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, if any, to assist local authorities address social care overspends, considering Association of Directors of Adult Social Services' ADASS Spring Survey 2025 finding that “the financial situation is as bad as it has been in recent history”.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government has made available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.
In addition, the 2025 Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements. Funding will be made available each year of the Spending Review through additional grant funding and growth in other sources of income available to support adult social care.
Between 2025/26 and 2028/29, local authority core spending power will increase by an average of 2.6% in real terms.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 10 June (HL8925), whether any of the non-governmental actors whom the Director of the Gulf Strategic Fund Programme met in Bahrain have a public record of speaking out on human rights issues in Bahrain.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the response to PQ HL8925, this was a working level visit by the Gulf Strategy Fund Manager, not at senior or Director level. The Government does not hold the information requested on the non-governmental interlocutors he met.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many posts paying £100,000 or more a year have been advertised or recruited in (1) NHS England, and (2) integrated care boards, since 11 March.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 11 March, NHS England has advertised 25 posts and has recruited 16 where the actual pay will be over £100,000. Actual pay is the amount of an individual’s salary that NHS England pays.
We do not hold this information centrally in relation to integrated care boards.
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 18 July (HL9450), why no assessment has been made of the impact on patient safety of the wait times for each accident and emergency department in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All patients who attend accident and emergency departments, including in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, are prioritised based on clinical need, which ensures that people are seen by the right service in a timely way.
The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has implemented a number of initiatives to improve patient flow and patient waiting times, including introducing a Same Day Emergency Care service which has recently been reviewed by NHS England’s Getting It Right First-Time team.
In June 2025, the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust’s accident and emergency four-hour performance was 83.5%.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the merger of NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, what steps they will take to ensure that health tech companies who have received first phase funding from the Small Business Research Initiative can receive second phase funding this financial year.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are committed to health and care research, as it is vital to fulfilling the objectives of the Growth and Health Missions. The Department and NHS England will continue to support research and development throughout the transition process and beyond. NHS England’s Innovation, Research and Life Sciences Strategy team has confirmed funding in 2025/26 for innovations already supported through Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare competitions in their current phases. NHS England has invested £13.6 million through the SBRI Healthcare programme to support the development of over 50 innovations this year. NHS England is unable to fund future phases within this financial year.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case of Mohammed Alazawi who has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for crimes related to the non-therapeutic circumcision of boys.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministry of Justice has no responsibility for non-therapeutic male circumcision or its regulation.
The Government, however, sympathises with the children and families affected by the harm caused by unregulated and irresponsible individuals who claim to be medical practitioners. It is right that those who act outside the law, as in the case of Mr Alazawi, are held accountable and brought to justice in these cases.
Non-therapeutic male circumcision refers to procedures not medically necessary. While the Government respects that some parents seek this for religious or cultural reasons, it would urge all families to ensure the procedure is carried out safely, with the child’s wellbeing given the highest priority. We would also encourage parents, before such a procedure is undertaken on their child, to discuss the matter first with their GP or healthcare practitioner.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) economic, and (2) social, impact assessment they made in the decision to pause the next phase of electrification of the Midland Mainline.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The electrification of the Midland Main Line that is complete will enable bi-mode intercity trains to operate in electric traction between St Pancras and Wigston. These new trains will have more seats and will provide a step change in passenger experience.
Continuing electrification to Nottingham and Sheffield was considered in the Spending Review, which prioritised investment across all government spending, taking account of business cases and affordability, including economic and social impacts.
The next phase of electrification has been paused as it is lower value for money, partly due to rising costs and partly as a consequence of having already delivered substantial electrification, but we will continue to keep it under review as part of our longer-term pipeline of schemes.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government over what timescale NHS England will move integrated care systems to fair share funding allocation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on integrated care board funding allocations and the pace of convergence to fair shares for the next three years have not yet been taken. We expect to set out allocations alongside multi-year planning guidance in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the fair share funding allocation will be for each integrated care board in the next three financial years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on integrated care board funding allocations and the pace of convergence to fair shares for the next three years have not yet been taken. We expect to set out allocations alongside multi-year planning guidance in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish an implementation plan for the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan is already underway; waiting lists have already fallen by over 232,000 since July 2024 and is the lowest in two years. Between October 2024 and April 2025, we recruited more than 1,900 extra general practitioners and in June 2025, we published the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan.
Delivery expectations are embedded throughout the plan, which will shift care from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. Over the remainder of 2025/26, we will put in place key next steps to deliver the plan, build the foundations for the shifts from hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention, and roll out current best practice across the whole country.
Following the Plan’s publication, we have already launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). The NNHIP will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works, making Neighbourhood Health the norm, not the exception. Integrated care boards have also been invited to submit their proposals for sites to form the first Neighbourhood Health Teams.