Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential to commission digital-first healthcare providers to support the tirzepatide (Mounjaro) roll-out in primary care services for (1) patients and (2) primary care providers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 23 June, tirzepatide, brand name Mounjaro, started to become available in primary care, in line with the agreed plans for a phased rollout, meaning it can be prescribed in general practices.
NHS England has been working closely with local health systems, including integrated care boards, to design approaches for the safe and effective roll out of tirzepatide in primary care. This includes the use of digital providers, as NHS England recognises that digital first models can offer valuable tools to support patients and clinicians in the safe and effective delivery of care. Some patients have already been referred to receive diet, physical activity, and lifestyle support digitally through NHS England’s interim offer for behavioural support for obesity prescribing.
No full assessment has been made of the role of digital providers in supporting this roll out. To support equitable access and avoid risks of digital exclusion for those with less digital skills, a range of service delivery models are being made available, including face-to-face, remote, and digitally supported care.
There will be a robust evaluation of the initial phased rollout of tirzepatide in primary care, which will consider the use of digital providers. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will review progress at three years.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambition to build on these plans by testing innovative models of delivering weight loss services and treatments to patients. We will work closely with industry and local health systems to increase patient access. Full details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 9 April (HL6370), what progress they have made in considering whether to expand the shingles vaccination offer to older adult cohorts; what specific factors are currently under review; and when they expect a decision on the implementation timeline to be made.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to carefully consider the advice provided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on eligibility for the shingles vaccination programme for adults aged 80 years old and over. The Department will update in due course, as appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure GPs are prepared to coordinate medicines management and understand the side effects of receiving weight loss medication as a result of the roll-out of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) in primary care services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 23 June, tirzepatide, brand name Mounjaro, started to become available in primary care, in line with the agreed plans for a phased rollout, meaning it can be prescribed in general practices.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produces evidence-based guidance for health and care practitioners on best practice. As well as official guidance on the management of overweight and obesity and the use of tirzepatide, NICE has developed a practical guide to support the use of medicines for managing overweight and obesity. This guide provides an outline of the steps needed to safely assess, prescribe, monitor, and stop medicines that can be prescribed in primary care for weight management.
As well as NICE guidance, general practitioners have access to a range of support from their integrated care boards, and NHS England has developed a suite of implementation materials, delivery guidance, and protocols, and has provided access to training resources to help prescribers and other healthcare professionals to understand key aspects such as side effect profiles, medication initiation requirements, and the essential behavioural support that must accompany prescribing under the NICE Technology Appraisal on tirzepatide for managing overweight and obesity, code TA1026.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to launch an urgent review of sarcoma care and treatment in NHS England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between April 2024 and April 2025, the Faster Diagnosis Standard performance for suspected sarcoma improved by 13.1%. However, more needs to be done to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients, especially for rarer cancers such as sarcoma.
The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as sarcoma, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. The Government is committed to backing innovative clinical research ecosystem in the United Kingdom so that British patients can be among the first to benefit as we make the National Health Service fit for the future.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the Department will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, by ensuring that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including sarcoma.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of sarcoma care and treatment in NHS England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between April 2024 and April 2025, the Faster Diagnosis Standard performance for suspected sarcoma improved by 13.1%. However, more needs to be done to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients, especially for rarer cancers such as sarcoma.
The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as sarcoma, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. The Government is committed to backing innovative clinical research ecosystem in the United Kingdom so that British patients can be among the first to benefit as we make the National Health Service fit for the future.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the Department will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, by ensuring that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including sarcoma.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase access to advanced diagnostic tools, such as PET scans, blood tests and AI-supported retinal imaging, to enable earlier and more accurate dementia diagnosis.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme has already invested £13 million into a range of biomarker innovation projects, which include a broad range of biomarker technologies, ranging from an artificial intelligence tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia, to using retinal scans to detect early-onset dementia decades before symptoms.
Some of these innovations could support improved diagnosis in the future, if validated for clinical use.
The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service in England to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are preparing diagnostic and clinical services for the anticipated arrival of new disease-modifying treatments for dementia.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has established a dedicated national programme team which is working in partnership with other national agencies and with local health systems to co-ordinate the preparations for the potential roll out of new treatments for dementia.
These plans assume that, if new treatments are approved by the regulators, significant additional diagnostic capacity, including amyloid positron emission tomography and computed tomography, lumbar puncture, and magnetic resonance imaging, will be needed both to identify patients who are most able to benefit and to provide important safety monitoring for potential adverse effects during treatment.
The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service in England to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of promoting a culture of reading for pleasure at home on the development of children in (1) the early years, (2) school-age children.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government recognises the wide-ranging benefits of promoting a culture of reading for pleasure at home, both in the early years and throughout a child’s school life. Reading for pleasure supports the development of early language, literacy, and cognitive skills, and is associated with improved educational attainment and emotional wellbeing. In the early years, shared reading helps build secure attachments and supports communication and confidence. For school-age children, it reinforces comprehension, vocabulary, and a lifelong engagement with learning.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence. Our Little Moments Together campaign encourages parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that help foster a love of books and stories. These efforts are part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change, which includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028. By supporting families to embed reading into daily routines, we are helping to lay strong foundations for children’s development and long term success.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of learning through play in the early years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school. The EYFS is clear that children learn through play and that play is essential for children’s development. For example, singing songs helps to develop language comprehension, vocabulary, self-expression and literacy. Practitioners should carefully organise enabling environments and cultures for high-quality play and are encouraged to create games and provide opportunity for play both indoors and outdoors.
‘The Children of the 2020s’ study is part of the department’s programme of research that will improve our understanding of children’s progress throughout key phases of learning and education and aid future policy development. The study follows more than 8,500 families and their babies, born in England between September and November 2021. The first wave of data published in 2023 showed that more than half of primary caregivers engaged in physical or turn-taking play, singing, pretend games and noisy play with their babies several times a day. These activities were linked to improved early language development. The second wave of data is due to be published in the autumn, and we will assess that to consider how we shape future policy for early education, including anything it tells us about learning through play.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role they see for early intervention in early years education (1) during a child’s first 1001 days, and (2) below the age of 6 years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
There is strong evidence that the 1,001 days from conception to the age of two set the foundations for cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, families are supported during this period and beyond. Focusing on early years is a preventative measure to improve the outcomes of children of all ages. Family Hubs provide thousands of families access to the support they need to help give their child the best start in life, which includes support with infant feeding, parent-infant relationships, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out plans for spending and public sector reforms through the Spending Review 2025. This announcement confirmed departmental budgets for 2026/27 onwards and committed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, working with parents to help give children the best start in life. This builds upon my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change, published in December 2024, which outlined the ambition to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood.