Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Sixth-Fifth Report of the Committee on Public Accounts of Session 2022-23 on Progress in improving NHS mental health services, HC 1000, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the reported shortage of mental health professionals in the NHS workforce.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We are committed to attracting, training, and recruiting the mental health workforce of the future, as well as retaining and developing our current workforce. Since 2016, we have expanded and diversified the types of roles that are available, as well as upskilling and transforming the workforce to deliver innovative models of care. However, while there have been significant increases, we acknowledge that the rise in demand for services means that more growth is needed to improve and expand services, to keep in line with this. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the need to grow the overall mental health and learning disability workforce the fastest of all care settings, at 4.4% per year up to 2036/37.
To support this ambition, the plan sets out a number of targeted interventions for the mental health workforce, including increasing mental health training places by 13% by 2025/26 and 28% by 2028/29. These interventions will be delivered via partnerships working across the Department of Health and Social Care, integrated care systems and providers, as well as with wider partners such as the Department for Education and Office for Students.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that staffing levels of mental health professionals in the NHS meet levels of demand for their services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
To deliver the NHS Long Term Plan’s mental health commitments and help reduce waiting times, our aim has been to grow the mental health workforce nationally by an additional 27,000 professionals by March 2024.
We are making positive progress, delivering three quarters of this, or approximately 20,800 new professionals, by December 2023, with further growth expected to have been achieved once the full year figures for 2023/24 are available. This growth is in addition to the commitment to grow the National Health Service’s mental health workforce by 19,000 between 2016/17 and 2020/21, as set out in Stepping Forward to 2020/21: the mental health workforce plan for England, which was achieved in September 2021.
At a national level, we are committed to attracting, training, and recruiting the mental health workforce of the future, as well as retaining and developing our current workforce. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’s modelling projections set out a need to grow the overall mental health and learning disability workforce the fastest of all care settings, at 4.4% per year up to 2036/37, to help improve access to services and quality of care.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how her Department plans to use Section 95 (3) 251ZA Information Standards (Compliance) of the Health and Care Act 2022 to ensure that NHS providers meet the communication needs of patients set out in the Accessible Information Standard.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department plans to implement Section 95 later this year. This will be subject to Parliament’s approval of the regulations setting out the procedure for preparing and publishing mandatory information standards, on which the Department has recently consulted.
Once Section 95 is in force and compliance with information standards becomes mandatory, the Department will use section 251ZA, where appropriate, to monitor compliance with information standards, including by requiring National Health Service providers and others to whom information standards apply, to provide information for this purpose.
NHS England is responsible for the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), and plans to update the AIS to take account of the statutory approach to information standards in due course. NHS England has also completed a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. One of the aims of the review was to strengthen assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of NHS and social care services to measure their performance against the AIS, and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation.
NHS England will publish a revised AIS in due course. Following publication, NHS England will continue work to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and updated e-learning modules on the AIS, to ensure NHS staff are better aware of the standard, and their roles and responsibilities in implementing it.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to ensure that effective support is provided to autistic women (a) during and (b) after childbirth.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Health and Care Act 2022 requires Care Quality Commission registered providers, which includes maternity services, to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism, appropriate to their role. We are rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism to support this. This training will help to ensure that staff have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe and compassionate care, including how to provide reasonable adjustments for autistic people.
NHS England is also working to improve the use and recording of reasonable adjustments to make it easier for autistic people to use health services, by ensuring care is tailored appropriately. This includes the development of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which will enable the recording of key information about a patient, including if a person is autistic, and their reasonable adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to assess the healthcare needs of women with autism and ADHD during menopause.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. Menopause is a priority area within the Women’s Health Strategy, and the Department and National Health Service are implementing an ambitious programme of work to improve menopause care so all women, including those with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can access the support they need.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for providing services that meet the needs of their local population. Every ICB is expected to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, whose remit includes supporting the board in addressing the health inequalities that autistic people and people with a learning disability experience, and supporting equal access to care across all health services.
From 1 July 2022, the Health and Care Act 2022 requires Care Quality Commission registered providers to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism, appropriate to their role. Since November 2022, over 1.7 million people have completed the first part of Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism. In addition, NHS England is improving the use and recording of reasonable adjustments to ensure care is tailored appropriately for disabled people, including people with autism and ADHD.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to implement section 95 of the Health and Care Act 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department plans to implement Section 95 later this year. This will be subject to Parliament’s approval of the regulations setting out the procedure for preparing and publishing mandatory information standards, on which the Department has recently consulted.
Once Section 95 is in force and compliance with information standards becomes mandatory, the Department will use section 251ZA, where appropriate, to monitor compliance with information standards, including by requiring National Health Service providers and others to whom information standards apply, to provide information for this purpose.
NHS England is responsible for the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), and plans to update the AIS to take account of the statutory approach to information standards in due course. NHS England has also completed a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. One of the aims of the review was to strengthen assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of NHS and social care services to measure their performance against the AIS, and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation.
NHS England will publish a revised AIS in due course. Following publication, NHS England will continue work to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and updated e-learning modules on the AIS, to ensure NHS staff are better aware of the standard, and their roles and responsibilities in implementing it.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Appendix 1 of the guidance by NHS England entitled Improving identification of people with a learning disability: guidance for general practice, published on 11 October 2019, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people that have a learning disability; and how many and what proportion of those people are (a) on the learning disability register and (b) not on the register despite having conditions that would automatically entitle them to be on the register.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are approximately 1.3 million people in England with a learning disability, according to Mencap figures. NHS England data shows that, as of March 2023, there were 347,840 people of all ages with a learning disability on the learning disability register in England. However, this learning disability register is voluntary, and not everyone chooses to register.
It is a statutory requirement under the Equality Act 2010 that public sector agencies make reasonable adjustments to their practice that will make them as accessible and effective as they would be for people without disabilities. NHS England has published guidance aimed at improving the identification of people with a learning disability, which is available at the following link:
General practices should review this guidance and update their registers at least annually, to ensure that they are accurate.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women with autism were in mental health inpatient care settings in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The following table shows the number of female patients with either autism or autism and a learning disability in mental health care inpatient settings in England, in each of the last five years:
Year | Autism | Learning disability and autism | Total |
March 2020 | 270 | 115 | 390 |
March 2021 | 325 | 110 | 430 |
March 2022 | 375 | 110 | 485 |
March 2023 | 430 | 115 | 545 |
February 2024 | 395 | 90 | 490 |
Source: the data is taken from NHS England’s Assuring Transformation dataset, as of 28 February 2024.
Notes:
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have completed part two of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is delivered in two tiers of training. Tier 1 is for those that require general awareness for their role, and Tier 2 is for those who may provide care for people with a learning disability or autism. Both tiers consist of two parts, and the first part of both tiers is an e-learning package, which over 1.7 million people have completed.
The second part of the Tier 1 training is an hour long online interactive session co-delivered by a person with a learning disability or an autistic person. The latest NHS England figures from December 2023 show that 12,741 people have completed the second part of the Tier 1 training.
The second part of the Tier 2 training is a full day, in-person training session co-delivered by a person with a learning disability or an autistic person. The latest NHS England figures from December 2023 show that 9,012 people have completed the second part of the Tier 2 training.
The numbers of staff having completed these training programmes is maintained by the NHS England regions, and reported to NHS England on a quarterly basis. These numbers are reported by integrated care boards, and are predominantly National Health Service staff.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to The national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026, published in July 2021, how many additional children have received diagnoses of autism and related support as a result of the expansion of the school-based identification programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Through the Opportunity Area scheme, in 2021/22 the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education invested £600,000 into a pilot in Bradford through the Born in Bradford programme, which looked to improve early identification of autism and other neurodiverse conditions. This was subsequently adopted by four other Opportunity Areas as Early Identification of Autism Projects.
Information on how many additional children have received diagnoses of autism, and related support as a result of the programme, is not centrally held. The University of Manchester was commissioned to evaluate the Early Identification of Autism Projects, and their report will be published in due course.