Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to provide doctors with a plan to improve (a) pay for NHS doctors and (b) job security for NHS doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government accepted the headline pay recommendations for National Health Service doctors made by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration (DDRB) for 2025/26. Consultant and Specialist and Specialty doctors received pay uplifts above forecast inflation of 4% and resident doctors received 4% plus £750. Resident doctors have received the highest pay uplift in the public sector over the past two years, with pay uplifts amounting to 28.9% over three years. While the Government has been clear that it cannot go further on pay this year, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met with the British Medical Association (BMA) to discuss their priorities and is committed to improving the working lives of all NHS staff.
The Government has taken steps to accelerate the pay setting process for this year to ensure that uplifts are made in a timely manner. To achieve this, we remitted the DDRB on 22 July and submitted written evidence to them on 30 October. Written evidence was submitted a month earlier than last year, which means we are still on track for pay uplifts to go into pay packets earlier than in previous years.
In acknowledgement of doctors’ concerns about jobs and access to training places, the Government made an offer to BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee to double the previously announced increase in specialty training places in the 10-Year Health Plan to 2,000, bringing 1,000 of these forward to next year, to create an alternative training pathway and take steps to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates and doctors with significant NHS experience for specialty posts. On top of this commitment, NHS England has already made changes to the specialty training application process this year to reduce competition and support UK graduates.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the 18-week treatment target for elective care is in all NHS trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live.
We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.
As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance.
To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England’s national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement.
There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene, and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England’s national and regional teams.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on ensuring that improvements in waiting times are consistent across all regions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live.
We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.
As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance.
To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England’s national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement.
There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene, and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England’s national and regional teams.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the progress made by his Department on (a) reducing the NHS care waiting list and (b) meeting the 18 week referral to treatment standard.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Plan for Change, the Government is committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.
NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of August 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 206,000 compared to the start of July 2024 and the proportion of waits under 18 weeks has improved by 2.2%, to 61% as of August 2025.
This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital first step in delivering the constitutional standard.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Learning Disability Nursing is adequately supported within the new NHS workforce plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups, including by engaging with a wide range of partners and valued stakeholders.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will complete the review into NHS Pensions' ability to meet the revised deadlines for issuing Remediable Service Statements set by the government on 31 March 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the importance of providing NHS Pension Scheme members certainty about when they will receive their McCloud Remediable Service Statements.
An independent review of the NHS Business Service Authority’s (NHSBSA) revised plans for the delivery of the McCloud remedy for NHS Pension Scheme members is underway. This will provide an additional level of scrutiny and assurance of the NHSBSA’s delivery plan and the timetable for the remaining statements.
I expect to be able to update the House on the review’s progress and the remedy delivery timetable before Christmas recess.
In the meantime, the NHSBSA continues to provide Remediable Service Statements to affected members, prioritising those who may be experiencing immediate financial hardship due to the discrimination highlighted by the McCloud judgment. Additionally, members who meet specific criteria can request to receive a prioritised Remediable Service Statement. Further information is available at the following link:
https://faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-29429/en-us.
The Government is committed to ensuring that affected members are not subject to financial disadvantage due to these delays. Pension arrears arising from the McCloud remedy are paid with 8% interest, and a compensation scheme is available for members who have experienced other direct financial losses.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of nurses and other healthcare professionals currently exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for St Ives on 5 November 2025 to Question 84136.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have had a kidney transplant on the NHS in the last 12 months.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant is the organisation responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom, and they manage the NHS Organ Donor Register and National Transplant Register.
Between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025, 3,381 individual patients received a kidney transplant from 3,385 donors. 2,373 were from deceased donors and 1,012 were from living donors. Of the 3,381 patients that received a kidney transplant, four received two transplants within this period.
This is a United Kingdom four nation service and I am proud of its achievements.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 September 2025 to Question 75606 on Community Development: English Language, what estimate he has made of the cost of providing English language support in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the cost of providing English language interpretation and translation services for the 2024/25 financial year and the 2025/26 financial year to date:
Financial year | Amount |
2024/25 | £9,834 |
2025/26 | £28,619 |
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to discharge medically fit patients on the use of corridor care in NHS hospitals.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that patients should expect and receive the highest standard of care and is determined to consign corridor care to the history books. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out the steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care this winter, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding.
The plan sets as a priority that hospitals should tackle the delays in patients waiting to be discharged, both for the benefit of those patients and to improve flow through hospitals. Trusts should eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, and work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning.