Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many days since 1 October 2023 has there been a negative daily change in the count of people with an NHS national data opt-out; and why negative figures are not visible in the NHS National Data Opt-Out Dashboard.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Negative daily change figures are visible on the National Data Opt-Out dashboard. Between 1 October 2023 and 14 July 2026, the latest dashboard update, there have been 278 days with a negative daily change in the count of people with a National Data Opt-Out according to the dashboard.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government since the publication of the Report of the Task and Finish Working Group on Brain Tumour Research in 2018, which individual, role or body has held responsibility for improving outcomes for patients with brain cancer across government departments, NHS bodies, regulators, research funders and delivery organisations; against which outcome measures, including survival, that responsibility has been assessed; and what the annual value of each such measure has been since the publication of that report.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided in the House of Commons on 15 June in response to Question 7745, which, for ease of reference, is reproduced below.
The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and provide regular updates to ministers.
To hold us accountable across these commitments, and to drive forward progress for rare cancer patients, we will appoint a National Clinical Lead for Rare Cancers, who will bring accountability, to oversee performance against the rare cancers commitments in the plan, including for brain cancer. They will sit on the reformed National Cancer Board and will play an important advisory role in supporting and monitoring delivery of the commitments set out in the National Cancer Plan. This role is separate to the National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers appointed under the Rare Cancers Act 2026, which will be based in the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Research Delivery Network and will support research delivery for rare cancers.
The National Cancer Plan contains a specific rare cancers ambition: by 2035 England will be in the top quartile internationally for survival outcomes across 14 less common cancers, supported by National Clinical Lead for Rare Cancers.
The Department invests over £1.8 billion each year on research through the NIHR. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.
We are committed to furthering our investment in brain cancer research and have already taken steps to stimulate scientific progress and build scientific capacity to do research on brain cancer. For example, in December 2025 an initial NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium award of £13.7 million was confirmed. In January 2026, the NIHR announced further investment of a minimum of £11.7 million in the Consortium through the funding of work packages. This brings the Consortium funding to over £25 million over its lifespan.
It is not the usual process of the NIHR to ringfence funds for research into specific conditions. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain cancer. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials, and innovative, lifesaving treatments through the NIHR.
As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan and reinforced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, the Department is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up, to under 150 days, with the aim of increasing access to patients and making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials.
Data published in April 2026 shows that the median average set-up time for commercial interventional trials in the first six months of 2025/26 was 122 days, down from 169 days in the same period last year.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much UK debt is linked to the retail prices index; and what assessment they have made of how this compares to the debt of other G7 countries.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the 2026-27 Debt Management Report, when determining the annual financing remit the Government issues an appropriate balance of conventional and index-linked gilts, with the latter linked to the Retail Prices Index. In determining this mix, the Government considers the level of structural demand, the diversity of the investor base and its preferences for inflation exposure.
The report shows that the stock of index-linked gilts stood at around £668 billion at the end of 2025 in nominal uplifted terms, equivalent to around 25.2% of the Government's debt portfolio. The proportion of index linked debt in the Government's wholesale debt portfolio is higher than other G7 countries, largely due to the historical high level of structural demand for such instruments, from pension funds in particular.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rates that the UK pays on 10-year and 30-year bonds compared to other G7 countries; and what analysis they have done on the reason why the UK pays higher rates on bonds than other countries.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on financial market movements. Last year borrowing fell 1 percentage point (over £20 billion) to its lowest level in six years. The IMF have forecast that, between 2025-2030, the UK will be reducing the deficit by more than any other G7 or G20 country.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the rates of interest on UK government debt.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on financial market movements. Last year borrowing fell 1 percentage point (over £20 billion) to its lowest level in six years. The IMF have forecast that, between 2025-2030, the UK will be reducing the deficit by more than any other G7 or G20 country.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new brain cancer treatments in each year since 2018 (1) entered a clinical trial in the United Kingdom, (2) obtained a United Kingdom marketing authorisation, (3) became routinely available on the NHS, and (4) were prescribed to NHS patients; what proportion of patients diagnosed with brain cancer were recruited into a clinical trial; and which individual, role or body has responsibility for these measures.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information for the first and third points mentioned is not held centrally. In relation to the second point, one new brain cancer treatment has received marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency since 2018. This was vorasidenib, which was granted marketing authorisation in September 2025. In relation to the fourth point, the following table shows the total number of items in each calendar year from January 2018 to June 2026 that were dispensed in England regardless of where prescribed, based on the information within the Prescription Costs Analysis for the British National Formulary chemical substances of dabrafenib, trametinib, and vorasidenib:
BNF Chemical Substance | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2023 | 2024 |
Dabrafenib | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Trametinib | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).
Note: NHSBSA does not hold information on patient condition or reasons for why the drug has been prescribed.
No data is available where the year or chemical substance is not included.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are satisfied that the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board is following national guidelines in prescribing T3 to patients who do not respond to Levothyroxine monotherapy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB) recognises the importance of ensuring that local prescribing policies and formulary guidance are consistent with relevant national guidance, including NHS England's advice for prescribers for liothyronine, also known as T3, from August 2023, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline Thyroid disease: assessment and management, reference code NG145. NHS England's guidance recognises that while levothyroxine remains the standard treatment for hypothyroidism, a small proportion of patients who continue to experience symptoms despite adequate levothyroxine treatment may be considered for liothyronine following specialist assessment by a National Health Service consultant endocrinologist.
The ICB has previously acknowledged the need for local formulary wording to be clear and aligned with NHS England guidance and has undertaken review work to ensure that local guidance appropriately reflects the role of specialist assessment, individualised clinical decision-making, and shared care arrangements where clinically appropriate.
NHS Dorset continues to review prescribing arrangements to ensure they are informed by specialist endocrinology advice and seek to support safe, evidence-based, and patient-centred care. Prescribing decisions for individual patients are made by appropriately qualified clinicians based on clinical need, specialist advice, patient preference, and the available evidence. NHS Dorset supports clinicians in exercising professional judgement.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to their consultation on Biodiversity net gain: considering a targeted exemption for brownfield residential development, which closed on 10 June.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Responses are currently being analysed and the Government response to the brownfield Biodiversity net gain consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will ensure that when conducting framework tenders for medical devices in England, NHS Supply Chain refrains from introducing maximum pricing thresholds and fully adopts the recently-launched value-based procurement national standard guidance.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Supply Chain (NHSSC) is fully committed to the adoption of value-based procurement (VBP) and has moved to a comply or explain model for future frameworks. NHSSC considers the application of pricing threshold approaches on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specific market dynamics at play. NHSSC does not currently, and does not intend to, apply thresholds to all framework tenders. The Department is continuing to work with NHSSC on the application of VBP to future frameworks.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (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 16 July (HL1674), what estimate have they made of public expenditure on glioblastoma, astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma between 2015–16 and 2024–25, identifying separately NIHR, UKRI, MRC, attributed infrastructure expenditure and other public funding; stating what proportion of each figure derives from attributed infrastructure expenditure; and what proportion of total public expenditure each tumour type represents.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Noble Lord Hunt to the answers provided on 15 July in response to Question HL1677 and 16 July in response to Question HL1674.
Further to the answer provided on 15 July in response to Question HL1677, over eight years, from 2018/19 to 2025/26, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) committed £66.3 million to brain tumour research. UKRI also supported 93 studentships over this period. All associated work packages for the National Institute for Health and Care Research Brain Tumour Research Consortium have now been fully executed.
The information requested is not held by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Information on trials supported through the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) can be found on their website. The platform is designed to be company and clinical trial agnostic so any company can contact the CVLP to explore how the platform can support their research.
Other information is not available as it is not held in the format requested or is not held centrally.