Improving Local Mental Health Services

Last October, in this column, I asked local organisations to work together and consider applying to the new Beyond Places of Safety Fund.

Applications had just been opened for a new £15 million fund to improve support for people who experience a range of mental health conditions that put them at risk of an acute mental health crisis.

The Beyond Places of Safety fund is the successor to the original Places of Safety programme which was established, alongside the Crisis Care Concordat, to confront one of the quiet scandals within mental health system – namely the thousands of people left in a police cell following a detention under the Mental Health Act.

The new funding for the Places of Safety Programme, coupled with the ingenuity and partnerships forged between statutory and voluntary organisations under local Crisis Care agreements, has seen the number detained in police custody following a mental health crisis drop by over 80% over the last five years. New regulations have also come into effect to ensure that police custody is only used in exceptional circumstances under careful medical and police supervision. No young person can be held in custody.

Having spent time with Cornwall Resus and Street Pastors in our local towns on a Saturday night, as well as shadowing staff at A&E at Treliske, I am aware of the challenges that our front line public service professionals are facing with people in crisis.

I listened carefully to their opinions which informed my actions when I was Chair of the National Crisis Concordat, a role I held when I was the Home Office Minister responsible for vulnerable people, domestic violence, drug and alcohol strategy, amongst other matters. I have seen at first hand the difference that funding common sense innovations – driven by passionate third sector organisations, working in partnership with the NHS – are making to how people are treated when they become acutely unwell.

I am delighted that Cornwall is benefitting from the new Beyond Places of Safety Fund.  £1.5 million will be invested in the new hub at Treliske which will enable partners, including Addaction, to ensure that local people have the wrapped around care they need.  Support that not only treats the symptoms but also tackles the root cause of their crisis which can include a wide range of issues from sexual abuse, domestic abuse, and substance misuse to homelessness. Treating the whole person rather than just their mental health crisis should lead to better outcomes for the people concerned as well as reducing demand for emergency care at Treliske.

There may be no magic bullet to stem the rising tide of mental ill health – but innovative community initiatives can make a make a real difference to keeping people safe.

Along with plans to train a million people in basic mental health first aid skills – the first country in the world to have this scale of ambition – we will continue to invest in NHS mental health services, training more professionals, and aiming to treat more people than ever before.

First published in the West Briton 31/05/18

Pushing for appropriate development in Falmouth

Since being elected I have worked hard to enable planning decisions to be made in Cornwall not Westminster. I believe that this is the best way to ensure that development meets the needs of local people. Too many young people growing up in Truro & Falmouth cannot afford to live here. Making sure people have a decent, really affordable home has always been a top priority for me.

The Coalition Government from 2010 – 2015 returned decisions about planning and homes from Westminster to Cornwall Council. I supported these plans to better enable local people to shape the future of our communities.

I have written before about my disappointment with the leadership of Cornwall Council who have persistently not used these powers for the benefit of local people. Cornwall Council was amongst the last planning authorities to agree a Local Plan, only submitting Cornwall’s housing allocations to the Planning Inspector in October.

Sadly, despite the hard work of many local people we still don’t have an agreed Falmouth Neighbourhood Plan.

So as a result of the delayed Cornwall Plan and the yet to be agreed Falmouth Neighbourhood Plan, we are left without a proper plan for the growth of our town. This is particularly worrying as Cornwall Council has supported lifting of the cap on the number of students in our universities while not addressing the pressure on local housing and services that inevitably follows.

There is no doubt that Falmouth is a great place to work, study and live. Together with the vast majority of residents, I have been concerned by the approval of a number of unpopular and unsuitable planning applications.

The impact of this is clearly being felt. I read the letter from the Planning Inspector who approved the application to build new student accommodation on the site of the The Ocean Bowl. He acknowledged the strength of local feeling against the development and drew attention to the lack of an effective reason not to grant permission. Cornwall Council should and could have done more to prevent Falmouth being in this situation.

I wrote to the Secretary of State to ask that he call in the planning applications at Ocean Bowl, Fish Strand Hill and the former Rosslyn Hotel site.

In his response the former Secretary of State pointed to the fact that Cornwall Council did not seek to challenge the Inspector’s decision, which meant that it was not expedient for him to revoke the approvals.

In light of this information and following the approval of a further appeal by a Planning Inspector on the Old Coachworks site, I wrote to Cornwall Council to ask that they challenge the decision. The Council said that they would not be opposing the decision in this instance but did acknowledge that the Council had been criticised “for continuing with an argument after an appeal decision had concluded that little weight could be given to emerging plans. This is a lesson that we must learn for our future decisions.”

It is my hope that Cornwall Council will now work urgently with local Councillors to ensure that future development better meets the town’s needs.

First published in the Falmouth Packet 30/05/18

Supporting Truro & Falmouth residents back into work

I am committed to making sure that families get the right support that they need to get on and improve their lives.  Universal Credit lies at the heart of this by helping those who can work into work, while caring for those who cannot.  And it is working because Universal Credit claimants are moving into work faster and staying in work longer than under the old system.

Universal Credit replaces the six main out-of-work benefits with one monthly payment.  It’s available to all single new jobseekers across the country and from yesterday it has opened up to families, couples and disabled people in Truro who make a new claim for a working-age benefit.  It will be available throughout Cornwall in the following weeks.

I understand how being unemployed or asking for help can be a worrying time.  That’s why I want reassure people in Truro about the support they can get under Universal Credit, and how our local Jobcentre work coaches are there to help.

Universal Credit is changing the culture of welfare support by mirroring the world of work.  It is paid in arrears as a monthly single payment directly into people’s accounts in the way that many people’s salaries are.  It gradually reduces the more someone earns; meaning people experience the financial gains of doing any paid employment, which frequently did not happen under the old system because of its perverse disincentives to taking up more work, like the 16-hour rule.

Universal Credit is a digitalised service, as one would expect today.  Claimants who are looking for work continue to get face-to-face support from their work coach at their local Jobcentre. But more than that, every claimant also has a case manager who helps with the day-to-day practicalities of their claim, and communicates through two-way conversations via an online Universal Credit journal, by text message, email, and over the telephone.

The majority of people are comfortable with managing their Universal Credit claim, but we understand that for some people it is a big change and they will need extra help.

For people who need support before their first payment, advance payments of 100% are available up front and are paid within five working days and on the first day if necessary. We also continue to pay people’s housing benefit for two weeks when they make a claim to Universal Credit. And arrangements can be made to pay rent direct to landlords.

Our Jobcentre work coaches are there to provide support to help people move back into work, and any extra help people need with their Universal Credit claim.

First published in the West Briton 24/08/18

Universal Credit lies at heart of improving people’s lives

The employment rate in the South West is fantastic – at 79.3% it is well above the national rate of 75.6%. And behind those figures, there are people from all walks of life, from Land’s End in Cornwall to Taunton in Somerset, working hard for themselves and their families and contributing to the success of our country.

Universal Credit replaces the six main out-of-work benefits with one monthly payment. It lies at the heart of our reforms to help people improve their lives by prove their lives, by helping people into work while caring for those that cannot.

It is available to all single new jobseekers across the country, and from today it will open up to families, couples and disabled people in Truro, St Austell, Bodmin and Newquay who make a new claim to a working-age benefit.

I understand how being unemployed or asking for help can be a worrying time. That’s  why I want reassure people in these areas about the support they can get under Universal Credit, and how our local Jobcentre Plus work coaches are there to help.

At its heart lies one very simple goal. Universal Credit is designed to help people improve their lives, and the lives of their families, through employment until they can be financially independent, while having the right care in place for those who cannot work.

Universal Credit is changing the culture of welfare support by mirroring the world of work. It is paid in arrears as a monthly single payment directly into people’s accounts as many people’s salaries are. It gradually reduces the more someone earns; meaning people experience the financial gains of doing any paid employment, which frequently did not happen under the old system because of its perverse disincentives to taking up more work, like the 16-hour rule.

Universal Credit is a digitalised service, as one would expect today. Claimants who are looking for work continue to get face-to-face support from their work coach at their local Jobcentre, But more than that, every claimant also has a case manager who helps with the day-to-day practicalities of their claim, and communicates through two-way conversations via an online Universal Credit journal, by text message and email, and over the telephone too. The majority of people are comfortable managing their Universal Credit claim, but we understand that for some people it is a big change.

For people who need support before their first payment, advance payments of 100% are available up front and are paid within five working days and on the first day if necessary. We also continue to pay people’s housing benefit for two weeks when they make a claim to Universal Credit. And arrangements can be made to pay rent direct to landlords.

Our Jobcentre work coaches are there to provide support to help people move back into work, and any extra help people need with their Universal Credit claim.

We are committed to making sure families in Cornwall and across the country
get the right support they need to get on and improve their lives. Universal Credit lies at the heart of that by helping those that can into work, while caring for those that cannot. And it is working with Universal Credit claimants moving into work faster and staying in work longer than under the old system.

First published in the Western Morning News 23/05/18

Rising Living Standards and Wellbeing

How does a country measure its success? The most reported measure of success is economic with gross domestic product (GDP) probably most often quoted. Of course ensuring people have the opportunity to reach their potential in their chosen occupation is important and this week’s good news of record levels of people from all backgrounds and ages in employment and growing wages is welcome. More of our children and young people are receiving a good education compared to 2010 and average life expectancy continues to rise. All these measure progress.

There is a growing recognition that how we are doing as a nation is at least as much about people’s well-being as it is about the country’s economic health.

In November 2010, David Cameron established the Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme. The aim was to monitor and report “how the UK is doing” by producing accepted and trusted measures of the well-being of the nation. Twice a year the independent Office for National Statistics report progress against a set of headline indicators covering areas of our lives including our health, natural environment, personal finances and crime.

The measures include both objective data (unemployment rate) and subjective data (satisfaction with job) to provide a more complete view of the nation’s progress than economic measures can do alone.

The latest update of the Measuring of National Well-being programme published in April provides a broadly positive picture of life in the UK, with most indicators either improving or staying the same over the short-term (one year) and long-term (five years). It shows the strengths and challenges of different age groups in society. These insights can help target services where they are most needed and can have the best impact.

This programme has led to significant positive changes in the development of policy, particularly the promotion of good mental health and a very welcome focus on understanding and treating mental ill health. We changed the law so that mental health is taken as seriously as physical health.

The fastest growing NHS spending is on mental health £11.86 billion last year, with further growth committed.  Spending by local GP NHS Commissioners on children and young people’s mental health services grew by £103 million between 2015/16 and 2016/17, up to £619 million. This is a 20 per cent increase year on year. I am pleased that our new residential children and young people’s mental health service in Bodmin is underway.

Last week, I visited Roseland Community College, an outstanding local school, and listened to children and staff who are participating in HeadStart Kernow. It’s a partnership between Cornwall Council, our local NHS, schools, voluntary sector organisations and the National Lottery. It aims to build resilience and mental wellbeing for children and young people and from what I heard is doing a good job. This vital prevention work matters to children now and in the future as the causes of mental ill health in adults often starts in childhood.

First published in the West Briton 17/05/18

In too many workplaces, mental health remains the last taboo – and this needs to change

Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf. These are some of history’s greatest names, best-known for their genius and creativity. And rightfully so.

What many people might not know is that they battled with poor mental health at various points in their lives. The taboo of mental ill health kept these struggles from the history books.

I’m heartened to see that in my lifetime we are much more open and willing to talk about mental ill health, with Mental Health Awareness week an opportunity to turn up the volume on these conversations.

But in too many workplaces it remains the last taboo – and this needs to change.

There is a growing body of evidence that good work is good for our health and that being out of work can have a detrimental effect on our health and wellbeing.

The latest employment figures show that there are now 32.3 million people in work – including more than 3.5 million disabled people. There are opportunities for everyone to enjoy the benefits of employment if they are well enough to do so, including those with mental health conditions.

But if we are to feel those benefits, what is equally important is that our workplace provides an environment that supports good mental health.

The theme of this week’s Mental Health Awareness Week is stress. The latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that 12.5 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety, affecting 526,000 workers.

Failure to address poor mental health costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion a year – that’s a cost of between £1,205 and £1,560 per employee. This is something which cannot be ignored, and it’s essential that Government and businesses join forces to tackle this taboo.

Already, we’re taking innovative action across employment and health services to ensure support is joined up around people so they get the best possible chance to succeed in work.

We’re more than doubling the number of employment advisers working in the NHS 2019, enabling greater provision of integrated psychological treatment and employment support. And we’re at the forefront in testing different models to join up health and employment support in a range of healthcare settings, for example in GP surgeries and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.

On top of this, our Access to Work scheme provides personalised support for people whose disability or health condition affects them in the workplace and can include assistive technology, interpreters and our Mental Health Support Service. This week we reached a milestone of helping 11,000 people. The support helps provide people with tailored employment support and has an extraordinary success rate with 93% of people who have used the service still in their jobs after six months. We’ve developed an enhanced mental health training programme for Jobcentre Plus work coaches too.

But there is more to do. We know that poor mental health affects people of all ages, genders and backgrounds. It doesn’t discriminate, and affects around one in four across their lifetime. That’s why this Government has put improving mental health at the heart of our plans to improve wellbeing, and that’s why we are working with employers to get the support right.

First published on Politics Home 17/05/18
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/health-and-care/illnesstreatments/opinion/house-commons/95217/sarah-newton-mp-too-many

Reducing Plastic Pollution

Ministers announced new funding for scientists at the University of Plymouth which will use it to research how particles from tyres, polyester clothing and fishing gear enter the oceans and affect marine life.

The project comes after the Government introduced a ban on miniature plastic beads or ‘microbeads’ in the manufacture of wash-off cosmetic and personal care products where the plastics can be washed down the drain. There are many other sources of small plastic particles – found in places as remote as the Arctic sea ice – including from car tyre friction on roads or through fibres from synthetic clothes released during washing. The 11-month project will build on research already under way, with scientists estimating that tyres contribute 270,000 tonnes of plastics per year while a single wash load of acrylic clothing could release more than 700,000 microfibres into the ocean.

I know that many of my constituents share my view that the impact of plastic pollution on our oceans is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our generation.  I am grateful to Surfers Against Sewage, based in St Agnes, who I have been working with for some time. They keep me updated on the latest research so that I can effectively lobby for change in Government policy. The UK is already leading the way in this area, but we want to go further – and faster. Robust scientific evidence should support our policy proposals, and through this exciting project we will build on work under way to understand better how microplastics end up in the marine environment and what we can do to tackle this in the future.

The project is being led by Professor Richard Thompson, who said: ‘The types of microplastics entering the marine environment are incredibly diverse, but recent estimates in Norway and Sweden have suggested that particles of tyre and debris from the road surface could be a substantial source. With very limited real data available to confirm the impact from these sources, there is a genuine and pressing need to establish the true scale of this issue. By combining this with an assessment of the quantities of microplastic from synthetic textiles, we can develop a more complete picture on the relative importance of various sources. We will be able to use our findings to work with the Government, scientists and industry to try to prevent these particles entering the marine environment in the future.’

It is vital that we all play our part in reducing the chances of plastic getting into our marine environment by decreasing our use of single use plastic and disposing of it carefully if we do.  It is great to see so many people, scientists, industry, businesses and organisations working together to tackle this problem and to see so many local ‘plastic free’ initiatives as well as beach cleans.  It’s difficult to kick the plastic habit but each of us doing something will add up to a big difference.

First published in the West Briton 10/05/18

Debating intervention in Syria

I have faced many challenges as your Member of Parliament, the most significant is deciding whether UK military intervention in another country should be undertaken. I fundamentally believe in our values enshrined in the rule of law and that wherever possible diplomacy should be used to resolve conflict. I know that any action has consequences, sometimes unforeseen, but so too does inaction.

I am also a mother of three children and am acutely aware that a decision to commit our armed services personnel will be putting another mother’s son or daughter in harms way. I know that during the Labour Government of Tony Blair, MPs were not always given accurate information upon which to base their decisions.

When I was elected in 2010, I joined colleagues calling for much greater Parliamentary scrutiny of national security policy and decision makers. I share the deep concerns arising from the Labour Government’s intervention in Iraq.

The Coalition Government led by David Cameron, put in place processes that are enabling far greater scrutiny of information about our national security, including intelligence, by MPs than previously.

The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament is composed of cross party members and its job is to scrutinise the work of those responsible for our national security.

The members of the committee are notified under the Official Secrets Act 1989 and are given access to highly classified material in carrying out their duties. The committee holds evidence sessions with Government ministers and senior officials.

The work of the committee is invariably conducted in secret, but its members do speak in debates in Parliament. I think that the work of this Committee provides MPs some assurance that decisions are being made on the best possible information.

Had this Committee with the new powers it acquired in 2013 been in operation during the Tony Blair years, I doubt so many MPs would have voted for military intervention in Iraq.

Most weeks in Parliament, we debate the UKs role in the world, including our involvement in the Middle East and Syria.

It is now almost 100 years since the treaty to prohibit use of chemical weapons. We have seen nation after nation sign up to this global consensus. The universal abhorrence of chemical weapons, and the programme of destruction of declared stockpiles is a considerable achievement.

In 2013 the Syrian regime committed to destroy its chemical arsenal while Russia – the mentor of Syrian Regime – guaranteed to the process overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The National Security Council of the United Nations, the Prime Minister and Cabinet have seen a significant body of information, including intelligence, that indicates that the Assad regime was behind the chemical attack at Douma on April 7 that killed about 75 people and resulted in hundreds of casualties.

The Douma massacre is part of a pattern of use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime. International investigators mandated by the UN Security Council have found the Assad regime responsible for using chemical weapons in four separate attacks since 2014.

The military action undertaken by the UK on Saturday was carried out to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian Regime’s Chemical Weapons capability and deterring their use. The legal basis for this intervention has been published. Many countries and organisations, including NATO and the EU support this action. In degrading Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities the Prime Minister made her intensions clear – we want to do what we can to protect Syrian people from chemical weapons.

These carefully targeted and calibrated strikes were not designed to intervene in the Syrian civil war or effect regime change.

At a time of understandable tension in our relations with Russia it has been important to stress that this action does not entail an attempt to frustrate Russian strategic objectives in Syria. 
This does not represent an escalation of UK or western involvement in Syria.

I don’t believe the global community can simply turn a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons. Along with partners and as members of the EU, we have tried non military interventions, including peace talks and sanctions.

The UN have considered resolutions but Russia has repeatedly shielded the Syrian Regime from investigation and censure, vetoing six separate UN Security Council resolutions, including the UN mandated Investigative Mechanism set up to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Of course every diplomatic effort must continue to be made to secure a political solution to the civil war in Syria but we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons with impunity.

First published in the Falmouth Wave

Lithium Mining and Stadium for Cornwall

My Cornish tin mining ancestors would have been amazed had they joined me at my recent meeting with Cornish Lithium. Cornish Lithium has partnered with the government backed Satellite Applications Catapult, which has raised £850,000 from government funded Innovate UK to see if it can develop techniques for spotting the metal.

Cornish Lithium hopes to extract lithium from salt water, which it will pump out of the ground from wells as much one kilometre deep. Most lithium is produced in South America, Australia and China, but the UK government has identified lithium as a strategically valuable resource to our country and Cornwall could have important reserves.  There are records from the 19th century of lithium being found in Cornish mines but there was no market for it at the time.

Now that lithium has become a crucial material for the development of electric car batteries, the lithium in Cornwall may represent an important resource. Lithium consumption is expected to grow rapidly over the next few decades as electric vehicles become mainstream. Additional demand is expected to come from power storage batteries that will be used to store electrical power harvested from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The challenge posed by the study is to understand whether satellite techniques can assist in prioritising areas for exploration for the future production of lithium. The British Geological Survey, the Camborne School of Mines, which is part of Exeter University, environmental consultancy North Coast Consulting and Goonhilly are all involved. I hope that this exciting use of satellite technology will develop a new, less intrusive approach to mineral exploration, which can be exported to the mining industry around the world.

This is a good example of the Industrial Strategy in action, investing in all our futures, supporting inclusive growth in high skilled employment in Cornwall.

I also want to update you on my work with the Stadium for Cornwall partnership. As you know, I have always supported the concept of a Stadium for Cornwall as I believe it could enable the Pirates and Truro City to make progress in their respective leagues. As importantly, it could also provide a great facility for community and children’s sport in Cornwall too. I am pleased to have helped enable the current proposal of a shared, single stadium and am pleased it is supported by Truro & Penwith College who could use the proposed new facilities for a range of educational and training purposes.  Now that Cornwall Council has worked with the partners to develop an investable business plan that the majority of Cornwall Councillors have voted for, I am working with Derek Thomas MP to secure the £3 million taxpayer funding requested by the Stadium partnership from the Treasury.  We have had a number of preliminary meetings. The plans and business case will go through a rigorous process before taxpayer funding is secured and I am pleased that Sports England will be actively involved in this process.

First published in the West Briton 03/05/18