Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in relation to contracts to supply and maintain Class 810 "Aurora" rolling stock for East Midlands Railway on the Midland Main Line, whether Hitachi Rail is required to provide sufficient serviceable trains to meet the timetable commitments of the train operator; and if so, whether (1) Hitachi Rail is required to pay compensation to East Midlands Railway when it fails to do so, (2) this applies for every affected journey, and (3) this includes liquidated damages to compensate for loss to the train operator's business, including losses incurred by refunding passengers for cancellations or service disruption.

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

The Class 810 Aurora fleet is being delivered and maintained under contractual arrangements involving East Midlands Railway (EMR), Hitachi Rail and Rock Rail. Those agreements include contractual obligations relating to train availability and performance, together with associated performance and remedy mechanisms where contractual requirements are not met. The detailed terms of those arrangements, including any compensation or liquidated damages provisions, are commercially confidential and are not publicly disclosed.

The Department has been clear to Hitachi Rail that its management of the Class 810 fleet programme has been unacceptable. Delivery of the new Aurora trains to EMR has been significantly delayed, with the first train entering passenger service around three years later than originally planned. The Department expects Hitachi Rail to improve both the rate of fleet introduction and the operational performance of the trains already in service.

Hitachi Rail is also responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of EMR’s existing Class 222 Meridian trains, which have experienced significant performance issues this summer. The Department expects Hitachi and EMR to work together to rapidly improve the reliability of these trains.

Alex Hynes, Chief Executive Officer of Department for Transport Operator, meets Hitachi Rail regularly and is pressing the company for urgent improvements to both the delivery pipeline and fleet performance so that EMR can realise the full benefits of the new Aurora fleet. The Department continues to monitor EMR's delivery of services and performance obligations under its National Rail Contract.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of religious confession as a regulated activity for the purposes of the mandatory reporting duty for child abuse.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse. The new mandatory reporting duty we are working to implement will be a vital step in safeguarding children more effectively across a range of institutions and settings.

The duty will apply to those working or volunteering with children in faith settings, and there will be no exceptions based on religious practices.

Ministers and officials from the Home Office have had discussions on mandatory reporting with representatives of various Church denominations over recent months as this new duty progressed through the Crime and Policing Act. We will continue to engage across government and with stakeholders to help manage the implementation of the new duty to ensure readiness and compliance for when the duty comes into effect in 2027.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the Committee for Privileges in the House of Commons report, Matter referred on 4 September 2025: Actions of the Charity Commission, whether they retain confidence in (1) the chief executive, and (2) the board, of the Charity Commission.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Charity Commission has apologised unreservedly to Parliament in response to the House of Commons Committee for Privileges report, and has accepted the report in full. I have full confidence in the leadership of the Charity Commission, and am confident that the board is taking action to address the concerns raised by the report, and to learn lessons in its handling of similar cases going forward.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision by NHS England to remove the requirement for executive healthcare experience in their new template job description for Integrated Care Board Chief Executives.

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

NHS England has advised that the template job description in question requires someone with substantial board-level experience, including at Chief Executive Officer level, knowledge of the health, care, and local‑government landscape and expert understanding of strategic commissioning. The revised description broadens the potential candidate pool, from executive experience within healthcare to a career in healthcare or equivalent, for example an executive career in a large and complex organisation, to enable the National Health Service to attract talented leaders from a wider range of relevant backgrounds.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will allocate funding to the Learning Disability (LD) Physician training course beyond February 2027; if so, for how many years they project any such funding to continue, and how many training posts this will support; and, if no further funding is planned, what are their reasons for discontinuing the funding for the course.

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

We remain committed to reducing health inequalities experienced by people with a learning disability and we recognise the contribution that programme participants and graduates make to the care of people with a learning disability.

Decisions regarding future funding for specific programmes are reviewed regularly and made in the context of wider workforce planning and available resources. NHS England will continue to engage with stakeholders on future workforce planning and funding decisions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission an independent, external audit of the deliverables and data security under the Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir.

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

NHS England continually assesses performance against the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) contract, and performance of the programme as a whole. NHS England regularly publishes data on uptake and benefits each quarter, in the interest of full transparency and to help the public understand the difference it is making to patients’ lives. The NHS FDP is delivering for the National Health Service, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently.

NHS England has commissioned an academic partner, Imperial College London, to conduct an independent evaluation of the impact, processes, and value for money of the NHS FDP. This evaluation is currently in progress.

In addition, the National Audit Office has also begun a study examining how the Department and the NHS in England are working to integrate patient data, and whether they are on track to secure the expected improvements from their investments.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to measure, monitor, and publish national statistics on the life expectancy gap for people with a learning disability following the conclusion of the national LeDeR annual report; and through what formal mechanism future evidence-based national recommendations will be made to address avoidable early mortality.

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

Following the conclusion of the national Learning from Lives and Deaths – People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People (LeDeR) annual report, data will be incorporated into a new patient-level dataset. This will bring together data on the health outcomes of people with a learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome and autistic people in England. Using the General Practice Extraction Service, it will aim to address limitations of current data sources and link with wider datasets such as hospital episodes and mental health activity. This will provide a more comprehensive picture of disparities and inform targeted local and national solutions. We are committed to publication of this dataset and will share next steps in due course.

There are clear expectations of local systems to improve outcomes for people with a learning disability and governance through existing frameworks, including to ensure they consider and act on LeDeR findings. Each integrated care board (ICB) has a duty to reduce health inequalities, including addressing avoidable and premature mortality. Each ICB is also expected to have an executive lead for learning disability and autism, who supports the board in addressing health inequalities, as well as an executive lead on LeDeR, who oversees prioritisation of LeDeR reviews and produces local annual reports. Existing expectations on local health and care systems to review deaths, act on LeDeR findings and address health inequalities remain the same.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of co-producing recommendations derived from national patient-level health outcomes datasets for people with a learning disability with experts by experience, in line with the Kingston University Intellectual Disability research group model.

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

The Government recognises the value of bringing together people with lived experience, clinicians, and other experts when developing initiatives to improve health and care services, including for people with a learning disability.

NHS England employs people with lived experience of learning disability within the national Mental Health, Learning Disability and Neurodevelopmental Conditions programme. It has also published resources to support co-production in health, including a Co-production resource toolkit, which is an approach supported by NHS England regional teams.

Over the past year, NHS England has worked with people with lived experience, charities, clinicians, and integrated care boards to evaluate and improve the Learning from Lives and Deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) review process, including the future of LeDeR beyond the publication of the 2024 report.

Co-production is also central to a number of nationally supported initiatives. For example, mandatory training on learning disability and autism, introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022, is required under the Code of Practice to be co-produced and co-delivered with people with lived experience. NHS England has also been working with people with lived experience, clinical professionals, and commissioners to produce guidance to improve the identification of people with a learning disability on general practice learning disability registers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure that the proposed Single Neighbourhood Provider and Multi-Neighbourhood Provider contracts deliver the required expansion in integrated services when no new national funding is to be provided.

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

The Government is committed to expanding integrated neighbourhood services through better use of existing resources, alongside reform of how services are commissioned and delivered.

The proposed Single Neighbourhood Provider (SNP) and Multi-Neighbourhood Provider (MNP) contracts are designed to support more joined-up, person-centred care by bringing together services that are often commissioned and delivered separately, helping providers to work towards shared outcomes for local populations.

It is proposed that the SNP contract would enable locally determined neighbourhood services and funding to be brought together within a single contractual framework, while the MNP contract would support coordination and integration across multiple neighbourhoods, reducing fragmentation and improving consistency of care.

These proposals are not based on a requirement for new national funding. Rather, they aim to make better use of existing resources by aligning incentives, strengthening accountability for outcomes, supporting the shift of care from hospitals into communities, and enabling providers to work more collaboratively around the needs of people and populations.

These proposals are also currently subject to consultation, which makes clear that MNPs would be expected to work closely with single neighbourhood providers, general practices, community health services, local authorities, civil society organisations, and wider public services to support the delivery of neighbourhood health services.

The Government will continue to engage widely with providers, commissioners, local authorities, and other stakeholders as it considers responses to the consultation, develops any final proposals, and makes decisions on their implementation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards will be implemented to prevent the Multi-Neighbourhood Provider model resulting in provider dominance by large NHS trusts and corporate bodies.

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

The Government is committed to expanding integrated neighbourhood services through better use of existing resources, alongside reform of how services are commissioned and delivered.

The proposed Single Neighbourhood Provider (SNP) and Multi-Neighbourhood Provider (MNP) contracts are designed to support more joined-up, person-centred care by bringing together services that are often commissioned and delivered separately, helping providers to work towards shared outcomes for local populations.

It is proposed that the SNP contract would enable locally determined neighbourhood services and funding to be brought together within a single contractual framework, while the MNP contract would support coordination and integration across multiple neighbourhoods, reducing fragmentation and improving consistency of care.

These proposals are not based on a requirement for new national funding. Rather, they aim to make better use of existing resources by aligning incentives, strengthening accountability for outcomes, supporting the shift of care from hospitals into communities, and enabling providers to work more collaboratively around the needs of people and populations.

These proposals are also currently subject to consultation, which makes clear that MNPs would be expected to work closely with single neighbourhood providers, general practices, community health services, local authorities, civil society organisations, and wider public services to support the delivery of neighbourhood health services.

The Government will continue to engage widely with providers, commissioners, local authorities, and other stakeholders as it considers responses to the consultation, develops any final proposals, and makes decisions on their implementation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how NHS England and Integrated Care Boards monitor compliance with the Accessible Information Standard in (1) community pharmacies, and (2) hospital pharmacies, in particular with regard to provision of easy-read, pictorial, or simplified medication labels for patients with learning disabilities; and what data NHS England collects on the number of pharmacies in each sector routinely providing these adjustments.

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

The requested data is not centrally held. However, the Government is clear that pharmacies play a crucial role in ensuring NHS-funded services are accessible to all, and as part of that, pharmacy teams are expected to take reasonable steps to meet patients’ communication and information needs, including by providing information in formats they can understand and offering appropriate support to aid their understanding.

In addition, all organisations providing publicly funded National Health Service care, including community and hospital pharmacy services, are responsible for implementing the Accessible Information Standard. NHS England and commissioners, including integrated care boards, must have regard to the standard, and may consider providers' compliance with the standard as part of their oversight of commissioned services.