Asked by: Lord Pickles (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 removal of patients from NHS waiting lists who have not completed treatment.
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 2026 in response to Question 2077, which – for ease of reference – has been reproduced below:
NHS England publishes monthly Referral to Treatment (RTT) data, including information on completed pathways and overall changes to the waiting list. In 2025/26, 21.8 million pathways were removed from the waiting list. Of these, 18.6 million were completed pathways, an increase of 2.8% compared to 2024/25, the highest ever recorded. The remaining 3.18 million were recorded as “unreported removals”. On average, over 85% of removals from the RTT waiting list are completed pathways. This can include patients starting their first definitive treatment, a period of active monitoring, a clinical decision not to treat, or a patient declining a treatment.
Validation is a routine part of providers’ waiting list management which ensures that patients are on the best pathway to meet their needs, that they still need their appointments and that patient records are accurate. This includes checking for duplicate appointments. Validation is not the same as unreported removals. The Department does not hold data on the number of patient pathways removed from the elective waiting list in all the ways requested, including identification of duplicate appointments. However, data on instances where a patient died before treatment is collected through the Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS). The WLMDS is unpublished management information, subject to less validation than the monthly official statistics and totals do not match between the two sources.
In 2025, there were 77,874 removals from the waiting list where the patient died before treatment. The cause of death is unknown and, in many cases, will not relate to the condition for which the patient was awaiting treatment.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (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 efficacy of increasing resident doctors’ pay to stop strikes.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new resident doctor pay and training settlement in England was accepted by British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee members on behalf of resident doctors in England on 29 June, following the cancellation of their proposed strike action from 15 to 19 June. Under this deal, resident doctors will benefit from improved pay scales, better working conditions, enhanced career progression, and up to 4,500 new training places over the next three years.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (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 costs of abolishing NHS England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to delivering better value for taxpayers and better services for patients, and the integration of NHS England into the Department is an important step towards achieving these aims. We expect that integrating NHS England into the Department, alongside the restructuring of integrated care boards, could deliver up to £1 billion in annual savings by the end of the Parliament, driven primarily by reductions in headcount against a March 2025 baseline. Expenditure on the transformation will be reported in our Annual Accounts in the normal way.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - 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 27 November 2025 (HL12257), which specific organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals they have engaged with, and continue to engage with, throughout phase four of Exercise Pegasus.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Government’s external engagement for Exercise PEGASUS, views from organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals were gathered through a series of focus groups. These groups also included a range of organisations representing disabled people, clinically vulnerable groups, and wider equality focused bodies. Given participants’ contributions directly inform the assessment of the exercise, the Government has agreed to keep the identities of these organisations anonymous.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they considered the impact of ongoing COVID-19 circulation on shielding immunocompromised patients as part of Exercise Pegasus.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The pandemic scenario designed in Exercise PEGASUS and given to participants was based on the emergence and spread of a novel pathogen and provided a realistic representation of its impact on the United Kingdom’s population, including those with existing conditions. The exercise included the circulation of existing pathogens such as COVID-19. Focus groups and surveys were carried out after each core exercise day to test the public reaction to the decisions taken by officials and ministers, and respondents were drawn from a broad cross-section of society, including those who were immunocompromised.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Exercise Pegasus assessed the adequacy of government communication with clinically vulnerable populations during health emergencies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS rigorously tested communications capabilities, which included testing communications from Government and public health bodies to clinically vulnerable populations. Officials used behavioural science insights to segment audiences based on a variety of factors, and developed tailored, accessible messaging for these groups. This will be considered in the evaluation of the exercise.
Organisations who advocate for clinically vulnerable patient groups were also engaged through focus groups, which sought perspectives on the outcomes of the exercise. These insights will contribute towards the exercise report.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to establish a taskforce to oversee the implementation of Exercise Pegasus findings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans are in place to monitor progress towards the recommendations arising from Exercise Pegasus.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with pharmaceutical providers as part of Exercise Pegasus about procurement of testing for immunocompromised patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with mental health bodies as part of Exercise Pegasus about impact on immunocompromised patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.