Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have to meet rare disease patient groups to discuss indication-specific pricing for multi-indication medicines as part of its work in the forthcoming Commercial Framework consultation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has not entered into any commercial agreements involving indication-specific pricing for kidney conditions, or for rare kidney conditions, between June 2021 and July 2026. However, during this period, NHS England has entered into three commercial agreements involving indication-specific pricing for kidney cancer indications, including renal cell carcinoma indications.
NHS England regularly engages with patient groups, including the Charity Medicines Access Coalition, Genetic Alliance UK, and the Neurological Alliance, whose members represent people living with a wide range of rare conditions. More recent engagement has included patient groups representing people with conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, muscular dystrophy, and motor neurone disease, where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisals have been undertaken or are ongoing.
As part of the upcoming consultation on updates to the NHS Commercial Framework for New Medicines, NHS England will seek views from a broad range of patient organisations, including those representing people with rare diseases.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the commercial engagements made by NHS England between June 2021 and July 2026 involving indication-specific pricing were for indications for (1) kidney conditions, and (2) rare kidney conditions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has not entered into any commercial agreements involving indication-specific pricing for kidney conditions, or for rare kidney conditions, between June 2021 and July 2026. However, during this period, NHS England has entered into three commercial agreements involving indication-specific pricing for kidney cancer indications, including renal cell carcinoma indications.
NHS England regularly engages with patient groups, including the Charity Medicines Access Coalition, Genetic Alliance UK, and the Neurological Alliance, whose members represent people living with a wide range of rare conditions. More recent engagement has included patient groups representing people with conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, muscular dystrophy, and motor neurone disease, where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisals have been undertaken or are ongoing.
As part of the upcoming consultation on updates to the NHS Commercial Framework for New Medicines, NHS England will seek views from a broad range of patient organisations, including those representing people with rare diseases.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to educate and equip healthcare professionals to engage in genomic testing for patients with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England Genomics Education Programme provides education and training to support healthcare professionals in the use of genomic medicine. Working with the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, it delivers a national education programme designed to build genomic knowledge and skills across the healthcare workforce.
As part of this offer, the programme has developed GeNotes, a multi-professional clinical resource that supports clinicians to identify when genomic testing is appropriate, order the correct test, interpret results, and communicate them to patients. GeNotes aligns with the National Genomic Test Directory and provides both point-of-care guidance and more in-depth learning opportunities.
The resource includes educational material relevant to pancreatic cancer, including guidance to support clinicians managing patients with pancreatic cancer who may benefit from genomic testing and the interpretation of genomic results.
NHS England continues to work with healthcare professionals, academics, and professional organisations to ensure genomic education and training resources remain up to date and support the appropriate use of genomics across healthcare services.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of how the single patient record could improve the recording of miscarriage across NHS services, and what measures are being taken to reduce the risk of ‘double counting’ the same miscarriage recorded by different services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.
The planned introduction of the new Single Patient Record (SPR) is an important step towards one, comprehensive health record for every patient, and this will start with maternity. The SPR will initially capture some, though not all, miscarriage data, and we will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the recording of miscarriage experienced by women engaged with NHS services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.
The planned introduction of the new Single Patient Record (SPR) is an important step towards one, comprehensive health record for every patient, and this will start with maternity. The SPR will initially capture some, though not all, miscarriage data, and we will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether an update to the digital maternity record standard is planned to limit birth outcomes to coded values, and ensure that a value is included for second trimester miscarriage.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst it is possible, it is not mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration for the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage. Timescales for this next iteration are yet to be confirmed.
There are no specific plans to update the Digital Maternity Record Standard at present, as the current version has yet to be fully implemented by all maternity system suppliers. However, this will be considered as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the Single Patient Record.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with NHS England to improve the collection of data on second trimester miscarriage through the maternity services dataset.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst it is possible, it is not mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration for the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage. Timescales for this next iteration are yet to be confirmed.
There are no specific plans to update the Digital Maternity Record Standard at present, as the current version has yet to be fully implemented by all maternity system suppliers. However, this will be considered as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the Single Patient Record.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the final cost of the installation of new emergency areas on smart motorways; and what is the break down of costs for each relevant motorway.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
National Highways committed to add over 150 new emergency areas on existing All Lane Running smart motorways by the end of March 2025, prioritising locations where these would provide the greatest benefit and could be delivered within the £390 million budget. The table below sets out the number of additional emergency areas delivered on each relevant motorway section.
Scheme | Region | Additional EAs |
M1 J13-16 | Midlands | 8 |
M6 J13-15 | Midlands | 5 |
M1 J32-35A | Yorkshire & North East | 13 |
M6 J21A-26 | North West | 12 |
M1 J30-31 | Yorkshire & North East | 10 |
M25 J23-27 | South East | 14 |
M20 J3-5 | South East | 4 |
M3 J2-4A | South East | 10 |
M25 J5-7 | South East | 9 |
M27 J4-11 | South East | 2 |
M4 J10-12 | South East | 12 |
M1 J23A-25 | Midlands | 6 |
M1 J28-30 | Midlands | 18 |
M5 J4A-6 | Midlands | 10 |
M1 J16-19 | Midlands | 18 |
On average, across the programme, an emergency area costs approximately £2.6 million to construct (pending final accounts). Individual emergency areas have varying design requirements, including topography, requirement for supporting structures, drainage, and technology, which mean they can cost less or more than the expected average to construct.
National Highways has recently commenced work on the M1 between junctions 16 and 19 to undertake remedial works to strengthen embankments adjacent to four new emergency areas. These works are expected to be completed by August 2026. As a result, programme close-out activities have been extended and final costs for the National Emergency Area Retrofit programme are now expected to be available in Spring 2027, subject to final accounting and internal governance.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have made to include the National Bereavement Care Pathway for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy in mandatory guidance for the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In October 2025, NHS England set out the expectation, through the Medium Term Planning Framework, for trusts to implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway for stillbirth and neonatal death. In practice, some of these standards will also be applicable in the context of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy, offering support for these women and families.
While miscarriage and other types of pregnancy loss were not explicitly covered in Baroness Amos’ final report into National Health Service maternity and neonatal care, she did make a recommendation around fundamentally reforming care, including through the development of a new modern service framework. The taskforce will consider all stages of maternity and neonatal care when developing its new national action plan, and we anticipate that the taskforce may wish to include pregnancy loss.
We are also working closely with NHS England to improve the availability of Early Pregnancy Assessment Units, and have extended the Baby Loss Certificate scheme, which provides recognition of pre-24-week loss.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - 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 NHS Trusts comply with the National Bereavement Care Pathway for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In October 2025, NHS England set out the expectation, through the Medium Term Planning Framework, for trusts to implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway for stillbirth and neonatal death. In practice, some of these standards will also be applicable in the context of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy, offering support for these women and families.
While miscarriage and other types of pregnancy loss were not explicitly covered in Baroness Amos’ final report into National Health Service maternity and neonatal care, she did make a recommendation around fundamentally reforming care, including through the development of a new modern service framework. The taskforce will consider all stages of maternity and neonatal care when developing its new national action plan, and we anticipate that the taskforce may wish to include pregnancy loss.
We are also working closely with NHS England to improve the availability of Early Pregnancy Assessment Units, and have extended the Baby Loss Certificate scheme, which provides recognition of pre-24-week loss.