Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to increase the amount of money available to people using the Healthy Start scheme, in the context of increases in the cost of (a) fruit, (b) vegetables, (c) infant formula and (d) other essential items.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Healthy Start is a demand-led, statutory scheme and aims to support those in greatest need. We recently announced in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan that we will uplift the value of weekly payments by 10%, boosting the ability to buy healthy food for those families who need it most. From April 2026, pregnant women and children aged over one years old and under four years old will each receive £4.65 per week, up from £4.25, and children under one years old will receive £9.30 per week, up from £8.50.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the industrial strategy on increasing the availability of clinical trials for young people with cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including young people with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
The Department is working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future, including for cancer.
Through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Government has committed to improving the speed and capacity of commercial clinical research, including trials for young people with cancer. This is supported by commitments to invest at scale in discovery science and maximise the United Kingdom’s translational research capacities, accelerating the development of new medicines and technologies, and getting innovative treatments to patients more efficiently.
Each action in the Life Sciences Sector Plan includes metrics through which performance can be measured. An annual Implementation Update will transparently summarise progress against both the overarching targets as well as on an action-by-action basis.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to implement benchmarking measures to ensure access to care for people with (a) respiratory conditions and (b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to focus on ensuring that respiratory data is readily available to all regions and systems and to ensuring that there is consistency of data, definitions, and metrics to enable meaningful comparison, monitoring of progress, and to identify population needs.
Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) works with professional bodies, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and clinicians to define and co-produce evidence-informed, best-practice clinical pathways and uses data to identify unwarranted operational or clinical variation. It provides data for continuous improvement via the Model Health System and bespoke data packs. Further information on GIRFT’s respiratory best practice guidance is available at the following link:
https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/medical_specialties/respiratory/
NHS England has established a national respiratory dashboard on the new Federated Data Platform which provides analysis and insight for the National Health Service on a growing range of treatment and outcome measures for respiratory disease. This includes bringing in data from the National Respiratory Audit Programme, a continuous audit of respiratory care co-funded by NHS England which aims to improve the quality of the care, services, and clinical outcomes for patients with respiratory disease across England and Wales. The audit is provided by the Royal College of Physicians and further information can be found on its website, at the following link:
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 ensure that autism-related mental health needs are recognised and supported before reaching clinical thresholds.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out the core principle of early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis, including for children and young people. In the autumn, the Government will bring forward a schools white paper, which will detail the Government’s approach to reforming the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, ensuring joined-up support, and including education and healthcare providers working together.
NHS England has also rolled out additional training across mental health services. 5,000 trainers have been trained as part of the National Autism Trainer Programme, and this training covers autism presentation in women and girls. These trainers will cascade their training to teams across mental health services.
Through the 10-Year Health Plan, we will continue to roll out mental health support teams in schools and colleges, to reach full national coverage by 2029/30. We will also ensure that support for children and young people’s mental health is embedded in new Young Futures Hubs, alongside a wellbeing offer, to ensure there is no ‘wrong front door’ for young people with mental health needs, including those who are autistic, seeking help.
The Government is transforming mental health services through 24 hour a day, seven day a week neighbourhood mental health centres to support our ambition to shift care from hospitals to communities. People will get better direct access to mental health support and advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the NHS App, without needing a general practice appointment.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the gender diagnosis gap for autism.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that diagnosis rates of autism are lower in women and girls and lower than the best evidence on prevalence. This may reflect differences in how autism presents in males and females, which may make autism more difficult to identify in women and girls.
Autism assessments should be undertaken by appropriately skilled clinicians who consider a number of factors before coming to a clinical decision. Integrated care boards and health professionals should have due regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines when commissioning and providing health care services, including autism assessment services. The NICE guideline Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: recognition, referral and diagnosis sets out considerations for clinicians when assessing for autism, including highlighting that autism may be under-diagnosed in women and girls.
NHS England has also rolled out training across mental health services with 5,000 trainers having been trained as part of the National Autism Trainer Programme, and this training covers autism presentation in women and girls. These trainers will cascade their training to teams across mental health services.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 reduce waiting times for autism (a) diagnosis and (b) support for (i) adults and (ii) children.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays for accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, and it recognises the need for early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including provision of autism services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following a recent diagnosis of autism. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.
The Government is supporting inclusive environments and earlier intervention for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through the Early Language Support for Every Child and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programmes. In addition, through local commissioning, the Government will ensure that neighbourhood health services work in partnership with family hubs, schools, nurseries, and colleges to offer timely and joined-up support to children, young people, and their families, including for those with SEND.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to use the NHS 10 Year Health Plan to adapt housing policy to better support the needs of (a) disabled and (b) older people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise how important the right housing arrangements are in supporting people to live independently, and the need to support disabled and older people to live behind their own front door wherever possible.
We are working across Government to tackle the wider determinants of health, including poor housing and fuel poverty, providing advice on the health impacts for the new Fuel Poverty Strategy, and supporting the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government with the implementation of Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard in the social housing sector.
In the 10-Year Health Plan, we have committed to moving towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and support people to stay healthier and maintain their independence for longer. Over the next three years, we will roll out the neighbourhood health approach to the groups most failed by the current system, improving people’s quality of life and easing pressures on both hospitals and the adult social care system.
We have provided an additional £172 million across this and the last financial year to uplift the Disabled Facilities Grant, which could provide approximately 15,600 home adaptations to give older and disabled people more independence in their homes.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that mental health services are equipped to support autistic women and girls who may present with (a) high anxiety and (b) sensory distress in Manchester Rusholme constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that autistic people, including women and girls, can face challenges in accessing mental health services.
While it is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including the provision of mental health support for autistic people in Manchester Rusholme, we are taking action to increase awareness and understanding of autism within health and adult social care services. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, providers registered with the Care Quality Commission are required to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role.
To support this, we have been rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism to the health and adult social care workforce. The first part of this training has now been completed by over three million people.
NHS England has also rolled out additional training across mental health services. 5,000 trainers have been trained as part of the National Autism Trainer Programme and this training covers autism presentation in women and girls. These trainers will cascade their training to teams across mental health services.
NHS England also commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver the National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists, with over 300 psychiatrists trained in the past three years.
Furthermore, NHS England has published guidance on how to improve the quality, accessibility, and acceptability of care and support for autistic adults to meet their mental health needs, as well as guidance on adaptations of NHS Talking Therapies for autistic people.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) intersectionality and (b) cultural perceptions on the underdiagnosis of autism in women and girls.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England continue to look at relevant evidence and national data sources so that we can identify and try to mitigate health inequalities.
Analyses of the NHS Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities data, which provides information on differences in healthcare between people with a learning disability and/or autism and those without, published by NHS England, supports evidence from the literature that rates of diagnoses are often lower, and below expected prevalence, in certain ethnic communities. We also know from the research literature that attitudes, beliefs, and stigma about neurodevelopmental differences likely play a significant role.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the medical model of autism support in favour of strength-based, neuro-affirmative approaches.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to creating a more inclusive society where autistic people are supported to thrive. We value the unique strengths and skills that autistic people can bring to education, employment, and communities, and there is relevant work on inclusion ongoing in multiple Government departments.
For the National Health Service, our focus is to make sure the NHS is providing the right support to the right people at the right time. For people with suspected or diagnosed autism, the optimal approach is often to identify and meet needs early in life, and support and empower individuals, which need not always be reliant on a clinical diagnosis. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out the core principle of early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis, including for children and young people.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments and support, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The NICE guidelines on autism cover the different ways that health and care professionals can provide support for autistic people and aim to improve access and engagement with interventions and services.