Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) number, and (2) percentage, of NHS acute providers (a) have been in deficit in each of the past three years, and (b) are projected to be in deficit at the end of the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, 60 National Health Service acute trusts reported a deficit, which is the equivalent to 49% of acute trusts. In 2023/24, 75 NHS acute trusts reported a deficit, which is the equivalent to 61% of acute trusts. In 2024/25, 74 NHS acute trusts reported a deficit, which is the equivalent to 62% of acute trusts. Looking ahead to 2025/26, at month 11, 61 NHS acute trusts are forecasting a year‑end deficit, which is the equivalent to 51% of acute trusts.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the potential use of artificial intelligence benchmarking to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy when used to treat prostate cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to looking for opportunities to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in cancer services to speed up diagnosis, improve treatment efficacy, and reduce treatment side effects where possible. We have demonstrated this commitment through a £133 million investment in the AI in Health and Care Award, which has funded innovations relevant to prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment that align with the NHS Long Term Plan.
While AI is already being used to support diagnostic and treatment pathways, any future use of AI intended to further improve radiotherapy services, will be carefully evaluated to ensure safety, efficacy, and clinical benefit and benchmarked against existing standards and approaches.
The Government’s recently published National Cancer Plan sets out how we will modernise the National Health Service and utilise AI to support faster radiotherapy planning, provide more accurate contouring, improve productivity, and free up clinicians’ time to focus on patient care. Over the next decade, we will harness AI to help the NHS to deliver more personalised and responsive cancer care.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional (1) general practitioners, and (2) other primary care staff, are expected to be recruited as a result of the creation of neighbourhood health centres in each of the next three years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neighbourhood health services will bring together integrated neighbourhood teams of professionals and partners closer to people’s home. Tens of thousands of patients in England will benefit from improved healthcare on their doorstep, as the Government rolls out the first 27 neighbourhood health centres, bringing more services into the community.
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to training thousands more general practices (GPs). Thanks to actions taken by the Government, we have the highest number of fully qualified GPs since 2015, and steps are being taken to grow the GP workforce further. We have expanded GP training places by 250, taking the total number of available places to 4,250 for 2025/26, and we plan to expand this again for 2026/27.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a maternity strategy following the conclusion of the Independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has advised that the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation will publish its final report and recommendations in June 2026.
The Government has launched a new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The taskforce will address the recommendations of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation by developing a new national action plan. This action plan will set out the Government’s strategic approach to driving improvements across maternity and neonatal care.
The taskforce will hold the system to account for implementing the plan, improving outcomes and experiences, and reducing inequalities for women, babies and families.
We want to end the cycle of recommendations that do not deliver the change that we know is needed.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how measures in the National Cancer Plan for England, published on 4 February, will help to develop a standard of care for recurrent glioblastoma.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that survival rates are too low for rarer cancers, such as brain cancers, and that there are currently limited treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with brain tumours.
The National Cancer Plan (NCP) has set comprehensive measures to drive up cancer survival rates and improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with rarer and less common cancers such as glioblastoma. These measures include speeding up diagnosis and treatment to meet the cancer standards, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology though innovative projects, expanding access to genomic testing to diagnose and support more personalised treatment approaches, and reducing variation in access to cancer care so patients receive timely diagnosis and treatment from wherever they live.
Patients with rare cancers will also benefit from a move to specialist multi-disciplinary teams, that cover multiple providers. This will allow them to benefit from the input of specialist centres and so access to the best evidence-based care.
To meet its obligations for rare cancers, including brain tumours, the Government will appoint a new national clinical lead for rare cancers. This national clinical lead will have a clear mandate to speak up for rare cancers, and to provide clinical advice and support for the delivery of the actions in the plan.
The NCP further included a commitment to reduce the number of rare cancers, including brain tumours, being diagnosed in emergency settings. Brain cancers cannot be staged like other cancers and are subsequently not included in current early diagnosis measures. The National Health Service in England will improve on this system by regularly publishing early diagnosis data for brain tumours, incentivising systems to focus on these cancers.
The successful implementation of this plan will mean that three in every four people diagnosed in 2035 will be cancer-free or living well with cancer after five years. That translates to 320,000 more lives saved over the course of this plan, and the fastest rate of improvement this century.
Finally, the Government also backed the launch of RECURRENT‑GB, a new nationwide trial exploring whether surgery can improve the quality of life for patients when glioblastoma comes back after treatment commenced and is backed by £1.98 million of National Institute of Health and Research funding.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the measures in the National Cancer Plan for England, published on 4 February, will improve the survival of patients with glioblastoma.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that survival rates are too low for rarer cancers, such as brain cancers, and that there are currently limited treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with brain tumours.
The National Cancer Plan (NCP) has set comprehensive measures to drive up cancer survival rates and improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with rarer and less common cancers such as glioblastoma. These measures include speeding up diagnosis and treatment to meet the cancer standards, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology though innovative projects, expanding access to genomic testing to diagnose and support more personalised treatment approaches, and reducing variation in access to cancer care so patients receive timely diagnosis and treatment from wherever they live.
Patients with rare cancers will also benefit from a move to specialist multi-disciplinary teams, that cover multiple providers. This will allow them to benefit from the input of specialist centres and so access to the best evidence-based care.
To meet its obligations for rare cancers, including brain tumours, the Government will appoint a new national clinical lead for rare cancers. This national clinical lead will have a clear mandate to speak up for rare cancers, and to provide clinical advice and support for the delivery of the actions in the plan.
The NCP further included a commitment to reduce the number of rare cancers, including brain tumours, being diagnosed in emergency settings. Brain cancers cannot be staged like other cancers and are subsequently not included in current early diagnosis measures. The National Health Service in England will improve on this system by regularly publishing early diagnosis data for brain tumours, incentivising systems to focus on these cancers.
The successful implementation of this plan will mean that three in every four people diagnosed in 2035 will be cancer-free or living well with cancer after five years. That translates to 320,000 more lives saved over the course of this plan, and the fastest rate of improvement this century.
Finally, the Government also backed the launch of RECURRENT‑GB, a new nationwide trial exploring whether surgery can improve the quality of life for patients when glioblastoma comes back after treatment commenced and is backed by £1.98 million of National Institute of Health and Research funding.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the National Cancer Plan for England on 4 February, what steps they will take to make at-home prostate-specific antigen testing available to all men in high-risk groups.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan is a key part of our work to build a National Health Service fit for the future, and it sets out how we will make England a world leader in cancer outcomes. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and the Government is taking this issue seriously.
However, there are currently no clinically validated and reliable at-home prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests that are suitable for use in the NHS by asymptomatic men in any risk category.
In addition, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which advises ministers on all screening matters, recently closed a 12-week public consultation on a draft recommendation to offer targeted screening for prostate cancer in men with variants of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, every two years from the age of 45 to 61 years old, but advising against screening for other high risk groups due to either an absence of evidence, or evidence that shows that doing so would do more harm than good.
We expect the UK NSC to make a final recommendation soon. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will then consider the advice, make a decision, and determine the next steps. This includes access to PSA testing.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings in the report by Magic Breakfast, Root causes of child morning hunger, published on 9 March.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and looks forward to giving it our full consideration. This government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. The removal of the two- child limit on Universal Credit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Child Poverty Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England, so that all children can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered 7 million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the change in prevalence of child morning hunger in (1) early years, (2) primary school, and (3) secondary school, settings in England in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and looks forward to giving it our full consideration. This government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. The removal of the two- child limit on Universal Credit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Child Poverty Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England, so that all children can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered 7 million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of free school breakfasts on school attendance in (1) early years, (2) primary school, and (3) secondary school, settings in England in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Free breakfast clubs are for schools with primary-aged pupils, so that we make sure we give the youngest pupils the best start in life whilst helping parents with costs of childcare. Free breakfast clubs remove barriers to opportunity by offering primary school children, no matter their circumstance, a supportive start to the school day. School leaders report that free breakfast clubs are improving punctuality, attendance, behaviour and concentration. We have an ongoing free breakfast club programme evaluation which aims to build evidence and insights into impact on attendance for primary-age pupils.