Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how often the national maternity and neonatal investigation team is engaging with professional bodies and organisations representing maternity and neonatal staff.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following a meeting with West Mercia Police about the detail and schedule of their ongoing investigation, Baroness Amos concluded that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust should be removed from the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was removed from the list of trusts under review as part of the national investigation following my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s decision to commission a separate independent maternity inquiry on 20 October.
The Call for Evidence for the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation was launched in January 2026, and the investigation has encouraged families in Shrewsbury and Telford, and Leeds to participate.
On 26 January 2026, the Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation launched a Workforce Call for Evidence. This is open specifically to all those who work in the maternity and neonatal care pathway and is a separate to the public call for evidence. It takes the form of a short online survey and focuses on the experiences of staff delivering care across the maternity and neonatal pathway and how best to support teams to provide high-quality, safe, and compassionate care. Findings will inform the investigation’s national recommendations, due for publication in spring 2026.
Information about how to access the workforce survey has been distributed to all NHS trusts and the investigation is asking them to cascade the link to all maternity and neonatal staff groups. It is currently live and will be open for six weeks, closing on 9 March 2026.
Baroness Amos is also meeting the senior team in each of the 12 trusts and staff panels are also being held on site.
A list of leaders for national organisations, including statutory, Arm’s Length Bodies, and the voluntary and charitable sector, is being developed by the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation. Leaders of these organisations will be invited to a formal interview with the Chair, Director of investigation, and a member of the Expert Panel.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation is also gathering evidence from organisations. Organisations and other individuals, for instance researchers, wishing to submit evidence to the investigation can submit this directly by email to the investigation mailbox. The deadline for all evidence submissions is 17 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Markham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the white paper A New Vision for Water, on 20 January, what plans they have to expand community water fluoridation to improve oral health outcomes in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A New Vision for Water sets out that public health will be considered in new water frameworks and regulations. This will support delivery of shared outcomes, like those in the 10-Year Health Plan, which commits to assessing the further rollout of water fluoridation in areas where oral health outcomes are worst. We will also expand community water fluoridation in the north east of England from 2028 so that it reaches 1.6 million more people by April 2030. We will also refurbish older, existing water fluoridation schemes in England, benefitting a further six million people by 2030.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government who was responsible for the decision to remove (1) Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and (2) Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, from the scope of the national maternity and neonatal investigation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following a meeting with West Mercia Police about the detail and schedule of their ongoing investigation, Baroness Amos concluded that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust should be removed from the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was removed from the list of trusts under review as part of the national investigation following my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s decision to commission a separate independent maternity inquiry on 20 October.
The Call for Evidence for the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation was launched in January 2026, and the investigation has encouraged families in Shrewsbury and Telford, and Leeds to participate.
On 26 January 2026, the Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation launched a Workforce Call for Evidence. This is open specifically to all those who work in the maternity and neonatal care pathway and is a separate to the public call for evidence. It takes the form of a short online survey and focuses on the experiences of staff delivering care across the maternity and neonatal pathway and how best to support teams to provide high-quality, safe, and compassionate care. Findings will inform the investigation’s national recommendations, due for publication in spring 2026.
Information about how to access the workforce survey has been distributed to all NHS trusts and the investigation is asking them to cascade the link to all maternity and neonatal staff groups. It is currently live and will be open for six weeks, closing on 9 March 2026.
Baroness Amos is also meeting the senior team in each of the 12 trusts and staff panels are also being held on site.
A list of leaders for national organisations, including statutory, Arm’s Length Bodies, and the voluntary and charitable sector, is being developed by the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation. Leaders of these organisations will be invited to a formal interview with the Chair, Director of investigation, and a member of the Expert Panel.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation is also gathering evidence from organisations. Organisations and other individuals, for instance researchers, wishing to submit evidence to the investigation can submit this directly by email to the investigation mailbox. The deadline for all evidence submissions is 17 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address inequalities in maternal health outcomes, particularly among women from deprived or marginalised backgrounds.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that there are stark inequalities for women and babies, and that they should receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity.
Baroness Amos is chairing the National Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation which aims to identify the drivers and impact of inequalities faced by women, babies, and families from Black and Asian backgrounds, as well as deprived and marginalised groups.
The Government is committed to setting an explicit target to close the maternal mortality gap. We are ensuring that we take an evidence-based approach to determining what targets are set, and that any targets set are women and baby-centred.
NHS England’s Perinatal Equity and Anti-Discrimination Programme aims to ensure that all service users and their families receive care that is free from discrimination and racism. Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems have published Equity and Equality action plans containing evidence-based interventions to support women and families from ethnic minority backgrounds or economically deprived areas. NHS England also launched the Maternal Care Bundle that sets clear standards across all services, focused on the main causes of maternal death and harm. The Maternal Care Bundle is avaiable on the NHS.UK website. Women from Black and Asian backgrounds are more at risk of specific clinical conditions that are the leading causes of death. This bundle targets these conditions, and we expect a decline in deaths and harm.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have issued indicative spending figures for 2026–27 to integrated care boards; and if so, whether they will publish those figures.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards (ICBs), informed by a target formula to determine the ‘fair share’ of total funding available for each ICB. NHS England published allocations for ICBs covering 2026/27 to 2028/29 in November 2025, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2026-27-to-2027-28/
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
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 implement a sustainable funding model for independent adult hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have provided a £125 million capital funding boost for eligible adult, and children and young people’s, hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
Officials are working closely with a number of stakeholders from the hospice sector in the development of the MSF.
Additionally, the recently published Medium-Term Planning Guidance and the Model ICB Blueprint set out that ICBs should act as strategic commissioners with core functions including: understanding current and projected total service utilisation and costs; identifying underserved communities; assessing quality, performance, and productivity of existing provision; and significantly reducing avoidable unplanned hospital admissions.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department provides on the complaints and redress routes available to vulnerable patients who have concerns about the contractual terms of telecare services to which they are referred following hospital discharge.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care.
Telecare is not a mandatory service for local authorities, but many choose to provide a telecare service due to its benefits. Some local authorities will also fully or partially fund telecare for some individuals based on a financial assessment. Local authorities are responsible for the contractual terms of telecare services that they provide, therefore in the first instance an individual should consider making a complaint with the relevant local authority.
If an individual is not satisfied with the way a local authority has dealt with their complaint, they may escalate it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is the independent complaints lead for adult social care and investigates complaints from those receiving social care.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 improve digital infrastructure and IT connectivity for community care in primary care settings.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2026/27, and as per the Medium Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29, all integrated care boards and community health services providers must identify and act on productivity opportunities, including ensuring teams have the digital tools and equipment they need to connect remotely to health systems and patients, and expanding point-of-care testing in the community.
Through the Community Health Services Data Plan (2024/25-2026/27), work is underway to improve the quality, relevance, and timeliness of community health service data and, in turn, improve the patient experience in community health services.
In addition, our 10-Year Health Plan will help put services at the heart of the community and expand digital tools to manage health, including through the Single Patient Record. It will give patients real control over a single, secure, and authoritative account of their data and enable more coordinated, personalised, and predictive care. It will improve clinical outcomes, make decision-making more informed, and speed up the delivery of care.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI’s) advice in November 2024 to expand eligibility for the shingles vaccination programme to include people aged 80 and over, what assessment they have made of the impact of delays in implementation on those with comorbidities who are at highest risk of severe shingles disease; what steps they are taking to prioritise protection for these high-risk individuals; and whether they will commit to implementing the JCVI advice before this winter.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, adults become eligible for their shingles vaccination when they turn 65 or 70 years of age, and they remain eligible until their 79th birthday. Adults who are severely immunosuppressed, and therefore most at risk of serious illness and complications from shingles, are eligible from 18 years old and do not have an upper age limit.
The shingles vaccination programme has been in place since 2013, and therefore there will be a significant portion of adults currently aged 80 years old and over who were offered, and received, Zostavax, the previous shingles vaccine. All those who were born after 1 September 1933 would have been offered a vaccine in the programme.
In November 2024, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation provided advice to the Government on eligibility for the shingles vaccination programme. This included advice that the Government should consider expanding the shingles vaccination offer to include older adult cohorts aged 80 years old and over. The Government is carefully considering this advice as it sets the policy on who should be offered shingles vaccinations in the future.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to clinicians to provide a standardised approach to effective interventions for treatment of cardiovascular disease conditions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) later this year.
The Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people, and communities are at the heart of its development. These frameworks will identify the best evidenced interventions that would support progress towards this goal, with a focus on those with the best means to drive up value and equity. Furthermore, they will set standards on how those interventions should be used, alongside a clear strategy to support and oversee uptake by clinicians and providers.