Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of patients (a) waiting for mental healthcare and (b) on NHS waiting lists for physical conditions who are also waiting for mental healthcare.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There is currently no waiting times standard covering all mental health service areas. For services where a waiting times standard does exist, the latest position over the period from November 2023 to January 2024 was published by NHS England on 14 March 2024.
Information on routine and urgent referrals to children and young people’s eating disorder services and referrals to the early Intervention in Psychosis pathway is available at the following link:
Information on referrals to NHS Talking Therapies is available at the following link:
For referrals to adult community mental health services waiting for a second contact, referrals to children and young people’s community mental health services waiting for a first contact and Accident & Emergency attendances for mental health or self-harm, information is being collected to prepare for the proposed new waiting time standards being developed as part of the Clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards but these are NOT yet associated with a target. The latest position over the period from November 2023 to January 2024 is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-services-monthly-statistics/performance-january-2024
Information on the number of patients on NHS waiting lists for physical conditions who are also waiting for mental healthcare is not held centrally.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are expanding and transforming NHS mental health care so that more people can get the support that they need more quickly. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, the NHS forecasts that spending on mental health services has increased by £4.6 billion in cash terms, compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the NHS Long Term Plan. All integrated boards are also on track to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2023/24.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the causes of levels of self-harm by female inmates.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In 2021, the Youth Custody Service and NHS England co-commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to undertake a review into the needs of girls in the children and young people secure estate.
The report found that trauma-related stress is then communicated differently by boys and girls. More often, girls communicated stress through internalising behaviours such as self-harm, and boys through externalising behaviours.
Any girl in the secure estate who is at risk of self-harm will be supported through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, ensuring she has a dedicated case manager, and girls with the most complex needs will receive additional monitoring and more intensive case management.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby (20 November - 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of reducing time spent in cells on levels of (a) violence and (b) self-harm at HMYOI Wetherby.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service’s COVID-19 Research & Evaluation Programme Report, published in January 2023 (Youth Custody Service YCS CoRE Programme report (publishing.service.gov.uk)) explored the experiences of those involved in the youth secure estate in England and Wales during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the key findings was that staff were concerned about the effect on children’s well-being of regime restrictions and interruptions to criminal cases. They noted, however, a reduction in self-harm and violence, which they related to children’s feeling safer, as a result of smaller residential groups and a calmer regime.
Overall, our primary strategy to reduce violence within the youth estate is to deliver our framework for integrated care, known as ‘SECURE STAIRS,’ which seeks to support staff in working with children and young people to provide trauma-informed care which addresses the causes of their offending behaviour and sustainable long-term support in preparing them for release. This is delivered in partnership with NHS England, and includes improvements in areas such as conflict resolution and specialist psychological interventions.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the charity Words Matter that two in five children experience verbal abuse from the adults around them which can cause anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, substance abuse and suicide; and what steps they are taking in response.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Protection from abuse and neglect is a fundamental right for all children. The government’s priority for all vulnerable children is to keep them safe, protect their welfare and put their best interests at the heart of every decision.
In the department’s Children in Need statistics release, the department publishes data on factors identified at the end of an assessment by children’s social care services. The statistics release for 2023 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need. Currently, verbal abuse is not defined as a separate category but would fall under emotional abuse. For that reason, the department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of verbal abuse on children, but it is the government’s priority to ensure all children are protected and safe from harm.
Government ministers and departmental officials have ongoing, regular engagement with the Children’s Commissioner and her office on a range of issues, including safeguarding children. The department has also offered to meet with the charity Words Matter to discuss their report in more detail so that the department can take forward any appropriate action to mitigate against the effects of verbal abuse on children and young people. Once departmental officials have met with Words Matter, the department will be in a better position to make a detailed assessment.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in determining whether suicide and self-harm prevention will be included in their guidance on relationships, sex and health education as an explicit part of the curriculum, in particular to support young people to spot the signs of, and seek appropriate support for, cases of suicidal ideation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is currently reviewing the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance. In July 2023, as part of the review, the department held a workshop with teachers. The former Minister for Schools also chaired roundtable meetings with a panel of experts and with families to explore the inclusion of suicide prevention in the curriculum.
The department will publish an amended draft of the statutory guidance for consultation at the earliest opportunity. The department will consider responses carefully before publishing the final revised guidance in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many reported instances there are of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of reported instances of violence or self-harm linked to video gaming in children and young people.
However, the Government takes this issue extremely seriously and is introducing a new offence through the Online Safety Act to make communications which encourage or assist self-harm illegal. This will protect people of all ages from this harmful content.
Equivalent provisions are set out in the Criminal Justice Bill currently making its way through Parliament, which create the same prohibitions offline.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been a decrease in the rates of self-harm, assault and suicide in prisons since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at the end of March 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The following tables show the rates of self-harm, assault and self-inflicted deaths in prisons.
For deaths the rate covers 12 monthly data to March for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. For self-harm and assaults this covers 9 months for April to December (latest available) for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Table 1; Rate of self-inflicted deaths per 1,000 prisoners, England and Wales1, April 2019 to March 2023
Year | Self-inflicted deaths2 |
2019-20 | 1.0 |
2020-21 | 1.0 |
2021-22 | 1.0 |
2022-23 | 1.0 |
(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC
(2) All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time.
Table 2; Rate of self-harm and assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners1,2, England and Wales, April 2019 to December 20223
Time Period | Self-harm4 | Assaults |
April to December 2019 | 583 | 272 |
April to December 2020 | 503 | 170 |
April to December 2021 | 528 | 196 |
April to December 2022 | 530 | 201 |
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(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC.
(2) Figures exclude incidents occurring within the youth estate. The youth estate includes incidents occurring within Cookham Wood, Werrington and Wetherby, as well as the youth wing at Feltham and Parc. Figures for incidents occurring within the youth estate are published within the ‘Safety in the children and young people secure estate’ statistics bulletin via the following link - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/safety-in-the-youth-secure-estate-bulletin
(3) The rates are based on the number of incidents and average prison population for the 9 months from April to December each year.
(4) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the sale of razors and pencil sharpeners in shops to minors on their subsequent use for self-harm or violent purposes.
Answered by Sarah Dines
Section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, created the offence of selling any knife, knife blade, razor blade, axe or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, to a person under the age of 18. Pencil sharpeners would not usually fall under the definition of the age restricted items.
When the legislation was debated in parliament, it was considered whether any exemptions should apply. The Government’s approach was to balance the need for young people to have access to certain small, bladed items, for example disposable razor blade cartridges, against the intended aim of reducing knife crime. The legislation reflects this approach and disposable razor cartridges are exempt from the age restriction by way of s2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Exemption) Order 1996.
The Home Office does not hold figures on the use of pencil sharpener blades or razor blades for use in self-harm or for violent purposes.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on how many times an individual child was removed from association for periods (a) up to three days, (b) up to 14 days, (c) up to 21 days, (d) up to 42 days and (e) more than 42 days for each juvenile young offender institution in the 12 months to31 March 2022; and if he will break down those removals by the (i) age, (ii) sex, (iii) ethnicity of the children removed from association, (iv) number of children who were classed as disabled and (v) recorded reasons for those removals.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Young people are only temporarily separated from their peers as a very last resort to protect others. When this happens, they receive extra support from specially trained staff. We are bolstering training for every frontline officer, backed by £5m of funding, to improve care and support for all those in custody. Children are never separated as a punishment. The information relating to the number of separations is provided below:
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Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the extent of (a) bullying and (b) consequent suicide of pupils in schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Every suicide is a tragedy. Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, including suicide prevention, is a government priority. The department is committed to ensuring schools and colleges are safe, calm and supportive learning environments, where bullying is actively prevented. Schools and colleges should also promote mental wellbeing and provide early, targeted support to prevent the onset and progression of mental health problems.
It is important to recognise that suicide is complex and rarely due to one factor. However, there is strong evidence in the wider academic literature for a causal link between being a victim of bullying, and experiencing negative mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, self-harm, and psychotic experiences in both adolescence and throughout adult life. In February 2022, 15% of secondary pupils (years 7 to 13) self-reported that they had been bullied in the past 12 months.
The analysis of The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) data on child deaths between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, for which the child death reviews have been completed, shows that of the 91 deaths categorised as ‘Suicide or deliberate self-inflicted harm’ (excluding substance misuse related deaths), at least 21 (23%) had experienced either face to face or cyber bullying.
The department’s ‘Behaviour in Schools’ Guidance states that all schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff and parents. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1101597/Behaviour_in_schools_guidance_sept_22.pdf.
The department is providing over £2 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2023, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate-related bullying.