Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Healthwatch on patient involvement in the NHS.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Healthwatch has played an important role in supporting patient involvement in the National Health Service, and in our 10-Year Health Plan we recognise the valuable work they have done to gather patient feedback and influence the debate around local service delivery.

Healthwatch was one of six organisations covered by Dr Penny Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The review found that there are too many organisations doing this type of work, which can create confusion for patients and risks limiting impact given their distance from service providers and commissioners.

In response, we have committed in our 10-Year Health Plan to bring Healthwatch England’s strategic functions ‘in house’ within a reformed Department, giving patients a stronger national voice through the creation of a new National Director of Patient Experience. At the same time, the statutory functions of Local Healthwatch will be brought together with the involvement and engagement responsibilities of integrated care boards, ensuring that patient insight is more directly connected to local decision-making and service improvement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether all NHS Trusts will fully adopt the federated data platform from April 2026.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

It was not expected that all trusts would adopt the platform by April 2026, and the NHS Federated Data (NHS FDP) programme is on track to support adoption of the NHS FDP to 85% of all National Health Service trusts by March 2026.

NHS England published its regular benefits and uptake data on 12 February 2026, which shows that at the end of January 2026 there were 110 NHS trusts live or in delivery of the Federated Data Platform. 167 trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, or 81% of the 205 providers of secondary and tertiary care in the NHS.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have spent on work relating to Part IX of the Drug Tariff and the MedTech Commercial Strategy.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Across the Department and NHS England, £1,067,157.34 has been spent directly on Part IX of the Drug Tariff, including VAT where applicable. This does not include Department and NHS England staff time. This covers the period 2024/25, and 2025/26. This includes planned spend up until the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.

For the MedTech Commercial Strategy, across the Department and NHS England, planned direct spend up until the end of the 2025/26 financial year is £120,000. This does not include Department and NHS England staff time and includes VAT.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of homicide incidents in each of the last 12 months which involved a suspect who had been a patient of an NHS mental health trust within the preceding six months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust on the potential impact of the reduction in Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre's opening hours on patients.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Trust’s evaluation found that revised opening hours at Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre reduced the average time patients spend in the UTC by 17 minutes, with no significant impact on nearby emergency departments. Decisions on local service configuration are the responsibility of NHS commissioners. The Government has committed £250 million in the UEC Plan 25/26 to expand co-located urgent treatment centres alongside same day emergency care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of endometriosis healthcare services on the waiting times for receiving such services in the past year.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Reducing waiting lists, including for endometriosis and other gynaecological conditions, is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission. We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As of the end of December 2025, the gynaecology waiting list stands at 577,232, with 57.3% of patient pathways waiting less than 18 weeks, an improvement of 1.9% since December 2024.

We know there is more to do to improve access to endometriosis care and waiting times against the 18-week standard. We are expanding the number of dedicated and protected surgical hubs, of which gynaecology procedures are a key offering, and commissioning research focussed on endometriosis diagnosis, treatment, and pain. We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which from 2027 will provide additional appointments to cut waiting times for certain pathways. This includes people who are experiencing menstrual problems, a potential sign of endometriosis, who will be given the choice of receiving at least some of their specialist care from the convenience of their own home. Across all specialities, NHS Online will deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years, four times more than an average trust.

We are improving the standards of care for women with severe endometriosis by ensuring specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice on diagnosis and treatment. In 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved two new pills to treat endometriosis, Relugolix and Linzagolix. Both are estimated to help approximately 1,000 women with severe endometriosis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on reducing gynaecological waiting times in the last year.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients are treated within 18 weeks of referral to consultant-led care, including gynaecology, by March 2029. As of the end of December 2025, the waiting list for gynaecology services stood at 577,232. Of these patient pathways, 57.3% were waiting within 18 weeks. This an improvement from December 2024 where the waiting list for gynaecology services was 586,202, 55.4% of which were within 18 weeks.

There is clearly more progress to be made. The Government will continue to develop innovative models of care in the community, including piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding, and increasing the relative funding available to incentivise providers to take on more gynaecology procedures.

We are committed to expanding the number of surgical hubs, which provide valuable and protected capacity across elective specialities, including gynaecology. Currently, over half of the 125 operational elective surgical hubs in England provide gynaecology services.

We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which aims to provide additional appointments to cut waiting times. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids, will have the choice of being referred to NHS Online to receive at least some of the specialist care they need from the convenience of their home.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS Resolution keeps records of claims, complaints, or cases resolved through mediation or settlement relating to NHS England’s Specialist Gender Dysphoria Services for Adults and Specialist Gender Services for Children and Young People.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Resolution will not hold records of complaints as they will be managed locally by the service provider.

Where an individual National Health Service trust is a member or beneficiary of NHS Resolution’s indemnity schemes, NHS Resolution will keep records of claims or cases resolved through mediation or settlement.

As such, whether NHS Resolution holds relevant records will first be dependent on the individual trusts that host specialist gender services participating in these schemes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to set out national quality standards for rehabilitation for all people with cancer within cancer manuals, alongside those for prehabilitation announced in the National Cancer Plan.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to help ensure that NHS trusts assigned Advanced Foundation Trust status retain direct accountability and patient views are heard for Trusts where the requirement for a Council of Governors has been removed.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As part of NHS England’s assessment process, eligible National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts which apply for the Advanced Foundation Trust Programme will need to demonstrate effective mechanisms to engage meaningfully with patients, staff, and communities, and that involvement influences decisions.

The removal of councils of governors from NHS foundation trusts forms part of the wider aim of the 10-Year Health Plan to ensure that hospitals put patient experiences and outcomes at the heart of their decision-making. While governors have provided helpful advice and oversight for some foundation trusts, we now need to move to a more dynamic model of drawing on patient, staff, and stakeholder insight.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure equitable cancer research funding across the country.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.

NIHR research infrastructure has national coverage for the whole of England. Our infrastructure schemes aim to build research capacity and capability across all geographies, settings, and disease areas, including understanding disease biology, patient access to novel treatments, and dedicated spaces for medicine studies.

In addition, through the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN), the NIHR supports 100% of National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, operating across 12 regions throughout the country. The RDN also provides health research delivery investment that better enables trial access across wider care settings, including primary care, community-based, and residential research delivery organisations. In 2024/25 the RDN supported over 1,200 cancer studies, including the recruitment of almost 100,000 patients to cancer studies.

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancer types.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve maternity care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I remain deeply concerned by the state of maternity care we inherited in the NHS.

The Secretary of State announced a rapid, independent investigation in NHS Maternity and Neonatal services to help us understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care. The investigation, led by Baroness Amos is looking into the maternity and neonatal system nationally and will bring together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of recommendations, and will publish its final report and recommendations in the Spring 2026.

The government is also setting up a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Taskforce will address the recommendations of the Investigation by developing a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.

We are not waiting for the investigation to report. We are taking immediate actions to boost accountability and safety as part of the government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future. This includes a new early warning system to better identify safety concerns, implementing a new programme to reduce brain injuries in childbirth, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, investing over £149 million into the maternity estate, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to develop the universal, digital‑first prehabilitation offer for people with cancer in the National Cancer Plan into a fully structured, personalised, community‑based offer of both prehabilitation and rehabilitation for all people with cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of financial pressures on dentistry students’ ability to complete training.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No such assessment has been made. The Department for Education provides the primary student support package for domestic dental students in higher education through Student Finance England (SFE).

From year five of an undergraduate and year two of a graduate-entry course, these students can access the NHS Bursary. For this academic year the Government increased the NHS Bursary tuition fee contributions, maintenance grants, and all allowances by 3.1%, in line with increases to SFE support.

This is the second academic year the Government has increased support for medical and dental students through the NHS Bursary. Prior to this the maintenance grants had not been uplifted since 2015. We understand that these uplifts do not go far enough to make up for the historical lack of uplift. However, this is a step in the right direction, and we continue to keep funding for dental students under review.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve the 37% referral rates of eligible patients for pulmonary rehabilitation.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve referral rates for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), NHS England has issued detailed guidance to integrated care boards on strengthening PR workforce capacity, ensuring safe staffing levels, and developing accessible service models to reduce health inequalities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/pulmonary-rehabilitation-workforce/

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of current safeguards in place to protect NHS staff from patient assaults, and subsequent follow-up procedures.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to violence in the workplace.

Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff affected by violence.

Existing measures will be strengthened by the introduction of a new set of staff standards, as detailed in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the removal of ringfenced funding for maternity services on (a) numbers of NHS midwives, (b) maternal safety and (c) infant safety.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has instructed the National Health Service to improve maternity services, as part of a drive to improve quality, as a priority in the Medium‑Term Planning Framework.

While the ring-fenced funding for maternity services has been removed, the same level of funding is being delivered. This is to allow local healthcare system leaders more autonomy to meet the needs of their local population. The Government will continue to monitor integrated care board investment in maternity services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the safeguards to protect mental health facility staff from patient assaults and subsequent follow-up procedures.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Violence rates in mental health settings are lower than the national average. Individual employers put in place a robust range of measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff that are affected by violence.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing training for hospital and care home staff on aspiration pneumonia.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

Care providers are also required to ensure staff receive the support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisal necessary to carry out their duties safely and competently.

To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation meeting happens each year; and when the next meeting will be.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) meets monthly to consider policy and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral.

CPAG prioritisation meetings are held annually. The next prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing national pulmonary rehabilitation referral rates on (a) clinical outcomes for patients, (b) NHS emergency admission rates, and (c) economic productivity lost to respiratory-related illness and caring responsibilities.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a clinically proven intervention that improves outcomes and reduces hospital admissions for people with chronic respiratory conditions. Health Education England reported in 2022 that increasing access to PR for people with lung conditions could save NHS England £69 million every year and see a reduction of 150,924 general practice appointments, and 26,633 fewer hospital admissions per year. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Respiratory%20Disease%20Report.pdf

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. This provides cost and health benefit information for integrated care boards to help create business cases for setting up COPD services. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

NHS England holds a quarterly PR steering group that provides direction, challenge and support for decision-making, and monitors progress against set metrics as reported through the national respiratory audit programme. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nrap.org.uk/NRAP/welcome.nsf/0/B2AB84D12BC2C43280258CF20030EC2C/$file/NRAP_State_of_the_Nation_Catching_our_breath_2025.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 107160, which countries are defined by the Nursing and Midwifery Council as majority English-speaking for the purposes of meeting English language proficiency requirements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/

This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-english

Any variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.

As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.

It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 107160, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in NHS settings.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/

This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-english

Any variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.

As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.

It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what implementation metrics have been set for the introduction of Staff Treatment Hubs under the 10 Year Plan, including the number of hubs operational by the end of 2026, the regional coverage targets in England and Wales, and the specific performance measures used to evaluate improvements in clinician wellbeing.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10-Year Health Plan committed to the roll out of Staff Treatment Hubs, to provide a high-quality wellbeing and occupational health service for all National Health Service staff. Work is underway to develop implementation and operational plans for the Staff Treatments Hubs. This will determine factors such as location, budgets, timeframes, capacity, and processes for monitoring progress and performance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Bexhill and Battle compared with national averages; and what steps he is taking to ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally, including through the introduction of a Modern Service Framework for respiratory care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Bexhill and Battle and for England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally 2025/26:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for East Sussex can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E10000011/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.

Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is on managing NHS trusts that are not meeting elective recovery targets where services are delivered under block contract arrangements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of block contract arrangements on elective care performance by NHS trusts.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of block contract arrangements on the level of NHS productivity.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No formal assessment of the impact of block contract arrangements on National Health Service productivity has been made. However, the 10‑Year Health Plan sets out the Government’s intention to move away from block contracts, paid irrespective of how many patients are seen or the quality of care, and to realign funding with activity and performance.

Under these reforms, payment for poor‑quality care will be withheld, high‑quality care will attract additional reward, and new incentives will be introduced for the most effective NHS leaders, clinicians, and teams. These changes are designed to support clearer accountability, improve productivity over time, and ensure that NHS resources are targeted where they deliver the greatest value for patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is on NHS trusts delivering elective care under block contract arrangements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts are paid for the delivery of elective treatment through block contract arrangements.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog for NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation meeting.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The next Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026, where policies that are ready and require investment decisions to be taken will be considered. It is expected up to 20 such policies will be considered at the next meeting.

CPAG also continues to meet monthly to consider policy and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure each region in England receives equal health research funding.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds health and care research via its research operational arm the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) across England. The Department is committed to ensuring that research is inclusive and representative of the population geographically and demographically.  To support this, in November 2024 the Department made equity, diversity, and inclusion a condition of NIHR funding for all domestic research awards.

The NIHR is taking a number of steps to secure equitable allocation of health research funding including targeted programme design, long‑term capacity building in under‑served regions, such as new regional Commercial Research Delivery Centres, and place‑based research partnerships. In addition, from this April the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network, which supports all National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, is implementing a new national funding allocation model for NHS support costs and research delivery which will reduce regional variations in health research delivery investment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of NHS trusts have adopted the federated data platform.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

It was not expected that all trusts would adopt the platform by April 2026, and the NHS Federated Data (NHS FDP) programme is on track to support adoption of the NHS FDP to 85% of all National Health Service trusts by March 2026.

NHS England published its regular benefits and uptake data on 12 February 2026, which shows that at the end of January 2026 there were 110 NHS trusts live or in delivery of the Federated Data Platform. 167 trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, or 81% of the 205 providers of secondary and tertiary care in the NHS.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Care Quality Commission has instructed or advised Healthwatch England to refrain from public comment about its abolition.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has not instructed or advised Healthwatch England to refrain from public comment about its abolition or the transfer of its functions.

The CQC is operationally independent and continues to work with Healthwatch England in line with its statutory duties.

The Department continues to engage with both the CQC and Healthwatch England, as its strategic functions move to a new patient experience directorate within the Department following Dr Penny Dash’s Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase access to GP appointments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has provided to community pharmacies through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in real terms in each year since 2016.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows the nominal and real terms funding provided through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework each year since 2015/16:

In 2025/26, the funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Additional funding was also made available, for example, for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of foundation pharmacists beginning their training in 2025 had been assigned a Designated Prescribing Practitioner.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Foundation trainee pharmacists who have graduated against the 2021 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists are required to have a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP), a healthcare professional with independent prescribing rights, such as a doctor, pharmacist, or nurse, to support the supervision and assessment of prescribing activities during their foundation year.

Under the Foundation Trainee Pharmacists National Recruitment Scheme, training providers are required to ensure that trainees have access to a DPP and to submit DPP details to NHS England once the trainee pharmacist is in post.

Of the 2,894 graduates in England who began foundation pharmacist training in 2025/26, 2,417 trained against the 2021 standards and therefore require a DPP. As of February 2026, 2,013 of these trainees, approximately 83%, had submitted details of an assigned DPP to NHS England.

By training window, 1,814 of 2,119 summer starters, or 85.6%, and 199 of 318 autumn starters, or 62.5%, had submitted DPP details. Autumn starters typically undertake prescribing later in the training year, and some may not yet have been required to submit DPP information. NHS England continues to monitor this.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many exit payments of £150,000 and more were made by integrated care boards in the 2024-25 financial year.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Data reported in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25 is limited to providing high-level data on the total number and cost of exit payments, including non-contractual severance payments. This data is not broken down to identify the name or type of specific organisations or payment types. The data provided in the Department’s accounts use consolidated data from NHS England.

NHS England has confirmed that during 2024/25, there were 33 exit payment cases disclosed by integrated care boards which were of a value of £150,001 or more. This means that an exit package might be agreed, approved, and accrued in one financial year, and so disclosed in that year, but the actual payment may, in some cases, fall into the next financial year. NHS England does not hold information to identify where this is the case.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to answer of 11 September 2025, to Question 73326, on NHS: Strikes, if he will make it his policy to prohibit NHS employees who undertake strike action to be paid for work by other NHS bodies on strike days.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no current plans to prohibit National Health Service employees in England who undertake strike action from being paid for work by other NHS bodies on strike days.

NHS staff who are on strike are not prevented by law from working for non-NHS bodies or other NHS organisations, including NHS trusts, on days of industrial action, as long as they are not provided by an employment business to cover the work of striking workers. Before the British Medical Assocation Resident Doctors Committee (BMA RDC) strike action in July 2025, NHS England set out in guidance that resident doctors who have chosen to take industrial action should not undertake a locum or bank shift elsewhere during the period of action. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Industrial%20action%20FAQs%20-%20training%20progression.pdf

During the BMA RDC strike action in December 2025, NHS England issued additional communications to trusts to reaffirm the existing guidance.

NHS staff should consider the guidance published by the relevant professional bodies before undertaking additional work during strike days. The Department continues to monitor the impact of industrial action on NHS services and staffing arrangements.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 84239 tabled on 22 October 2025 by the Hon Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 February 2026 to Question 84239.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the treatment of cancer patients.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan sets out how we will tackle unwarranted variation head on and end the postcode lottery for cancer care.

It will shift healthcare from hospitals to the community and ensure that all cancer patients, regardless of where they live, have access to high-quality, specialist cancer services.

We will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. The plan provides the blueprint for England to become a world leader in cancer survival once again and improve the quality of life for those living with cancer in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of regional variation in primary care estate in relation to their (a) condition and (b) capacity; and what steps is he taking to help improve this.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments.

In May 2025, the Government announced the schemes which integrated care boards (ICBs) nominated as eligible to benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice (GP) surgeries across England this financial year. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.

Building on this, the Government has committed £426 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over the next four years to continue upgrading the GP estate. This funding will also support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver Neighbourhood Health Centres over this Parliament as part of the 10-Year Health Plan commitment.

Operational capital funding allocations have been confirmed for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, enabling multi-year planning for ICBs and in turn supporting the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s radical vision for care.

The Government has also allocated £750 million per year for estates safety from 2026/27 to 2029/30, with planning certainty for a further five years, totalling £6.75 billion.

ICBs are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including GPs, in each local area.

As part of inspection activity at GP surgeries, the Care Quality Commission will look at the quality of premises under Regulation 15, covering premises and equipment, although there is no overall rating for this aspect. The intention of this regulation is to make sure that the premises where care and treatment are delivered are clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained and, where required, appropriately located, and that the equipment that is used to deliver care and treatment is clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained, stored securely, and used properly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of regional variations in the quality of GP specialty training.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Post-graduate medicine general practice specialty trainees consistently report high levels of satisfaction with their overall educational experience, according to the results of the National Education and Training Survey (NETS), 2022 to 2024.

Alongside NETS reporting broadly consistent overall educational experience satisfaction rates across regions, this speciality programme has a low attrition rate nationally.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 107846 on GP Practice lists, how many and what proportion of patients registered on 1 January 2026 were foreign nationals.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold data regarding the number and proportion of National Health Service general practice registrations that were for people not born in the United Kingdom.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of capacity of NHS primary care premises in Thurrock on the recruitment of GPs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made by the Department of the potential impact of National Health Service primary care premises in Thurrock on the recruitment of general practice (GP) doctors. It is the responsibility of the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ensure that the NHS estate in Thurrock is fit for purpose, in order to meet the needs of the local population. GP contractors are responsible for securing, managing, and maintaining suitable premises. The ICB has set up a new joint estates group with Thurrock Council to identify where void space can be used to enhance access to primary, community, and social care facilities.

The ICB has a range of schemes to improve recruitment and retention of GPs, including GP partnership courses, portfolio development scheme, and fellowships for newly qualified GPs. Thurrock has seen an increase in the number of GPs with at least 82 full time equivalent GPs now working in Thurrock, the highest number recorded since March 2016.

At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital. We are also providing £426 million over four years through the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, upgrading GP estates, and supporting delivery of 40 to 50 NHCs this Parliament through refurbishment of existing buildings.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the establishment of the Jean Bishop Centre in Hull in 2018, whether his Department has conducted a cost–benefit analysis of a more integrated model of service for elderly patients.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service, delivering truly integrated, proactive, and personalised care closer to where people live and work. There are substantial benefits to this more integrated approach to health and adult social care. Please see the 10-Year Health Plan Impact Assessment for further information, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impact-statement-10-year-health-plan-for-england

The Department is committed to this approach, recognising that an immediate priority for the National Health Service in developing Neighbourhood Health Services is to support individuals with complex needs, especially older people, those living with frailty, and those at the end of life. We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, including services for elderly people.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that all Agenda for Change NHS pay bands are (a) set at and (b) above the real Living Wage as calculated by the Living Wage foundation.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

These specific assessments have not been made.

Following acceptance of the NHS Pay Review Body recommendations on pay for 2026/27, Agenda for Change (AfC) entry pay will remain above the National Living Wage for 2026/27. In addition, we have committed to providing the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to reform the AfC pay structure. We expect these talks will begin shortly.

Individual organisations remain free to decide whether they wish to commit to being a Real Living Wage employer at a local level.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has shared a definition of corridor care to (a) NHS trusts and (b) ICBs.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Stockton West constituency compared with the national average; and what steps he is taking to ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally, including through the introduction of a modern service framework for respiratory care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Data is available for emergency finished admission episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. Data for Stockton West is shown in the table.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department of Health And Social Care Fingertips website. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority and integrated care board level. Information for Stockton on Tees is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of regional differences in the (a) availability, (b) accessibility and (c) resourcing of NHS Long COVID assessment and treatment services.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are independently responsible for the commissioning of long COVID services which meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding. While this may result in regional and local variation of long COVID services, NHS England has published updated commissioning guidance for post-COVID services which sets out a blueprint for best practice in supporting people with long COVID and is designed to be adapted to local needs. The updated commissioning guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-commissioning-guidance-for-post-covid-services/

As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional ten children and young people’s hubs. Further information about these services is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/

In addition to the support provided in primary care, published data from April 2024 shows over 100,000 people have been seen by a specialist post-COVID service, with a further 350,000 follow up appointments taking place. The data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-post-covid-assessment-service/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish data on the numbers of patients receiving corridor care in NHS hospitals before the end of the financial year.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide funding for the primary care network estate in areas with low GP-to-patient ratios.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments.

In May 2025, the Government announced the schemes which integrated care boards (ICBs) nominated as eligible to benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice (GP) surgeries across England this financial year. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.

Building on this, the Government has committed £426 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over the next four years to continue upgrading the GP estate. This funding will also support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver Neighbourhood Health Centres over this Parliament as part of the 10-Year Health Plan commitment.

Operational capital funding allocations have been confirmed for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, enabling multi-year planning for ICBs and in turn supporting the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s radical vision for care.

The Government has also allocated £750 million per year for estates safety from 2026/27 to 2029/30, with planning certainty for a further five years, totalling £6.75 billion.

ICBs are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including GPs, in each local area.

As part of inspection activity at GP surgeries, the Care Quality Commission will look at the quality of premises under Regulation 15, covering premises and equipment, although there is no overall rating for this aspect. The intention of this regulation is to make sure that the premises where care and treatment are delivered are clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained and, where required, appropriately located, and that the equipment that is used to deliver care and treatment is clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained, stored securely, and used properly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to help address the maintenance backlog in primary care estates.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments.

In May 2025, the Government announced the schemes which integrated care boards (ICBs) nominated as eligible to benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice (GP) surgeries across England this financial year. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.

Building on this, the Government has committed £426 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over the next four years to continue upgrading the GP estate. This funding will also support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver Neighbourhood Health Centres over this Parliament as part of the 10-Year Health Plan commitment.

Operational capital funding allocations have been confirmed for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, enabling multi-year planning for ICBs and in turn supporting the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s radical vision for care.

The Government has also allocated £750 million per year for estates safety from 2026/27 to 2029/30, with planning certainty for a further five years, totalling £6.75 billion.

ICBs are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including GPs, in each local area.

As part of inspection activity at GP surgeries, the Care Quality Commission will look at the quality of premises under Regulation 15, covering premises and equipment, although there is no overall rating for this aspect. The intention of this regulation is to make sure that the premises where care and treatment are delivered are clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained and, where required, appropriately located, and that the equipment that is used to deliver care and treatment is clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained, stored securely, and used properly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when funding for Start for Life services will be confirmed for Sutton Council; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the absence of such funding on support for babies and new parents in Carshalton and Wallington constituency in 2025–26.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out an ambitious agenda on how we will improve the nation’s health by creating a new model of care that is fit for the future.

We recognise that local authorities such as Sutton Council are ambitious, seeking to deliver universal support to babies, children, and their families, and prevent escalating need. We are committed to delivering the 10-Year Health Plan’s ambition to match Healthy Babies, formerly Start for Life, to Best Start Family Hubs over the next decade.

Healthy Babies funding is helping families during the critical 1,001 days, and parents have said they are more confident in feeding their babies and have better perinatal mental health because of this support. We continue to assess how we can best support early-years service integration across the country and remain committed to working with delivery partners locally to achieve this.

Healthy Babies is one element of our broader commitment to supporting babies, children and families. From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will expand to every single local authority, including Sutton Council, backed by over £500 million to reach up to half a million more children and families. This funding will help all local authorities to integrate a range of statutory and non-statutory health and family services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of GP premises are rated as not fit for purpose or requiring significant investment.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments.

In May 2025, the Government announced the schemes which integrated care boards (ICBs) nominated as eligible to benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice (GP) surgeries across England this financial year. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.

Building on this, the Government has committed £426 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over the next four years to continue upgrading the GP estate. This funding will also support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver Neighbourhood Health Centres over this Parliament as part of the 10-Year Health Plan commitment.

Operational capital funding allocations have been confirmed for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, enabling multi-year planning for ICBs and in turn supporting the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s radical vision for care.

The Government has also allocated £750 million per year for estates safety from 2026/27 to 2029/30, with planning certainty for a further five years, totalling £6.75 billion.

ICBs are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including GPs, in each local area.

As part of inspection activity at GP surgeries, the Care Quality Commission will look at the quality of premises under Regulation 15, covering premises and equipment, although there is no overall rating for this aspect. The intention of this regulation is to make sure that the premises where care and treatment are delivered are clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained and, where required, appropriately located, and that the equipment that is used to deliver care and treatment is clean, suitable for the intended purpose, maintained, stored securely, and used properly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the selection criteria was for the location of the 43 new neighbourhood hubs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have launched wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England, including Cornwall and the Isle of Scilly.

This is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health, including the National Health Service, local government, social care providers, other statutory and non-statutory organisations and the voluntary sector. There is a strong focus on co-production and working with the people and communities they serve, and taking a ‘test, learn and grow’ approach in line with the wider public sector reform agenda.

We had an overwhelming response to the NNHIP, receiving 141 applications, which is approximately 83% of the number of places in England. Given the large volume of high-quality applications, selecting sites for wave 1 was not an easy task.

Selection was carried out in line with usual NHS England processes, with all applicants assessed against consistent criteria. This includes demonstrating strong integrated working, clear readiness to participate, robust governance and data sharing arrangements, and a focus on areas with the greatest need.

Work is underway to consider the future direction of the NNHIP, and we will share an update on this as soon as we can.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of families who will benefit from the financial support package to cover travel costs to and from cancer appointments in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) England.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The Department knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families across the United Kingdom.

Through the National Cancer Plan, the Government is committing up to £10 million a year to a new fund open to all children and young people in England with cancer and their families regardless of income, to support them with the cost of travelling to and from treatment. This commitment sits alongside wider action to transform cancer care for children and young people.

The Department has not made a formal estimate of the number of families who will benefit from the financial support package to cover travel costs to and from treatment in Bedfordshire specifically. However, the Department’s work to-date estimates that approximately 3,100 young cancer patients will benefit across England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the publication of the National Cancer Plan, if he will present the Plan's annual summary of progress to the House.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

A reformed National Cancer Board, jointly chaired by the Department and an independent representative, will track progress and provide regular updates to ministers.

Across the life of the plan, ministers will publish an annual summary of progress, along with a more in-depth report after three years to assess where the plan may need updating and refreshing.

The annual summary will be available publicly and I will update the House when it is published.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the report by the Chief Medical Officer for England, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published on 6 November 2025.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department welcomed the Chief Medical Officer’s report and is working across NHS England, HM Prison and Probation Service, and other Government departments on the implementation of its recommendations and the co-production of an action and implementation plan.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that clinical academic posts are available in all regions of the UK.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of clinical academic training, investing over £220 million each year in research training programmes.

We are working with the devolved administrations and stakeholders to ensure there is a comprehensive, clear, and rewarding career pathway for clinical academics in research.

We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of GP appointments in Slough.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise the challenges in accessing general practices (GPs). That’s why we are expanding capacity across England, including in Slough. Since October 2024, we have invested £160 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support recruitment of over 2,000 GPs, exceeding our initial target of 1,000. Changes in the 2025/26 contract have also removed restrictions so individual primary care networks can hire more GPs.

We are also introducing a practice‑level GP reimbursement scheme, worth £292 million, enabling practices to hire additional GPs or fund extra GP sessions. This will improve access, boost capacity, and support GP employment.

Slough sits within the NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board, where the number of appointments delivered in GPs has increased by 6.7%, rising from 358,000 in December 2024 to 382,000 in December 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental students have undertaken training in (a) Nottingham, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England in each of the last 15 years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are currently no dental schools in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, or the East Midlands. Consequently, no dental students have undertaken undergraduate training in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, or the East Midlands. The following table shows the number of entrants to undergraduate dentistry courses in England from 2012 to 2025:

Source: Office for Students Medical and Dental Students Survey.

Note: data for 2025 is provisional as entrants are based on initial figures and may change.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of dentist appointments in Slough.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Slough constituency, this is the Frimley ICB.

The Government is committed to ensuring people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, ICBs have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. We are broadening the scope of the commitment to deliver additional appointments so that they can be used for more patients, not just those who meet the clinical criteria for “urgent” care.

We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. Further information is available at the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve 24-hour Urgent Community Response services for people at the end of life.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ensuring that people approaching the end of life receive high-quality, compassionate care whenever it is needed.

Urgent community response (UCR) services play a key role in this. UCR provides a two-hour community-based response to adults experiencing a sudden deterioration in their health and helps avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. People at the end of life are among those who can be referred into UCR services for urgent crisis, for symptom control and/or pain relief, in line with a person’s wishes.

We are committed to improving the consistency, capacity, and availability of UCR services across England. The Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Plan 2025/26 includes actions to expand urgent care delivered in the community, including UCR, and the National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan further commits to increasing access to urgent care at home and in the community as part of the new Neighbourhood Health model.

Additionally, NHS England’s published statutory guidance on palliative care and end-of-life care states that integrated care boards, as commissioning authorities, must define how their local service providers meet population needs on a 24/7 basis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, NG142: End of life care for adults: service delivery, also recommends that adults nearing the end of life have access to a healthcare professional 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as an out-of-hours advice line and access to essential medicines for symptom management.

Although NICE guidance is not mandatory, there is an expectation that commissioners and service providers take the guidelines into account when making decisions about how to best meet the needs of their local communities.

Furthermore, to strengthen provision for people at the end of life, we will publish a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) later this year. Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, including strengthening out-of-hours community health support, dedicated telephone advice, and overall consideration of 24/7 provision.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve out-of-hours support for people at the end of life.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ensuring that people approaching the end of life receive high-quality, compassionate care whenever it is needed.

Urgent community response (UCR) services play a key role in this. UCR provides a two-hour community-based response to adults experiencing a sudden deterioration in their health and helps avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. People at the end of life are among those who can be referred into UCR services for urgent crisis, for symptom control and/or pain relief, in line with a person’s wishes.

We are committed to improving the consistency, capacity, and availability of UCR services across England. The Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Plan 2025/26 includes actions to expand urgent care delivered in the community, including UCR, and the National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan further commits to increasing access to urgent care at home and in the community as part of the new Neighbourhood Health model.

Additionally, NHS England’s published statutory guidance on palliative care and end-of-life care states that integrated care boards, as commissioning authorities, must define how their local service providers meet population needs on a 24/7 basis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, NG142: End of life care for adults: service delivery, also recommends that adults nearing the end of life have access to a healthcare professional 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as an out-of-hours advice line and access to essential medicines for symptom management.

Although NICE guidance is not mandatory, there is an expectation that commissioners and service providers take the guidelines into account when making decisions about how to best meet the needs of their local communities.

Furthermore, to strengthen provision for people at the end of life, we will publish a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) later this year. Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, including strengthening out-of-hours community health support, dedicated telephone advice, and overall consideration of 24/7 provision.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a) the COVID-19 Pandemic and b) social media on the mental wellbeing of children; and what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate these impacts.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government welcomes the COVID-19 Inquiry’s investigations and is committed to learning lessons from the pandemic, including those relating to the potential impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing. We continue to respond openly and transparently to the inquiry’s requests and reports, and will be paying close attention to the Module 8 report, Children and Young People, and the Module 10 report, Impact on Society, which will cover mental health and wellbeing. Whilst we wait for these reports, the Department is already embedding mental health considerations into pandemic preparedness planning.

In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers published a commentary on the findings of a systematic review on screen-based activities and children’s mental health. They found an association between screen-based activities and mental health but could not establish causality. The commentary can be accessed at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c5b1510e5274a316cee5be8/UK_CMO_commentary_on_screentime_and_social_media_map_of_reviews.pdf

On 2 March 2026, the Government published a consultation on how to ensure children have a healthy relationship with devices, introduce rapid trials on measures to reduce screentime and limit access at night, and produce evidence-informed screentime guidance for parents of children aged five to 16 years old. The consultation can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/growing-up-in-the-online-world-a-national-consultation

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve whistleblowing protections for NHS staff who (a) experience and (b) witness sexual misconduct by colleagues.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Employment Rights Act 1996 aims to protect all workers, including National Health Service staff, against unfair dismissal and detriment on the basis that they have made a ‘protected disclosure’. Where detriment occurs, workers can seek remedy through an employment tribunal. In relation to sexual misconduct, the Employment Rights Act 2025 amends the Employment Rights Act 1996 to make clear that workers who ‘blow the whistle’ on sexual harassment can benefit from whistleblowing protections against detriment and unfair dismissal. This will provide welcome clarity for workers and employers. It may also encourage more workers to speak up about sexual harassment in the public interest by using whistleblowing routes. The measure will commence on 6 April 2026.

In addition to legal protections, there is a range of support in place for NHS workers who wish to report concerns. This includes a network of over 1,300 local Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, who provide an alternative route to support workers to speak up about something in their organisation, a National Freedom to Speak Up policy, providing minimum standards for local NHS speaking up policies, and support from independent organisations such as Speak Up Direct, which provides NHS and social care workers with impartial advice and support.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of moving data controller responsibilities from GPs to (a) NHS and (b) government bodies.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we will build on our programme of national public engagement on the use of health data and work with the system, including clinical staff, to move towards national and regional models of decision making for access to all National Health Service data for secondary uses, for instance data used for purposes beyond an individual’s care, for example planning NHS services and research. We will use a combination of policy and legislative change to implement this and speed up secure access to this data. This may result in changes to data controllership responsibilities for secondary uses of data.

General practices (GPs) would remain data controllers for data in GP records for an individual’s care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that patient experience data and intelligence is independently aggregated and analysed following the abolition of local Healthwatch.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the abolition of local Healthwatch, our proposals are that integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities (LAs) will have the responsibility for gathering views, and feedback from local people about health and social care services respectively in their area.

ICBs and LAs will be required to take these views into account when looking at their commissioning strategies to ensure these meet the needs of local people. They will also be required to demonstrate that they have done so.

However, these proposals require primary legislation. The timing of this is subject to the will of Parliament and will happen when parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of diagnostic overshadowing for people with Down syndrome; and whether that issue will be included in the final statutory guidance under the Down Syndrome Act 2022.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In 2023, NHS England produced a guide for frontline staff to support people with learning disabilities which asks staff to be aware of diagnostic overshadowing. NHS England does not hold data on the extent of diagnostic overshadowing for people with Down syndrome, nor is the data held centrally. This guide is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/clinical-guide-for-front-line-staff-to-support-the-management-of-patients-with-a-learning-disability-and-autistic-people-relevant-to-all-clinical-specialties/

Through the implementation of the Down Syndrome Act 2022, the Government is striving to improve life outcomes for people with Down syndrome, raise awareness and understanding of their needs, and break down barriers to opportunity that they, and other disabled people, face.

Under the Down Syndrome Act, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is required to give guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education and housing services on what they should be doing to support the needs of people with Down syndrome. The draft guidance, which was published for public consultation on 5 November 2025, acknowledges that many people with Down syndrome may experience diagnostic overshadowing and recognises its impact on the care and treatment that people receive.

The Department welcomes specific suggestions of other topics for inclusion or additional detail on those already covered through the consultation. Once the consultation has closed, the Government will consider all consultation responses to inform the final guidance to be published.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the final statutory guidance issued under the Down Syndrome Act 2022 will include Down syndrome-specific training for health, education and social care professionals.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Maidenhead on 5 January 2026 to Question 103131.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to release an impact assessment for changes to the NICE cost-effectiveness threshold.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no plans to publish an impact assessment or details of the modelling in relation to changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence cost-effectiveness threshold. Information included in the impact assessment is commercially sensitive.

The United Kingdom and United States’ pharmaceutical deal is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our National Health Service and world leading life sciences sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made recent progress on developing national guidance for Auditory Verbal therapy for deaf children.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of services to meet the needs of their local populations, including services for non-hearing children.

Auditory verbal therapy (AVT) is one type of therapy to support children with hearing loss, and it is important that local commissioners have the discretion to decide how best to meet the needs of their local population, informed by the best available evidence and guidance.

NHS England supports ICBs to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care. In November 2025, NHS England appointed two national specialty advisers for hearing and associated conditions who are considering care pathway improvements for hearing services. Based on consideration of the current evidence on AVT, NHS England has no plans to develop such national guidance.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) prioritisation board considered childhood hearing loss as a potential guideline topic in August 2024. NICE concluded that there is limited evidence available in this area and that the 2015 NHS England Action Plan on Hearing Loss and guidance issued in 2019 addresses care for this population. It is understood that Auditory Verbal UK are in the process of developing the evidence base for the intervention. The NHS England Action Plan on Hearing Loss is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/act-plan-hearing-loss-upd.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that references to learning disability and support needs in the draft statutory guidance under the Down Syndrome Act 2022 reflect the needs profile of people with Down syndrome.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Under the Down Syndrome Act, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is required to give statutory guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education, and housing services on what they should be doing to meet the needs of people with Down syndrome. The consultation on the draft guidance was launched on 5 November 2025 and will remain open until 30 March 2026.

The draft guidance has been informed by over 1,500 responses to the call for evidence in 2022. A summary of these findings was published on 5 November 2025. In developing the draft guidance, the Department for Health and Social Care engaged with NHS England and all relevant Government departments, including the Department for Education. Officials also engaged with people with Down syndrome and those with other conditions and/or a learning disability who have similar needs, and their parents and carers, as well as experts and practitioners from multiple sectors, to ensure the guidance is robust, evidence-based and fit for purpose.

Based on what we were told during the call for evidence and subsequent engagement, a needs profile paper has also been developed which sets out the specific needs of people with Down syndrome. The needs paper, which has been published alongside the consultation, was used to inform the development of the draft guidance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of digital health forms on elderly people's access to health services.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

National Health Service organisations must ensure all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate.

This means that although we promote digital first services to those who choose to use them, a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally, which may include elderly people, to ensure continued, equitable access to care.

These non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to (a) GP practices (b) integrated care boards and (c) NHS trusts of participating in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Departmental body is responsible for promotion of careers in dentistry; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of arrangements for promoting dentistry careers in (a) Devon and (b) other areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Strengthening the dental workforce is key to our ambitions. We intend to set out next steps on the dental workforce soon. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

No specific departmental body is responsible for the promotion of dentistry careers however, the responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England. For the North Dorset constituency, this is Dorset ICB.

Integrated Care Boards are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. The scheme is designed to encourage relocation to areas with workforce challenges, to attract new workforce to the NHS, and to retain those who might have otherwise moved into private practice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential causes of dementia diagnosis rates on trends in the level of such diagnosis rates in rural constituencies; and what support is provided to improve access to diagnosis in those areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.

To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.

We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care. The commission is underway and phase one will report this year.

The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia. It will set national standards for dementia care and redirect NHS priorities to provide the best possible care and support.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that NHS (a) policies and (b) guidance support unpaid family carers providing care in the home.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the vital role unpaid carers play in supporting those they care for and the National Health Service has clear duties to involve carers in care and discharge planning.

NHS England has issued guidance on identifying and supporting carers, including through primary care, and general practices are encouraged to record carers on patient records and signpost them to appropriate support. Integrated care systems are responsible for ensuring local services work together effectively to support unpaid carers.

The 10-Year Health Plan commits to enabling unpaid carers to have proxy access to medical records, test results and online prescriptions for the person they care for, with their consent, from 2026/27.

Under the Care Act 2014, carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs and support where eligible. Work is underway to implement the strengthened duties in the Health and Care Act 2022, including requirements on integrated care boards to involve carers in commissioning decisions and on involving unpaid carers in hospital discharge, aligned with the new CQC assessment approach.

The Government has also made funding available to local authorities, including through the Better Care Fund, to support carers’ services and promote joined-up working between health and social care.

We will continue to work with NHS England, local authorities and partners to ensure unpaid carers are recognised, valued and supported.

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Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department plans to establish the public health task force recommended by the Independent Water Commission prior to the introduction of the Water Reform Bill.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Through an upcoming Water Bill, we intend to progress an ambitious, coherent reset of the legislative framework.

As we take this forward, we will work in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure public health is considered broadly in our new water frameworks and regulations and to consider evidence gaps. Protecting and improving public health is a key consideration of the Government’s once-in-a-generation water reforms.

A new Public Health Water Taskforce, led by the Chief Medical Officer for England, will be a key part of Government’s reforms to the water system. The Taskforce will provide independent and technical advice on public health risks from water and opportunities to improve treatment and protection.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Recommendation 57 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, whether the sprint review of system-wide capacity of the MOD and DHSC has begun or concluded.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

There is ongoing work between Ministry of Defence (MOD), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NHS to review system-wide capacity and shape and plan the UK’s approach to respond collectively as health services to meet the demands of warfighting.

The latest in a series of workshops involving MOD, DHSC and UK health services, was hosted by NHS England in February 2026 focused on the role of the NHS in major conflict, including the potential clinical challenge to health services of modern conflict and how UK health services work collectively to respond to the challenge of conflict at scale. The Strategic Defence Review recommendations and the creation of integrated crisis plans will continue to be progressed as part of the ongoing engagement between the MOD, DHSC and the NHS.

Further, the work with allies through the NATO Medical Action Plan is addressing priority challenges in workforce; mass casualty planning; patient evacuation; and medical logistics. We will look to address legislative and regulatory barriers to effective care.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what conversations he has had with the Department of Health and Social Care about the Human Tissue Authority’s role in regulating the care of corpses throughout the death pathway including in funeral homes.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government is considering the full range of options to strengthen and improve standards to safeguard the security and dignity of the deceased, particularly in the context of a full response to the Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 report which will be provided by summer 2026.

Our consideration has included discussions about a potential role for a relevant partner organisation such as the Human Tissue Authority.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the level of Official Development Assistance funding on the Global Health Partnerships scheme.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK should be proud of the progress made in international development this century. But the world has changed, and so must we. With less money, we must make choices and focus on greater impact

The Global Health Workforce Programme, led by the Department of Health and Social Care and delivered by organisations including Global Health Partnerships, is closing at the end of March 2026.

Efforts are being made with delivery partners to ensure the sustainability of projects beyond the programme’s lifetime.

We remain committed to international development and will continue to support countries to build resilient, sustainable health systems.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department provides guidance to parents on the use of smartphones and internet-enabled devices by children of pre-school age.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care are jointly working to produce and publish new practical, evidence informed guidance for parents on screentime for early years (0-5) by April 2026.

An expert group of child health and development specialists has been convened to shape the guidance, which will also be informed by the perspectives of parents and carers. Details on the work of the group, including its membership can be found here.

The group recently launched a call for evidence asking for evidence that will inform the development of new parental guidance on screen time and usage for early years (0 to 5-year-old) children. More information on the call for evidence can be found here.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to raise public awareness of the risks associated with football-related chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

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

Mitigating the causes and effects of head injuries in sport is of huge importance to the Government and we are taking steps to raise public awareness of the risks and to improve awareness of the causes and effects of concussion.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is developing an Action Plan on Acquired Brain Injury which will be published shortly.

We do not hold information about, and are not in a position to estimate, the number of people at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy from participation in contact sports.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if will make an estimate of the number of people at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy as a result of participation in contact sports.

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

Mitigating the causes and effects of head injuries in sport is of huge importance to the Government and we are taking steps to raise public awareness of the risks and to improve awareness of the causes and effects of concussion.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is developing an Action Plan on Acquired Brain Injury which will be published shortly.

We do not hold information about, and are not in a position to estimate, the number of people at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy from participation in contact sports.

Found: agency staff (a reduction of 1.4 billion from 2022/2023).50 In November 2024, the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: (DHSC) guidance and the Surrogacy in the UK, POSTnote 761 19 25 February 2026

Castlegate and Derwent Surgery in Cockermouth (No. 5)

Found: 0.1875 0 0 18 1 0.0555555555555556 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 4 1 0.25 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 Dept. of Health DHSC

Found: 0.0555555555555556 0 0.0 5 0 0.0 0 0.0 4 1 0.25 0 0.0 3 0 0.0 0 0.0 6 0 0.0 0 0.0 Dept. of Health DHSC

Found: ('Yes') 8 1 Up DHSC E01_yes. Have you been discriminated against at work in the last 12 months?

Found: 13.483 39.916 33.613 26.471 60.251 22.594 17.155 33.708 49.438 16.854 67.217 71.531 71.792 52.328 2025 DHSC

Found: Continued collaboration between HMCTS, the MoJ, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Judicial

Found: the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education (DfE), the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC

Found: previously mentioned employee/self employed workers survey (2024-2025)8 commissioned by DWP and DHSC

Found: The previously mentioned employee/self-employed workers survey (2024- 2025)8 commissioned by DWP and DHSC

Found: The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), funded by the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). 

Found: The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Found: The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.  

Found: The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care. 

Found: The MHRA, in discussion with the Department of Health and Social Care, considers these products critical

Found: hospitality received from organisations related to the work of SACN (consistent with the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: UKHSA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Found: UKHSA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Found: We are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct delivery organisation

Found: 13.483 39.916 33.613 26.471 60.251 22.594 17.155 33.708 49.438 16.854 67.217 71.531 71.792 52.328 2025 DHSC

Found: Trade; Department for Education; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Continued collaboration between HMCTS, the MoJ, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Judicial

Found: the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education (DfE), the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC

Found: Framework agreement between DHSC and NHS Counter Fraud Authority: 2026 to 2029

Found: Transferring commissioning functions The NHS England Executive and the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Officials have just been informed by DHSC that their regulations will be revised again from Monday (

Found: We are seeking clarity from the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) on timelines for publication

Found: seek changes at UK level we have also now met colleagues in Department for Health and Social Care (“DHSC

Found: Personal Information) ] Sent: 10 April 2025 14:33 To: [REDACTED - Names and contact details of 3x DHSC

Found: Scottish Government officials and officials in the Department for Business and Trade, Department of Health and Social Care

Found: withheld are from the Scottish Government (SG), Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Department of Health and Social Care

Found: (last accessed 6 January 2026) 149 Department of Health and Social Care, Good for you, good for us,

Found: follows: Table 2 UK Spend Area Total as per UK Autumn Budget £’m Health (Returning NHS England and DHSC

Found: • The VPAG is a voluntary agreement between the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC),

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the UK Government's press release of 3 February 2026, Government to cover travel costs of children with cancer, which accepted the proposal by Young Lives vs Cancer for a £10 million travel fund to support the cost of the young people travelling for treatment, what (a) steps it will take to ensure parity for children and under-25s in Scotland who have cancer with those in England, (b) discussions it has held with the UK Government regarding the implementation of the fund, and whether these will inform any decisions about expanding the Young Patients Family Fund eligibility criteria to include all such young people, including those receiving treatment as day-patients, and (c) assessment it has carried out of any impact on reducing health inequalities of expanding the Young Patients Family Fund's eligibility criteria to include these young people.

Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) is designed to support the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care in Scotland regardless of diagnosis.

Financial support for travel to hospital appointments is available through the patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes. Under these schemes, patients and authorised escorts may reclaim reasonable travel costs associated with attending hospital appointments, subject to eligibility criteria and clinical requirements. These arrangements apply across Scotland and provide support to eligible young people and their families irrespective of condition.

Scottish Government officials met with counterparts in the UK Department of Health and Social Care in March 2025 as part of wider engagement on the development of their National Cancer Plan for England. During this meeting, officials shared learning on the implementation and administration of the Young Patients Family Fund.

Found: Welsh NHS Trusts; income from the Scottish Government, Northern Ireland Executive, Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Source: Department of Health and Social Care.

Found: • A transfer in of £1,095k from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) comprising: ➢ £564k

Found: Welsh NHS Trusts; income from the Scottish Government, Northern Ireland Executive, Department of Health and Social Care