Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the human rights situation and civil liberties in Türkiye following police operations conducted under the "Decade of Family and Population" scheme on LGBT individuals and organisations; and what diplomatic steps they are taking alongside international partners to support human rights defenders and independent civil society organisations in Türkiye.
Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 14 September, I raised the UK's concerns regarding these events with my Turkish counterpart, and have since followed up with further representations. The UK is a staunch supporter of fundamental rights and supports the rights of all minority groups in Turkey, including the LGBT+ community. We expect Turkey to uphold the rule of law and to live up to its international obligations as a member of the Council of Europe.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made, or plan to make, to the Ambassador of Türkiye to the United Kingdom regarding the arrest of at least 162 individuals, police raids on six LGBTQ+ associations across 15 provinces, and the blocking of access to affiliated social media accounts and websites by authorities in Türkiye.
Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 14 September, I raised the UK's concerns regarding these events with my Turkish counterpart, and have since followed up with further representations. The UK is a staunch supporter of fundamental rights and supports the rights of all minority groups in Turkey, including the LGBT+ community. We expect Turkey to uphold the rule of law and to live up to its international obligations as a member of the Council of Europe.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - 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 28 August (HL2592), what specific national body will be responsible for formulating and issuing evidence-based national recommendations to reduce avoidable mortality for people with a learning disability, following the conclusion of the national LeDeR annual report.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory duty to reduce health inequalities within their local area. LeDeR is a service improvement tool for ICBs to identify opportunities to reduce health inequalities for people with a learning disability, and ICBs are responsible for identifying learning from reviews and implementing local actions to improve services. The ICB board is responsible for ensuring that the ICB is meeting its statutory duties, overseen by NHS England which has powers of intervention is the ICB is failing or at risk of failing to meet its statutory duties. NHS England, working with my Department, will continue to consider national-level actions to reduce health inequalities, including avoidable mortality for people with a learning disability.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government who is responsible for approving the operating model changes which the Frontline Productivity Programme's senior responsible owner has said fall outside their powers; and by what date they expect those changes to be approved.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has accepted the findings of the recent Gateway Review and is taking forward the agreed actions as a priority. The review identified the need for a clearer, integrated articulation of how the Frontline Productivity Programme’s investments and delivery activities combine to achieve the productivity outcomes set out in the approved business case. The framework will be completed by the end of October 2026, and will establish a consistent end-to-end view of delivery, benefits, ownership, and reporting across the programme, supporting the management of dependencies, reducing the risk of duplication, and strengthening future investment decisions.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish an integrated benefits framework for the Frontline Productivity Programme, given the latest gateway review's finding that no such framework currently exists to demonstrate delivery of the productivity benefits set out in its approved business case.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has accepted the findings of the recent Gateway Review and is taking forward the agreed actions as a priority. The review identified the need for a clearer, integrated articulation of how the Frontline Productivity Programme’s investments and delivery activities combine to achieve the productivity outcomes set out in the approved business case. The framework will be completed by the end of October 2026, and will establish a consistent end-to-end view of delivery, benefits, ownership, and reporting across the programme, supporting the management of dependencies, reducing the risk of duplication, and strengthening future investment decisions.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the 50 per cent cut to integrated care board running costs and the wider restructuring of NHS England on regional capacity to deliver the Frontline Productivity Programme; and what additional support they intend to provide to regions whose capacity has been reduced as a result.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has accepted the findings of the recent Gateway Review and is taking forward the agreed actions as a priority. The review identified the need for a clearer, integrated articulation of how the Frontline Productivity Programme’s investments and delivery activities combine to achieve the productivity outcomes set out in the approved business case. The framework will be completed by the end of October 2026, and will establish a consistent end-to-end view of delivery, benefits, ownership, and reporting across the programme, supporting the management of dependencies, reducing the risk of duplication, and strengthening future investment decisions.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - 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 10 June (HL392), whether regulations establishing the Single Patient Record operator as a data controller will restrict its powers strictly to direct patient care, or whether central processing will be permitted for secondary purposes, research, or commercial access without local GP data controller approval.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Single Patient Record (SPR), patient information will still be held in the system where it was originally created, such as in a general practice (GP) surgery or hospital. These bodies, GPs and hospitals, will continue to be responsible for ensuring health data is handled securely, lawfully, and accessed for valid reasons only.
The Department is currently undertaking a national programme of deliberative engagement events with GPs and practice managers to help shape implementation of the SPR, and we will continue to work with stakeholders, including clinicians, to understand how best to support them in using the data in the record effectively to improve outcomes.
As set out in NHS England’s guidance on amending patient and service user records, current policy already enables patients to request amendments to their health record. This will continue to be the case for the SPR. We will agree a protocol with health and care professionals as to how information will be updated, and the SPR will provide a technical basis for rectification of errors in line with this policy.
Regulations made under the powers in the Health Bill cannot affect the ability of clinicians to make decisions about patient care and cannot make any provision relating to secondary uses of data. The regulations can only make provision relating to data being shared with patients, or with professionals involved in patient care.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - 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 10 June (HL392), what operational mechanisms will ensure that patient requests for data rectification under Article 16 of the UK GDPR which are processed centrally by the Single Patient Record operator are automatically reflected in local primary care electronic health records without compromising record integrity.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Single Patient Record (SPR), patient information will still be held in the system where it was originally created, such as in a general practice (GP) surgery or hospital. These bodies, GPs and hospitals, will continue to be responsible for ensuring health data is handled securely, lawfully, and accessed for valid reasons only.
The Department is currently undertaking a national programme of deliberative engagement events with GPs and practice managers to help shape implementation of the SPR, and we will continue to work with stakeholders, including clinicians, to understand how best to support them in using the data in the record effectively to improve outcomes.
As set out in NHS England’s guidance on amending patient and service user records, current policy already enables patients to request amendments to their health record. This will continue to be the case for the SPR. We will agree a protocol with health and care professionals as to how information will be updated, and the SPR will provide a technical basis for rectification of errors in line with this policy.
Regulations made under the powers in the Health Bill cannot affect the ability of clinicians to make decisions about patient care and cannot make any provision relating to secondary uses of data. The regulations can only make provision relating to data being shared with patients, or with professionals involved in patient care.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - 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 10 June (HL392), what assessment they have made of the legal and administrative resources required by individual GP partnerships to negotiate and manage joint data controllership arrangements under Article 26 of UK GDPR with the Single Patient Record operator.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Single Patient Record (SPR), patient information will still be held in the system where it was originally created, such as in a general practice (GP) surgery or hospital. These bodies, GPs and hospitals, will continue to be responsible for ensuring health data is handled securely, lawfully, and accessed for valid reasons only.
The Department is currently undertaking a national programme of deliberative engagement events with GPs and practice managers to help shape implementation of the SPR, and we will continue to work with stakeholders, including clinicians, to understand how best to support them in using the data in the record effectively to improve outcomes.
As set out in NHS England’s guidance on amending patient and service user records, current policy already enables patients to request amendments to their health record. This will continue to be the case for the SPR. We will agree a protocol with health and care professionals as to how information will be updated, and the SPR will provide a technical basis for rectification of errors in line with this policy.
Regulations made under the powers in the Health Bill cannot affect the ability of clinicians to make decisions about patient care and cannot make any provision relating to secondary uses of data. The regulations can only make provision relating to data being shared with patients, or with professionals involved in patient care.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - 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 10 June (HL392), where will primary statutory data controllership and legal liability rest in instances where a clinical decision resulting in patient harm is made based on incomplete, inaccurate, or delayed source data rendered through the Single Patient Record.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Single Patient Record (SPR), patient information will still be held in the system where it was originally created, such as in a general practice (GP) surgery or hospital. These bodies, GPs and hospitals, will continue to be responsible for ensuring health data is handled securely, lawfully, and accessed for valid reasons only.
The Department is currently undertaking a national programme of deliberative engagement events with GPs and practice managers to help shape implementation of the SPR, and we will continue to work with stakeholders, including clinicians, to understand how best to support them in using the data in the record effectively to improve outcomes.
As set out in NHS England’s guidance on amending patient and service user records, current policy already enables patients to request amendments to their health record. This will continue to be the case for the SPR. We will agree a protocol with health and care professionals as to how information will be updated, and the SPR will provide a technical basis for rectification of errors in line with this policy.
Regulations made under the powers in the Health Bill cannot affect the ability of clinicians to make decisions about patient care and cannot make any provision relating to secondary uses of data. The regulations can only make provision relating to data being shared with patients, or with professionals involved in patient care.