Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 27 March (HL5042), what assessment they have made of the impact on individual integrated care board (ICB) areas of the approximately 9 percent reduction in funding for cancer alliances in 2025–26, following the consolidation of Service Development Funding into core allocations; and what is the breakdown of the total cancer alliance allocation for 2025–26 for each ICB area, compared to the allocation for 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for Cancer Alliances is set nationally by NHS England. The place-based allocation is calculated on a population basis, and is flexible funding that Alliances use to support the delivery of NHS-wide priorities for cancer in ways that reflect local circumstances.
We have set stretching targets for the National Health Service to improve cancer performance next year and taken tough decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget. These decisions have enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.
The following tables show information from the NHS Cancer Programme about the funding allocated to Cancer Alliances in 2024/25 and 2025/26, across both place based and targeted allocations; these are inclusive of NHS cost uplift factors which adjusts for inflation and other cost increases:
Funding for 2024/25 | |||
Cancer Alliance | Lead Integrated Care Board | Total place-based allocation (£ ‘000s) | Total targeted allocation (£ ‘000s) |
Cheshire and Merseyside | CHESHIRE AND MERSEYSIDE ICB | 13,417 | 8,457 |
East Midlands | NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ICB | 22,564 | 8,139 |
East of England | CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH ICB | 30,266 | 14,598 |
Greater Manchester | GREATER MANCHESTER INTEGRATED CARE ICB | 14,789 | 17,331 |
Humber Coast and Vale | HUMBER AND NORTH YORKSHIRE ICB | 8,085 | 5,960 |
Kent and Medway | KENT AND MEDWAY ICB | 8,655 | 5.090 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA ICB | 8,854 | 4,458 |
North Central London | NORTH CENTRAL LONDON ICB | 7,358 | 5,792 |
North East London | NORTH EAST LONDON ICB | 9,752 | 3,448 |
Northern | NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA ICB | 15,465 | 10,631 |
Peninsula | DEVON ICB | 8,724 | 7,787 |
South East London | SOUTH EAST LONDON ICB | 8,845 | 2,959 |
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw | SOUTH YORKSHIRE ICB | 6,801 | 3,993 |
Surrey and Sussex | SURREY HEARTLANDS ICB | 15,874 | 6,514 |
SWAG | BRISTOL, NORTH SOMERSET AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE ICB | 14,404 | 6,390 |
Thames Valley | BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE AND BERKSHIRE WEST ICB | 7,661 | 3,018 |
Wessex | HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT ICB | 12,188 | 10,798 |
West London | SOUTH WEST LONDON ICB | 17,778 | 9,303 |
West Midlands | BLACK COUNTRY ICB | 29,045 | 10,802 |
West Yorkshire and Harrogate | WEST YORKSHIRE ICB | 11,679 | 2,893 |
Grand Total | 272,203 | 148,363 | |
Source: NHS Cancer Programme
Funding for 2025/26 | |||
Cancer Alliance | Lead Integrated Care Board | Total place-based allocation (£ ‘000s) | Total targeted allocation (£ ‘000s) |
Cheshire and Merseyside | CHESHIRE AND MERSEYSIDE ICB | 10,068 | 12,948 |
East Midlands | NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ICB | 17,027 | 10,366 |
East of England | CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH ICB | 22,619 | 16,683 |
Greater Manchester | GREATER MANCHESTER INTEGRATED CARE ICB | 11,128 | 17,713 |
Humber Coast and Vale | HUMBER AND NORTH YORKSHIRE ICB | 6,015 | 5,278 |
Kent and Medway | KENT AND MEDWAY ICB | 6,451 | 2,256 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA ICB | 6,666 | 4,432 |
North Central London | NORTH CENTRAL LONDON ICB | 5,597 | 4,354 |
North East London | NORTH EAST LONDON ICB | 7,481 | 3,267 |
Northern | NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA ICB | 11,593 | 16,047 |
Peninsula | DEVON ICB | 6,460 | 11,559 |
South East London | SOUTH EAST LONDON ICB | 6,633 | 4,515 |
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw | SOUTH YORKSHIRE ICB | 5,147 | 6,379 |
Surrey and Sussex | SURREY HEARTLANDS ICB | 11,765 | 8,336 |
SWAG | BRISTOL, NORTH SOMERSET AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE ICB | 10,681 | 8,318 |
Thames Valley | BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE AND BERKSHIRE WEST ICB | 5,676 | 4,173 |
Wessex | HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT ICB | 9,055 | 8,507 |
West London | SOUTH WEST LONDON ICB | 13,526 | 8,972 |
West Midlands | BLACK COUNTRY ICB | 21,906 | 16,741 |
West Yorkshire and Harrogate | WEST YORKSHIRE ICB | 8,808 | 4,096 |
Grand Total | 204,302 | 174,940 | |
Source: NHS Cancer Programme
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many requests for intervention the British embassy in Bahrain and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have received over the past year regarding British-Bahraini dual nationals facing delays and challenges in leaving Bahrain; and how many of those cases remain unresolved.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Consular support is limited if you are a dual national in the country of your other nationality. As stated in His Majesty's Government Travel Advice, if you are a dual Bahraini / British national the Bahrain authorities may require you to enter and exit Bahrain on a Bahrain travel document only.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they carried out assessments of services provided by local authorities to people diagnosed with autism in each year since 2019; and whether the data associated with those assessments are centrally held.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care, is assessing how well local authorities in England are delivering adult social care. This means that the CQC is looking at how local authorities are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including their duties relating to the provision of care and support for autistic people. Ratings and reports are published on the CQC’s website. To date, the CQC has published over twenty assessments, with ratings of Outstanding, Good, and Requires Improvement.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and the CQC also commenced a strengthened local inspection framework in January 2023 to maintain a focus on high standards in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system across all partners. In 2023/24, approximately one in three pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan had autism as their primary need. However, it should be noted that these figures do not include children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) who are not in state funded schools or non-maintained special schools. This may be because they are in independent schools, hospital schools, are missing education, are educated somewhere other than in school, or are above compulsory school age. Data on the number of children and young people with an EHCP who are not in state funded schools or non-maintained special schools is not available. Ofsted reports are published on their website, and further information is also available on the GOV.UK website, in an online format.
Where a council does not meet its SEND-related duties, the Department for Education can take action that prioritises children’s needs and supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement. Ofsted and the CQC are reviewing local area SEND inspections in response to the Ofsted Big Listen consultation, which asked for views from school staff, education organisations, and parents on the inspection process.
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 European Court of Human Rights ruling against Serbia regarding the extradition of Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali; and what steps they have taken to address the misuse of Interpol Red Notices by authoritarian states.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK regularly considers and monitors European Court of Human Rights cases, but does not comment in detail on judgments against other countries. We strongly support INTERPOL's efforts to ensure that systems are in place to protect individuals' human rights in line with Article 3 of INTERPOL's Constitution which strictly forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character. The Home Office works closely with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards. We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won't hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
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.