Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure the provision of children's hospice services in London in the light of the planned closure of Richard House on 18 December; and what plans they have to prevent that closure.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including children’s hospices, also play in providing support to seriously children at end of life and their loved ones.
I recognise that the closure of Richard House Children’s Hospice will be a worrying time for the parents, carers, and children who use the services at Richard House, as well as for the staff and volunteers.
I am heartened to hear that Haven House Children’s Hospice will be welcoming children and families currently supported by Richard House Children’s Hospice, with support from the North East London Integrated Care Board.
More widely, we have been supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. This amounts to approximately £2.8 million for children’s hospices in London.
Furthermore, children and young people’s hospices have received £26 million in revenue funding for 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £5.65 million for children’s hospices in London. I am delighted that earlier this autumn we were able to confirm the continuation of this funding for children and young people’s hospices for the next three financial years. This amounts to approximately £80 million over that period.
We also recently announced that the Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.
We want to consider, as part of the MSF, contracting and commissioning arrangements, in line with our shift to strategic commissioning. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
I refer the noble Baroness to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1086, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of addressing environmental reservoirs of bacteria with antimicrobial resistance genes not currently captured by clinical or agricultural surveillance in future antimicrobial resistance surveillance strategies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 to 2029 United Kingdom antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan (NAP) includes research to improve understanding of AMR spread across humans, animals, agriculture, and the environment, to strengthen future AMR surveillance strategies.
The Environment Agency is conducting research into environmental transmission of AMR including monitoring novel forms of resistance, such as antifungal resistance and bioaerosols. The UK Health Security Agency’s modular ward will generate evidence on how the hospital environment contributes to the spread of AMR infection, with a focus on how risks associated with water and wastewater can be mitigated.
The Health Protection Research Unit on Healthcare Associated Infections and AMR led research on wastewater infrastructure in hospitals on AMR gene dissemination in humans and is exploring the impact of hospital wastewater in terms of perpetuating AMR.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that polygenic screening carried out overseas is not used in embryo selection in British in vitro fertilisation clinics.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is the United Kingdom wide regulator of fertility treatment. Pre-implantation genetic testing for polygenic disease is unlawful for use in the UK, as it does not meet the criteria set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act for genetic testing. The law is very clear that the testing of embryos can only be carried out if there is a significant risk that a person with the abnormality will have or develop a serious physical or mental disability, a serious illness, or any other serious medical condition.
HFEA licensed clinics in the UK are responsible for selecting embryos based on what is permitted in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act and, therefore, should not offer such testing and subsequent treatment.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Physician Associate/Assistant Preceptorship Programme for primary care is open to newly qualified physician associates.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the publication of the Leng Review recommendations on 16 July 2025, NHS England has updated the eligibility criteria for the preceptorship in primary care for physician assistants (PAs), which are still legally known as physician associates.
In line with the recommendation that newly qualified PAs should gain at least two years of experience in secondary care, the scheme is only open to qualified PAs already employed in primary care, as of 16 July 2025, who have not undertaken a PA preceptorship.
NHS England has published a frequently asked questions document, a copy of which is attached, to provide further information and guidance on the implementation of The Leng Review. This confirms that the scheme will be honoured and continue for those employers and PAs currently participating in the programme this financial year.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take in the short, medium and long term following the decision of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury to establish a global phase-out of mercury dental fillings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the decision made at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury we are in the process of planning in detail the short, medium, and longer-term steps to move towards and implement a phase-out of dental amalgam in 2034.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk presented by unregulated private pregnancy scans; what actions they plan to take on the issue; and what other consideration they have given to strengthening consumer and health protections on private medical testing, particularly the use of tests not used by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not conducted a formal assessment of the risk presented by private pregnancy scans.
Sonography, the use of diagnostic and screening procedures that use ultrasound to examine the body, is a regulated activity in England under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This means that any organisation providing pregnancy scans in England, including those carried out in the private sector, must register their services with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and meet certain legal obligations.
A list of registered providers is available on the CQC website.