Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the anticipated timetable is for the completion and publication of the review into the mental health of parents of children with serious illness.

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

The Government will commission a report on the mental health impacts of a child’s terminal diagnosis on their families. This will include a review of the available evidence and cost effectiveness. It will be carried out with reference to the recently announced independent review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, and the wider Government action to support vulnerable children suffering from trauma.

Ministers from the Department will meet with stakeholders to discuss the scope of the report. A timetable for the report 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 the planned start date is for the review into the mental health of parents of children with serious illness.

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

The Government will commission a report on the mental health impacts of a child’s terminal diagnosis on their families. This will include a review of the available evidence and cost effectiveness. It will be carried out with reference to the recently announced independent review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, and the wider Government action to support vulnerable children suffering from trauma.

Ministers from the Department will meet with stakeholders to discuss the scope of the report. A timetable for the report 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 he has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for epilepsy research.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Knowsley on 6 January to Question 101055.

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 training provided to GPs on prescribing risk-reducing drugs to women at increased risk of breast cancer.

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

General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.

We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, the biggest increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is bigger than the 5.8% growth to the National Health Service budget as a whole, demonstrating our commitment to shifting resources to the community.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a national register to capture and integrate the data of all women at increased risk of breast cancer.

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

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England provides England’s national resource for data and analytics on cancer, rare diseases, and congenital conditions.

The NDRS already serves as a national register for women at very high risk of breast cancer. NDRS curates and quality assures the collected data to ensure sufficient accuracy and completeness. The NDRS works closely with the very high risk National Breast Screening Programme to ensure safe and robust identification of women at very high risk of cancer. The integration of this data within the wider NDRS cancer data infrastructure maximises the use of this data which helps with service planning, evaluation, and improvement, and reduces the fragmentation and siloing that would occur with standalone registers.

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 the accuracy of data collected on all women at increased risk of breast cancer.

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

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England provides England’s national resource for data and analytics on cancer, rare diseases, and congenital conditions.

The NDRS already serves as a national register for women at very high risk of breast cancer. NDRS curates and quality assures the collected data to ensure sufficient accuracy and completeness. The NDRS works closely with the very high risk National Breast Screening Programme to ensure safe and robust identification of women at very high risk of cancer. The integration of this data within the wider NDRS cancer data infrastructure maximises the use of this data which helps with service planning, evaluation, and improvement, and reduces the fragmentation and siloing that would occur with standalone registers.

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 merits of providing compensation to patients treated with rectopexy mesh for rectal prolapse as part of its work on redress following the recommendations of the Hughes Report, published on 7 February 2024.

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

As set out in the Hughes Report, the Government is carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s (PSC’s) recommendations, including the proposed approaches to redress for those harmed by pelvic mesh. The Hughes Report did not cover patients treated with rectopexy mesh for rectal prolapse. This is because rectal prolapse does not fall within the original definition of Pelvic Organ Prolapse that the PSC and the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review adopted, namely a pelvic organ bulging into the vagina.

However, that is not to dismiss the very real concerns of these patients. We are considering whether rectopexy mesh should be included in the scope of the work on redress, as for example, NHS England has carried out a market engagement event to understand which of its currently commissioned mesh centres would be willing to provide mesh removal surgery for colorectal patients. A decision around which centres will be designated will be made following findings from the audit of existing mesh centres.

This is a complex, cross-Government policy area involving multiple organisations. This work requires coordinated input from several departments, and we will provide a further update in due course. I met with the PSC in December 2025, to discuss progress following the Hughes Report. I have subsequently written to Dr Hughes about the actions we are undertaking to ensure service-level interventions are embedded in the National Health Service specific to making a real-life impact on those affected by pelvic mesh and valproate.

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 (a) increase the availability of aspirin and (b) normalise aspirin supply chains.

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

The Department is aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin dispersible tablets and are working with suppliers to understand the causes and aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible. Supply issues have been addressed, and stock is regularly being made available for pharmacies to order.

We are working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors, to ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals irrespective of where they are in the country.

The Department will continue to monitor the situation and expects supplies to return to normal over the coming weeks.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether conditions arising from sodium valproate exposure are consistently recognised and coded within NHS diagnostic systems.

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

The National Health Service in England collects data on patients suffering adverse effects of medication and on drug poisoning. While adverse conditions arising from sodium valproate would be captured in this data, the data does not go to the level to identify sodium valproate and is not aligned to coding within NHS diagnostic systems.

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 NICE's draft guidance on brexucabtagene autoleucel on (a) the Life Sciences Strategy and (b) outcomes for patients with rare cancers.

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

The Government remains committed to the ambitions set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, which set out an ambition that by 2030, we will be one of the top three fastest places in Europe for patient access to medicines. We will achieve this by reducing friction in the system to optimise access and uptake of new medicines so the most clinically and cost-effective can reach patients faster.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service use following a period of managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December 2025, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resource, although NICE has not yet published final guidance. The Government recognises that the potential withdrawal of brexucabtagene autoleucel as a treatment for future patients will be concerning for patients and their families, but it is right that these decisions are taken independently and on the basis of the available evidence. In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that patients discharged from hospital receive appropriate aftercare and follow‑up, particularly older patients at higher risk of complications; and whether his Department plans to improve coordination of post‑discharge support.

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

The Department continues to work with the systems facing the greatest challenges to embed best practice in discharge processes, improve patient flow, and ensure timely follow‑up and community support for those most at risk of complications.

For people who need further care after discharge, a multi-disciplinary care transfer hub in each area brings together National Health Service, local authority, social care, housing, and other professionals to ensure timely discharge and suitable ongoing care and support.

As part of the Better Care Fund framework for 2025/26, the NHS and local authorities in every area are encouraged to work together to review the capacity needed to support hospital discharge for people with more complex needs. This includes ensuring there is sufficient capacity to rehabilitation and recovery services to support a timely and effective discharge, or to support avoidable admissions. It is for local systems to determine the right mix of services for their population.

In 2026/27, the Better Care Fund will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.

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 coordination between NHS services and local government in providing aftercare and community support for elderly and frail people following discharge from hospital.

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

The Department continues to work with the systems facing the greatest challenges to embed best practice in discharge processes, improve patient flow, and ensure timely follow‑up and community support for those most at risk of complications.

For people who need further care after discharge, a multi-disciplinary care transfer hub in each area brings together National Health Service, local authority, social care, housing, and other professionals to ensure timely discharge and suitable ongoing care and support.

As part of the Better Care Fund framework for 2025/26, the NHS and local authorities in every area are encouraged to work together to review the capacity needed to support hospital discharge for people with more complex needs. This includes ensuring there is sufficient capacity to rehabilitation and recovery services to support a timely and effective discharge, or to support avoidable admissions. It is for local systems to determine the right mix of services for their population.

In 2026/27, the Better Care Fund will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his department plans to respond to the public consultation on the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation Standard for Ethnicity that concludes on 4 February.

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

The Department is not planning a central response to the public consultation on ethnicity harmonisation standards. However, it is likely that individual statistical production teams will have responded to the consultation. This information is not tracked nor held centrally.

The Department recognises that harmonisation is important for effective and accurate data comparison. Harmonisation standards are “designed to promote alignment across organisations, not to enforce identical approaches”. Therefore, on a team level, statistical producers may have views on how standards apply to their datasets of interest and how ethnicity data collection and reporting should be altered. A formal, central response would not capture the nuances of user need.

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 UK-US Pharmaceutical deal on patient access to medicines.

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

The United Kingdom has secured mitigations under the United States’ ‘Most Favoured Nation’ drug pricing initiative so that we will continue to ensure access to the latest treatments. This will encourage pharmaceutical companies from around the world to prioritise the UK for early launches of their new medicines, getting new treatments to the National Health Service frontline faster and securing our access to and supply of medicines for patients all across the NHS.

The agreement will see the NHS invest approximately 25% more in innovative treatments, the first major increase in over two decades, meaning patients will now be able to access cutting-edge therapies that may have otherwise been deemed not cost-effective. This could include breakthrough cancer treatments, therapies for rare diseases, and innovative approaches to conditions that have long been difficult to treat.

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 26 January 2026 to Question 106102 on Coronavirus: Research, for what reason they have yet to receive a copy of the audit; and how the scope of the recommendations can be understood without it.

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

The UK Health Security Agency has requested this report and continues discussions with Moderna on their response to the audit’s recommendations. This is being considered and reviewed alongside the commercial management of the Moderna-United Kingdom Strategic Partnership.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a) waiving and b) subsidising the cost of the first six to eight (i) preliminary and (ii) core examinations for junior doctors.

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

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

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending Business Rates reimbursements to Community Pharmacies.

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

In the Autumn Budget 2025, the Government made hard choices in order to protect the National Health Service in England and continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.

This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.

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 introduce a modern service framework for kidney disease; and what steps he is taking to support early diagnosis and prevention.

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

As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board is overseeing the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.

Early priorities include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions with significant health and economic impacts for future waves of modern service frameworks.

NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease. In 2023, NHS England published a renal services transformation toolkit to support earlier identification of chronic kidney disease and strengthen management across the whole patient pathway.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of funding Continuous Glucose Monitoring for a wider range of diabetes patients.

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

Improving access to diabetes technologies is a priority for NHS England, which uses routine data from the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) to help integrated care boards and providers benchmark themselves and target improvements.

The NDA 2025/26 reports that 64% of people registered as living with type 1 diabetes and eligible for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) had access to the technology and 65% of people registered as living with type 2 diabetes and eligible for CGM had access to the technology.

The eligibility criteria for CGM amongst type 2 diabetics are set in guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG28

NICE is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness

A new diabetes technology dashboard is in development, for publication in 2026. This will allow health systems and providers to better understand access to technology and target improvement efforts, to support higher uptake of CGM for those eligible.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review eligibility criteria for Continuous Glucose Monitoring for people with Type 2 diabetes.

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

Improving access to diabetes technologies is a priority for NHS England, which uses routine data from the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) to help integrated care boards and providers benchmark themselves and target improvements.

The NDA 2025/26 reports that 64% of people registered as living with type 1 diabetes and eligible for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) had access to the technology and 65% of people registered as living with type 2 diabetes and eligible for CGM had access to the technology.

The eligibility criteria for CGM amongst type 2 diabetics are set in guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG28

NICE is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness

A new diabetes technology dashboard is in development, for publication in 2026. This will allow health systems and providers to better understand access to technology and target improvement efforts, to support higher uptake of CGM for those eligible.

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 (a) diagnosis time and (b) medical care for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is now commonly referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), although the terms are still often used interchangeably.

While the Department has not had any recent discussions with medical professionals about care for people with MASLD, NHS England has recently commenced a programme for the transformation of liver services. This programme is being led by the NHS England Hepatobiliary and Pancreas Clinical Reference Group (HPB CRG). HPB CRG is working with partners to co-produce resources to raise public knowledge and awareness of all forms of liver disease. In time, this may include incorporating liver health checks into the NHS Making Every Contact Count and NHS Health Checks initiatives.

The HPB CRG is also aiming to improve early diagnosis and intervention through developing evidence-based best-practice pathways for both primary care and referral to secondary care services. The HPB CRG is looking at access and equity of access to diagnostic tests across England and exploring the applicability of automated Fib4 tests and Intelligent Liver Function Testing, potentially utilising community diagnostic centres.

The British Society for Gastroenterology is currently updating its pathways and guidance for MASLD for both primary and secondary care, diagnostics, and treatment, which we anticipate will be published soon. There are also a number of ongoing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence assessments looking at new treatments for MASLD, including Resmetirom and Semaglutide. Outputs and recommendations are expected to be published in mid-2026.

Clinical teams also have access to NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time Advice and Guidance toolkit and templates for gastroenterology, which feature advice on managing abnormal liver function tests and MASLD. These templates enable general practitioners to seek timely advice from secondary care specialists, helping to reduce unnecessary delays.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with medical professionals about care for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is now commonly referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), although the terms are still often used interchangeably.

While the Department has not had any recent discussions with medical professionals about care for people with MASLD, NHS England has recently commenced a programme for the transformation of liver services. This programme is being led by the NHS England Hepatobiliary and Pancreas Clinical Reference Group (HPB CRG). HPB CRG is working with partners to co-produce resources to raise public knowledge and awareness of all forms of liver disease. In time, this may include incorporating liver health checks into the NHS Making Every Contact Count and NHS Health Checks initiatives.

The HPB CRG is also aiming to improve early diagnosis and intervention through developing evidence-based best-practice pathways for both primary care and referral to secondary care services. The HPB CRG is looking at access and equity of access to diagnostic tests across England and exploring the applicability of automated Fib4 tests and Intelligent Liver Function Testing, potentially utilising community diagnostic centres.

The British Society for Gastroenterology is currently updating its pathways and guidance for MASLD for both primary and secondary care, diagnostics, and treatment, which we anticipate will be published soon. There are also a number of ongoing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence assessments looking at new treatments for MASLD, including Resmetirom and Semaglutide. Outputs and recommendations are expected to be published in mid-2026.

Clinical teams also have access to NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time Advice and Guidance toolkit and templates for gastroenterology, which feature advice on managing abnormal liver function tests and MASLD. These templates enable general practitioners to seek timely advice from secondary care specialists, helping to reduce unnecessary delays.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to ensure the effectiveness of cancer screening programmes in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

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

NHS England Screening and Immunisation Teams, including a dedicated team covering Thames Valley, work closely with providers and local partners to ensure cancer screening programmes are delivered in line with national standards for quality, safety and effectiveness.

At a local level, the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB) works in partnership with NHS England, primary care, providers and the Thames Valley Cancer Alliance to support the delivery and uptake of cancer screening programmes across Buckingham and Bletchley. This includes ongoing monitoring of screening coverage and performance at place and practice level, identifying variation, and supporting action where uptake or performance falls below national standards.

At a national level, we recently announced that the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England is lowering the faecal immunochemical test threshold from 120 micrograms of blood per gram of faeces to 80 micrograms of blood per gram of faeces. It is estimated that this change will detect approximately 600 additional bowel cancers early each year in England, approximately an 11% increase, and find 2,000 more people with high-risk polyps in their bowel, allowing doctors to remove them before they ever turn into cancers.

Additionally, in early 2026, the NHS Cervical Screening Programme will be offering a self-testing kit to under-screened women, starting with those who are the most overdue for screening. This will help tackle deeply entrenched barriers that keep some away from screening.

These national-level changes will benefit people across England, including those living in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

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 16 January 2026 to Question 101856, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Food Scanner app on people with eating disorders.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 January 2026 to Question 101856.

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 the rollout of Healthy Babies is compatible with the 10 Year Health Plan’s commitment to match Start for Life (Healthy Babies) services.

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

The Government has a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever and to give every baby the best start in life. Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies plays a crucial role in achieving this. We are committed to delivering the 10-Year Health Plan ambition to match Healthy Babies, formerly Start for Life, to Best Start Family Hubs over the next decade.

Healthy Babies is one element of our broader commitment to supporting babies, children, and families. From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will expand to every single local authority, backed by over £500 million to reach up to half a million more children and families. This funding will help all local authorities to integrate a range of statutory and non-statutory health and family services. We will continue to work in partnership with all local authorities, including those not receiving Healthy Babies funding, to support the integration and co-location of health services within Best Start Family Hub networks, laying the foundations for the future expansion of Healthy Babies services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the provision of healthy baby funding to Stockport Council will be as part of the Best Start in Life allocation.

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

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

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

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

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of vaccine uptake in schools.

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

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors uptake of childhood and adolescent vaccinations via the school-based programmes and publishes this in annual coverage reports. Uptake across the programmes has shown a decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, with some evidence of stabilisation during the academic year 2023/24. The reports are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake

NHS England, in conjunction with regional colleagues, has produced a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination school-aged immunisation improvement and uptake plan for internal operational National Health Service use, as part of their commitment to improving vaccine coverage.

In addition, NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the HPV vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of reports that the provision of weight management support in the NHS is limited, (1) what assessment they have made of the adequacy of existing GP training in obesity management, and (2) what steps they are taking to embed evidence-based obesity education, including behavioural and psychological approaches, into GP specialty training curricula.

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

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the National Health Service workforce is provided with high-quality training to support them to deliver quality care to patients living with obesity.

The curricula for postgraduate specialty training are developed by royal colleges and faculties and approved by the General Medical Council. Standards of education and proficiency are the responsibility of the statutorily independent professional regulators.

Individual employers are responsible for appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development to ensure they continue to provide safe and effective care. NHS England and other organisations support employers and the NHS workforce by providing and signposting to evidence‑based training resources on weight management. These include programmes that incorporate behavioural approaches, and in some cases psychological elements, available through platforms such as e‑Learning for Healthcare, the Royal College of General Practitioners Obesity Hub, and the Strategic Centre for Obesity Professional Education programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to publish national guidance on the proportion of families accessing specialist dementia support within a defined period following diagnosis.

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

The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.

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

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

In developing the Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework, we are engaging with a wide group of partners to understand what should be included, to ensure the best outcomes for people living with dementia and their families and carers. As part of this exercise, we are considering all options to help reduce variation, including reviewing metrics and targets.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the total expenditure by NHS England was on the remuneration of (1) chief executives, and (2) all other executive directors, of (a) NHS Trusts, and (b) NHS Foundation Trusts, in 2024–25.

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

The Department does not hold the information requested. Each individual National Health Service trust and NHS foundation trust will publish information on the renumeration of executive directors, including the chief executive, as part of its annual reports and accounts which can be found on each body’s website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the total expenditure by NHS England was on the remuneration of (1) chairs, and (2) non-executive directors, of (a) NHS Trusts, and (b) NHS Foundation Trusts, in 2024–25.

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

The Department does not hold the information requested. Each individual National Health Service trust and NHS foundation trust will publish information on the renumeration of its chair and non-executive directors as part of its annual reports and accounts which can be found on each body’s website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all members of the NHS workforce, including psychologists, dietitians, nurses, and pharmacists, receive mandatory training on weight management support, recognising obesity as a life-long relapsing condition.

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

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the National Health Service workforce is provided with high-quality training to support them to deliver quality care to patients living with obesity.

The curricula for postgraduate specialty training are developed by royal colleges and faculties and approved by the General Medical Council. Standards of education and proficiency are the responsibility of the statutorily independent professional regulators.

Individual employers are responsible for appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development to ensure they continue to provide safe and effective care. NHS England and other organisations support employers and the NHS workforce by providing and signposting to evidence‑based training resources on weight management. These include programmes that incorporate behavioural approaches, and in some cases psychological elements, available through platforms such as e‑Learning for Healthcare, the Royal College of General Practitioners Obesity Hub, and the Strategic Centre for Obesity Professional Education programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Dementia and Frailty Modern Service Framework will establish a single national dementia care pathway, including end of life care and clear minimum service standards.

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

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

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

In developing the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia, we will be considering existing guidance, including the D100 Pathway Assessment tool, which continues the work of the Dementia Care Pathway and covers all elements of the Well Pathway from prevention through to dying well.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that dementia is explicitly designed into the neighbourhood health model at a national level and to prevent local discretion and variable commissioning decisions in relation to such services.

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

This Government is empowering local leaders with the autonomy they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. This is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help simplify best practice for system leaders and help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia.

We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity, informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, which is expected this year. The framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia.

Neighbourhood Health provides the unifying framework that brings together what is already underway across primary care, community services, urgent care, prevention, digital, estates and population health into a single, coherent model focused on improved access, experience and outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they propose to take to support women with long-term health conditions.

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

The health of women with long-term conditions is a priority for the Government.

Our 10-Year Health Plan is centred around driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. More tests and scans are delivered in the community, better-joint up working between services, and greater use of technology will support women in the management of long-term conditions. This will build on the work led by the pioneering women’s health hubs.

The Government is encouraging integrated care boards (ICBs) to expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and is supporting them to use what we learned from the hub pilot programme to improve local delivery of services to women and girls. The Government is backing ICBs to do this through record funding.

We are renewing the Women’s Health Strategy, to tackle enduring challenges and build on vital progress in women’s health.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to discuss future plans for services for autistic people with (1) Ambitious about Autism, (2) Autistica, (3) Autism Action, (4) the National Autistic Society, and (5) Autism Alliance UK.

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

We remain committed to working together across Government and with national autism charities to improve services and outcomes for autistic people.

On 23 January, we published our response to the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee’s report Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy. We are carefully considering the report’s recommendations as well as our approach to the national autism strategy and will set out a position, including our plans to engage with stakeholders, in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to set a target of 50 per cent of NHS doctors to be educated in the UK.

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

The Government has no plans to set a specific target for the proportion of National Health Service doctors educated in the United Kingdom.

The Medical Training Prioritisation Bill, introduced to Parliament on 13 January 2026, delivers the Government’s commitment to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant NHS experience for specialty training places. The bill will ensure a sustainable medical workforce that can meet the health needs of the future and give homegrown talent a path to become the next generation of NHS doctors.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards exist to prevent patients from losing access to established, life-extending cancer treatments as a result of changes to NICE methodology.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluates all newly licensed cancer medicines and may recommend promising treatments for use through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) where there is too much clinical uncertainty for routine commissioning. Under these arrangements, cancer medicines are made available to National Health Service patients for a defined period while further real‑world evidence is collected to address the uncertainties identified in NICE’s original appraisal.

At the end of the managed access period, NICE undertakes a full re‑appraisal of the medicine. This re‑appraisal considers all the evidence gathered during CDF use alongside updated clinical and cost‑effectiveness analyses. NICE then determines whether the medicine should be routinely funded by the NHS, or whether it cannot be recommended for routine commissioning. This re‑appraisal process is one of the limited circumstances in which NICE routinely re‑evaluates previous decisions.

In 2022, NICE updated its methods and replaced the earlier end‑of‑life flexibilities with the severity modifier. As a result, re‑appraisals of cancer medicines that originally entered the CDF under end‑of‑life criteria are now conducted in line with NICE’s current methods framework, ensuring consistency, fairness, and opportunity‑cost neutrality across all appraisals. NICE has recommended 96% of the medicines that it has re-appraised following a period of managed access for routine NHS use. Where NICE is unable to recommend a medicine for routine use following the period of managed access, it remains available for existing patients but is no longer routinely funded for new patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant are being applied by (1) Op COMMUNITY, and (2) local health bodies.

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

No formal assessment has been made to how the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant are being applied by Op COMMUNITY or local health bodies.

Op COMMUNITY was an NHS England funded pilot that concluded in March 2024. Insights from the pilot have been used to shape the new Armed Forces National Training and Education Programme, which aims to strengthen understanding across the National Health Service of the unique needs of the Armed Forces community.

The programme is now being rolled out across the NHS. Dedicated training modules for integrated care boards will be introduced in 2026. These will support local NHS staff in developing a clearer understanding of the specific health needs of the Armed Forces community and the principles underpinning the Armed Forces Covenant.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost-effectiveness of increasing the uptake of urine albumin-creatine ratio tests so that all patients with chronic kidney disease have an annual test.

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

The Department has not made a specific assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing clinical guidance and quality standards. NICE’s guidance on chronic kidney disease includes guidance on the use of annual urine albumin-creatine ratio tests as the preferred method to detect and monitor kidney disease. The guidance is available on NICE’s website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis they have undertaken of the distribution of healthcare professionals across regions; and how workforce planning reflects areas of greatest health needs.

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

There are a range of sources that present data detailing how staff working in National Health Service roles are distributed across England. These published sources include, but are not limited to, information on the trust and region of staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards, information on vacancies in the NHS, and information on general medical practice staff. This information is available on the NHS.UK website.

The forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out further detail on how we will ensure the NHS has the right staff, in the right places, to deliver high quality care for patients when they need it.

Workforce planning for medical staff already means that Medical Foundation and Specialty training posts are allocated across the United Kingdom to support workforce needs, including in rural and hard to recruit areas. While some locations have historically found recruitment more challenging, we now have fewer vacancies in the Foundation Programme. NHS England is working with a number of medical schools to pilot the allocation of students directly to their local foundation schools.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that every neighbourhood health service in England includes dementia specialism within multidisciplinary teams, with dementia specialist nursing as a core component.

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

Neighbourhood Health Services will bring together integrated neighbourhood teams of professionals and partners closer to people’s home, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, employment support, children’s services, and more, to work together to support people and places to improve their health and wellbeing.

Neighbourhood Health provides the unifying framework that brings together what is already underway across primary care, community services, urgent care, prevention, digital, estates and population health into a single, coherent model focused on improved access, experience and outcomes.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs) and may include specialist nurses. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop a new national autism strategy.

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

The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.

On 23 January 2026, we published our response to the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee’s report Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy. We are carefully considering the report’s recommendations, as well as our approach to developing a new national autism strategy and will set out a position in due course. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of "complex needs" in the 10 Year Health Plan for England's target for 95 per cent of people with complex needs to have an agreed care plan by 2027.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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.

Work is currently underway to determine the definition of “complex needs” in the context of this target and how care plans will be delivered.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proposals they intend to take forward in the 10 Year Health Plan for England in relation to services for autistic people.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out to make the National Health Service fit for the future, by delivering three big shifts, from hospital to care in community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. The plan will help to address health inequalities for disabled and autistic people by improving access to care, delivering care closer to home, and supporting the development of holistic care plans for those whose needs may require support from multiple health and care providers. We want autistic people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs.

The plan sets out the core principle of early intervention and support, including without the need for diagnosis, including specifically for children and young people, such as those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It is clear about the importance of health services working in partnership with education settings and providing children and young people with early intervention and support to avoid needs escalating, where possible, building on learning from programmes such as Early Language Support for Every Child. We will set out our proposals for SEND reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper.

NHS England continues to support local systems to use a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. It has published national guidance on meeting the needs of autistic adults in mental health services and, to address physical health inequalities, is currently testing a combined health check in primary care for autistic people, those with a severe mental health condition and/or those people with a learning disability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish national dementia outcomes for neighbourhood health services requiring integrated care boards to demonstrate timely access to specialist, community-based dementia support.

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

In developing the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia, we are engaging with a wide group of partners to understand what should be included to ensure the best outcomes for people living with dementia. As part of this exercise, we are considering all options to help reduce variation, including reviewing metrics and targets.

The Neighbourhood Health Service will be the driving force behind our new Genomics Population Health Service; and data will increasingly allow Neighbourhood Health Services to deliver genuinely predictive and pre-emptive care, transforming our care model entirely.

NHS England already collect and publish data about people with dementia at each general practice in England, to enable National Health Service general practitioners and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.

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

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 on patients with relapsed or refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma of NICE’s draft decision not to recommend brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) for NHS use; and whether he plans to review the CAR‑T delivery tariff to ensure continued access to treatments.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel to determine whether it can be recommended for routine National Health Service funding following a period of managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. The Government recognises that the potential withdrawal of brexucabtagene autoleucel as a treatment for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning for patients and their families, but it is right that these decisions are taken independently and on the basis of the available evidence. In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

The CAR-T delivery tariff reflects the costs which the NHS incurs for delivering CAR-T therapy. The tariff was updated for the start of the 2024/25 financial year following a planned costing review involving all CAR-T providers in England. This enabled the tariff to be updated with the benefit of the significant delivery experience that can be drawn on having first routinely introduced CAR-T in the NHS in 2023. Other than considering an appropriate inflationary uplift on an annual basis, in line with usual practice, there are no plans to further review the tariff at this time. Other CAR-T therapies have been recommended for routine NHS adoption in England by NICE based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness that reflects the existing CAR-T delivery tariff, most recently obecabtagene autoleucel for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the average time taken for transfers of care of patients being discharged from hospitals to home care provision.

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

It is important that people are discharged promptly from hospital with the right support in place. This winter, local systems have been asked to place a particular focus on reducing bed occupancy and improving patient flow, whilst from 2025/26, National Health Service trusts have been asked to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by issues in the hospital and to work with local authorities to reduce the longest delays, including those linked to arranging onwards care packages.

Through the Better Care Fund (BCF) the Government has provided £9 billion to be used jointly by the NHS and local authorities towards achieving agreed goals, including reducing discharge delays for those awaiting home care provision.

In 2026/27 the BCF will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.

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 implications for his policies of the ruling over Paul versus Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust has made on secondary victims of medical negligence.

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

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has asked David Lock KC to look at the issue of secondary victims for maternity clinical negligence cases only. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps, in due course.

There are no plans to extend the scope of the work wider than maternity clinical negligence cases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will establish an inquiry into delays in the NHS providing (a) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and (b) any other services related to children's mental health.

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

We recognise that many children and young people are currently experiencing significant delays in accessing mental health support and we are taking action to address this, as committed to in the 10-Year Health Plan. This includes providing mental health support for almost one million more young people in school this year and an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government is recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of this Parliament. Almost 8,000 of these workers have been recruited since July 2024, which will help to ease pressure on busy mental health services. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan later this year to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places to care for patients when they need it.

Additionally, we are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools to achieve full national coverage by 2029. This includes investing £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff, so that they can offer more support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for each wave of Mental Health Support Teams up to Wave 12, what the anticipated ratio of FTE clinical staff (a) was and (b) is in the Mental Health Support Team to pupil numbers in the schools covered.

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

Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) typically comprise of approximately eight full-time equivalent (FTE) clinical staff. Each team was anticipated to cover a population of between 8,000 and 8,500 children and young people. This figure refers to the total population covered by an MHST, not the number of children and young people receiving direct care.

The most recent coverage analysis indicates that MHSTs support an average population of approximately 8,300 children and young people. This equates to a current estimated ratio of FTE clinical staff to children and young people of approximately 1:1,037.

In July 2025, the National Children’s Bureau published an independent MHST evaluation report, Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme. According to survey data published as part of this report, 86% of respondents in schools and colleges were satisfied or very satisfied with the direct interventions that the MHST provided for pupils/students or families. The evaluation report is available at the following link:

https://www.ncb.org.uk/what-we-do/practice-and-programmes/building-integrated-child-centred-health-services/mental-2

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 potential merits of extending business rates reimbursements to community pharmacies.

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

In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and to continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.

This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to extend business rates reimbursement to community pharmacies on the same basis as GP practices and NHS dental surgeries.

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

In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and to continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.

This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend Business Rates reimbursements to Community Pharmacies.

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

In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and to continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.

This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.

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 IT issues on pharmacies claiming payment for Pharmacy First Services that they have carried out.

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

Payments made to pharmacy contractors in England are set out in the Drug Tariff. Within the Drug Tarif there are discretionary provisions for advanced services, including Pharmacy First, that allow contractors to receive payment if the submission of claims data was delayed by an IT issue outside the contractor’s control. All payments are subject to an investigation by the NHS Business Services Authority and the required evidence being supplied by the contractor and IT system supplier.

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Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ensure mental health provision is available for adoptees that is trauma and adoptee-informed.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The ‘Adoptee Voices’ publication enabled the department to hear directly from adoptees and about their experience of trauma and mental health provision, such provision must be informed by lived experience as well as clinical evidence. The department recently published a consultation, ‘Adoption Support that Works for All’, confirming that we are working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to design their new pilot to improve mental health support for children in care and their families. This pilot will include support for adoptive families starting in one area and aims to test an integrated model of mental health support for children and families

Alongside this, we are expanding our investment in Regional Adoption Agency multi‑disciplinary teams, which bring together social care, health and education professionals to deliver a holistic package of assessment and support for adopted children and their families.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of recent changes to Apprenticeship Levy funding on Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeships.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57098.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the provision of data on employee health benefits to SME decision makers on levels of employee ill health.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care on the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase, focused on tackling health-related economic inactivity and promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces. We are partnering with employers of all sectors and sizes, including SMEs, alongside employee health benefit providers, to test and identify what interventions are most effective in preventing and managing employee ill health. This will include exploring what support SMEs need to make informed decisions about accessing suitable health benefit provision.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Disabled Children’s Partnership and the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance's 2025 report entitled How to spend less and get better outcomes for children with speech, language challenges.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department recognises that early identification and intervention is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London highlight the most effective tools and strategies to identify and support different types of needs. We recently announced new government-backed research which will aim to develop and test effective approaches to help early identification.

The department is also working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the education system distinguishes between children with short-term speech and language delays and lifelong communication needs.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

We know that continuing to build the pipeline of speech and language therapists is essential. This is why the department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

We also know that effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings and announced a new training package, backed by £200 million of new funding, to ensure that every teacher, teaching assistant and leader can be trained to support pupils with SEND.

We will set out our proposals for SEND reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper and will consult widely on these proposals, continuing to work with a wide range of partners to refine and deliver them.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the membership is of the early years screen time advisory group.

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

The early years screen time advisory group is comprised of the following members:

• Professor Russell Viner (co-chair) – Professor in Adolescent Health, University College London, and former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Education.
• Dame Rachel de Souza (co-chair) – Children’s Commissioner for England.
• Professor Catherine Davies – Professor of Language Development, University of Leeds.
• Professor Pasco Fearon – Professor of Family Research, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Rosie Flewitt – Emeritus Professor of Early Childhood Communication, Manchester Metropolitan University.
• Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy – Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England.
• Professor Sonia Livingstone – Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Professor Amy Orben – Programme Leader of the Digital Mental Health Research Programme, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Paul Ramchandani – LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Kathy Sylva – Honorary Research Fellow and Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Oxford.

All members of the group attended the first meeting of the early years screen time advisory group on 22 January, alongside officials from the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England.

This introductory meeting focused on agreeing ways of working, including delivery timelines and approaches to evidence gathering, and the scope of the early years screen time guidance. The group also discussed the dissemination of the guidance.

Minutes of the meeting will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government who attended the first meeting of the early years screen time advisory group on 22 January; and what was discussed in that meeting.

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

The early years screen time advisory group is comprised of the following members:

• Professor Russell Viner (co-chair) – Professor in Adolescent Health, University College London, and former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Education.
• Dame Rachel de Souza (co-chair) – Children’s Commissioner for England.
• Professor Catherine Davies – Professor of Language Development, University of Leeds.
• Professor Pasco Fearon – Professor of Family Research, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Rosie Flewitt – Emeritus Professor of Early Childhood Communication, Manchester Metropolitan University.
• Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy – Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England.
• Professor Sonia Livingstone – Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Professor Amy Orben – Programme Leader of the Digital Mental Health Research Programme, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Paul Ramchandani – LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning, University of Cambridge.
• Professor Kathy Sylva – Honorary Research Fellow and Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Oxford.

All members of the group attended the first meeting of the early years screen time advisory group on 22 January, alongside officials from the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England.

This introductory meeting focused on agreeing ways of working, including delivery timelines and approaches to evidence gathering, and the scope of the early years screen time guidance. The group also discussed the dissemination of the guidance.

Minutes of the meeting will be published in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to publish proposals for a long-term funding settlement for adult social care during this Parliament.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29 sets out multi-year

settlements for local authorities, including upper tier authorities that have social care responsibilities. As part of this, the government have set out the funding available to local authorities for adult social care over three years, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding being made available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26.

Alongside a document setting out priority outcomes and expectations for local authorities’ delivery of adult social care from 2026-27, the Department of Health and Social Care has published local authority level notional allocations for adult social care to facilitate local authority budget setting and plans to progress the delivery of adult social care priorities. Notional allocations are not formal spend expectations but will instead act as a reference point to support local authorities in budget-setting. These will be reviewed annually to reflect new data and any wider changes in local government funding.

The provisional Local Government Settlement consultation has closed and the government will publish the final details in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of social media use on children’s mental health.

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

I share the worries of parents and many of those in the medical profession; the question is not whether the government will act, but how. These are nuanced issues on which there are a diverse range of views; that is why we are launching a consultation and national conversation on next steps. We are also working closely across government on these topics, with DHSC, as well as Ofcom, DfE, and the Home Office. Furthermore, the Department for Education will be producing guidance on screentime.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the mobilisation of the National Health Service in the event of UK involvement in an armed conflict.

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

The Cabinet Office leads the Government's Home Defence Programme, in which Defence plays an integral role. The programme is enhancing the UK’s national security and resilience through bolstering civilian-military coordination and planning and enhancing public and private preparedness.

In a new era of threat, the defence and security of the UK requires a whole-of-society approach: the NHS and private healthcare is no exception.

A series of joint exercises involving the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England (NHSE), the Devolved Administrations, Voluntary Aid Societies and allies (USA and Canada) have explored the UK’s ability to deal with casualties across a range of scenarios up to and including warfighting.

NHS(E) will lead a further exercise in February 2026 to consider where pressure would be felt most acutely in the NHS system from an increased number of MOD patients.

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