Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the level of funding of the public health grant to local authorities.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
At the Spending Review 2021, we considered the need for local authority public health funding and confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2022/23, the Grant increased by 2.81% to £3.417 billion. This is in addition to targeted investment through local Government in Start for Life support and drug and alcohol treatment services.
We will announce 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly and in doing so will consider the impact of changes to pay and inflation trends and forecasts since the Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will inform local authorities of their provisional public health grant budgets for 2023–24.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We will announce 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the public health grant in (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25, in line with inflation as announced in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We will announce 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children and young people received inpatient mental health care from (1) private mental health providers, and how (2) NHS children, adolescent and mental health services (CAMHS), in each of the 10 years preceding October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The table below details the number of children and young people aged 17 and under receiving inpatient care from National Health Service providers and non-NHS providers. Information for NHS providers is for all mental health inpatient services as there is not a defined or agreed reporting methodology solely for children and adolescent mental health inpatient services.
Year | NHS providers | Non-NHS providers |
2016/17 | 2,429 | 1,075 |
2017/18 | 2,498 | 1,160 |
2018/19 | 2,720 | 1,233 |
2019/20 | 2,731 | 1,028 |
2020/21 | 2,397 | 818 |
2021/22 | 2,161 | 1,012 |
Source: NHS Mental Health Services Data Set
1. This information includes all the children and young people under the age of 18 who have been admitted (i.e. were an inpatient at any point in the year) to Non-NHS and NHS providers.
2. We are not able to provide data prior to 2016 as the children services were not in scope in the previous datasets.
3. The number of providers submitting data has changed over time (i.e. 92 in April 2017 to 350 in April 2022).
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the further roll-out of mental support teams in schools.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of children currently have access to a mental health support team in school.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people were on waiting lists to access (1) mental health support, and (2) an inpatient mental health bed, on 1 October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to review the standard NHS practice of not using foetal painkillers before abortion; and what assessment they have made of the consistency of this approach with the current standard NHS practice of using foetal painkillers before foetal surgery from 19 weeks.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department does not set or review clinical practice and no specific assessment has been made. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has established a review group to consider the latest evidence on foetal pain and foetal awareness, which is expected to report on its findings by the end of 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have received on foetal viability from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Neonatal Nurses Association and the British Maternal and Foetal Medicine Society, who published joint guidelines in 2019 on caring for premature babies born from the 22nd week of gestation.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
While the Department monitors new evidence on viability, we have not received any such advice from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Neonatal Nurses Association and the British Maternal and Foetal Medicine Society.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to (1) ensuring men's health is made a ministerial priority, and (2) making improvements to men's health a specific strand of work within the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Improving the health of both men and women is a ministerial priority for the Department. Evidence suggests that men are disproportionately affected by certain conditions, such as ischemic heart disease, are more likely to smoke or engage in other health harming behaviours and are more likely to die by suicide. We have committed to reduce stroke and heart attacks and the forthcoming publication of the new Tobacco Control Plan will target groups where smoking rates are not decreasing, including men. We are also investing in measures to prevent suicide.
While there are no current plans to make men’s health a specific strand of work, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities aims to improve the health of the population regardless of socio-economic background or gender.