Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming Refreshed Workforce Plan will contain specific commitments to increase the number of neuro-oncologists in England.

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

We will provide an update on the 10 Year Workforce Plan in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to consult on the future of the NHS Health Check programme following the pilot of NHS Health Check Online.

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

The NHS Health Check Online is in the private Beta testing phase and is being piloted in local authorities across England. Insights from the testing phase will inform decisions on next steps such as whether further development is needed.

Department officials are considering opportunities to improve the NHS Health Check programme as part of ongoing policy work for the programme. We continue to engage with the programme’s dedicated Advisory Group and its Scientific and Clinical subgroup, ensuring expert advice is at the centre of any future proposals.

Alongside this, as announced in the recently published Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework, we have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Research to conduct an evidence review on the scope of the NHS Health Check to inform future policy decisions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what governance and monitoring arrangements are in place for delivering their commitment to universal fracture liaison service coverage in England by 2030; and whether those arrangements include implementation milestones, target dates and progress reporting.

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

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 1 September in response to Question HL2030, which, for ease of reference, is reproduced below.

Our 10-Year Health Plan is clear that the future National Health Service must be more preventative, more integrated, and deliver more care closer to home, including for people with osteoporosis.

The Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030, and we are clear that everyone at risk of fragility fractures should be able to benefit from high-quality, timely care that supports prevention, early intervention, and effective management. We are pursuing those goals across the whole pathway of fracture prevention, including improving access to diagnosis, supporting the adoption of effective treatments, and encouraging local systems to develop services that identify people at the highest risk of future fractures and intervene early.

Earlier this year, the Government announced £2.6 million of funding for 20 new DEXA bone density scanners across England. Tens of thousands of patients will benefit from faster access to bone scans as a result, helping to ensure that people with bone conditions, such as osteoporosis, get diagnosed earlier. This builds on the first wave of 13 DEXA scanners announced last year. In 2025, over 21,000 extra DEXA scans were delivered in England compared with 2024.

We continue to work closely with NHS England to improve access to fracture prevention services and to explore the best ways of supporting local systems to deliver high-quality care which meets the needs of their populations. The Government has been clear that integrated care boards are best placed to shape services for their localities and we have set expectations, through the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, that they should prioritise community-based models when commissioning new services.

Progress in this area can be monitored through activity and outcomes reported through the Fracture Liaison Service Database.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 30 June (HL570), whether all the guidance referred to has now been published by NHS England; and whether that published guidance covers accesses for which NHS England, general practices, or pharmacies are the responsible employers.

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

Stopping unlawful access to records - Guidance for health and care professionals has now been published on the NHS England website in an online-only format. It applies to any patient data, and to anyone working in the National Health Service, or under contract to the NHS, with the potential to access patient records.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to consult on further reforms to the NHS dental contract; and if so, when.

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

The Government is committed to fundamental contract reform by the end of this Parliament and this will include consulting on future proposals. We are continuing to engage with the sector on these reforms to scope potential changes. We will update on timelines for dental contract reform, including the details of the public consultation, in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the paper by Zhang X et al (2025, The Lancet Neurology), which states that current tools such as the EQ-5D do not adequately capture health-related quality of life in people with dementia and their carers.

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

The independent appraisal committee of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has examined whether EQ-5D is an appropriate way to assess quality of life for people with dementia and their carers, in the context of its ongoing appraisals of modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. NICE has also asked independent experts to review how the benefits for carers of people with Alzheimer’s disease are measured. The committee discussed these issues at its most recent meeting, on 8 July 2026, but the outcome of that meeting will remain confidential while the appraisal is ongoing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Health and Social Care on 12 March (HC118419), what criteria they use to define those in greatest need of dental services.

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

The main focus of our proposed reforms is on improving access for patients who require urgent access to dental treatment and those with complex care needs, such as significant tooth decay and gum disease.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the barriers to patient access for orphan medicines that do not meet the population size criteria for the Highly Specialised Technologies pathway.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) highly specialised technologies programme is reserved for the evaluation of a small number of medicines licensed for the treatment of very rare, very severe diseases. Most medicines, including most orphan medicines, are assessed through NICE’s standard technology appraisal (STA) programme. NICE has a strong track record of recommending medicines for rare diseases, and its STA process has been shown to be suitable for the evaluation of these medicines where companies engage constructively in the appraisal process and commercial discussions with NHS England.

The Government has recently announced a number of pilots and projects following the United States and United Kingdom partnership on pharmaceuticals that will shape a commercial environment that actively encourages innovation and improves patient access. As part of that work, NICE will review the approach to valuing rare disease medicines through its Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory. This research will consider both Technology Appraisal and Highly Specialised Technologies routes. The review will assess a range of both radical and incremental options to improve the current framework.

NICE has recently refined the criteria for its Highly Specialised Technologies programme and is now undertaking further work to review how rare disease medicines are valued, helping to ensure that its approaches remain appropriate and evidence based.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Standard Technology Appraisal (STA) pathway, in particular the STA methodology’s capacity to capture the clinical and societal value of orphan medicines which do not meet the population criteria for the Highly Specialised Technologies pathway.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) highly specialised technologies programme is reserved for the evaluation of a small number of medicines licensed for the treatment of very rare, very severe diseases. Most medicines, including most orphan medicines, are assessed through NICE’s standard technology appraisal (STA) programme. NICE has a strong track record of recommending medicines for rare diseases, and its STA process has been shown to be suitable for the evaluation of these medicines where companies engage constructively in the appraisal process and commercial discussions with NHS England.

The Government has recently announced a number of pilots and projects following the United States and United Kingdom partnership on pharmaceuticals that will shape a commercial environment that actively encourages innovation and improves patient access. As part of that work, NICE will review the approach to valuing rare disease medicines through its Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory. This research will consider both Technology Appraisal and Highly Specialised Technologies routes. The review will assess a range of both radical and incremental options to improve the current framework.

NICE has recently refined the criteria for its Highly Specialised Technologies programme and is now undertaking further work to review how rare disease medicines are valued, helping to ensure that its approaches remain appropriate and evidence based.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming Refreshed Workforce Plan will include a commitment that every neuro-oncology centre in England should have a funded clinical nurse specialist post.

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

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 4 September 2026 in response to Question HL2875, which, for ease of reference, is reproduced below.

We will provide an update on the 10 Year Workforce Plan in due course.