Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what dates his Department has met with patient groups representing families affected by sodium valproate since January 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women's Health and Mental Health, Baroness Merron, the previous minister with responsibility for sodium valproate and pelvic mesh redress policy, held a roundtable with representatives of the sodium valproate patient groups in December 2024.
Since then, I met with relevant stakeholders at various parliamentary events. I also met with the Patient Safety Commissioner in December 2025, to discuss progress following the Hughes Report and have made clear the Department’s expectation of continued, proactive engagement with the Patient Safety Commissioner and key stakeholders.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on community pharmacies of (a) business rates revaluation from April 2026 and (b) their exclusion from RHL reliefs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that pharmacies are an integral ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.
In 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Additional funding is also available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Department will shortly consult with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27. As part of this we will consider financial pressures on the sector.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve coordination between health, education, and social care services for families affected by sodium valproate.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone who has been harmed from sodium valproate has our deepest sympathies.
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, identified significant shortcomings in National Health Service care pathways for people harmed by sodium valproate. NHS England has acknowledged variation in the availability and adequacy of care pathways, the impact of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis on long-term outcomes, and the need for improved care coordination for those requiring lifelong support, including co-ordination with non-health care services.
In response, NHS England has commissioned a Fetal Exposure to Medicines Services Pilot, being delivered by the NHS in Newcastle and Manchester. The pilot provides multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and is informing the development of improved care pathways, better coordination of care, and reduced reliance on emergency care. Findings from the pilot will inform future decisions on the commissioning of services, subject to funding.
In addition, we work closely with the Department for Education and across the Government to ensure co-ordination between health, education, and social care services for children and their families. The Health and Opportunity Missions of the Government highlight the importance of joined up working and integrated delivery.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason recommendations for a sodium valproate redress scheme have not been implemented.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to take forward work to explore redress for those affected by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate, which includes recommendations made by the Patient Safety Commissioner in the Hughes Report. We recognise the importance of these issues for all those affected. This remains a cross-Government policy area involving multiple organisations, and given the complexity of the issues involved, it is important we get this right.
I met with the Patient Safety Commissioner in December 2025, to discuss progress following the Hughes Report and have made clear the Department’s expectation of continued, proactive engagement with the Patient Safety Commissioner and key stakeholders. I have also written to the Patient Safety Commissioner regarding further steps to be taken to improve the lives of those affected by valproate and mesh. A copy of that letter is attached.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of generic and biosimilar medicines to meet the objectives set out in the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom is a global leader in adopting biosimilar and generic medicines, which deliver major National Health Service savings and expand patient access to effective treatments sooner.
We are working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and NHS England to understand forthcoming biosimilars and to ensure they reach the frontline efficiently. Through NHS England’s Best Value Biologicals Framework, clinicians start patients on the most cost‑effective biologics where appropriate, and switches are made swiftly and safely. This has already delivered £1.2 billion in savings over the past three years.
As set out in the 10‑Year Health Plan and Life Sciences Sector Plan, we are streamlining regulation, improving procurement, and reducing variation in uptake. NICE’s whole‑lifecycle approach ensures clinical pathways are regularly reviewed so that patients benefit as soon as cost‑effective generics and biosimilars become available, as seen in recent cancer treatments. These actions support timely access to effective off‑patent medicines and a sustainable, competitive market for the NHS.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure parliamentary oversight of the proposed changes to NICE regulations.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The proposed amendments to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence regulations were subject to a public consultation, which ran from 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026. The Department is currently analysing consultation responses and will shortly finalise a statutory instrument (SI) to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the regulations.
The SI will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the negative parliamentary procedure. The policy merits of the SI will be scrutinised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, in line with its terms of reference at the following link:
As is conventional, the SI will be laid before Parliament at least 21 days before coming into force to ensure Parliament has adequate time to consider it.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 expanding genetic for (a) the APOE4 gene and (b) other dementia-related risk factors in the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Pharmacogenomics and Medicine Optimisation NHS Genomic Network of Excellence convened a multidisciplinary meeting in November 2023 to support an impact assessment of potential testing for APOE-4 for prediction of risk of adverse events for lecanemab and donanemab. This group considered the evidence for expanding genomic testing for the APOE gene variants, including to inform other dementia related risk factors and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to offer genomic testing for the APOE gene variants as part of routine dementia care, risk assessment, or to first degree relatives of those with an already identified APOE variant to inform risk estimates of developing future Alzheimer's disease.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to reinstate the Life Sciences Council.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom’s world leading life sciences sector is central to our Industrial Strategy, driving growth, investment, and high-quality jobs. The sector is forecast to grow by £41 billion and create 100,000 jobs by 2030, supporting our ambition to lead Europe in life sciences by 2030.
The Life Sciences Council is an important forum that brings together senior industry and Government leaders to shape the sector’s future. The Government remains committed to this partnership and is looking to convene the council in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in response to Question tabled on 15 December 2025, UIN 99871, if the Government can outline what steps are being taken to ensure the needs of people with severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are adequacy met.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), published in July 2025, includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for severe ME/CFS. Officials from the Department have commenced discussions with NHS England on how best to take forward this action.
The third and final session in NHS England’s newly-developed ME/CFS e-learning series, Managing Severe ME/CFS, is now live on the NHS Learning Hub. This session provides practical, evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals to support people living with severe and very severe ME/CFS.
Additionally, as set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of government, having delivered 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This will help people with severe ME/CFS to get support sooner.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out a transformed vision for elective care by 2035, where most interactions no longer take place in a hospital building, instead happening virtually or via neighbourhood services. We will empower patients by giving them greater choice and control and establishing expected standards for making their experience of planned NHS care as smooth, supportive and convenient as possible, including for people with severe ME/CFS.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 poor air quality in (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air on different age groups of people in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Poor air quality is a major public health risk in the United Kingdom. An estimated 29,000 to 43,000 deaths were attributable to long-term exposure to ambient air pollution in the UK in 2019 among adults aged 30 years old and over.
Indoor residential exposure to damp and mould was associated with approximately 5,000 cases of asthma and 8,500 lower respiratory infections among children, those who are aged between zero to 14 years old, and adults, those who are aged between 15 to 49 years old, in England in 2019.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contributed to a report by the Royal College of Physicians in 2025. This contained data on new cases of mortality, myocardial infarction, asthma, lung cancer, and other conditions, attributable to a range of air pollutants in 2019 and predicted for 2040, among children, those over 30 years old, over 60 years old, and at all ages. The report is available at the following link:
The Department’s 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government will act to reduce the health harms of air pollution. This includes action to reduce harm from ambient air pollution and tackling poor indoor air by improving the standard of rented homes with relation to damp and mould.