innovative treatments using image guidance at the time of treatment are gradually becoming widely available. NHS England is also investing in the establishment of 11 Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Networks which are expected to play an important role in driving the development of local radiotherapy services, including expanding access to innovative radiotherapy and clinical trial participation. At this stage, no estimate has been made of the numbers of radiotherapy centres that will be delivering SABR in either 2020 or 2029.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to require film companies to include in paperwork submitted for film classification, data on the level of diversity of those companies.
Answered by Margot James
We recognise the need to improve the collection of diversity data in the screen industries to inform diversity and inclusion initiatives. Amongst other measures, DCMS is working with its arm’s length body for film and moving image, the British Film Institute (BFI) to promote the BFI Diversity Standards. These focus on training as well as representation, and are designed to drive lasting change in the workforce. The BFI has set a target of all producers active in the UK having voluntarily accepted the BFI Diversity Standards by 2022. Monitoring and publishing the impact of the standards is a core part of the BFI’s commitment to ensuring these standards drive meaningful change.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) financial effect and (b) effect on diversity in the film industry of the Film Diversity Action Group's November 2018 recommendation that a Diversity Monitor be set up to track diversity data across individual productions, sectors and segments of that industry and to publish its results quarterly.
Answered by Margot James
Government and industry recognise the need to improve the collection of diversity data in the film industry as well as the wider creative industries to inform interventions to promote diversity and inclusion. DCMS is working with its arm’s length body for film and moving image, the BFI, on promoting and monitoring diversity. The joint government-industry Creative Industries Council is working to improve the monitoring of diversity data across the creative industries as part of its growth strategy.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has plans to encourage advertisers to promote healthy body images.
Answered by Margot James
We recognise that the pressure on young people to achieve an idealised body image is a serious issue, with wide-reaching consequences for their mental and physical wellbeing.
As set out in in the recently published Government response to the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper, we are taking forward work on positive body image. This work will build on the commitments made in the Government response to the recent Youth Select Committee report which highlighted that increased time spent online can lead to increased exposure to images of unattainable and unrealistic beauty. The Government is also developing a package of work to tackle harmful gender norms which can occur both online and offline. This will include work with the advertising industry to encourage stereotype-free advertising.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on changing (a) film and (b) high-end television tax relief to encourage an increase in the diversity of people working in the film and television industries.
Answered by Margot James
The Secretary of State meets regularly with his counterparts in Treasury to discuss a range of matters, including the creative sector tax reliefs, which have successfully encouraged the production of culturally British films and high-end TV programmes worth over £10 billion in expenditure since 2007, making the UK one of the top production destinations in the world.
We are committed to improving diversity in all DCMS sectors and is supportive of relevant work being undertaken by the British Film Institute (BFI) as the government’s arm’s length body for the moving image.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle (a) eating disorders and (b) body image issues among young people in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Poor body image is a factor in eating disorders and other mental health problems. The additional £1.4 billion the Government is making available for children and young people’s mental health services up to 2020, includes £150 million specifically targeted at improving support for young people with eating disorders. The green paper ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’ set out proposals for new mental health support teams to provide further trained and clinically-supervised support to young people in school.
The Government has also funded the provision of information and advice to schools. MindEd (https://www.minded.org.uk/) is a free online portal that provides training for all adults working with children and young people about mental health problems. It includes specific information on eating disorders. The Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Association has also produced advice on how to teach pupils in all four Key Stages about mental health. This includes specific advice on age-appropriate teaching about body image and eating disorders in secondary school.
The Government has sought views, via a thorough engagement process, on the content of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, and on the status of PSHE – including on issues such as body image and eating disorders. The findings will inform draft regulations and guidance for schools, which will be subject to further consultation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the marketing of skin bleaching on mental health and wellbeing.
Answered by Philip Dunne
We have made no such assessment.
The Government is committed to ensuring that individuals make informed and safe choices about cosmetic procedures. Since publication of Sir Bruce Keogh’s Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic Interventions, in 2013, we have implemented a number of important measures to that end.
These measures include continuation of an extensive programme around body image to help young adults to become more resilient to the pressures that they face. A copy of the 2015 progress report can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/body-confidence-progress-report-2015
The General Medical Council has also published guidance which makes clear the ethical obligations doctors have towards patients and the standards of care they need to provide. The guidance is clear that doctors must market their services responsibly and give patients all the time and information they need so that they can make a voluntary and informed decision about whether to go ahead. A copy of the guidance can be found at the following link:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/news_consultation/27171.asp
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Be Real Campaign’s research that 52 per cent of secondary school pupils regularly worry about their physical appearance; and whether they will consider promoting Be Real’s Body Confidence Toolkit for Schools in all schools in England.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government is supportive of the work of Be Real, and provided initial funding to launch its website. Caroline Dinenage, the previous Minister for Women and Equalities, met with Be Real following the launch of their toolkit, to thank them for their important work and discuss how we can best support young people’s body image.
In 2015 the Government funded the PSHE Association to develop and publish key standards on teaching about body image in schools, which I referred to in my previous answer. That includes a list of resources on body image that have been accredited by the PSHE Association, and the Be Real body confidence toolkit has received that accreditation and so is included within the key standards resource. The PSHE Association is a trusted source for teachers and schools, and I am confident that this is an important way to support the promotion of the Be Real resource to schools.