Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to attract people with medical skills from overseas to settle in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas, who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.
The Health and Care Worker visa offers a reduced visa fee, faster processing times, and an exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge to eligible overseas health and social care workers who wish to work in the United Kingdom.
National Health Service employers work at a local level to ensure they have the workforce they need, which includes making decisions about recruiting internationally educated healthcare professionals.
However, the Government also remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our NHS. Following publication of our 10-Year Health Plan, we will produce a refreshed workforce plan, setting out how we will train and provide the staff that the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities and treat them on time again.
The Immigration White Paper sets out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control, and fairness to the system, bring down net migration, and promote economic growth. The changes set out include a complete overhaul of the relationship between the immigration system, training, and the labour market, to support sustainable growth as well as a sustainable immigration system.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial consequences of ending the overseas care worker visa route; and how many vacancies are likely to arise in the care sector as a result.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department considered the potential impact of the Immigration White Paper (IWP) as part of its assessment to inform the Spending Review. The Home Office made an assessment in the technical annex of the IWP that closing the route could by reduce net migration by 7,000 people per year. As a guide to scale, there were nearly one million filled posts for care workers and senior care workers in the sector in 2023/24. Therefore, while the Department does not project the number of vacancies advertised by independent providers in the adult social care (ASC) sector, any direct impact on capacity is likely to be limited. This is partly because there will be a transition period until 2028, to be kept under review, where in-country switching for those already in the United Kingdom will continue to be permitted.
The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding for ASC in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. This includes additional grant funding, growth in other sources of income available to support ASC, and an increase to the National Health Service contribution to ASC via the Better Care Fund compared to 2025/26. The Department continues to monitor ASC workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool, and intelligence from key sector partners. The Department primarily uses filled posts as the most accurate measure of ASC workforce capacity rather than the number of vacancies. As vacancies are the total number of posts advertised by the ASC sector’s independent and competing providers, they don’t reflect the number of workers required to meet ASC needs and are not necessarily a good indicator of capacity pressures.
In England, as per the Care Act (2014), it is the responsibility of local government to develop a market that delivers a wide range of sustainable high-quality care and support services, that will be available to their communities. English local authorities have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet ASC needs, and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in ASC.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to combat vaccine hesitancy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes research to understand how people experience vaccine services, their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety, and disease severity, and how these may influence vaccine uptake decision-making. This evidence helps to assess public confidence in national vaccination programmes, guide programme management, and support the creation of vaccine information materials in multiple languages and accessible formats.
The Government is committed to having high uptake in all vaccination programmes and has an established independent scientific advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which is responsible for advising United Kingdom health departments on immunisations for the prevention of infections and/or disease.
The UKHSA has also established a forum bringing together the four UK nations together to review factors impacting uptake, to identify actions and shared learning to improve access to services, and to address other potential barriers.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of (1) measles, (2) whooping cough, (3) mumps, (4) rubella, and (5) polio, were recorded in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) routinely published data on laboratory confirmed cases of measles, mumps, rubella, and pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in 2022, 2023, and 2024:
Disease | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
Measles | 2,911 | 367 | 53 |
Mumps | 137 | 161 | 59 |
Rubella | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pertussis | 14,894 | 856 | 68 |
The United Kingdom was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in 2003. The last case of natural polio infection acquired in the UK was in 1984.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rate of closure of pharmacies; and what steps they are taking to help pharmacies to remain financially viable.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system, and the Government recognises the integral role they play within our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.
For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
There has been a reduction in the number of pharmacies since 2017, as there are over 1,300 fewer than in 2017, and over 550 fewer than two years ago. However, access to pharmacies in England remains good. Over 80% of the population lives within one mile of a pharmacy. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 NHS online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver prescription medicines free of charge to patients.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of GLP-1 drugs on combatting and preventing disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for licensing medicines, such as GLP-1s, based on an assessment of their safety, quality, and efficacy. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) then appraises licensed medicines based on an assessment of their clinical and cost-effectiveness, and makes recommendations on whether they can be recommended for routine use on the National Health Service. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance.
The MHRA only assesses medicines within the indications for which companies submit evidence. Any extension of a medicine’s licence to cover additional indications would require a separate evidence submission. Similarly, the NICE only appraises medicines within their licensed indications.
There are a number of GLP-1s licensed for use in weight management, type 2 diabetes, and for cardiovascular risk reduction for adults who are overweight or obese. The NICE has recommended them as a clinically and cost effective option, when prescribed alongside diet, physical activity, and behavioural support, to support some people living with obesity to lose weight. For those living with obesity, weight loss can provide significant health benefits, reducing the risk of developing certain diseases as well as improving the management of some existing weight related conditions.
There is also research exploring the role of GLP-1 drugs for the treatment and prevention of wider diseases, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer, and health related behaviours, including alcohol and nicotine intake. The MHRA and the NICE will consider the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of any wider use of GLP-1 medicines should evidence be submitted to them.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of lawyers to the public purse in medical negligence cases in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The following table shows the payments made for clinical negligence claims from 2021/22 to 2023/24:
| Financial year payment raised | NHS defendant legal costs | Claimant legal costs | Total legal costs | Compensation | Total payments including legal costs and compensation |
| 2021/22 | £156,935,099 | £470,094,066 | £627,029,165 | £1,777,234,356 | £2,404,263,521 |
| 2022/23 | £159,982,259 | £489,706,081 | £649,688,340 | £1,985,073,662 | £2,634,762,002 |
| 2023/24 | £166,889,578 | £545,140,258 | £712,029,836 | £2,112,384,509 | £2,824,414,344 |
Notes:
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the NHS in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years, and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
The causes of the overall cost rise are complex and there is no single fix, as costs are likely to be rising because of a range of factors, including higher compensation payments and legal costs, rather than more claims or a decline in patient safety.
We recognise that this is an important issue, and ministers intend to look at all the drivers of cost.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - 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 patient demand for antibiotics from pharmacists; and what action, if any, they are taking to reduce this.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under Pharmacy First, pharmacists can supply prescription-only medicines, including some antibiotics, under Patient Group Directions (PGDs). PGDs are strict protocols that allow certain healthcare professionals to supply prescription-only medicines in very specific circumstances and without a prescription from a general practitioner. The service design was informed by best practice with input from an expert panel of clinicians.
The impacts of the service are being assessed via multiple routes. As part of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2025/26, participating contractors will be expected to complete a clinical audit, focusing on the clinical advice and consultations provided to patients. NHS England has completed a review of the Pharmacy First service. The National Institute of Health and Care Research has commissioned research to assess the impact, safety, and effectiveness of Pharmacy First. NHS England will keep the clinical scope of the service under review.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect NHS services and patients from the development of drug-resistant pathogens.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pathogens develop resistance to antimicrobial treatments, such as antibiotics, through inappropriate use and unintentional exposure through the environment and our food. This is driving rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and is creating a generation of ‘superbugs’ that cannot be treated with existing medicines and treatments, leading to longer hospital stays and more complex treatment pathways.
The Government’s UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029, a copy of which is attached, is committed to reducing the rate of drug-resistant infections and AMR through a series of commitments that aim to reduce the need for, and unintentional exposure to, antimicrobials. This aims to preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials. The national action plan also commits to meeting specific targets to reduce drug-resistant infections by 2029, including preventing their increase in humans and any increase in gram-negative bloodstream infections from the specified 2019/20 financial year baseline.
NHS England implements its responsibilities under the national action plan through a set of workstreams, each with responsibility for a set of these commitments. The central AMR programme team within NHS England works with partners within the UK Health Security Agency and the Department to co-ordinate and ensure delivery. Regional NHS England leads work with integrated care boards to advise on, and support actions locally, to reduce infection and the need for antimicrobials.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to other governments regarding the importance of international action to promote the uptake of vaccinations.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom continues to be the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that works to ensure that 54 of the world’s poorest countries have affordable access to life-saving vaccines. We are providing a further £1.65 billion in financing for the period covering 2026 to 2030.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works in partnership with the devolved administrations to deliver on our commitments to the global elimination of vaccine preventable diseases such as polio, measles, rubella, hepatitis B and C. The UKHSA collaborates closely with international partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), on a range of activities aimed at strengthening routine immunisation programmes and improving uptake.
The UKHSA holds a mandatory role in the WHO’s Expanded Programmes for Immunization to ensure that all children, in all countries, benefit from life-saving vaccines, and is also contributing to work in the European Immunization Agenda 2030. The UKHSA also collaborates with international partners on relevant research, for example the Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region – Engaging Underserved communities project.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, sponsored by the Department, supports international work to improve the development of evidence-based advice on vaccination. This includes representation on the global National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) steering committee, and through bilateral and multi-lateral communication with NITAGs globally.