Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what resources they are providing towards finding a cure for HIV, and which international groups and drug companies they are working with to find a cure.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 1 December 2025, the Department published the new HIV Action Plan to support the Government’s ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. The new HIV Action Plan encourages research and development with an action for the Medical Research Council to support high quality proposals in HIV vaccine and therapeutic development research. The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care including HIV research.
These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on HIV to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to conduct a public consultation as part of the development of the Modern Service Framework for Cardiovascular Disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) will help accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade.
The Department has no plans to conduct a formal public consultation as part of the development of the CVD MSF. However, the Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people, and communities are at the heart of its development.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in developing the modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is making good progress on the development of the Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF), with stakeholder task and finish groups held in October and November 2025. We will provide further information in due course.
The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the cardiovascular disease pathway.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings have been held to date by the task and finish group for the Modern Service Framework for Cardiovascular Disease; when these meetings took place; and when future meetings are scheduled to take place.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) Task and Finish Group is co-chaired by Dr. Jessica Randall-Carrick and Sir Andrew Goddard. The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway. The membership of the task and finish group has representation from over 30 stakeholders representing a wide range of organisations, including patient experience groups, charities, think tanks, and professional bodies related to CVD and associated conditions.
The CVD MSF Task and Finish Group has convened twice to date, on 7 October 2025 and most recently on 18 November 2025. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in mid-January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what appointments they have made to the task and finish group responsible for developing the modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) Task and Finish Group is co-chaired by Dr. Jessica Randall-Carrick and Sir Andrew Goddard. The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway. The membership of the task and finish group has representation from over 30 stakeholders representing a wide range of organisations, including patient experience groups, charities, think tanks, and professional bodies related to CVD and associated conditions.
The CVD MSF Task and Finish Group has convened twice to date, on 7 October 2025 and most recently on 18 November 2025. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in mid-January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - 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 17 September (HL10436), what steps they are taking to ensure that peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is explicitly included in the upcoming Cardiovascular Diseases Modern Service Framework; and whether they plan to set specific targets for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of PAD.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease (CVD) modern service framework in 2026. The CVD modern service framework will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
The Department and NHS England are working together to deliver the CVD modern service framework and are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. A range of conditions that impact premature mortality will be considered in the development of the CVD modern service framework, including peripheral arterial disease.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - 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 17 September (HL10437), whether they plan to include peripheral arterial disease in the upcoming Cardiovascular Diseases Modern Service Framework.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease (CVD) modern service framework in 2026. The CVD modern service framework will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
The Department and NHS England are working together to deliver the CVD modern service framework and are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. A range of conditions that impact premature mortality will be considered in the development of the CVD modern service framework, including peripheral arterial disease.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address inequalities in access to cardiovascular care, and how those actions will be reflected in the development on a new modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions of England. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has launched the ‘Inequalities Challenge’ for cardiovascular disease (CVD), investing £50 million into innovative new research to tackle preventable premature mortality from CVD and reduce inequalities across the United Kingdom.
In addition, the Elective Reform Plan identified cardiology as one of the main priority specialities for significant reform, including increasing specialist cardiology input earlier in patient care pathways, and improving access to cardiac diagnostic tests. These improvements will help standardise patient care, reduce inequalities and improve access to all stages of CVD care for patients across England.
The 10-Year Health Plan will help us to accelerate progress in addressing inequalities in access to CVD prevention and care by prioritising ambitious, evidence-led and clinically informed approaches. In 2026, we will publish a new CVD Modern Service Framework which will support consistent, high quality, equitable care and foster innovation across the CVD pathway.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a timeline for the development and implementation of a modern service framework for cardiovascular disease announced in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and the 10 Year-Health Plan sets out our intention to publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF). The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and the Department and NHS England are working closely to tackle one of the country’s biggest killers head on. We will say more on this in due course.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the details of a new modern service framework for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke and the 10 Year-Health Plan sets out our intention to publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF). The CVD MSF will be published in 2026, and the Department and NHS England are working closely to tackle one of the country’s biggest killers head on. We will say more on this in due course.