Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 23 February (HL14441), what assessment they have made of the impact of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on generalised anxiety and panic disorder on access to treatment for marginalised groups.

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

The Department has made no assessment of the impact of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on generalised anxiety and panic disorder or on access to treatment for marginalised groups.

NICE keeps its published guidelines under active surveillance and decisions on whether they should be updated in light of new evidence are taken by the NICE prioritisation board in line with its published prioritisation framework. NICE’s prioritisation board will be considering whether the guideline on generalised anxiety and panic disorder should be updated following a letter from the UK Council for Psychotherapy.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 11 March (HL15210), what insurance arrangements they envisage for NHS-accredited hospitals providing services commissioned by public health authorities which were previously part of the NHS but are now part of local government.

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

Where National Health Service accredited hospitals provide services commissioned by public health authorities which were previously part of the NHS but are now part of local government, any liability arising from clinical negligence is covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST). CNST is a state indemnity scheme administered by NHS Resolution.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 16 February (HL14437), what evidence they have reviewed on the economic value and cost-effectiveness of point-of-care diagnostic testing technologies for cardiovascular disease prevention.

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

We recognise the value of point-of-care diagnostics in enabling earlier detection, reducing avoidable hospital admissions, and supporting more personalised care.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced clinical guidelines and heath technology guidance which make recommendations on the use of point-of-care testing (POCT) for a range of conditions and diseases. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by a prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer.

Decisions on the use and implementation of POCT are made locally by integrated care boards and providers, who design services in line with local population health needs and priorities.

The Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Modern Service Framework will be published later this year and will prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. As part of its development, we are engaging widely to identify and consider the role of emerging innovations across the CVD pathway.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 9 March (HL Deb col 9), what steps they plan to take to ensure the integration of care between the proposed National Care Service and the National Health Service.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring joined up health and care services. While the Independent Commission will inform the long-term direction of a national care service, the Government is already progressing reforms to strengthen the join up between services, so people experience more integrated and person-centred care.

We are developing Neighbourhood Health Services, which will allow more integrated working within the National Health Service, as well as between the NHS, local government, and a wide range of public services, including the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector. The National Care Service and the Neighbourhood Health Service will play a critical role in helping people stay independent for longer, minimising the time that they need to spend in hospital or in long-term residential care.

Alongside this, we are improving national data and digital infrastructure, including driving the adoption of digital and social care records so people get the right care quicker, without needing to repeat their care needs or medical history.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 5 February (HL13800), whether they plan to conduct periodic reviews of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's cost-effectiveness methodology to ensure that it remains up-to-date and appropriate.

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

We have one of the most comprehensive vaccination programmes in the world. Our approach to evaluating vaccination programmes is informed by expert recommendations and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Working closely with the UK Health Security Agency‑based JCVI secretariat, the Department ensures that the cost-effectiveness methodology for assessing vaccination programmes continues to enable the committee to advise on programmes that deliver the greatest health benefit to the greatest number of people.

The Department maintains oversight of this methodology on an ongoing basis, with particular focus when the range of available evidence and underlying evidence landscape changes over time. Those changes may arise from time to time at irregular intervals, and so it is unlikely to be helpful to review the methodology at fixed and regular intervals.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 5 February (HL13800), what assessment they have made of whether a health-systems focus on the benefits of vaccines and immunisations may disadvantage prevention within the health technology appraisals process.

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

The cost-effectiveness methodology used by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) ensures that decisions are objective, consistent, and based on high-quality data on health benefits and costs. This approach is not understood to disadvantage vaccinations and immunisations as a form of prevention when compared with treatments, therapeutic health measures, or other forms of prevention.

This is because, similar to the JCVI, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also applies a health‑sector perspective when appraising preventative and treatment interventions. Beyond vaccines, many other health interventions can generate wider societal or economic benefits, and so applying an appraisal approach across the health system which is consistently focused on health benefits does not uniquely disadvantage vaccinations or immunisations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from Baroness Merron to Lord Kamall on 19 February (DEP2026-0132), which regions are at capacity for delivering properly supervised medical speciality training posts.

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

Training capacity varies by specialty, geography and programme size. It is dynamic and is assessed on a case-by-case basis by NHS England when allocating places. It is therefore not possible to provide a stable assessment of capacity within any regions.

When creating new places, NHS England will work with providers and local health systems to ensure that they continue to be of an appropriately high quality, so that doctors have the education and training they need to provide high quality patient care.

Regions will only be allocated new places if they have sufficient training capacity and can meet training quality standards.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 11 March (HL15135), in what circumstances a direction under the statutory instrument coming into force on 24 March would not be made.

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

It is important that there is stability in the medicines regulatory and access landscape, and there should be a high bar for making changes to the cost-effectiveness threshold. It is the Government’s intention, therefore, that the power to set the cost-effectiveness threshold would be used rarely.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 25 February (HL14473), when they expect the co-produced action and implementation plan to be published.

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

NHS England has no plans at present to publish the action plan. The action plan is a partnership with HM Prison and Probation Service and other Government departments, and NHS England has a governance route through which it holds itself accountable.

Found: Letter from Baroness Merron to Lord Moylan regarding clarification on what constitutes a "terminal illness

Found: Mental Health

Found: Psychiatrists, Mind, Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Introduction and discussion with Baroness Merron

Found: Letter dated 24/03/2026 from Baroness Merron to Baroness O'Loan regarding the Terminally Ill Adults (