Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government which cancer networks have been told by commissioners that their funding will be cut next financial year; and what is the percentage cut to their budgets.

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

The Government has committed significant investment to improving cancer care with a focus on reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment. This includes approximately £1.5 billion capital funding in 2025/26 for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, creating capacity for over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests. Furthermore, we have already hit our pledge early to deliver over two million more elective care appointments.

We are ensuring patients get care faster by halving the number of targets in Operational Planning Guidance and by transferring a higher proportion of funding than ever before directly to local systems with minimised ringfencing. These steps allow local leaders maximum flexibility to plan better and more efficient services.

To deliver on our priorities to diagnose and treat cancer faster, Service Development Funding will be rolled into rolled into core allocations. This means the total allocation for Cancer Alliances in 2025/26 is £379 million compared to £419 million in 2024/25, a reduction of approximately 9% as funding is transferred to different priorities. Further information is available on the revenue finance and contracting guidance for 2025/26 on NHS England’s website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any senior executive of NHS England who (1) has left in the last two months, or (2) will be leaving in the next two months, will receive a severance payment; and if so how many payments have been made, and what is the total cost of those payments.

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

Any exit payment for any senior executive that has left NHS England in the last two months, or that will be leaving over the next two months, will be in line with the individual’s contractual entitlements and subject to the necessary approvals.

The total cost at this stage would be unknown, as exit payments are based upon individual terms and conditions, in line with contracts of employment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made any allocation to community pharmacies for the Pharmacy First service for the financial year 2025–26; and, if so, how much.

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

We have now concluded the consultation on funding for 2024/25 and 2025/26, and have agreed with Community Pharmacy England to increase the community pharmacy contractual framework to £3.073 billion. We have also agreed to continue funding for Pharmacy First in 2025/26 to reflect the growth of the service to date, with £215 million available to be earned by contractors in 2025/26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what legislation will be required or amended to legally abolish NHS England; and what functions and powers held by NHS England cannot be transferred to other bodies until new legislation is enacted.

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

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the structure and requirements needed to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.

Primary legislation will be required, and we intend to bring this forward when Parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the use of £105 million of public money being made available to reopen Sheffield Doncaster Airport, and what assessment they have made of the value for money of that project.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Regional airports like Doncaster Sheffield Airport serve our local communities and businesses, support thousands of jobs and act as a gateway to international opportunities. They also help to maintain social and family ties and strengthen the bonds between our four nations.

Assessing the value for money case for public money being used to support the airport reopening is the responsibility of the relevant local authorities providing the funding. The City of Doncaster Council’s business case suggests the re-establishment of aviation within the region could support over 5,000 direct jobs and 6,500 indirect jobs and boost the economy by £6.6bn when fully operational.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 6 February (HL4386) about correspondence from the Tees Valley Mayor, whether they have now made a determination about the value for money of the Teesworks project and, if not, why not; and when they expect to publish a response to the Tees Valley Review and to the Mayor’s letter issued on 27 September 2024.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

On 3 April 2025 my department issued Tees Valley Combined Authority with a non-statutory Best Value Notice for an initial period of 12 months. The Notice seeks assurance from the authority that it is complying with its Best Value Duty and has a clear strategy for improvement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what provision they have made for redundancy payments for the abolition of NHS England, and the reduction in size of integrated care boards.

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

We recognise that there may be some short-term upfront costs as we undertake changes to integrated care boards and the integration of NHS England and the Department, but these costs and more will be recouped in future years as a result of a smaller, leaner centre. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what regulations govern practitioners who are not registered healthcare professionals performing non-therapeutic male circumcision.

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

There is no legal requirement for an individual undertaking male circumcision to be medically trained or to have proven expertise, but any registered healthcare professional carrying out non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) cannot optout of core duties and responsibilities. Non-medically trained individuals carrying out NTMC are outside the scope of the Care Quality Commission’s regulation.

The British Medical Association has published a toolkit providing practical guidance for individuals, including on parental consent and the best interests of the patient, which includes consideration of social and cultural circumstances, and should be followed by anyone carrying out this procedure. The General Medical Council also recognises that male circumcision can be carried out for religious and cultural reasons and provides guidance for doctors on personal beliefs and medical practice.

Found: Hodgson of Abinger; Lord Hope of Craighead; Baroness Pitkeathley; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Scriven

Found: Hodgson of Abinger; Lord Hope of Craighead; Baroness Pitkeathley; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Scriven

Found: Goudie Baroness Hodgson of Abinger Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Scriven

Found: Hodgson of Abinger; Lord Hope of Craighead; Baroness Pitkeathley; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Scriven

Found: Elliott of Mickle Fell; Baroness Goudie; Baroness Hodgson of Abinger; Lord Hope of Craighead; Lord Scriven

Found: BARONESS HOLLINS LORD SCRIVEN LORD CRISP 52_ After Clause 51, insert the following new Clause— “Segregation

Found: BARONESS HOLLINS LORD SCRIVEN BARONESS BROWNING BARONESS BENNETT OF MANOR CASTLE 4_ Clause 4, page

Found: I also committed to write to Lord Scriven, who asked whether CQC’s newly appointed chief inspector will

Found: To this end we support amendment 134 tabled by Baroness Tyler of Enfield and Lord Scriven to introduce