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Written Question
Schools: Mental Health Services
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Boxall profile measurement tool to help measure the social emotional mental health and wellbeing of school pupils.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to ensuring schools are safe, calm and supportive environments, which promote and support mental health and wellbeing.

Measuring pupil wellbeing can help schools to identify need and monitor the impact of policies and interventions, which is one of the core principles of the whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing recommended by the department. The department is offering every school and college a grant to train a senior mental health lead who can oversee this approach and has recently commissioned a Mental health lead resource hub which has a variety of relevant measurement tools, including the Boxall profile. More information can be found at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/.

As set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department is also developing practitioner standards for frontline education staff, setting out the best available evidence of what works for identifying and supporting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs, including social, emotional and mental health, across early years, schools and post-16 education.


Written Question
LGBT+ People: Health
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting the wellbeing of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Equality Hub Ministers regularly engage with their counterparts across Government on matters relating to LGB equality. This is because this Government is committed to improving the health and well-being of young people and we recognise that gay, lesbian and bisexual young people often face specific challenges.

This is why spending for children and young people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 billion in 2022/23.

A further £3 million of funding has also been divided between five anti-bullying organisations to tackle bullying in schools. This includes projects that target homophobic and biphobic hate-related bullying.

In October 2022, we launched a Victim Support Service for anyone affected by or at risk of conversion practices, regardless of their sexual orientation, sex or transgender identity. The helpline can provide a safe, confidential listening and information service to anyone over the age of 13.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Standards
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve mental health services and reduce waiting times for those seeking treatment.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services, to expand access and reduce waiting times. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, NHS spending on mental health has increased by £4.6 billion in cash terms, as compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the NHS Long Term Plan. The plan committed to grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff between 2019/20 and 2023/24. We are making positive progress, delivering two-thirds of this, approximately 17,000, by September 2023, with further significant growth expected by the end of this financial year.

The NHS is also working towards implementing five new waiting time measures for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, for both adults, and children and young people. This includes working towards improving the quality of data that we have on waiting times for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community. NHS England began publishing this new data in 2023 to improve transparency and drive local accountability.


Written Question
Autism: Diagnosis
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of average waiting times for autism assessments on other health and care services.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

There are no current plans to make this specific assessment. We recognise the importance of early identification of autism so that an individual’s needs can be identified sooner, and support put in place earlier in life.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on autism highlight the importance of conducting an autism assessment as soon as possible so that appropriate health and social care interventions, and advice and support, can be offered. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with the NICE’s guidelines.

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults. The operational guidance makes it clear that people should be able to access support and care from other services for needs that appear linked to physical and mental health, including while they are waiting for an autism assessment. This year, the Department is updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the NHS and local authorities in delivering improved outcomes for autistic people.


Written Question
Autism: Children
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children are waiting for (a) an assessment and (b) a diagnosis for autism spectrum disorder.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The latest autism assessment waiting times data drawn from the Mental Health Services Dataset was published on 14 March 2024. This data showed that the number of people aged zero to 17 years old with an open referral for suspected autism was 102,024 in December 2023. The data also showed that, in December 2023, 6.3% of patients, or 5,443 patients, aged zero to 17 years old received a first contact appointment within 13 weeks.

Data on children and young people in this dataset is expected to be an underestimate. Caution should be used when interpreting these statistics since they are experimental rather than official statistics. The majority of children assessed for autism in the United Kingdom are seen in child development services, which are out of the scope of this dataset. This means the published figures will underestimate the volume of referrals or diagnoses and the associated impact on health services. NHS England continue to conduct exploratory analysis into the Community Services Dataset, with a view to include autism waiting times data from this dataset. This should improve the coverage of this data.


Written Question
Montelukast: Side Effects
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the dangers to some users of the asthma drug montelukast; and what discussions they have had with the montelukast UK action group, which has highlighted the risks of the drug.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Montelukast remains a safe and effective medicine in the treatment of asthma. Montelukast is indicated for use in the United Kingdom as an add on treatment for asthma patients who are inadequately controlled on inhaled corticosteroid treatment, and can be prescribed for the symptomatic relief of seasonal allergic rhinitis in patients with asthma.

Neuropsychiatric effects such as depression have been included in the UK product information for montelukast since 2007. This has been subsequently updated with additional terms, based on emerging evidence. This includes the most recent update in 2019, to more fully describe the neuropsychiatric effects. In order to remind prescribers of the risk of the neuropsychiatric effects with montelukast, a Drug Safety Update article was published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2019 to accompany the updated warnings.

Following a growing number of Yellow Card reports and queries from patients and caregivers raising concerns about a potential ongoing lack of awareness of the risk of the neuropsychiatric effects with montelukast, the MHRA is conducting a further review of the latest data. As part of our review, we are evaluating all available evidence including Yellow Card reports and queries received by the MHRA, literature publications, international regulatory changes, including those made by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration, and listening to and learning from patients’ experiences.

The MHRA has sought advice from our independent expert groups including paediatricians, specialists in mental and respiratory health, as well as experts in medicines safety. Patient representatives from the UK action group, including parents of children and young people who had taken montelukast, were invited to the MHRA’s independent pharmacovigilance expert advisory group (PEAG), to share their lived experiences of dealing with the impact of the neuropsychiatric effects, including the impact of lack of awareness of the side effect. The MHRA is finalising the review process and will communicate on any further measures to minimise the risk, upon completion of our review.


Written Question
LGBT+ People: Health
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on Government support for the health of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

This Government is committed to improving the health and well-being of young people. We recognise that gay, lesbian and bisexual young people often face specific challenges.

We have ended the ban on blood donations from sexually active gay men, and are eliminating barriers for same sex couples to access IVF.

Spend for children and young people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 billion in 2022/23.

And in 2021, we published our HIV Action Plan which sets our commitment to ending all new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030.


Written Question
Preventive Medicine: Young People
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to (a) identify young people most at risk of poor health in later life and (b) mitigate that risk.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the significant impact that youth health can have across a person’s life course, and is committed to keeping young people healthy, preventing ill-health, and providing treatment and support where needed. The Department leads a range of universal public health interventions and guidance for those aged between zero and 19 years old, that provide universal support, and help identify further needs and safeguarding concerns for children and young people most at-risk.

People with both physical and mental health conditions face poorer clinical outcomes, and a significantly lower quality of life, than people with a physical health condition alone. This is why the Government is rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges in England, to detect and offer evidence-based interventions to young people experiencing mild-to-moderate mental health issues. These currently cover 3.4 million children, or approximately 35% of pupils, which will increase to 50% by 2025. When deciding where to introduce mental health support teams, integrated care boards consider how teams will reach young people most at risk of poor outcomes. In addition, on 27 February 2024 we announced extra funding for 24 early support hubs for young people across England, so that thousands of children and young people will receive earlier, open-access mental health interventions in local communities.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for mental health services.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

More and more people are getting support with their mental health thanks to investments made through the NHS Long Term Plan. Unfortunately, demand has risen as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in the cost of living on people’s mental health continues to be felt. This means that some people are facing waiting times that are much longer than we would like.

We are providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services, to expand access and reduce waiting times. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, NHS spending on mental health has increased by £4.6 billion in cash terms, as compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the Long Term Plan. The NHS Long Term Plan committed to grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff between 2019/20 and 2023/24. We are making positive progress, delivering two-thirds of this, or 17,000 additional staff, by September 2023, with further significant growth expected by the end of this financial year.

The NHS is also working towards implementing five new waiting time measures for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, for both adults, and children and young people. This includes working towards improving the quality of data that we have on waiting times for people requiring mental healthcare, in both accident and emergency and in the community. NHS England began publishing this new data in 2023 to improve transparency and drive local accountability.


Written Question
Health: Screening
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to educate young people about the importance of health screening programmes in later life.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Health education is mandated from key stages one to four. One of its overarching objectives is teaching pupils about physical health and mental wellbeing, to give them the information that they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing. This should enable them to recognise what is normal and what is an issue in themselves, and when issues arise, how to seek support as early as possible from appropriate sources.