Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding the NHS plans to provide to help support patients who are victims of sexual violence in the 2025-26 financial year, excluding funding provided by the Ministry of Justice.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service provides support for victims and survivors of sexual violence through a range of services including mental health services and sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) which provide crisis care, medical and forensic examinations and onward referral to other support services.
Integrated care boards and NHS trusts commission support for patients who are victims of sexual violence, working in partnership with local authorities and police and crime commissioners. Figures on this local commissioning spend are not available nationally.
At national level, NHS England spent £57.6 million on SARCs in 2024/25. In addition, NHS England regions commission voluntary sector organisations to support victims and survivors, totalling £4.5 million in 2024/25. Total funding for the current financial year will be published approximately 12 months following the financial year’s end and will detail accounts and actual spending.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to consult on reforms to the UK’s Substances of Human Origin; and whether that consultation will include proposals on (a) innovation, (b) patient safety and (c) donor protection.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Regulation Review Programme launched in 2024 to consider recent changes that the European Union has made to its SoHO Regulation ((EU) 2024/1938) as well as stakeholder proposals for legislation in this area. It is reviewing: patient safety; intra-United Kingdom and UK-EU supply of SoHO; innovation within the sector; and health inequalities.
A key principle of the review is to maintain compatible high levels of minimum safety and quality standards for blood, blood components, tissues and cells, human breast milk, intestinal microbiota and blood preparations that are not used for transfusion, to support public health and the movement of SoHO. A targeted consultation, planned to launch by the end of 2025, will give stakeholders the opportunity to share views and highlight key issues and opportunities.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 14 July 2025 to Question 64336 on Vamorolone, what the consequences are for (a) Integrated Care Boards and (b) NHS Trusts for not making NICE recommended medicines available within 90 days of publication of relevant guidance.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioners have a statutory responsibility to make funding available for a medicine or treatment recommended by a National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal (TA) or highly specialised technology evaluation (HST) within the timeframe recommended in that guidance, usually within three months of the TA or HST being published.
Under the National Health Service Constitution, patients have a right to receive all medicines and treatments recommended by NICE if they and their healthcare professional think that the medicine is right for them. In practical terms, the effect of this legal obligation and the NHS constitution is that all NICE-approved treatments must be included in local formularies for use in line with the TA or HST recommendations and with no additional funding or formulary restrictions.
The only exception is if the technology is not relevant to the care provided by the organisation; for example, cancer treatments would not need to be included in the formulary of a mental health trust, and treatments for dementia would not need to be included in the formulary of a specialist children’s hospital. There is no provision to take affordability into account when adding NICE-approved medicines to local formularies.
NHS enforcement guidance relating to its statutory accountability and oversight role, under the NHS Act 2006, the 2012 Act and the 2022 Act is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-enforcement-guidance/
The evolving NHS operating model will strengthen capabilities and clarify roles in overseeing performance. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, we will move to a Single National Formulary (SNF) for medicines within the next two years. The SNF will play a role in driving rapid and equitable adoption of clinically and cost-effective innovations.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Imkaan’s report entitled Why Should Our Rage be Tidy, published in November 2024, what steps his Department has taken to help tackle the mental health impacts of violence and abuse on Black and minoritised survivors of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Imkaan’s report reinforces the fact that too many people, including Black and minoritised survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services are too long. We are determined to change that, which is why we have chosen to prioritise funding to expand NHS Talking Therapies. Survivors can access help and support through their general practitioner or by self-referring.
Protecting and supporting victims and survivors of sexual abuse is a core priority for NHS England, delivered through a network of 48 specialist sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) across the country. NHS England commissions SARCs through a distinct national service specification including working with specialist support services, ensuring that children and young people up to the age of 18 years old receive trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate care and safeguarding support, and that adults receive tailored care that reflects their needs and rights, with clear referral pathways to health, justice, and specialist support services. This is in addition to support services commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 (a) bring forward modernised UK-specific legislative proposals for Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) and (b) (i) adopt and (ii) adapt relevant elements of the EU’s updated SoHO legislation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Regulation Review Programme launched in 2024 to consider recent changes that the European Union has made to its SoHO Regulation ((EU) 2024/1938) as well as stakeholder proposals for legislation in this area. It is reviewing: patient safety; intra-United Kingdom and UK-EU supply of SoHO; innovation within the sector; and health inequalities.
A key principle of the review is to maintain compatible high levels of minimum safety and quality standards for blood, blood components, tissues and cells, human breast milk, intestinal microbiota and blood preparations that are not used for transfusion, to support public health and the movement of SoHO. A targeted consultation, planned to launch by the end of 2025, will give stakeholders the opportunity to share views and highlight key issues and opportunities.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 support the domestic (a) collection and (b) processing of (i) blood, (ii) plasma, (iii) cells and (iv) tissues.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England and also manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR), which includes tissue donation for the supply of human tissue grafts for use in surgery. The Department provides Grant in Aid and seed funding to support NHSBT to grow and diversify donor bases, as well as its capacity to process collections.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, NHSBT met 99.9% of hospital demand for red cells from domestic collections; the remaining 0.01% of units were imported from other United Kingdom blood services.
The Department, NHSBT and NHS England worked together since 2021 to deliver an end-to-end domestic supply chain for plasma-based medicines, enabling UK plasma to be processed into lifesaving medications in specialist facilities in Europe. Since March 2025, this has increased self-sufficiency from 0% to 25% for immunoglobulins and from 0% to 80% for albumin.
The Department’s stem cell programme supports diverse recruitment of UK donors onto the UK Stem Cell Register. A global pool of donors is needed to cover the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) diversity of the population so NHSBT works with international stem cell registries to meet patient demand.
NHSBT works to encourage people to consider signing the ODR including during the upcoming Organ Donation Week between 22 and 26 September 2025. However, there is no mandate for National Health Service establishments to acquire tissue from NHSBT therefore they can acquire from other sources, such as non-UK tissue banks.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the rules that apply to hospitals on Do Not Resuscitate decisions; whether in all relevant cases patients are explicitly asked to agree on their use; and whether they have any plans to tighten rules around such use.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) is a medical decision made by a qualified clinician.
A DNACPR decision is made on an individual, namely person by person, basis, and should, wherever possible, involve the person concerned or, where the person lacks capacity, their families, carers, guardians or other legally recognised advocates. Guidance from clinical bodies such as the British Medical Association, The Resuscitation Council UK and Royal College of Nursing reflects this.
In 2021, the Department established a Ministerial Oversight Group, responsible for the delivery and required changes to ensure adherence to guidance across the system about how DNACPRs are used. As part of this work, a set of Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning were jointly published in March 2022 by a coalition of partner organisations across health and social care. The principles can be applied in all settings to support people; their families and professionals share the same understanding and expectations for DNACPR decisions.
Patient-facing guidance setting out how DNACPR decisions should be made and how individuals or their families can get support if they have concerns about a DNACPR, including second opinions and review, is provided on NHS.UK in an online-only format.
Currently, no active work is being undertaken to revise DNACPR guidance.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the provision in the Mental Health Bill that removes learning disabilities from the definition of a mental health condition, why the new joint executive team of the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England includes the post of National Priority Programme Director for Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the proposed reforms to the Mental Health Act, learning disability and autism are still classed as a 'mental disorder', as they are under the existing Mental Health Act. The Mental Health Bill also introduces a new definition of 'psychiatric disorder' under the act, which covers all mental disorders other than learning disability and autism. In future, it will only be possible to detain those people with a learning disability and/or autistic people who also have a psychiatric disorder that needs treatment under the act. This change seeks to ensure that people are only detained when they have a mental disorder that warrants hospital treatment, and which has a reasonable prospect of providing a therapeutic benefit for that disorder.
Mental health, learning disabilities, and autism are all important areas in their own right for both the Department and NHS England, and require leadership at the highest levels to ensure services in these areas meet the ambitions we have set.
Our new proposed structure incudes several senior director roles responsible for leading on particular clusters of services, one of which will include mental health, learning disabilities, and autism.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 proportion of illegally traded medicines intercepted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Criminal Enforcement Unit.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), acting on behalf of my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is responsible for the regulation of medicines intended for human use in the United Kingdom. This includes applying the legal controls on the retail sale, supply and advertising of medicines which are set out in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
The MHRA’s Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) works hard to identify those involved in the illegal trade in medicines and takes robust enforcement action where necessary. The Agency also works closely with overseas health regulators, customs authorities, law enforcement agencies, and private sector partners.
Since 1 January 2025, the MHRA and its partners have seized over 8.5 million doses of unauthorised or falsified medicines at the United Kingdom border, together with another 3.9 million doses seized as a result of direct operational activity conducted by the CEU.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) early diagnosis and (b) treatment of genetic haemochromatosis.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is provided through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) and directed by the National Genomic Test Directory which sets out the eligibility criteria for patients to access testing as well as the genomic targets to be tested.
Genomic testing for haemochromatosis is available through the NHS GMS for people who show unexplained iron overload suggestive of hereditary haemochromatosis. Testing is available for all eligible patients across England and any healthcare professional who suspects their patient may have haemochromatosis can refer their patient for testing via their local NHS Clinical Genomic Service.
Treatment for genetic haemochromatosis is commissioned by local integrated care boards, including venesection, also known as phlebotomy, to remove some blood to reduce blood iron levels. In a small number of cases where regular phlebotomies are not possible, a chelation therapy may be used.