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 plans they have to (1) recognise blood and the wider blood supply chain as critical national infrastructure; and (2) invest in improving the resilience and redundancy of the UK's blood supply.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As blood services are a devolved matter, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for the blood service in England alone. NHSBT is a critical national infrastructure-owning organisation, and the Department of Health and Social Care works closely with it to review the criticality and resilience of blood services. The Joint Blood Stocks Working Group also brings together the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSBT with NHS England, the National Blood Transfusion Committee, and the Ministry of Defence to strengthen planning and emergency preparedness.
In addition, NHSBT is taking forward work to strengthen the resilience of blood supplies both in business-as-usual operations and during critical incidents, including through its partnerships with Defence Medical Command and the Air Ambulance services. This includes exploring new approaches to transfusion in emergency settings, such as dried plasma, or to the transport of blood samples using drones. This work will support future care in challenging environments, both civilian and defence, and help expand the options to deliver blood services, where it is safe, practical, and operationally beneficial to do so.
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 plans they have to publish a national blood resilience strategy covering health, defence and civil contingencies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As blood services are a devolved matter, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for the blood service in England alone. NHSBT is a critical national infrastructure-owning organisation, and the Department of Health and Social Care works closely with it to review the criticality and resilience of blood services. The Joint Blood Stocks Working Group also brings together the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSBT with NHS England, the National Blood Transfusion Committee, and the Ministry of Defence to strengthen planning and emergency preparedness.
In addition, NHSBT is taking forward work to strengthen the resilience of blood supplies both in business-as-usual operations and during critical incidents, including through its partnerships with Defence Medical Command and the Air Ambulance services. This includes exploring new approaches to transfusion in emergency settings, such as dried plasma, or to the transport of blood samples using drones. This work will support future care in challenging environments, both civilian and defence, and help expand the options to deliver blood services, where it is safe, practical, and operationally beneficial to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to invest in the deployment of innovative blood technologies where they may strengthen the resilience and preparedness of the UK's blood supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As blood services are a devolved matter, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for the blood service in England alone. NHSBT is a critical national infrastructure-owning organisation, and the Department of Health and Social Care works closely with it to review the criticality and resilience of blood services. The Joint Blood Stocks Working Group also brings together the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSBT with NHS England, the National Blood Transfusion Committee, and the Ministry of Defence to strengthen planning and emergency preparedness.
In addition, NHSBT is taking forward work to strengthen the resilience of blood supplies both in business-as-usual operations and during critical incidents, including through its partnerships with Defence Medical Command and the Air Ambulance services. This includes exploring new approaches to transfusion in emergency settings, such as dried plasma, or to the transport of blood samples using drones. This work will support future care in challenging environments, both civilian and defence, and help expand the options to deliver blood services, where it is safe, practical, and operationally beneficial to do so.
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 reduce the variation in waiting times for patients referred to specialist interstitial lung disease centres.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services for people with interstitial lung disease, enabling services to be planned around local needs and supporting more joined-up care. In some regions, hub-and-spoke models are being implemented to support clearer and faster referral pathways between local providers and specialist interstitial lung disease centres.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition regarding food resilience and soil health.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra liaised with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition regarding nutrition and emergency planning in 2024, resulting in an item at the committee’s 20 June 2024 meeting. Defra has continued to be in contact with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition in following years to enable consideration of infant feeding and nutrition to support planning for food supply disruptions.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with devolved administrations and local government regarding food security in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers from all four nations discuss food system issues through the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In addition, officials have regular engagement on a wide range of food security and resilience issues.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to deliver on their manifesto commitment to reform the Government Buying Standard for food and catering services to include a requirement for 50 per cent local and sustainable food; and what the proposed timeline and process for these reforms is.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.
A new national procurement policy statement has been published which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.
Data collection on the extent to which public sector settings are serving food from local sustainable sources is currently underway. The department expect the work to be completed by Summer 2027.
Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential cost savings to caterers, schools, and the NHS of serving a higher proportion of pulses and other plant-based protein in schools and NHS institutions; and the potential of these cost savings to help public institutions afford more organic, local or higher-environmental standard foods.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No such assessment has been made.
A new national procurement policy statement has been published which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.
The NHS Eatwell Guide recognises the valuable contribution of plant-based foods and drinks, illustrating that both plant-based products and animal-based products can be part of a healthy balanced diet.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the devolved governments about introducing legislation to enshrine a legal right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no international consensus on the legal basis of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and no agreement on either the definition of the right or its scope. The UK supported United Nations General Assembly Resolution 76/300 on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, accompanied by an explanation of vote which referred to this lack of consensus. This Government has no current plans to introduce legislation on the right but is monitoring discussions exploring a new instrument at the international level to enshrine the right, including at the Council of Europe. Officials have previously raised this with the Devolved Governments and will consult with them ahead of any formal international negotiations.
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 8 October 2025 (HL10538), whether the NHS Supply Chain procurement exercises, including the Total Cardiology and Vascular Solutions Framework, are being developed in line with the draft Value Based Procurement Standard Guidance; and what assessment they have made of whether the evaluation criteria in that guidance include sufficient thresholds for non-price value criteria in particular (1) clinical outcomes, (2) patient quality of life, (3) innovation, (4) sustainability, and (5) whole system efficiencies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Supply Chain has worked closely with the Department to support the implementation of its value based procurement (VBP) guidance. Within the Total Cardiology and Vascular Solutions Framework, the Department’s methodology has been piloted on a national procurement and integrated into the non-financial evaluation criteria, with appropriate adaptations made to reflect the specific clinical and operational requirements of the specialty. Value-based assessment criteria and associated non-financial questions have been included where supplier claims can be objectively assessed ensuring a fair, transparent, and equitable evaluation process.
Extensive pre-market engagement was undertaken between March 2025 and September 2025, providing suppliers, customers, clinical associations, and professional bodies with the opportunity to share insights, feedback, and observations on the proposed procurement strategy and overall approach. Communication has been conducted in forms such as team meetings, face to face meetings, and email exchanges with all stakeholders, including clinicians. Draft versions of the VBP questions were circulated during this period to support supplier readiness and to enable meaningful challenge and feedback in advance of tender publication. NHS Supply Chain clinical and category teams engaged extensively with key clinical stakeholder groups, including members of the British Heart Rhythm Society, members of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society, and NHS England Device Working Groups, to inform the development and refinement of the VBP criteria. The final questions focus on areas where value can be clearly evidenced, including clinical outcomes, innovation, sustainability, social value, and whole-system costs and efficiencies.
While the NHS Supply Chain has successfully incorporated VBP principles into the cardiology and vascular framework evaluation, a key challenge remains the limited availability of standardised Patient Reported Outcome Measures, clinical registries, and other robust outcome datasets to enable consistent and comparable assessment of supplier value claims. Consequently, VBP evaluation has been focused on evidence that can be objectively assessed at the tender stage, with a clear commitment to further validate and measure value throughout the lifetime of the framework as more comprehensive clinical, operational, and patient outcome data becomes available. This approach balances fairness and transparency in procurement with the longer-term ambition of embedding a mature, evidence-based value assessment model across the specialty.