Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on (a) providing maternity care and (b) settling legal cases of medical negligence related to maternity care in each of the last four years.

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 his Department plans to publish formal terms of reference for the review of the Carr-Hill formula.

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

The review of the Carr-Hill formula will consider how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP contract, drawing on a range of evidence and advice from experts.

Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the final report of the review into the Carr-Hill formula.

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

Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.

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 adequacy of support for displaced care workers.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has made up to £12.5 million available this financial year for 15 regional partnerships to continue to support displaced international care workers. The international recruitment regional fund aims to prevent and respond to exploitative employment practices of internationally recruited care staff. This includes support for individuals impacted by their sponsor’s license being revoked to find alternative, ethical employment.

As of July 2025, over 1,600 people have been directly supported into new sponsored employment by the regional partnerships. This data has not been independently verified by the Department or UK Visas and Immigration, and these figures do not provide a complete picture as workers are under no obligation to report their employment outcomes back to their regional partnership. Regional partnerships are also currently supporting thousands more displaced workers, including support with CV writing and interview techniques, introducing workers to ethical providers with appropriate vacancies, and offering pastoral support to workers who have experienced unethical or exploitative practices.

We have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce to undertake an independent evaluation of the 2024/25 international recruitment regional fund. We expect the final report of this evaluation to be published by King's College London in 2026.

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 ensure that elderly people have reliable access to dental care.

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

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. This includes considering the needs of elderly populations. The ICB for the Tewkesbury constituency is Gloucestershire ICB.

We know that as people age, they tend to move to rural and coastal areas where the challenges in accessing NHS dentistry are exacerbated. We have introduced the Golden Hellos scheme which will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

ICBs may commission specialised dental services including domiciliary care for elderly people living in care homes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on oral health in care homes sets out several recommendations for care homes to help maintain and improve oral health and ensure timely access to dental treatment for their residents. The Government expects care homes to be following NICE guidance and recommendations in this area.

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 ensure continuity of access to prescription medicines in towns where a single operator pharmacy fails to meet its contractual obligations.

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

National Health Service pharmaceutical services, the staff who provide them, and the community pharmacies from which they are delivered are regulated. The entire system is laid out in legislation and is subject to assurance and inspection by both integrated care boards (ICBs) and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

ICBs are responsible for monitoring that contractors are adhering to their NHS terms of service, investigating and acting in cases of non-compliance. ICBs are also responsible for determining applications for new pharmacies including changes of ownership. The legislative framework is under constant review and is updated as required.

The Department does not make assessments of the suitability of individual pharmacy contractors. The Department also does not engage directly with individual pharmacy contractors to discuss matters like unpaid staff or suppliers.

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 ensure that the criteria for approving operators to take over NHS community pharmacies is sufficiently robust to prevent service failures.

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

National Health Service pharmaceutical services, the staff who provide them, and the community pharmacies from which they are delivered are regulated. The entire system is laid out in legislation and is subject to assurance and inspection by both integrated care boards (ICBs) and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

ICBs are responsible for monitoring that contractors are adhering to their NHS terms of service, investigating and acting in cases of non-compliance. ICBs are also responsible for determining applications for new pharmacies including changes of ownership. The legislative framework is under constant review and is updated as required.

The Department does not make assessments of the suitability of individual pharmacy contractors. The Department also does not engage directly with individual pharmacy contractors to discuss matters like unpaid staff or suppliers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the the suitability of Jhoots Pharmacy as a provider of NHS pharmacy services.

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

National Health Service pharmaceutical services, the staff who provide them, and the community pharmacies from which they are delivered are regulated. The entire system is laid out in legislation and is subject to assurance and inspection by both integrated care boards (ICBs) and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

ICBs are responsible for monitoring that contractors are adhering to their NHS terms of service, investigating and acting in cases of non-compliance. ICBs are also responsible for determining applications for new pharmacies including changes of ownership. The legislative framework is under constant review and is updated as required.

The Department does not make assessments of the suitability of individual pharmacy contractors. The Department also does not engage directly with individual pharmacy contractors to discuss matters like unpaid staff or suppliers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Jhoots Pharmacy on unpaid (a) staff wages and (b) suppliers.

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

National Health Service pharmaceutical services, the staff who provide them, and the community pharmacies from which they are delivered are regulated. The entire system is laid out in legislation and is subject to assurance and inspection by both integrated care boards (ICBs) and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

ICBs are responsible for monitoring that contractors are adhering to their NHS terms of service, investigating and acting in cases of non-compliance. ICBs are also responsible for determining applications for new pharmacies including changes of ownership. The legislative framework is under constant review and is updated as required.

The Department does not make assessments of the suitability of individual pharmacy contractors. The Department also does not engage directly with individual pharmacy contractors to discuss matters like unpaid staff or suppliers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what resources his Department has provided to facilitate the participation by GP practices in the Advice and Guidance scheme in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency since 1 April 2025.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) were instructed to invite all general practices to participate in the enhanced service specification for General Practice Requests for Advice and Guidance (A&G) 2025/26, which sees practices entitled to claim a £20 fee per request for pre-referral advice and guidance, no later than 13 May 2025. The Government has made £80 million available to fund up to four million A&G requests so general practitioners (GPs) can access advice ahead of making a referral, recognising the importance of their role in ensuring patient care takes place in the most appropriate setting.

NHS England has developed supporting resources to aid continued use of A&G, including a toolkit with guidance for GPs as well as for commissioners and secondary care clinical teams, and an operational delivery framework which sets a roadmap for ICBs to expand and improve their use of A&G across seven themes and with a set of minimum standards for best practice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 34 of his Department's policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what the outcome will be if a patient and care team do not agree on the contents of a care plan.

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

Our 10-Year Health Plan will ensure that people with complex needs are supported to be active participants in their own care. As part of this, 95% of people with complex needs or long-term conditions will have an agreed personalised care plan by 2027.

We recognise that care plans should be developed collaboratively between patients and care teams. Reaching agreement is essential, as a lack of consensus can lead to delays in care and reduced patient engagement.

Patients have the right to autonomy over decisions about their own care, and both clinical and personal aspects should be approached as shared decisions. Where disagreements arise, particularly those relating to funding, can be escalated to the integrated care board for resolution.

Work is currently underway to determine how care plans will be delivered, including escalation routes if agreement can’t be made.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the maximum distance a patient should be from a (a) neighbourhood health centre and (b) GP surgery is under the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

There is no centrally stipulated limit on the distance a patient should be from a general practice surgery or a neighbourhood health centre (NHC). Integrated care boards are required to commission services that meet the reasonable needs of the population they serve.

The Government has committed to deliver a NHC in every community across the country over the course of the 10-Year Health Plan. The Department is currently determining how best to trial NHCs, including identifying potential site locations.

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 integrated care boards publish data on funding for children’s hospices.

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

Palliative care services, including for children, are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including children’s hospices, also play in providing support to children who require palliative care and end of life care, and their loved ones.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative care and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area. It is for ICBs to determine whether they publish their funding data.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. The allocations for 2024/25 are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hospices-receive-multi-million-pound-boost-to-improve-facilities

The allocations for 2025/26 are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/75-million-boost-for-hospices-to-transform-end-of-life-care

We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant.

In 2024/25 and 2025/26, this funding was administered via ICBs in line with NHS devolution.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what will be in the terms of the Carr Hill review.

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

The review will consider how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP contract, drawing on a range of evidence and advice from experts.

Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the rate of community pharmacy closures in England.

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

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding 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, what steps his Department is taking to help support the long-term (a) financial and (b) operational sustainability of community pharmacies.

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

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding 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, what steps he is taking to help ensure that patients have timely access to pharmacy services in areas where community pharmacies have closed.

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

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding 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 His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the study relating to ultra-processed food and national dietary guidelines published in Nature Medicine on 4 August; and what steps they will take to ensure that national dietary guidelines take account of food processing.

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

A randomised, crossover trial evaluating the effects of ultra processed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health was published by Dicken et al in Nature Medicine on 4 August 2025. A formal assessment of the study has not yet been carried out.

United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on robust independent risk assessments by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The SACN assessed the evidence on processed foods and health in a position statement in 2023 and a rapid evidence update in April 2025.

The SACN has concluded that the observed associations between higher consumption of ultra processed foods and adverse health outcomes are concerning. The SACN recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt, and free sugars, and which are low in fibre

The SACN has made a number of research recommendations to help understand whether processing is a risk factor, over and above the nutrients and energy intake. The SACN will consider the evidence published since its rapid evidence update, including this study, at its horizon scanning meeting in 2026.

The UK’s national food model, The Eatwell Guide, which is based on the SACN’s recommendations, already indicates that many foods classified as ultra processed, such as crisps, biscuits, cakes, confectionery, and ice cream, are not part of a healthy, balanced diet. It advises that people should eat more fruit and vegetables and wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less red and processed meat and food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt.

The Government continues to invest in research on ultra processed foods through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many times naloxone has been administered by (1) police officers, and (2) paramedics, since June 2019.

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

The Home Office publishes data on the carriage of naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote, by police officers and police staff. The data cannot be broken down into how many times naloxone has been administered by police officers.

There have been 1,232 administrations of naloxone in the United Kingdom by the police from June 2019 to 30 December 2024. The following table shows the breakdown of these administrations:

The Department is planning to publish counts of ambulance call-outs where naloxone was administered in the coming weeks. The figures reported will be analysis of data collected by the Department for surveillance purposes rather than official national statistics and it will cover from January 2022 as it does not hold complete data from England from before then.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the national cancer plan will (1) provide further detail on the plans to introduce opt-out smoking cessation in all routine care in hospitals, and (2) expand smoking cessation services to non-routine care settings such as accident and emergency departments.

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

Our 10-Year Health Plan for England has set out a series of national actions to address the major risk factors associated with cancer. The National Cancer Plan, due to be published later this year, will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan will seek to reduce cancer risk factors, including smoking, and will include further detail about how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients.

The 10-Year Health Plan also committed to ensuring all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. Within their 2025/26 allocations, integrated care boards have access to funding in order to support the rollout of tobacco dependency treatment services in hospital settings, including acute and mental health inpatient settings and maternity services. Future funding decisions, including any decision to expand tobacco dependency treatment services to additional settings beyond routine care, are subject to the Spending Review process.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to embed multi-modal 'prehabilitation' and rehabilitation services, in particular (1) exercise, (2) nutrition, and (3) wellbeing support, into standard NHS cancer care pathways in England.

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

The Department and NHS England are taking a number of steps to support the National Health Service to deliver cost-effective, lifesaving prehabilitation and rehabilitation services.

Local planning for prehabilitation and rehabilitation services is a matter for NHS trusts and Cancer Alliances to take forward in their local areas. NHS England has highlighted the positive impact of efficient prehabilitation and rehabilitation on cancer outcomes and the potential to lead to cost savings. The ‘PRosPer’ Cancer Prehabilitation and Rehabilitation learning programme, launched in partnership between NHS England and Macmillan Cancer support, aims to support allied health professionals and the wider healthcare workforce in developing their skills in providing prehabilitation and rehabilitation, including in areas such as exercise, nutrition, and wellbeing support.

The Government and NHS England recognise that for most people living with long term conditions, including people living with cancer, physical activity is safe and can support recovery after treatment and promote quality of life. The NHS is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients in England have access to personalised care, including a needs assessment, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of employer National Insurance contributions on the financial sustainability of regulated adult social care providers.

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

The Government took the cost pressures facing adult social care, including changes to employer National Insurance Contributions and increases to the National Living Wage, into account as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the 2024 Autumn Budget process.

To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government has made available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26.

In addition, the Spending Review 2025 allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will require integrated care boards to provide sustainable funding for successful pilot projects on type 1 diabetes and eating disorders to enable them to become regional centres of excellence.

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

NHS England has provided up to £1.5 million a year for the five current Type 1 Disordered Eating pilots for three years. This funding is transferred to integrated care boards on an annual basis and in 2025/26 has been ringfenced.

Decisions on funding for future years have yet to be taken.

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 review NHS outsourcing contracts.

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

All public authorities, including the National Health Service, follow the guidance and principles set out in the Sourcing Playbook when planning and making sourcing decisions to deliver public services in partnership with the private and third sectors. The playbook is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-sourcing-and-consultancy-playbooks

The consultation, Public Procurement: Growing British industry, jobs and skills, is one considering further reforms to public procurement. More specifically, it is proposed that public bodies would be required to carry out a quick and proportionate public interest test, to understand whether that work could not be more effectively done in-house before any service is contracted out. The Cabinet Office will consider the results of the consultation, and the Department will comply with any changes to the law. Details of the consultation are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/public-procurement-growing-british-industry-jobs-and-skills-consultation-on-further-reforms-to-public-procurement/public-procurement-growing-british-industry-jobs-and-skills-html

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 ensure that the abolition of NHS England does not affect the delivery of frontline services for patients.

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

Our commitment to the delivery of frontline services for patients underpin our reforms. These reforms will simplify the National Health Service, remove layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, and allow us to reinvest more in the frontline, so patients receive safe, timely care and are heard and listened to.

It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, and we will do this throughout. Ongoing assessment is part of the reform programme and evidence collected will inform the programme as appropriate and ensure our decisions focus on improving patient care. The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS Workforce Plan will include measures to (a) recruit, (b) train, and (c) retain mental health professionals with specialism in Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders (T1DE).

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

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. To support this, the Department and NHS England will be engaging with key stakeholders to ensure that the needs of different patient groups and relevant health professionals are reflected in this work.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to raise awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders among healthcare professionals in diabetes and eating disorder services in (a) Somerset and (b) England.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

Pilot sites are delivering a national high level service specification alongside testing local novel approaches to improving care including to awareness raising of the condition amongst both diabetes and eating disorder health care professionals. A national evaluation is currently underway to assess the impact of the five current pilot services. NHS England will review the evaluation findings to understand further opportunities to promote awareness of T1DE amongst healthcare professionals beyond the five pilot areas.

NHS England works alongside its partners to support the delivery of key messages around diabetes education and awareness. This includes through a digital diabetes platform which is developing educational resources for T1DE.

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 raise awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders among healthcare professionals in diabetes and eating disorder services.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

Pilot sites are delivering a national high level service specification alongside testing local novel approaches to improving care including to awareness raising of the condition amongst both diabetes and eating disorder health care professionals. A national evaluation is currently underway to assess the impact of the five current pilot services. NHS England will review the evaluation findings to understand further opportunities to promote awareness of T1DE amongst healthcare professionals beyond the five pilot areas.

NHS England works alongside its partners to support the delivery of key messages around diabetes education and awareness. This includes through a digital diabetes platform which is developing educational resources for T1DE.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered locating anaphylaxis kits in (a) schools, (b) supermarkets and (c) other public places.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Since October 2017, the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 have allowed all schools to buy adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) without a prescription, for emergency use on children who are at risk of anaphylaxis but whose own device is not available or not working. The Department has published non-statutory guidance to accompany this legislative change, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-emergency-adrenaline-auto-injectors-in-schools

This guidance advises schools on the recognition and management of an allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, and outlines when and how an AAI should be administered for pupils. The guidance makes clear that any AAIs held by a school should be considered a spare device and not a replacement for a pupil’s own AAIs. It also states that children at risk of anaphylaxis should have their own prescribed AAIs at school for use in an emergency, and that they should always carry two devices.

There are many implications that would need to be given careful consideration if anaphylaxis kits were to be located in supermarkets and other public places. For example, we would need to consider the impacts on supplies of AAIs for patients to whom they are prescribed. There are currently only two suppliers of AAIs and, whilst there is close monitoring of continuity of supply at current levels, a significant increase in demand for AAIs would require close collaboration with suppliers.

There are other technical and practical challenges. It is not uncommon for AAIs to reach the market with around 15 months or less to expiry, and so establishments holding spare AAIs would need to conduct regular checks on their expiry dates and replace them quite frequently.

The susceptibility of adrenaline to deterioration at high temperature, and of the delivery mechanism to be impaired at very low temperature, make a temperature-controlled environment necessary. AAIs could, therefore, not be placed in direct sunlight or in an outside environment susceptible to freezing.

AAIs are marketed with different adrenaline doses and needle lengths. Individual prescriptions take into account age and body weight.

The administration of AAIs is not intuitive for an untrained individual. There are different brands of AAIs and they are not considered generic equivalents of each other. There are device-specific characteristics, including needle length, dose and propulsion, that affect the delivery of adrenaline into the circulation. Certain brands have different instructions for use, according to the device mechanism. Each has a different mode of operation and requires specific training in use.

There is also concern for the security of AAIs in public places against malicious tampering and theft with criminal intent.

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 (a) scope and (b) support the development of (i) moderated online, (ii) in-person and (iii) other models of peer support networks for people with Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders (T1DE).

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England works in close partnership with national charities and organisations that support people living with type 1 diabetes, including by facilitating and supporting peer support opportunities.

For example, NHS England has collaborated with Diabetes UK, Breakthrough Type 1 Diabetes and people with lived experience, to produce The Six Principles of Good Peer Support for People Living with Type 1 Diabetes statement which aims to promote the standards required for peer support to both clinicians and those who are looking to access peer support opportunities. These are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/the-six-principles-of-good-peer-support-for-people-living-with-type-1-diabetes/

Diabetes UK also runs the Together Type 1 Programme which aims to create a supportive environment where young people can connect with others who understand the challenges of living with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes UK also has a network of regional teams that facilitate local peer support groups and activities. More information on the programme is available at the following link:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/support-for-you/community-support-and-forums/type-1-youth-programme

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the MS Society’s report entitled A Different Path: Rethinking MS hospital care, published in September 2025, what steps he is taking to improve hospital care for people with multiple sclerosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services, including hospital care, for their local population, including for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The Government expects ICBs to assess the demand for service provision in designing their local services.

Whilst there hasn’t been a specific discussion with NHS England regarding the MS Optimum Clinical Pathway, there are initiatives to support better care for patients with neurological conditions, such as MS, across England. These include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aims to improve MS care by supporting the NHS to address variations in care and promoting best practices.

The Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, published by NHS England’s RightCare Programme, supports healthcare systems in improving the care of individuals living with progressive neurological conditions, including MS. It aims to enhance local services and reduce hospital admissions by focusing on preventative care and optimising the delivery of services.

NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP) is a multi-year programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services. The NTP has collaborated with clinicians and patient groups to create specific pathways for MS, aiming to improve the quality and coordination of care.

NHS England has also recently updated its Specialised Neurology Services (Adults) Service Specification, which includes services for people with MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The refreshed service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-neurology-services-adults/

The three shifts outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan will support people with long-term conditions, including those with MS, to better manage their condition and access services closer to home. For example, it will empower them to access their medical history and allow them to book and manage their appointments and medication.

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 parents receive (a) up to date and (b) relevant advice for feeding infants.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department undertakes a range of activities to ensure that parents receive up-to-date and relevant advice on infant feeding. We are investing £18.5 million in 2025/26 for infant feeding support across 75 local authorities in England through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. We have also extended the National Breastfeeding Helpline so that more families across the United Kingdom can access evidence-based information and support 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The Best Start in Life and NHS websites both provide trusted information on breastfeeding, formula feeding and introducing solid food, and are regularly updated in line with guidance from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Recent updates include advice on the use of shop-bought baby food.

Voluntary industry guidelines for commercial baby food and drink aimed at babies and young children aged up to 36 months old have also been published. The guidelines encourage manufacturers to reduce levels of sugar and salt in, and improve the labelling and marketing of, these products. This will make it easier for parents and carers to make healthier and more informed choices.

To ensure information reaches families at the right time, targeted advertising campaigns are run primarily on social media to engage parents whose babies are approaching weaning age, providing them with timely and relevant advice. In addition, most families receive infant feeding information and support from midwives and health visitors, who deliver targeted interventions as appropriate and support families in accessing specialist services where needed.

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 support people living with arthritis in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Services for those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including arthritis, are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs), including NHS Lincolnshire ICB, which serves the South Holland and the Deepings constituency. The Department expects MSK services to be fully incorporated into integrated care system planning and decision-making.

In Lincolnshire, arthritis patients at United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (ULTH) are seen as part of two cohorts, namely early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) or arthritis patients identified during grading of referrals and then put into ULTH’s general rheumatology urgent/routine cohort. For early inflammatory arthritis, ULTH works to a target of six weeks to treatment. This broadly necessitates patients having their first appointment at between two and three weeks. At present, most new patients referred today would be seen in clinic at approximately six to seven weeks and commence treatment within a few further weeks.

Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these will help deliver improvements to arthritis care in all parts of England.

More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support people to manage their long-term conditions, including arthritis, closer to home.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps with (a) diabetes and (b) eating disorder charities to support national campaigns tackling (i) stigma and (ii) media representation of Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The national diabetes programme works closely with charity partners including Diabetes UK who take a multi-pronged approach to reducing stigma experienced by those with all types of diabetes. This includes raising awareness of the complex and serious nature of type 1 diabetes, including type 1 disordered eating (T1DE), providing support to those that experience stigma, and supporting research into stigma and how it can be reduced or prevented.

NHS England is partnering with the National Institute for Health and Care Research to deliver a qualitative evaluation of the five current T1DE pilot sites. A core element of this approach has been engagement with service users to understand their experiences of having the condition, both before and during their involvement with the T1DE service.

The National Diabetes Experience Survey led by NHS England is a further mechanism for understanding the experiences of those living with type 1 diabetes, including T1DE, to inform national and local approaches to improvement.

In response to feedback on the experiences of people of all ages who live with diabetes, NHS England published the guide, Language Matters: language and diabetes, for health care professionals which sets out the good practice principles for interactions with people living with diabetes including around reducing stigma. The guide is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/language-matters-language-and-diabetes/

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 implications for his policies of trends in the number of patients who have been referred by their GP for a possible Parkinson's diagnosis and are not seen by a neurologist or geriatrician within 18 weeks in line with NICE guidance.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise the importance of a timely diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and remain committed to delivering the National Health Service constitutional standard for 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes patients waiting for elective treatment on neurological pathways.

We are investing in additional capacity to deliver appointments to help bring lists and waiting times down. We provided additional investment in the Autumn Budget 2024 that has enabled us to fulfil our pledge to deliver over two million more elective care appointments early. More than double that number, 4.9 million more appointments, have now been delivered.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the specific productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard.

The Getting It Right First Time programme, which provides tailored regional and national support to providers, also has a neurology specific Further Faster workstream. This is a clinically led initiative supporting peer to peer learning and improvement. A neurology 'handbook' and checklist with benchmarked data and case studies has been published and there are regular neurology online sessions for clinical and operational leads.

The shifts outlined in our 10-Year Health Plan will free up hospital-based neurologists’ and geriatricians’ time by shifting care from hospitals to communities, utilising digital technology to reduce administrative burdens, and promoting prevention to reduce the onset and severity of neurological conditions that lead to hospital admissions. This includes expanding community-based services, employing artificial intelligence for productivity, developing integrated neighbourhood health teams, and investing in digital tools and data. These shifts will enable earlier identification and management of Parkinson's disease, allowing specialists to focus on complex cases and improve patient outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on adopting the MS Optimum Clinical Pathway for people with multiple sclerosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services, including hospital care, for their local population, including for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The Government expects ICBs to assess the demand for service provision in designing their local services.

Whilst there hasn’t been a specific discussion with NHS England regarding the MS Optimum Clinical Pathway, there are initiatives to support better care for patients with neurological conditions, such as MS, across England. These include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aims to improve MS care by supporting the NHS to address variations in care and promoting best practices.

The Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, published by NHS England’s RightCare Programme, supports healthcare systems in improving the care of individuals living with progressive neurological conditions, including MS. It aims to enhance local services and reduce hospital admissions by focusing on preventative care and optimising the delivery of services.

NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP) is a multi-year programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services. The NTP has collaborated with clinicians and patient groups to create specific pathways for MS, aiming to improve the quality and coordination of care.

NHS England has also recently updated its Specialised Neurology Services (Adults) Service Specification, which includes services for people with MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The refreshed service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-neurology-services-adults/

The three shifts outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan will support people with long-term conditions, including those with MS, to better manage their condition and access services closer to home. For example, it will empower them to access their medical history and allow them to book and manage their appointments and medication.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Cancer Plan will include strategies to improve the accuracy of diagnoses for those with Myeloma.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and accurately as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes.

To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the estimate of the potential savings to the public purse following the abolition of NHS England.

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

Creating a new joint organisation will streamline decision-making, reduce bureaucracy, and improve accountability. These changes are expected to generate significant efficiencies over time.

The Department’s initial modelling demonstrates that the up-front investment in organisational change will be offset by long-term reductions in staffing and running costs, ensuring the programme delivers value for money and sustainable savings for the taxpayer.

Further detailed planning work is underway, considering all the funding priorities for the Department and NHS England. Further detail will be provided once this work has concluded.

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 NHS (a) funding and (b) commissioning structures on Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy provision in South West England.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service keeps under review the range of services it offers patients. The use of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy is thought to prolong overall survival and improve quality of life. NHS England provides the treatment to those eligible across England.

Our £70 million investment in new radiotherapy machines will ensure that the most advanced treatment is available and accessible to patients across the country. By March 2027, up to 27,500 additional treatments per year will be delivered, including up to 4,500 receiving their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of referral, helping to treat more cancer patients in faster time.

Adiditionally, the Department is working closely with NHS England to make sure we have the right workforce with the right skills up and down the country. This includes cancer care and radiotherapy treatment services.

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 support people with bladder and bowel control conditions in Sutton Coldfield constituency.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

An Adult Bladder and Bowel (Continence) service is delivered via Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) offering appointments for all residents in Birmingham, including in Sutton Coldfield, with a clinic facility in North Locality based at Sutton Cottage Hospital. The service offers face-to-face and virtual consultations and supports the community nursing service with patients who meet the housebound criteria with complex needs around continence management, catheter care or bowel management.

The service treats adults who are experiencing bladder problems or bowel dysfunction, with all patients receiving a high-quality clinical assessment and personalised care plan in line with best practice, and national driven guidance.

There are a range of investigations, including vaginal pelvic floor assessment, bladder ultra-sound scan or rectal examination, that are available through the service that helps to determine the best course of treatment, based on individual patient needs. Treatment may include lifestyle advice or interventions, pelvic floor exercises, bladder re-training, medication, specialist care or signposting to other appropriate services. The service also offers specialist clinics for young adults aged between 18 and 19 years old transitioning from Children's Services working in partnership BCHC’s Children's and Families Division. The service can be accessed by referral via a patient’s general practitioner (GP).

Housebound patients, including patients with psychological illness which prevent them from accessing a clinic, or following a treatment programme, will initially need to be referred to a Community Nursing service for assessment and treatment by the patient’s GP.

BCHC is currently scoping the use of containment products and ensuring they align with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommendations. A consultation and engagement plan, quality impact and equality, human rights assessment will underpin any decisions on the future model.

The average patient waiting times for clinic appointments at Sutton Cottage is 10 weeks, but urgent referrals can be seen within two weeks.

GPs also can access secondary care specialist advice and e-refer a patient to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust’s (UHB) specialist clinics for adults with incontinence, overactive bladder, stress urinary incontinence, or bladder pain.

As part of the system’s work to transform and standardise care, between October 2026 and March 2027, GPs across Birmingham and Solihull will start to have access to digital tools for clinical decision making and case management via online consulting rooms with UHB urology specialists to speed up and improve access in health and care.

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 training for (a) GPs and (b) other healthcare practitioners to (i) recognise and (ii) manage Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders (T1DE).

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The standard of training for healthcare professionals is the responsibility of the independent professional regulators, who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses and universities to write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the outcome standards. Post-graduate training curricula is set by the relevant Royal College.

Whilst not all curricula may necessarily highlight a specific condition, they all emphasise the skills and approaches a healthcare practitioner must develop to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients, including for type 1 diabetes with disordered eating.

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

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy for NHS England to create a dedicated registry for people with (a) type 1 diabetes and (b) Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders (T1DE) to improve (i) prevalence data and (ii) patient support.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Diabetes Audit is the primary mechanism for collecting data in England on the care and outcomes of people living with diabetes, helping to inform healthcare practice and policy.

The National Diabetes Audit could serve as a registry for type 1 disordered eating (T1DE) in the future. An agreed definition of T1DE supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will be important to enable diagnosis, data recording and establishing data collection processes.

NHS England works closely with NICE to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to require Integrated Care Boards to provide sustainable funding to enable (a) the continuation of successful pilot projects on Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders and (b) those projects to become regional centres of excellence.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has provided up to £1.5 million a year for the five current Type 1 Disordered Eating pilots for three years. This funding is transferred to integrated care boards on an annual basis and in 2025/26 has been ringfenced.

Decisions on funding for future years have yet to be taken.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Boards will be required to provide sustainable funding for successful pilot projects on Type 1 Diabetes and Eating Disorders so that they can become regional centres of excellence.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has provided up to £1.5 million a year for the five current Type 1 Disordered Eating pilots for three years. This funding is transferred to integrated care boards on an annual basis and in 2025/26 has been ringfenced.

Decisions on funding for future years have yet to be taken.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to embed mental health support into all diabetes clinics to provide emotional wellbeing for people with type 1 diabetes.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service does not currently have any plans to introduce a mental health assessment to the annual care check for people with type 1 diabetes or to embed mental health support into all diabetes clinics to provide emotional wellbeing for people with type 1 diabetes.

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing clinical guidelines and quality standards for diabetes care.

The current NICE guideline for type 1 diabetes diagnosis and management states that members of diabetes professional teams should be alert to the symptoms of depression and anxiety, have the appropriate skills to provide basic management and arrange prompt referral to specialists where an individual’s mental health interferes significantly with their wellbeing or self-management. The guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng17/resources/type-1-diabetes-in-adults-diagnosis-and-management-pdf-1837276469701

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to introduce a mental health assessment to the annual care check for people with type 1 diabetes.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service does not currently have any plans to introduce a mental health assessment to the annual care check for people with type 1 diabetes or to embed mental health support into all diabetes clinics to provide emotional wellbeing for people with type 1 diabetes.

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing clinical guidelines and quality standards for diabetes care.

The current NICE guideline for type 1 diabetes diagnosis and management states that members of diabetes professional teams should be alert to the symptoms of depression and anxiety, have the appropriate skills to provide basic management and arrange prompt referral to specialists where an individual’s mental health interferes significantly with their wellbeing or self-management. The guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng17/resources/type-1-diabetes-in-adults-diagnosis-and-management-pdf-1837276469701

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 increase uptake of the MMRV vaccine among children.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fylde on 8 September 2025 to Question 73633.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the NHS guidelines for the installation of defibrillators in (1) hospitals, and (2) community and primary care buildings.

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

NHS England does not directly commission installation of defibrillators in hospitals, community care buildings or primary care buildings. ICBs have responsibility for locally commissioned services and estate management. However, NHS England does provide public guidance on installing a defibrillator via the NHS England website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address inequalities in access to cardiovascular care, and how those actions will be reflected in the development on a new modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.

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

This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions of England. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has launched the ‘Inequalities Challenge’ for cardiovascular disease (CVD), investing £50 million into innovative new research to tackle preventable premature mortality from CVD and reduce inequalities across the United Kingdom.

In addition, the Elective Reform Plan identified cardiology as one of the main priority specialities for significant reform, including increasing specialist cardiology input earlier in patient care pathways, and improving access to cardiac diagnostic tests. These improvements will help standardise patient care, reduce inequalities and improve access to all stages of CVD care for patients across England.

The 10-Year Health Plan will help us to accelerate progress in addressing inequalities in access to CVD prevention and care by prioritising ambitious, evidence-led and clinically informed approaches. In 2026, we will publish a new CVD Modern Service Framework which will support consistent, high quality, equitable care and foster innovation across the CVD pathway.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and eating disorders (T1DE) among healthcare professionals in diabetes and eating disorder services; and whether they plan to establish a national framework for preventing T1DE, including risk screening tools for use in clinical practice.

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

NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) Pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

Pilot sites are delivering a national high level service specification alongside testing local novel approaches to improving care including to awareness raising of the condition amongst both diabetes and eating disorder health care professionals.

A national evaluation is currently underway to assess the impact of the five current pilot services. NHS England will review the evaluation findings to understand further opportunities to promote awareness of Type 1 disordered eating amongst healthcare professionals.

NHS England works alongside its partners to support the delivery of key messages around diabetes education and awareness. This includes through a digital diabetes platform which is developing educational resources for T1DE.

No assessment has been made of the merits of creating a national framework.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will support the creation of an international symposium of experts on type 1 diabetes and eating disorders to share best practice and guidance on diagnosis and treatment.

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

No assessment has been made of the merits of creating an international symposium of experts on type 1 diabetes and eating disorders. NHS England is currently funding five Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots, with the aim of increasing understanding of the characteristics and care needs of people with T1DE, assessing the feasibility of the service delivery model and build the evidence base for an integrated diabetes and mental health pathway.

A national evaluation is currently underway to assess the impact of the five current pilot services. NHS England will review the evaluation findings to understand further opportunities to promote awareness of T1DE amongst healthcare professionals.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a timeline for the development and implementation of a modern service framework for cardiovascular disease announced in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England.

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

This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and the 10 Year-Health Plan sets out our intention to publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF). The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and the Department and NHS England are working closely to tackle one of the country’s biggest killers head on. We will say more on this in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the details of a new modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.

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

This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and the 10 Year-Health Plan sets out our intention to publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF). The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and the Department and NHS England are working closely to tackle one of the country’s biggest killers head on. We will say more on this in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will work with diabetes and eating disorder charities to support national campaigns aimed at reducing stigmatisation of type 1 diabetes and eating disorders (T1DE) in the media, drawing on NHS England's Language Matters guidance.

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

The national diabetes programme works closely with charity partners including Diabetes UK who take a multi-pronged approach to reducing stigma experienced by those with all types of diabetes. This includes raising awareness of the complex and serious nature of type 1 diabetes, including type 1 disordered eating (T1DE), providing support to those that experience stigma, and supporting research into stigma and how it can be reduced or prevented.

NHS England is partnering with the National Institute for Health and Care Research to deliver a qualitative evaluation of the five current T1DE pilot sites. A core element of this approach has been engagement with service users to understand their experiences of having the condition, both before and during their involvement with the T1DE service.

The National Diabetes Experience Survey led by NHS England is a further mechanism for understanding the experiences of those living with type 1 diabetes including T1DE to inform national and local approaches to improvement.

In response to feedback on the experiences of people of all ages who live with diabetes, NHS England published the document, Language Matters: language and diabetes, a guide for health care professionals which sets out the good practice principles for interactions with people living with diabetes including around reducing stigma. The guide is available on the NHS website in an online-only format.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 17 July (HL9620), when they will publish the first quarterly report of data on the scale of mortality linked to synthetic opioids.

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

The Department has developed the report on deaths linked to synthetic opioids and ambulance call-outs in which the opioid antidote naloxone was administered that was previously referred to. The report is being prepared for publication in the coming weeks.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of long waits for diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases on patient outcomes; and what steps they are taking to address those waits as part of the new modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.

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

No current assessment has been made of the impact of long waits for diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on patient outcomes. However, cardiology is one of five priority specialties identified for significant elective reform in the Elective Reform Plan. Reforms include increasing specialist cardiology input earlier in patient care pathways and improving access to cardiac diagnostic tests. These improvements to common cardiology pathways are helping to standardise patient care, reduce inequalities and improve access to care, especially in early stages of pathways, for patients across England.

To accelerate progress on the Government’s CVD ambition, to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke, we will publish a new CVD Modern Service Framework. The framework will be published in 2026 and will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whist fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) clinical oncology workforce shortages and (b) staffing levels on the adoption of innovative cancer treatments by NHS Trusts.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are building our cancer workforce. As of June 2025, there are over 1,800 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 440, or 31.5%, more than 2020.

Following additional investment through recent spending review settlements, trainees across 16 cancer-related specialties, including clinical and medical oncology, increased from 623 to 773 per year, a 24% increase.

To grow the workforce, NHS England has been expanding specialty training places in key cancer professions. Targeted national campaigns and outreach activities, for example in clinical oncology, also promote cancer career pathways, with a focus on increasing applications to under-supplied professions.

Training Academies in Imaging, Endoscopy, and Genomics are being delivered across regions to provide intensive skills development and support new models of care, including for cancer patients. Ongoing investment in practice education enhances clinical supervision, education and training across cancer and diagnostic workforces, increases placement capacity, supports staff retention, and contributes to high-quality patient care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the value for money of paying NHS trusts to validate the data on their waiting lists.

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

No estimate has been made of the return on investment on the validation sprint.

Waiting list validation is a well-established component for effective management of waiting lists, with detailed guidance available for Trusts, including safeguards to ensure patients are not incorrectly removed from waiting lists.

The Department publishes the Referral to Treatment Rules Suite and NHS England has published two key guidance documents to support the recording and reporting patient pathways, including a set of FAQs. NHS England published an updated version of the guidance documents in February 2025. The guidance states there “must be agreement from a clinician before any patient is returned to the referrer.” Any patient removed should receive a letter that would also be sent to their GP.

Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 set the requirement for trusts to validate patients on a referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list after 12 weeks and then every 12 weeks in line with good practice and published guidance, maximising the use of digital tools for both patient contact and data quality.

Effective waiting list validation ensures trusts have an accurate understanding of the true size of their waiting list, which in turn helps them to reduce missed or cancelled appointments, make the most effective use of clinicians’ time and reduce overall waiting times.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of incomplete pathways removed as a result of data validation on a monthly basis. As part of the validation sprint over the period from week ending 13 April 2025 to week ending 22 June 2025, waiting list management information across all acute providers estimates there were around 250,000 additional removals from waiting lists compared to the same period last year.

Routinely validated, accurate waiting lists are a necessary part of delivering on our commitment to return to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, and to help to improve experience for patients, so that clinical time can be focused on the patients who need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many incomplete pathways have been removed as a result of data validation in each month since July 2024.

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

No estimate has been made of the return on investment on the validation sprint.

Waiting list validation is a well-established component for effective management of waiting lists, with detailed guidance available for Trusts, including safeguards to ensure patients are not incorrectly removed from waiting lists.

The Department publishes the Referral to Treatment Rules Suite and NHS England has published two key guidance documents to support the recording and reporting patient pathways, including a set of FAQs. NHS England published an updated version of the guidance documents in February 2025. The guidance states there “must be agreement from a clinician before any patient is returned to the referrer.” Any patient removed should receive a letter that would also be sent to their GP.

Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 set the requirement for trusts to validate patients on a referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list after 12 weeks and then every 12 weeks in line with good practice and published guidance, maximising the use of digital tools for both patient contact and data quality.

Effective waiting list validation ensures trusts have an accurate understanding of the true size of their waiting list, which in turn helps them to reduce missed or cancelled appointments, make the most effective use of clinicians’ time and reduce overall waiting times.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of incomplete pathways removed as a result of data validation on a monthly basis. As part of the validation sprint over the period from week ending 13 April 2025 to week ending 22 June 2025, waiting list management information across all acute providers estimates there were around 250,000 additional removals from waiting lists compared to the same period last year.

Routinely validated, accurate waiting lists are a necessary part of delivering on our commitment to return to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, and to help to improve experience for patients, so that clinical time can be focused on the patients who need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many incomplete pathways have been removed as a result of data validation sprint in each month since April 2025.

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

No estimate has been made of the return on investment on the validation sprint.

Waiting list validation is a well-established component for effective management of waiting lists, with detailed guidance available for Trusts, including safeguards to ensure patients are not incorrectly removed from waiting lists.

The Department publishes the Referral to Treatment Rules Suite and NHS England has published two key guidance documents to support the recording and reporting patient pathways, including a set of FAQs. NHS England published an updated version of the guidance documents in February 2025. The guidance states there “must be agreement from a clinician before any patient is returned to the referrer.” Any patient removed should receive a letter that would also be sent to their GP.

Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 set the requirement for trusts to validate patients on a referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list after 12 weeks and then every 12 weeks in line with good practice and published guidance, maximising the use of digital tools for both patient contact and data quality.

Effective waiting list validation ensures trusts have an accurate understanding of the true size of their waiting list, which in turn helps them to reduce missed or cancelled appointments, make the most effective use of clinicians’ time and reduce overall waiting times.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of incomplete pathways removed as a result of data validation on a monthly basis. As part of the validation sprint over the period from week ending 13 April 2025 to week ending 22 June 2025, waiting list management information across all acute providers estimates there were around 250,000 additional removals from waiting lists compared to the same period last year.

Routinely validated, accurate waiting lists are a necessary part of delivering on our commitment to return to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, and to help to improve experience for patients, so that clinical time can be focused on the patients who need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to (a) NHS England and (b) NHS Trusts to validate their waiting list data.

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

No estimate has been made of the return on investment on the validation sprint.

Waiting list validation is a well-established component for effective management of waiting lists, with detailed guidance available for Trusts, including safeguards to ensure patients are not incorrectly removed from waiting lists.

The Department publishes the Referral to Treatment Rules Suite and NHS England has published two key guidance documents to support the recording and reporting patient pathways, including a set of FAQs. NHS England published an updated version of the guidance documents in February 2025. The guidance states there “must be agreement from a clinician before any patient is returned to the referrer.” Any patient removed should receive a letter that would also be sent to their GP.

Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 set the requirement for trusts to validate patients on a referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list after 12 weeks and then every 12 weeks in line with good practice and published guidance, maximising the use of digital tools for both patient contact and data quality.

Effective waiting list validation ensures trusts have an accurate understanding of the true size of their waiting list, which in turn helps them to reduce missed or cancelled appointments, make the most effective use of clinicians’ time and reduce overall waiting times.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of incomplete pathways removed as a result of data validation on a monthly basis. As part of the validation sprint over the period from week ending 13 April 2025 to week ending 22 June 2025, waiting list management information across all acute providers estimates there were around 250,000 additional removals from waiting lists compared to the same period last year.

Routinely validated, accurate waiting lists are a necessary part of delivering on our commitment to return to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, and to help to improve experience for patients, so that clinical time can be focused on the patients who need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with trade unions on the (a) pay and (b) conditions of NHS support staff.

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

My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has had recent meetings with a number of general secretaries and health leads from trade unions representing staff on the Agenda for Change contract, including Unison, the Royal College of Nursing and GMB. Those meetings have focused on ways Government can continue to work with trade unions to improve working conditions for National Health Service staff, including NHS support staff, and how we can address concerns with pay within the current economic context.

The Department regularly discusses workforce policy and staff experience matters for NHS support staff through the Social Partnership Forum, which is a national forum where NHS employers, trade unions, and the Department work together on issues that affect the NHS. In addition, the Department also engages with the NHS Staff Council, which has responsibility for maintaining the Agenda for Change system of pay and terms and conditions.

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 headcount reductions in (a) NHS England, (b) his Department and (c) Integrated Care Boards on the implementation of the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

Following the announcement that NHS England will be abolished as an arm’s length body and replaced by a new Department of Health and Social Care, a transformation programme has been launched, led by Richard Barker as Senior Responsible Officer.

It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, including headcount reductions in NHS England and the Department, as is due process. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.

To support future planning, NHS England has published the Model ICB Blueprint, which sets out the strategic role of integrated care boards (ICBs). Their responsibilities will continue to focus on population health management, including understanding local needs, developing long-term strategies, allocating resources, and evaluating impact.

The new Department will operate in a leaner, more agile and more efficient way and empower staff at all levels of the health system to deliver better care for patients, drive productivity up and get waiting times down. This change will set local National Health Service providers free to innovate, develop new productive ways of working, and focus on what matters most.

The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.

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 abolition of NHS England on local clinical services.

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

Following the announcement that NHS England will be abolished as an arm’s length body and replaced by a new Department of Health and Social Care, a transformation programme has been launched, led by Richard Barker as Senior Responsible Officer.

It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.

The new Department will operate in a leaner, more agile and more efficient way and empower staff at all levels of the health system, including local clinical systems, to deliver better care for patients, drive productivity up and get waiting times down. This change will set local National Health Service providers free to innovate, develop new productive ways of working, and focus on what matters most.

The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.

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 23 July 2025 to Question 66246 on General Practitioners: Recruitment, what the minimum length would be of that significant period.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan set out that we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. We will set out further details in due course.

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 reduce waiting times for radiotherapy treatment.

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

Radiotherapy is vital in cancer care, and it remains a key priority for the Government to reduce radiotherapy waiting times and provide the highest quality of treatment available. This is why the Government has invested £70 million of central funding on 28 new radiotherapy machines across the country to replace older machines. These new machines are more efficient meaning that more patients can be seen more quickly. This will help to reduce waiting times for cancer patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to (a) NHS local health boards and (b) trusts on treating jellyfish stings.

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

The General Medical Council sets the overall standards and outcomes for medical training, and the Royal Colleges develop the specific curricula for each medical specialty.

The Department does not provide guidance to National Health Service trusts or integrated care boards on this topic. Patient-facing information on how to treat jellyfish stings is already available on the NHS website.

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 performance of Northwick Park Hospital on cancer in the last five years.

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

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust provides cancer services at Northwick Park, Central Middlesex, Ealing, and St Mark's Hospitals, with speciality cancer teams at each site. Performance data on cancer pathways is reported at trust level.

The trust demonstrated strong performance up to mid-2023, particularly for the Faster Diagnosis Standard, with 84.7% performance in July 2023 being 14.7 percentage points above the 75% standard, and the 31-day treatment standard, with 100% performance in July 2023 being four percentage points above the 96% standard.

From mid-202,3 data quality issues and a temporary reduction in activity following the implementation of Cerner, an electronic patient record system, plus capacity constraints, saw a decline in performance. Backlogs increased with the number of patients waiting over 104 days for treatment peaking significantly.

A recovery programme was implemented to reduce the backlog, using real-time data to drive action and accountability. Actions included increasing the trust’s capacity and workforce, with specialist nurses, radiographers, and consultants, plus extended hours and weekend clinics. Rapid triage and assessment pathways led to faster diagnosis, along with expanded one-stop clinics, especially for breast cancer and gynaecology, with more patients also being sent straight to test for lower gastrointestinal cancers.

By early 2025, the number of patients wating more than 104 days was close to zero, with a steady improvement seen in two-week waits and the Faster Diagnosis Standard. As the trust has started to stabilise its backlog, there has been significant improvement in the 62 day performance target with the trust continuing to be above the London target of 70%.

Latest waiting time performance from July 2025 has been promising, with the trust achieving 81.5% Faster Diagnosis Standard performance and 100% 31-day treatment performance. 62-day referral to first treatment performance was 83%, one of the best in the country.

Full cancer performance figures are published in the trust’s annual report, which is available at the following link:

https://www.lnwh.nhs.uk/annual-report-and-accounts

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 the use of (a) agency and (b) locum staff on reducing waiting lists.

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

The Department has not made an assessment and has no plans to make an assessment on the impact of regional variations in staff vacancy rates, the time taken to recruit into nursing roles, or the use of agency and bank staff, on elective waiting list lengths.

NHS England published its planning guidance for 2025/26 in January 2025. This guidance sets out clear priorities for the National Health Service including delivery of the interim electives ambition of meeting nationally 65% of patients being seen within 18 weeks, along with a minimum 5% improvement, that was set out in the Elective Reform Plan.

It is for trusts and integrated care boards to manage staffing of all professions, including through use of agency and bank staff, to deliver on these priorities within their agreed financial allocations.

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 impact of the time taken to recruit into nursing roles on elective care backlogs.

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

The Department has not made an assessment and has no plans to make an assessment on the impact of regional variations in staff vacancy rates, the time taken to recruit into nursing roles, or the use of agency and bank staff, on elective waiting list lengths.

NHS England published its planning guidance for 2025/26 in January 2025. This guidance sets out clear priorities for the National Health Service including delivery of the interim electives ambition of meeting nationally 65% of patients being seen within 18 weeks, along with a minimum 5% improvement, that was set out in the Elective Reform Plan.

It is for trusts and integrated care boards to manage staffing of all professions, including through use of agency and bank staff, to deliver on these priorities within their agreed financial allocations.

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 impact of regional variations in staff vacancy rates on waiting list lengths in NHS trusts.

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

The Department has not made an assessment and has no plans to make an assessment on the impact of regional variations in staff vacancy rates, the time taken to recruit into nursing roles, or the use of agency and bank staff, on elective waiting list lengths.

NHS England published its planning guidance for 2025/26 in January 2025. This guidance sets out clear priorities for the National Health Service including delivery of the interim electives ambition of meeting nationally 65% of patients being seen within 18 weeks, along with a minimum 5% improvement, that was set out in the Elective Reform Plan.

It is for trusts and integrated care boards to manage staffing of all professions, including through use of agency and bank staff, to deliver on these priorities within their agreed financial allocations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on (a) the appointment of a single Chair for two different NHS Trusts and (b) ensuring that the effectiveness of those Trusts' (i) governance, (ii) accountability and (iii) local representation are not compromised by such arrangements.

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

The Government and NHS England support and expect collaboration between National Health Service trusts. Shared leadership, including having a shared chair, is one way which trusts can collaborate to address the issues they are facing.

With any governance model they have in place, NHS trusts are required to meet the conditions in the NHS provider licence to ensure that organisations operate in a way that is safe, financially sustainable, cooperative, and accountable.

Trusts can work with their regional NHS England teams to discuss potential shared leadership arrangements to ensure that governance and accountability remain effective, while realising the benefits of collaboration.

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 cost to the public purse of the NHS treating complications arising from cosmetic surgery undertaken by British nationals abroad in the last three years.

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

The Department does not have data on the overall costs to the National Health Service for treating complications from cosmetic procedures conducted overseas. We are exploring ways to improve our understanding of the scale of the cost to the NHS.

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 measure the cost to the public purse of NHS expenditure on treating complications arising from cosmetic procedures undertaken abroad.

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

The Department does not have data on the overall costs to the National Health Service for treating complications from cosmetic procedures conducted overseas. We are exploring ways to improve our understanding of the scale of the cost to the NHS.

Found: address the mental health crisis amongst further education students, Baroness Smith of Malvern 174 DHSC

Found: Dataset (ASC-WDS), holding rich workforce data on over 700,000 staff and 20,000 locations on behalf of DHSC

Found: blueprint is intended to support the Department for Education, the Home Office, and the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: The Department for Education should work with the Department of Health and Social Care to address these

Found: The Department for Education should work with the Department of Health and Social Care to address these

Found: Question 3) Details of the level of current engagement between the MOD and Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Cross-cutting departmental boundaries Vaccination strategy spans Department of Health and Social Care

Found: DSIT, Office for Life Sciences, and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Oral Evidence

Found: In the short term, the industry is being asked to pay back to the Department of Health and Social Care

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the collection and publication of national data on drowning incidents, including demographic information, to inform targeted prevention policies.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Kamall

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

22 September 2025

Dear Lord Kamall,

As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps are being taken to improve the collection and publication of national data on drowning incidents, including demographic information, to inform targeted prevention policies (HL10639).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces mortality statistics using information provided on death certificates. The ONS codes cause of death using the International Cause of Death (ICD-10). The ICD-10 codes for accidental drowning and submersion are W65 to W74.

The ONS publishes statistics on mortality by specific cause each year, in our Deaths

registered summary statistics [1]. Numbers of deaths for 2024 were published on 20 May 2025, and age-standardised mortality rates will be published on 9 October 2025. Table 3 in that publication presents deaths by specific causes, including accidental drowning and submersion, by sex and five-year age bands. Those published 2024 figures by age and sex are summarised with wider age bands in the table below.

The ONS is currently exploring methods to improve the timeliness of our mortality statistics. We launched a consultation earlier this year asking users about the value of reporting death occurrences rather than registrations for suicide statistics [2], and the same questions are being considered for wider mortality outputs too. This includes assessing the accuracy of “nowcasting”: estimating the number of recent death occurrences, by cause, using factors such as the number registered in the past week and trends in registration delays for that cause.

Death certification reform was also implemented in September 2024 [3], which included adding an ethnicity field to the death certificate for the first time in England and Wales. This aims to improve future reporting of deaths by ethnicity and will enable us to produce further demographic breakdowns in future.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Rourke

Table 1: Number of deaths registered by sex, age group and ONS short list of cause of death code, 2024, England and Wales

Notes:

1. Figures are for deaths registered rather than deaths occurred. For more information see our Impact of registration delays publication [4].

2. Figures include non-residents.

3. Based on underlying cause of death.

4. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) short list for cause of death is based on a standard tabulation list developed by the ONS, in consultation with the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care, DHSC). For more information about the codes included, see our User guide to mortality statistics [5].

5. Figures for deaths aged under 1 year exclude deaths under 28 days, which are registered with separate neonatal death certificate from which it is not possible to assign an underlying cause of death. For more information see the childhood mortality section of our User guide to mortality statistics.

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/d eathsregisteredsummarystatisticsenglandandwales

[2]https://consultations.ons.gov.uk/external-affairs/user-requirements-for-official-suicide-statistics/

[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/death-certification-reform-and-the-introduction-ofmedical-examiners

[4]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/im pactofregistrationdelaysonmortalitystatisticsinenglandandwales/latest

[5]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/methodolo gies/userguidetomortalitystatisticsjuly2017#ons-short-list-of-cause-of-death

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on tackling racial disparities in maternity care in the UK.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Officials in the Office for Equality and Opportunity and the Department of Health and Social Care are working collaboratively to tackle this issue.

The government is clear there is a need to reform maternity and neonatal care to tackle the systemic issues that entrench inequalities and contribute to poor care for women and babies. This is why a key area of focus for the National Maternity Investigation will be addressing the devastating inequalities that women from Black, Asian and deprived backgrounds face.

On 28 August the Office for Equality and Opportunity published research into the drivers of confidence in maternal care services in England to gain evidence from ethnic minority women on their experiences of using maternal care services. This can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/confidence-in-maternity-care-services-engagement-with-ethnic-minority-women-and-maternity-staff

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on updating the Women’s Health Strategy in response to the publication of the 10-Year NHS Plan for England.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Ministers for Women and Equalities work closely with colleagues from DHSC on a number of areas to improve women’s health, as we put women’s equality at the heart of our missions.

Through our 10 Year Health Plan, we are delivering our manifesto commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected, and we set out how the NHS will meet the health needs of women. This includes turning the commitments in the existing Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, such as taking urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan and setting out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that women's health is included in the Government's approach to prevention across the NHS.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Ministers for Women and Equalities work closely with colleagues from DHSC on a number of areas to improve women’s health, as we put women’s equality at the heart of our missions.

Through our 10 Year Health Plan, we are delivering our manifesto commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected, and we set out how the NHS will meet the health needs of women. This includes turning the commitments in the existing Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, such as taking urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan and setting out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on increasing the women's healthcare workforce to ensure services can meet rising demand and deliver the NHS 10-Year Plan.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Ministers for Women and Equalities work closely with colleagues from DHSC on a number of areas to improve women’s health, as we put women’s equality at the heart of our missions.

Through our 10 Year Health Plan, we are delivering our manifesto commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected, and we set out how the NHS will meet the health needs of women. This includes turning the commitments in the existing Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, such as taking urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan and setting out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on reducing waiting times for gynaecology services.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Ministers for Women and Equalities work closely with colleagues from DHSC on a number of areas to improve women’s health, as we put women’s equality at the heart of our missions.

Through our 10 Year Health Plan, we are delivering our manifesto commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected, and we set out how the NHS will meet the health needs of women. This includes turning the commitments in the existing Women's Health Strategy into tangible action, such as taking urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan and setting out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide a breakdown of Government spending on advertising via social media platforms broken down by Department, over the last 12 months.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

As with any media planning approach, channels are selected based on their ability to engage with relevant audiences in alignment with the government's strategic objectives.

The Cabinet Office is consistently tracking and reviewing spending on communications to ensure efficiency and that the appropriate strategy is implemented. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective and ensure best value for the taxpayer.

Please see the breakdown below of spend on social media broken down by department between 1st August 2024 and 31st July 2025.

Please note that this may not be the complete spend as the Cabinet Office does not centrally manage Departmental social media spend directly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of people leaving the labour market due to long-term sickness.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.

In our March Green Paper, we set out our Pathways to Work Guarantee, backed by £1 billion a year of new additional funding by 2030. We will build towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, stated our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.

In our March Green Paper, we set out our Pathways to Work Guarantee, backed by £1 billion a year of new additional funding by 2030. We will build towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, stated our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. Furthermore, it outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

Found: against unhealthy out of home advertising by producing a toolkit to share best practice� Working with DHSC

Found: the Secretaries of States’ roles who oversee statutory safeguarding partners: the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Department of Health and Social Care (excl. agencies) 650 1645 1715 60 [c] [c] [c] 4075

Found: and 2024 Figure 2 legend: FCDO = Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; HO = Home Office; DHSC

Found: 0.169700175601596 1792.62443442 3.00209950712308 -564.72637433 -0.191142754400084 Department of Health and Social Care

Found: 2382.227 0.186319861863201 2936.49 0.19137742409183375 2374.338 0.16860588290719758 Department of Health and Social Care

Found: 0.353311899702974 0 0.0 14.087 0.00477193674524599 2375.66102415 0.285493761977722 0 0.0 Department of Health and Social Care

Found: (DHSC) on the social care sector.

Found: (DHSC) on the social care sector.

Found: This is in addition to investment in WorkWell, a joint pilot by DWP and DHSC that is transforming how

Found: provider of procurement services, NHS Supply Chain is committed to working with the Department of Health and Social Care

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

Found: Get Vaccinated’ campaign, developed by the Department of Health and Social Care, with UKHSA and NHS England

Found: Background Jess’s Rule is an initiative overseen by NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care

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

Found: Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

Found: The Department of Health and Social Care campaign - ‘Stay Strong.

Found: Joint executive team to be set up across DHSC and NHS England

Found: Harries, Jenny - Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Harries, Jenny - Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Harries, Jenny - Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Harries, Jenny - Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care

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

Found: Framework agreement between DHSC and NHS Blood and Transplant

Found: Health Plan CCA Civil Contingencies Act CHA Cold-Health Alert COBR Cabinet Office Briefing Room DHSC

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: by a team of National Health Service (NHS) clinical leaders, established by 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: 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: To achieve this bold ambition, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will be taking a range

Found: Opinion: final stage impact assessment Origin: domestic RPC reference number: RPC-4302(3)-DHSC Date

Found: This initiative is led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and is supported

Found: combination for untreated multiple myeloma when a stem cell transplant is unsuitable The Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Pharmacy Association • UK Myeloma Society • UK Oncology Nursing Society Others • Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Pharmacy Association • UK Myeloma Society • UK Oncology Nursing Society Others • Department of Health and Social Care

Found: Skin Group Cochrane UK College of Paramedics Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Department of Health and Social Care

Found: 2024 now requires ethnicity to be recorded as part of the death certificate process (Department of Health and Social Care

Found: DHSC produced guidance for manufacturers and retailers to comply with the law that is similarly applied

Found: Decision-making but decision maker department Lower case except when in the title: the Department of Health and Social Care

Found: DHSC has allocated £685m of dedicated funding within local NHS capital budgets for mitigation and remediation

Found: Version 1.0  Issued jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care(DHSC), Public Health Wales

Found: www.samh.org.uk/get-involved/ physical-activity-and-sport/our-projects/the-changing-room 263 UK Department of Health and Social Care