Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government which probation service areas in England provide women only arrangements at dedicated times of the week in their reception facilities.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

All probation regions in England provide women-only arrangements. The impact of partnerships, geography and environmental variables mean that these arrangements comprise of a mixture of dedicated times, trauma informed spaces and co-location with partner agencies to create women-only environments.

The Women’s Policy Framework (2024) sets out our shared HM Prison and Probation Service principles for working with women in the criminal justice system to enable better outcomes, ensuring that staff are supported, and the work is evidence based.

The document includes the options of being supervised by a female probation practitioner; being seen in a women-only environment; and not being placed in what would otherwise be an all-male work environment when undertaking Unpaid Work as part of a community order, or when undertaking any group work.

The Probation Service is working to increase the availability of women-only reporting spaces, either within probation offices or where co-located with partner agencies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many integrated care boards currently have a lead non-executive director with specialist mental health experiences, as required in guidance published under the Health and Care Act 2022.

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

The Health and Care Act 2022 requires that one “ordinary” integrated care board (ICB) board member, excluding the Chair or Chief Executive, must have “knowledge and experience in connection with services relating to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness”. All ICBs must comply with this legal requirement, but neither the Department nor NHS England collects this information.

Guidance for ICBs is available on the NHS.UK website in an online only format, and states that “the chair must exercise their approval function of the ordinary members with a view to ensuring that at least one of the ordinary members has knowledge and experience in connection with services relating to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness”. For the ICB to achieve ongoing compliance with this requirement, the constitution should include a board position that can only be filled by candidates who meet these criteria:

• a partner member, jointly nominated by all trusts/foundation trusts, and this must be an additional partner member to the one required as a minimum by the act;
• an ‘other’ board member, that is, not jointly nominated but likewise normally a mental health trust/foundation trust chief executive; and
• an ICB executive director for mental health.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the proposed population base for each Neighbourhood Health Service in the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service that moves care closer to home. The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle, that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.

Neighbourhood Health Services will bring together teams of professionals closer to people’s home, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors and more, to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that meets the needs of local populations. Rather than applying a rigid, one-size fits all model, the population base for Neighbourhood Health Services is intentionally flexible and locally determined. The geography of a ‘neighbourhood’ will be determined locally by integrated care boards in partnership with their strategic partners, particularly local authorities.

The plan introduces two new contracts, including one to create multi-neighbourhood providers covering populations of approximately 250,000 people, that will unlock the advantages and efficiencies possible from greater scale working across all general practices and small neighbourhood providers in their footprint.

In the future, there will also be neighbourhood health plans drawn up by local government, the National Health Service, and its partners. The integrated care board will bring together these plans into a population health improvement plan for their footprint and use it to inform commissioning decisions.

To support the delivery and spread of neighbourhood health, we have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). The NNHIP will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many palliative care beds are currently provided by (1) the NHS, (2) charities and (3) the private sector, in each region of England.

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

Palliative care and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches provided through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the National Health Service, social care, and voluntary sector organisations. Therefore, the number of beds specifically used for palliative care is difficult to measure as relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as such.

We do not hold central data on the number of palliative care beds provided by the NHS, charities, or the private sector in any region of England. Charitable and private sector palliative care and end of life care providers, including most hospices in England, are independent and autonomous organisations, and as such, they are not legally required to share such information with the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many palliative care beds are provided in (1) hospices, and (2) NHS Hospital Trusts, in each integrated care board area in England.

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

We do not hold data centrally on the number of palliative care beds provided by hospices and National Health Service hospital trusts in each integrated care board area in England.

Charitable and private sector palliative care and end of life care providers, including most hospices in England, are independent and autonomous organisations, and as such, they are not legally required to share such information with the Department.

Palliative care and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches provided through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the NHS, social care, and voluntary sector organisations. Therefore, the number of beds specifically used for palliative care within NHS hospital trusts is difficult to measure as the relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as such.

Submit Evidence (by 29 Sep 2025)

Equal access to justice is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and it is vital that everyone involved at each stage in any criminal case is presented with a fair and accurate account of evidential proceedings. Transcripts are produced by the police and outsourced companies as a public service to the courts. They provide a written record of a police interview with a suspect or witness or to help in understanding unclear audio material.

Submit Evidence (by 23 Sep 2025)

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