Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support NHS Somerset to increase participation in bowel cancer screening in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Coverage of bowel cancer screening has been increasing in recent years. In 2019, 60.5% of people took the offer up. Now, it is 71.8%.
To further increase coverage across England, including Yeovil, NHS England is doing the following:
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 06.01.2026 to question 103582 on Tourette’s Syndrome: Health Services, what steps he is taking to support Tourette’s Action to disseminate their e-learning module for GPs in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The commissioning of services for Tourette’s syndrome is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), which have a legal duty to plan comprehensive health services for their populations, including for conditions like Tourette’s. While Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has not been directly approached to promote these e-learning modules, it would welcome reviewing the content and, if appropriate, would be happy to share more widely.
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, including for neurology services. Between September 2024 and September 2025, the number of incomplete neurology pathways was reduced by 15,500, from 234,720 to 219,221, and the average waiting time for neurology services fell from 16.2 to 15.2 weeks. Over the same period, the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks increased to around 57%, up from around 54% the previous year. We remain committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As part of the Elective Reform Plan, we are investing in additional capacity and reforming outpatient services to help bring waiting times down, recognising that neurology is a particularly challenged specialty.
NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to improve pathways, reduce unwarranted variation and provide care closer to home for neurology patients, including for patients with Tourette’s.
The Mental Health Act 2025 is a critical foundation to ensure that people with the most severe mental health conditions get better, more personalised care, and have greater choice and control over their treatment. NHS England’s mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient quality transformation programme will support cultural change and a new model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health inpatient settings. Local health systems have now published their three-year plans for localising and realigning inpatient care in line with this vision.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 06.01.2026 to question 103582 on Tourette’s Syndrome: Health Services, what assessment he has made of the quality of management of Tourette’s in mental health hospitals.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The commissioning of services for Tourette’s syndrome is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), which have a legal duty to plan comprehensive health services for their populations, including for conditions like Tourette’s. While Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has not been directly approached to promote these e-learning modules, it would welcome reviewing the content and, if appropriate, would be happy to share more widely.
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, including for neurology services. Between September 2024 and September 2025, the number of incomplete neurology pathways was reduced by 15,500, from 234,720 to 219,221, and the average waiting time for neurology services fell from 16.2 to 15.2 weeks. Over the same period, the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks increased to around 57%, up from around 54% the previous year. We remain committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As part of the Elective Reform Plan, we are investing in additional capacity and reforming outpatient services to help bring waiting times down, recognising that neurology is a particularly challenged specialty.
NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to improve pathways, reduce unwarranted variation and provide care closer to home for neurology patients, including for patients with Tourette’s.
The Mental Health Act 2025 is a critical foundation to ensure that people with the most severe mental health conditions get better, more personalised care, and have greater choice and control over their treatment. NHS England’s mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient quality transformation programme will support cultural change and a new model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health inpatient settings. Local health systems have now published their three-year plans for localising and realigning inpatient care in line with this vision.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 06.01.2026 to question 103582 on Tourette’s Syndrome: Health Services, what steps he is taking to continue to minimise waiting times for Tourette’s diagnosis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The commissioning of services for Tourette’s syndrome is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), which have a legal duty to plan comprehensive health services for their populations, including for conditions like Tourette’s. While Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has not been directly approached to promote these e-learning modules, it would welcome reviewing the content and, if appropriate, would be happy to share more widely.
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, including for neurology services. Between September 2024 and September 2025, the number of incomplete neurology pathways was reduced by 15,500, from 234,720 to 219,221, and the average waiting time for neurology services fell from 16.2 to 15.2 weeks. Over the same period, the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks increased to around 57%, up from around 54% the previous year. We remain committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As part of the Elective Reform Plan, we are investing in additional capacity and reforming outpatient services to help bring waiting times down, recognising that neurology is a particularly challenged specialty.
NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to improve pathways, reduce unwarranted variation and provide care closer to home for neurology patients, including for patients with Tourette’s.
The Mental Health Act 2025 is a critical foundation to ensure that people with the most severe mental health conditions get better, more personalised care, and have greater choice and control over their treatment. NHS England’s mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient quality transformation programme will support cultural change and a new model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health inpatient settings. Local health systems have now published their three-year plans for localising and realigning inpatient care in line with this vision.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help tackle furniture poverty in rural communities across (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84054 on 3 November 2025.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that people in Yeovil constituency are aware of the health harms of air pollution.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clean air is a key part of our shift from ‘sickness to prevention’ in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, which sets out action to further improve the quality of the air we breathe, including in Yeovil.
Alongside the 10-Year Health Plan, the Environmental Improvement Plan published in December 2025 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs outlines commitments to improve the communication of air quality information.
Government action is being informed by the recommendations from the Air Quality Information System review report published in 2025, which specifically considered ways to increase public awareness about air pollution. We are taking steps to update the Daily Air Quality Index webpages, which are accessible to the public, to include more health specific advice and the introduction of an air quality alert system to provide advanced warning of pollution episodes.
We will continue to work closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to reduce the health harms of air pollution and to help make air quality part of everyday conversations, including in Yeovil.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer received on the 27 January 2026 on Cystic Fibrosis: Prescriptions [Question 107568], what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate which exempts the holder from paying the National Health Service prescription charge.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential impact of prescription charges on people with cystic fibrosis in the Yeovil constituency. Pursuant to the answer of 27 January, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of reviewing the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of prescription charges on people with Cystic Fibrosis in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential impact of prescription charges on people with cystic fibrosis in the Yeovil constituency. Pursuant to the answer of 27 January, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of reviewing the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to raise public awareness of bowel cancer in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has run national campaigns, most recently in early 2025, to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and to encourage people to see their general practitioner as soon as possible if they notice a change in their health. The campaigns cover bowel cancer and have focused on increasing awareness of a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging general body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.
The National Health Service in England encourages everyone aged 50 to 74 years old, including in the Yeovil constituency, to take part in bowel cancer screening. The UK Bowel Cancer Screening Programme is undergoing several updates to its standards aimed at improving coverage, accessibility, and early detection. This includes updated performance thresholds, and improved accessibility of bowel cancer screening faecal immunochemical test kits.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including bowel cancer. This information can be found at sources including the NHS website, which is available at the following link:
From 2026, Cancer Alliances will receive funding and work proactively with local communities and providers to improve early diagnosis rates. They will focus on increasing awareness of cancer symptoms, supporting primary care to spot signs of cancer early, and reducing the gap in screening uptake between the most and least deprived areas, with particular efforts to reach ethnic minority and underserved communities.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to make enrichment activities, including residential trips, (a) affordable and (b) accessible for children on free school meals in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people across England can access a variety of enrichment opportunities at school as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
A new Enrichment Framework will be published this academic year. It will set out benchmarks to help schools and colleges plan high-quality enrichment more strategically, with case studies and signposting to tools and resources. The framework will support schools to provide accessible and inclusive enrichment opportunities to those less likely to participate, such as pupils on free school meals.
We are also working with the Department of Culture Media and Sport to deliver a £22.5 million programme to create tailored enrichment offers in up to 400 schools over 3 years, with a particular focus on underserved pupils, and will confirm the schools which will be involved in due course.