Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 on international medical graduates employed in the NHS who had entered the 2026 recruitment cycle before that Act received Royal Assent.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 implements the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and internationally trained doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places.

For specialty training places starting in 2026, immigration statuses are being used as a proxy to capture applicants who are most likely to have significant experience working in the health service in the UK.

From 2027, immigration status will not automatically determine priority for specialty training. Instead, the act provides a power to specify in regulations any additional groups who will be prioritised by reference to criteria indicating significant experience as a doctor in the health service, or by reference to immigration status. The Department is working with NHS England, the devolved administrations, and other partners as part of the development of those regulations.

We recognise concerns about the impact of the act on those applying in the current application cycle for places, particularly where applicants did not know how prioritisation might affect them. However, delaying action would have prolonged the existing imbalance in training competition, and weakened our ability to plan a sustainable workforce.

International medical graduates who are not prioritised can still apply for postgraduate medical training and will be offered places if vacancies remain after prioritised applicants have received offers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of NICE's severity modifier on the availability of Enhertu for patients with secondary breast cancer.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) considered the impact of its severity modifier as part of its appraisal of Enhertu for HER2-low metastatic breast cancer. However, even with the severity weighting applied, NICE concluded that the treatment was not cost-effective at the price offered by the company and therefore could not recommend it for routine National Health Service use.

The Department recognises the disappointment this decision caused for patients and the breast cancer community, particularly as Enhertu is the only breast cancer treatment that NICE has been unable to recommend for NHS use in the last eight years. In light of NICE’s updated cost-effectiveness threshold, NICE, NHS England, and the manufacturers have resumed discussions to explore whether a commercial agreement can be reached that would make Enhertu available to NHS patients.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make UK police resources available to liaise with the Moroccan authorities in relation to the disappearance of Inaayah Makda in Casablanca on 28 January 2026; and what discussions she has had with her Moroccan counterpart on action taken by police in that country following reports that witnesses have provided statements concerning alleged subsequent sightings.

Answered by Natalie Fleet

The Moroccan authorities hold primacy for the investigation into the disappearance of Inaayah Makda, and any request from the Moroccan authorities for assistance from UK law enforcement agencies will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

While the Home Secretary has not had discussions with representatives of the Moroccan authorities, consular assistance continues to be provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Government has been assured by the Moroccan authorities that all leads, and any new leads, will be followed up appropriately.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number and geographical distribution of legal aid providers undertaking mental health work to meet existing demand and the future demand anticipated as a result of the Mental Health Act 2025; whether he plans to review the remuneration rates for mental health legal aid work; and if he will bring the Legal Aid Agency mileage rate into line with the HMRC approved mileage rate of 55 pence per mile.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

This Government recognises the vital work of legal aid mental health providers in supporting vulnerable people to access justice.

For civil contracts, including Mental Health, the LAA commissions legal aid services across geographic areas called procurement areas. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors the numbers of providers holding contracts across England and Wales within different categories of law. All procurement areas in the Mental Health category exceed the minimum number of contracts per procurement area. Information about the number of legal aid contract holders is published as part of the LAA’s Official Statistics: Legal aid statistics quarterly: October to December 2025 - GOV.UK [Tables 9.1-9.8].

A detailed breakdown by procurement area in each category can be accessed via the Legal Aid Provider Contract Statistics Dashboard: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-guide-to-legal-aid-statistics-in-england-and-wales/legal-aid-statistics-data-visualisation-tools.

The LAA will continue to monitor coverage as we approach the implementation of changes that will impact the Mental Health Tribunal as a result of the Mental Health Act 2025. Details regarding additional demand resulting from the Mental Health Act 2025 are set out in the Impact Assessment published alongside the Act (https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/56782/documents/5311).

In preparation for a new standard civil contract in 2028, the LAA will engage with stakeholders including the Mental Health Lawyers Association to gather views on how best to support the sustainability of the market. These insights will inform LAA’s approach and help shape future contracts to reduce administrative burdens and increase flexibility in the way services are delivered.

The Government is making significant investments in legal aid. We have secured additional funding of over £200 million over the Spending Review period for legal aid transformation, recovery from the cyber-attack, and for moving our legacy systems to a modern and secure technology platform. The transformation programme aims to support sustainability for all providers – including those undertaking mental health legal aid work – by ensuring new digital systems streamline processes and reduce administrative burdens.

Travel payments form part of the wider legal aid remuneration system, which is kept under review. HMRC’s Approved Mileage Allowance Payments sit within the tax framework and do not determine legal aid payment rates. Any changes to legal aid travel payments would be considered on their own merits, taking account of the operation and sustainability of the scheme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of prostate cancer cases that could be detected at an earlier stage through the introduction of targeted screening for men at higher risk of developing prostate cancer.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

Through the introduction of England's first ever targeted prostate cancer screening programme, and through the major package of investment of over £20 million to expand research and improve treatment announced on 2 June 2026, the Government is taking an important step forward in tackling the most common cancer in men.

The targeted screening programme, rolling out in 2027, will screen men between the ages of 45 and 61 years old who have a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of prostate, breast, pancreatic, or ovarian cancer. The UK National Screening Committee has assessed that a targeted screening programme for these high risk men is justified on the basis that prostate cancer occurs more often, at a younger age, and more aggressively for men in this group than for other men. This means that, for this group, the benefits of early detection and treatment would outweigh the harms associated with overdiagnosis and treatment side effects.

It is estimated that approximately 1,500 men in England will be eligible for the targeted prostate cancer screening programme. Based on similar programmes for people with genetic risk factors, uptake is expected to be high.

This is a new programme which will potentially increase early diagnosis rates and survival in the eligible population, who, particularly at younger ages, have an increased risk of prostate cancer, with studies suggesting risks approximately five to seven times higher than average.

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