Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what milestones have been established in the 10-Year Health Plan for England; and whether progress against those milestones will be published annually.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan was published in July 2025. In October, NHS England published the Medium Term Planning Framework to drive the strategic shifts set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. Regular data is published on a variety of performance metrics. The Department reports on progress against key priorities in its Annual Report and Accounts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assumptions regarding workforce numbers, including (1) general practitioners, (2) allied health professionals, and (3) health specialists, underpins the commitments made in the 10-Year Health Plan for England; and whether they will publish these assumptions.

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

This will be set out in the Government’s forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to determine whether neighbourhood health services have improved patient outcomes; and whether those criteria will be published before implementation begins.

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

The Neighbourhood Health Framework, published in March 2026, sets out a range of national goals and metrics that will be used to assess progress in improving outcomes and experience for people using neighbourhood health services. These include measures relating to prevention, the quality and coordination of care for people with complex needs, reductions in avoidable hospital use, patient-reported outcome measures, patient-reported experience measures, and wider improvements in population health.

The Framework also makes clear that integrated care boards and local authorities, working through health and wellbeing boards, should develop local metrics that reflect the needs and priorities of their communities, alongside delivery of these national minimum goals.

The criteria and metrics set out in the published Neighbourhood Health Framework are already publicly available. The Government will continue to refine its approach to outcomes measurement as neighbourhood health develops and will publish further information as appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of NHS hospital beds currently occupied by patients who are medically fit for discharge because appropriate social care provision is unavailable.

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

NHS England publishes monthly trust-level data on the reasons for discharge delays, which differentiates between delays caused by in-hospital processes, care transfer hub processes, the process of health and care partners arranging onwards care, and capacity shortages in the system across community health, housing and adult social care providers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Casey Commission remains free to make recommendations that differ from the Prime Minister’s stated ambition for adult social care to operate on the same principle as the National Health Service.

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

The terms of reference for the Independent Commission into Adult Social Care will be updated shortly to reflect the earlier timetable for Baroness Casey's final report, but there has been no change to the overall objectives of the Commission, or the independent basis on which it is being conducted.