Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for creating a statutory requirement that all patients who consider assisted dying have timely access to palliative and hospice care through the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is, first and foremost, a matter for Parliament. This is a Private Member’s Bill, and we cannot pre‑suppose the outcome of the legislative process.
Irrespective of whether the law changes on assisted dying, we must continue to work towards creating a society where every person who needs it receives high-quality, compassionate palliative care and end of life care.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1086, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the change has been in NHS waiting lists in Oldham since July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are clear that the extent of waits for treatment is unacceptable, and cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. We have committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment.
Waiting list data is not available by town. At the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which covers Oldham, the waiting list size has fallen by over 3,000 since the Government took office in July 2024. Patients here are also facing shorter waiting times, with 53.6% of waits within 18 weeks as of September 2025, compared to 52.7% in July 2024.
We are committed to transforming elective services to ensure patients get timely access to the care they need. This includes investing £6 billion additional capital investment over five years for diagnostic, elective, urgent, and emergency capacity in the NHS.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, we delivered 5.2 million additional appointments compared to the previous year, more than double our pledge of two million. This marks a vital first step towards delivering the constitutional standard.
We promised change, and we have made good progress. As of the end of September 2025, 61.8% of pathways on the waiting list are within 18 weeks, an improvement of 3.3% since September 2024, and the number of waits over 18 weeks has reduced by almost 320,000 over the same period.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
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 extending statutory regulation by the Health and Care Professions Council to clinical technologists and sonographers on (a) workforce recruitment and retention, (b) diagnostic capacity and (c) patient safety within NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.
There are no current plans to extend statutory regulation by the Health and Care Professions Council to clinical technologists or sonographers.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what policy he has on match funding raised by charity fundraisers for capital projects that will exclusively benefit the the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is supportive of the National Health Service working with the charities sector to identify opportunities for philanthropic donations alongside match funding. We are aware of several successful examples of infrastructure projects either part or majority funded through such partnerships, including investment at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Moorfield Eye Hospital.
Ultimately, it is for local NHS organisations and trusts to identify and agree these arrangements with charitable partners.
More broadly, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan we are implementing several national reforms to the capital regime that should ultimately support the NHS’ ability to work effectively with charitable partners, including on options for securing match funding for projects. These include providing multi-year capital allocations, extending to 10 years of funding certainty for NHS maintenance budgets, and expanding capital flexibilities and autonomy for high-performing providers and integrated care boards. These reforms should enable systems to better plan longer term pipelines of investment, better facilitating and enabling philanthropic and charitable contributions.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his Department taking to increase the NICE cost-effectiveness thresholds for new medicines and increase the value that the UK places on medicines.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The pharmaceutical sector and the innovative medicines it produces are critical to our national interest, helping people access life changing treatments, reducing pressure on the health service over the longer-term, and ensuring we have a National Health Service that is fit for the future.
Tens of thousands of NHS patients will benefit from a landmark trade deal between the United Kingdom and the United States, which will secure and expand access to vital drugs, safeguard our medicines supply chain, and drive crucial investment while supporting UK patients and industries. This agreement will increase the amount which the United Kingdom pays for life-changing medicines by 25%, ensuring faster patient access for vital medicines for cancer, rare diseases, and other conditions.
A 25% increase in medicine pricing corresponds to two changes to the way the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence evaluates medicines, specifically a change to the standard cost effectiveness threshold and the introduction of a new value set for judging health states.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Oldham, Chadderton and Royton are being considered for additional funding for proposed new Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 90914 on NHS: Software.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 December 2025 to Question 90914.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 (i) support, and (ii) access to treatments, for people with (a) Multiple System Atrophy, and (b) Parkinson’s.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the national level, there are several initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), including the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with Parkinson’s and MSA. NICE has also published guidelines on Parkinson’s disease, namely NG71, covering the diagnosis and management in people aged 18 years old and over.
Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs across all rare conditions such as MSA. In February 2025, we published the fourth England action plan reporting on progress.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reform the compensation formula for maternity negligence compensation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising legal costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office’s report.
The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. 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.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding per capita her Department provided for NHS dentistry in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards. The dental ringfenced budget is set net of patient charge revenue. It is the total spend for dental, with less expected revenue from patients, and includes primary, secondary, and community dentistry.
In 2024/25, the National Health Service dental ringfenced budget was £3.97 billion, and the population of England was assumed to be 62.1 million as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita was £63.93.
In 2025/26, the NHS dental ringfenced budget increased to £4.13 billion. The population of England is assumed to be 63.8 million, as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita is £64.78.