Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many deaths attributable to antibiotic-resistant infections occurred in England in each of the last five years; and of those how many occurred on the NHS estate.

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

The information requested is not held or routinely published.

The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) publishes surveillance data on antibiotic-resistant infections, including estimates of 30-day all-cause mortality following resistant bloodstream infections. However, these figures are not a measure of deaths attributable to antimicrobial resistance and should not be interpreted as deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant infections. This surveillance data is available on the GOV.UK website.

The UKHSA publishes case-fatality statistics for healthcare-associated infections, which are available on the GOV.UK website, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. However, these cannot be used to determine deaths attributable to antibiotic resistance because they do not distinguish the effect of resistance from other factors such as underlying illness, age, comorbidities, or the infection itself.

There is no breakdown of the statistics by National Health Service estate.

The ESPAUR’s 2024 to 2025 report included a breakdown by hospital- and community-onset infection but did not include place of death and cannot determine the proportion of deaths occurring in hospital.

The UKHSA is now developing the capability to produce annual estimates of deaths attributable to antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections as part of the United Kingdom’s 2024 to 2029 national action plan for antimicrobial resistance, which is available on the GOV.UK website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 2 June (HLWS82), which stated £2.8 million in capital funding will be made available to strengthen and expand provision of focal therapy for prostate cancer, what projects will be funded.

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

The investment in focal therapies, announced on 2 June 2026, will strengthen existing provision in line with the expansion of the TRANSFORM trial for prostate cancer screening.

Any expansion of focal therapy provision to new sites will include appropriate clinical and market engagement. Officials at the Department are working closely with clinicians and researchers to optimise the planned investment of up to £2.8 million in focal therapy. Further details of this investment will be announced 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 impact on patients of increasing wait times for NHS community services.

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

We know that people are waiting too long for community services. That is why, for the first time, we have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.

In 2025, we published Standardising Community Health Services which provides an overview of core community health services. Setting clear expectations of the core community health services, integrated care boards will support consistent delivery of community health services and effective commissioning, and will improve patient access to care.

NHS England works with local systems, including integrated care boards, to manage demand and mitigate the impact of waiting times on patients, particularly in areas of highest clinical risk. Community health services waiting time data is monitored nationally through NHS England's monthly Community Health Services Situation Report.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impacts of untreated ADHD and neurodivergence.

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

The Government is deeply concerned that too many adults, children, and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism are not getting the support they need early enough, consistently enough, or in ways that are well matched to their needs. There is a range of cross-Government work underway that is examining the impacts of neurodevelopmental conditions on health, education, and employment, and how people can be supported earlier and more effectively.

In December 2025, the Government launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.

We are also committed to transforming outcomes for children, young people, and their families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through pivotal reforms. We want these reforms to support the treatment to prevention shift in our 10-Year Health Plan and its focus on early identification of needs, support, and intervention, enabling more children to access support and thrive in inclusive mainstream settings.

Central to this is the new Experts at Hand offer, backed by £1.8 billion over three years, which will bring health and education professionals around mainstream settings. Alongside this, £1.6 billion will be invested over the next three years to make the mainstream system more inclusive, building on the latest evidence and practice. By 2028, up to £15 million will have been invested to build the evidence base for, and then provide, national inclusion standards. These will set out, for the first time, what support should be available in every mainstream setting. We will also refresh areas of need, update guidance on reasonable adjustments, and revise the SEND Code of Practice.

The Timms Review, the first review of the Personal Independence Payment benefit, is examining how it can better support disabled people to live independently and access the right support at the right level. The review is due to report in the autumn. Additionally, the Milburn Review on Young People and Work is examining how health conditions can affect participation in education, employment, and training, and the implications for welfare dependency. It published its interim report on 28 May, with the final report due to be published later this year.

The Government will consider the findings of these reviews to inform future Government decisions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the total economic costs of ADHD and neurodivergence; and what assessment they have made of how this cost could be addressed through improved treatment.

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

The Government itself has not made an overall economic assessment of the impact of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and neurodivergence. However, the independent ADHD Taskforce, which reported in 2025, reported that currently the estimated economic costs of not treating ADHD are approximately £17 billion to the United Kingdom’s economy. Three relevant ongoing reviews will help the Government better understand the issues and how they could be addressed.

The Government announced on 4 December 2025 the launch of an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.

The next stage of the review will look at service design and how services might respond more effectively to rising need, including the role of earlier intervention, community-based provision, and more integrated pathways across health, education, and other public services. The review will also look at the question of what role the private sector plays in diagnostic services.

The Timms Review, the first review of the Personal Independence Payment benefit, is examining how it can better support disabled people to live independently and access the right support at the right level. It published its interim report on 15 July 2026, with the final review due to report in the autumn. Additionally, the Milburn Review on Young People and Work is examining how health conditions, including ADHD and autism, can affect participation in education, employment, and training, and the implications for welfare dependency. It published its interim report on 28 May, with the final report due to be published later this year. The Government will consider the findings from these reviews, alongside those of the Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what record is made at each stage of the criminal justice system of whether an individual has ADHD or another neurodevelopmental condition; and whether that record is linked to health, education, or employment records.

Answered by Baroness Levitt

The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving support for neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, across the criminal justice system.

We recognise the importance of early identification of individuals’ needs. As part of the Neurodiversity Action Plan, HMCTS has developed a signposting strategy to help court and tribunal users with additional needs to access support. HMPPS take a needs-led approach to supporting neurodivergent individuals and now screens all prisoners upon arrival. It has introduced a new Additional Learning Needs screener as part of the new Prisoner Education Service. This allows HMPPS to identify any needs and inform appropriate support and reasonable adjustments in order to help prisoners engage with education, skills, work and rehabilitation opportunities.

We continue to work with partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the Health and Justice National Neurodiversity Programme Board, building on progress highlighted in the final update to the Cross-Government Neurodiversity Action Plan, published in February 2026. Our approach draws on the wider recommendations of NHS England's Independent ADHD taskforce and the Chief Medical officer's report on the health of people in prison and on probation, which included a focus on neurodiversity. We have no current plans to establish a separate Taskforce.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to create a dedicated taskforce to transform how ADHD and neurodivergence are supported across the criminal justice system.

Answered by Baroness Levitt

The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving support for neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, across the criminal justice system.

We recognise the importance of early identification of individuals’ needs. As part of the Neurodiversity Action Plan, HMCTS has developed a signposting strategy to help court and tribunal users with additional needs to access support. HMPPS take a needs-led approach to supporting neurodivergent individuals and now screens all prisoners upon arrival. It has introduced a new Additional Learning Needs screener as part of the new Prisoner Education Service. This allows HMPPS to identify any needs and inform appropriate support and reasonable adjustments in order to help prisoners engage with education, skills, work and rehabilitation opportunities.

We continue to work with partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the Health and Justice National Neurodiversity Programme Board, building on progress highlighted in the final update to the Cross-Government Neurodiversity Action Plan, published in February 2026. Our approach draws on the wider recommendations of NHS England's Independent ADHD taskforce and the Chief Medical officer's report on the health of people in prison and on probation, which included a focus on neurodiversity. We have no current plans to establish a separate Taskforce.

Found: Lord Faulkner of Worcester Baroness Hollins Lord Johnson of Marylebone Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Lord Mott

Found: Lord Faulkner of Worcester Baroness Hollins Lord Johnson of Marylebone Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Lord Mott