Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage patients with a learning disability to apply to be on their GP's learning disability register.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Being on a general practice’s (GP) learning disability register is crucial to ensuring that people receive the right support at the right time, including access to annual health checks. Our approach focuses both on encouraging eligible patients to join the register and on supporting GPs to identify and register people with a learning disability.
Work is currently underway to increase uptake, including encouraging children and young people to join the learning disability register at 14 years old, and to support people who do not have a confirmed learning disability diagnosis to access the register and appropriate services.
NHS England monitors uptake of the learning disability register and publishes data routinely. Information on the number of people on GP learning disability registers is in the table attached.
NHS England is also working with people with lived experience, clinical professionals, and commissioners to produce guidance on improving identification of learning disability and developing a quality framework setting expectations for annual health checks and health action plans. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, wrote to all GPs in October 2025, emphasising the importance of the learning disability register and the need to deliver high-quality annual health checks.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to make GPs aware of the learning disability register.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Being on a general practice’s (GP) learning disability register is crucial to ensuring that people receive the right support at the right time, including access to annual health checks. Our approach focuses both on encouraging eligible patients to join the register and on supporting GPs to identify and register people with a learning disability.
Work is currently underway to increase uptake, including encouraging children and young people to join the learning disability register at 14 years old, and to support people who do not have a confirmed learning disability diagnosis to access the register and appropriate services.
NHS England monitors uptake of the learning disability register and publishes data routinely. Information on the number of people on GP learning disability registers is in the table attached.
NHS England is also working with people with lived experience, clinical professionals, and commissioners to produce guidance on improving identification of learning disability and developing a quality framework setting expectations for annual health checks and health action plans. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, wrote to all GPs in October 2025, emphasising the importance of the learning disability register and the need to deliver high-quality annual health checks.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent disruption of cancer treatment for patients following imprisonment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions all services across the prison estate to be equivalent with those expected to be received in the community, including for cancer care.
All people received into prison have an initial health screen on arrival into prison. This assessment focuses on initial risks and key medicines required and any referrals to other services for immediate assessment. Any concerns regarding failures in cancer care for people in prison should be escalated by prison healthcare to the local National Health Service Health and Justice Commissioner.
NHS England expects all providers and healthcare professionals providing any NHS funded or commissioned service to have appropriate and relevant qualifications and work within the scope of their professional registration, including clinicians working to treat people in prison. Any women with a cancer diagnosis who require secondary or tertiary care should have access to these services as they would if they were in the community.
More information regarding assessments in relation to women diagnosed with cancer in prison can be found in the report, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published in November 2025 by Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer. A copy of this report is attached.
Through the National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, we are committed to supporting all people living with or recovering from cancer.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address any failures in cancer care arising from fragmented commissioning arrangements between NHS England, health and wellbeing boards and prison healthcare providers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions all services across the prison estate to be equivalent with those expected to be received in the community, including for cancer care.
All people received into prison have an initial health screen on arrival into prison. This assessment focuses on initial risks and key medicines required and any referrals to other services for immediate assessment. Any concerns regarding failures in cancer care for people in prison should be escalated by prison healthcare to the local National Health Service Health and Justice Commissioner.
NHS England expects all providers and healthcare professionals providing any NHS funded or commissioned service to have appropriate and relevant qualifications and work within the scope of their professional registration, including clinicians working to treat people in prison. Any women with a cancer diagnosis who require secondary or tertiary care should have access to these services as they would if they were in the community.
More information regarding assessments in relation to women diagnosed with cancer in prison can be found in the report, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published in November 2025 by Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer. A copy of this report is attached.
Through the National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, we are committed to supporting all people living with or recovering from cancer.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that women in prison with cancer (1) are treated by appropriately qualified clinicians, and (2) have consistent access to oncology specialists.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions all services across the prison estate to be equivalent with those expected to be received in the community, including for cancer care.
All people received into prison have an initial health screen on arrival into prison. This assessment focuses on initial risks and key medicines required and any referrals to other services for immediate assessment. Any concerns regarding failures in cancer care for people in prison should be escalated by prison healthcare to the local National Health Service Health and Justice Commissioner.
NHS England expects all providers and healthcare professionals providing any NHS funded or commissioned service to have appropriate and relevant qualifications and work within the scope of their professional registration, including clinicians working to treat people in prison. Any women with a cancer diagnosis who require secondary or tertiary care should have access to these services as they would if they were in the community.
More information regarding assessments in relation to women diagnosed with cancer in prison can be found in the report, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published in November 2025 by Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer. A copy of this report is attached.
Through the National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, we are committed to supporting all people living with or recovering from cancer.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce an implementation and accountability plan to monitor progress towards the delivery of 500,000 operations supported by robotics each year by 2035.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan commits to expanding robotic assisted surgery (RAS) adoption over the next decade. We will establish national registries for robotic surgery data from 2029 and telesurgery networks to support geographical equity of access of RAS. The national robotic surgery registry will support evidence generation, and will enable future reporting and decision making. Last year, NHS England published the first national guidance for the implementation of RAS in the National Health Service, offering guidance on procurement, commissioning, implementation, training, and evaluation.
A national steering committee, with representation from across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences, NHS Supply Chain, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is already in place to support the RAS programme to deliver Government commitments. This will help to set the pace and scale in relation to targets of RAS numbers. Decisions to offer RAS are agreed at an integrated care board and trust level, in line with local population need.
The Department and NHS England are working closely with NHS trusts and regions to understand the key barriers and facilitators to adoption. The RAS steering committee is working together to identify provider trusts and regional alliances that are planning further expansion of RAS.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether women diagnosed with cancer in prisons in England receive healthcare equivalent in quality, timeliness and continuity as that provided in the community.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions all services across the prison estate to be equivalent with those expected to be received in the community, including for cancer care.
All people received into prison have an initial health screen on arrival into prison. This assessment focuses on initial risks and key medicines required and any referrals to other services for immediate assessment. Any concerns regarding failures in cancer care for people in prison should be escalated by prison healthcare to the local National Health Service Health and Justice Commissioner.
NHS England expects all providers and healthcare professionals providing any NHS funded or commissioned service to have appropriate and relevant qualifications and work within the scope of their professional registration, including clinicians working to treat people in prison. Any women with a cancer diagnosis who require secondary or tertiary care should have access to these services as they would if they were in the community.
More information regarding assessments in relation to women diagnosed with cancer in prison can be found in the report, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published in November 2025 by Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer. A copy of this report is attached.
Through the National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, we are committed to supporting all people living with or recovering from cancer.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the Innovative Medicines Fund budget was spent in each of past two financial years as (1) total spend, and (2) a percentage of the overall budget.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF), established in June 2022, provides time‑limited access to innovative non‑cancer medicines while further evidence is generated to address uncertainties identified by the NICE appraisal committee. Following a managed access period of up to five years, NICE reviews the updated evidence to determine whether the medicine should be routinely commissioned by the NHS.
NHS England spent £2 million on drugs funded through the IMF in both 2023/24 and 2024/25. This is 0.6% of the £340 million allocated to the IMF.
In the 2025/26 financial year to date, IMF expenditure has been £18 million, 5.3% of allocated funds. Any underspend on medicines funded through the IMF is diverted to other specialised services.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (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 suitability of current diagnostic standards for Alzheimer's disease in promoting early and accurate diagnosis.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that a timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well and remain independent for as long as possible.
We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care. The commission is underway and phase one will report this year. The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support. Central to this modern service framework will be improved access to a timely and accurate diagnosis. We are considering all options to help reduce variation, including reviewing standards, metrics, and targets.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the interim targets for (1) 2027, (2) 2028, and (3) 2029, in the course of meeting the commitment of 500,000 operations supported by robotics each year by 2035.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan commits to expanding robotic assisted surgery (RAS) adoption over the next decade. We will establish national registries for robotic surgery data from 2029 and telesurgery networks to support geographical equity of access of robotic assisted surgery. The national robotic surgery registry will support evidence generation, future reporting, and decision making. Last year, NHS England published the first national guidance for the implementation of RAS in the National Health Service, offering guidance on procurement, commissioning, implementation, training, and evaluation.
A national steering committee, with representation from across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences, NHS Supply Chain, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is already in place to support the RAS programme to deliver Government commitments. This will help to set the pace and scale in relation to targets of RAS numbers. Decisions to offer robotic assisted surgery are agreed at an integrated care board and trust level, in line with local population need.
The Department and NHS England are working closely with NHS trusts and regions to understand the key barriers and facilitators to adoption. The RAS steering committee is working together to identify provider trusts and regional alliances that are planning further expansion of RAS.