Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will introduce legislation to (a) protect and (b) guide the ambulance service on a statutory footing.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service ambulance services have already been placed on a statutory footing through existing legislation.
NHS England will publish further guidance to support integrated care boards in their commissioning of ambulance services in 2025/26, and will provide a new ambulance commissioning specification for 2026/27.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that (a) hospitals offer (i) gluten and (i) dairy free food that is not high in added sugars and (b) people with restricted diets have access to (A) healthy and (B) fresh food when in hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has published their Food and Drink Standards, which set out the expectations for National Health Service trusts regarding the food they provide to patients and staff. Emphasis is placed on providing healthy, nutritious food options. The standards include requirements that hospital food has:
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) seed oils, (b) added gluten and (c) processed food standards on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s Eatwell Guide. This is underpinned by the robust independent risk assessments and recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
SACN has not undertaken a specific assessment of seed oils. However, SACN’s 2019 report on ‘Saturated fats and health’ concluded that reducing saturated fats reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol. SACN recommended that saturated fat intake is reduced and saturated fats are substituted with unsaturated fats. Vegetable oils, including seed oils, are higher in unsaturated fats and lower in saturated fat than alternatives such as butter, ghee and palm oil. The topic of individual fatty acids, including omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, of which seed oils may be a source, is on SACN’s watching brief.
SACN has not undertaken a specific assessment of the impact of added gluten on health outcomes. However, gluten-containing carbohydrate foods were considered as part of SACN’s report on ‘Carbohydrates and health’ published in 2015. SACN recommended that approximately 50% of total dietary energy should be derived from carbohydrates. Government dietary advice, as depicted in the Eatwell Guide, is that we should choose wholegrain or higher fibre versions of starchy carbohydrates wherever possible. Management of clinical conditions for which gluten has a role is under the remit of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
There are no food standards on processed foods. However, the evidence on processed foods and health has been assessed by SACN in position statements published in 2023 and 2025. SACN has concluded that the observed associations between higher consumption of (ultra) processed foods and adverse health outcomes are concerning. SACN has recommended that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt and free sugars and low in fibre. This is based on the nutrient content of many ultra-processed foods and concerns raised in relation to health. SACN will continue to keep the topic under review.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to stop the provision of (a) clinical and (b) therapy services by (i) unregulated and (ii) unregistered individuals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no plans to stop the provision of clinical or therapy services by either unregulated and/or unregistered individuals.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 ensure that NHS staff training is (a) effective, (b) time efficient and (c) value for money.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Statutory and mandatory training is wide ranging and completed by all National Health Service staff. NHS England is leading work to reform statutory and mandatory training through a programme to optimise, rationalise, and redesign training. The aim is for the redesigned mandatory training to improve outcomes and staff experience, and take less time whilst being more relevant, higher quality, better value, and more portable.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 tackle (a) supply chains issues and (b) shortages of ADHD medication in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The resilience of the United Kingdom’s supply chains is a key priority, and we are committed to helping build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. The Department works in partnership with industry, the National Health Service, and the wider health system to help ensure the continuity of the supply of medical products, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines. These issues are often global in nature. We monitor and manage medicine supply issues at a national level, so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand, and therefore there are no specific measures for the West Midlands.
As a result of intensive work, some issues with ADHD medicines have been resolved. All strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, atomoxetine oral solution, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.
However, whilst the supply of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets has improved, issues still persist. We are continuing to work to resolve these remaining issues by engaging with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to assess the challenges faced and their actions to address them. We are also directing suppliers to secure additional stocks, expedite deliveries where possible, and review plans to further build capacity to support the continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. The Department is also working with new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to improve supply and resiliency for the UK market.
We are supporting an ADHD taskforce that NHS England has established to examine ADHD service provision. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education, and justice, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we plan to combine modelling for future growth forecasts, which will be shared with industry to improve demand forecasting for ADHD medicines.
The Department has worked with NHS specialists to develop advice on prescribing alternative ADHD medications. We expect that ADHD service providers should follow this guidance and offer rapid responses for urgent advice, especially for high-risk patients. To aid decision-making at the point of the prescribing and dispensing of ADHD medicines, we continue to update a list of available ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 ensure equal access to diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of the symptoms of prostate cancer, where there are opportunities to do so. To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer, we have invested £16 million in the TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping to find a way of catching prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will ensure that one in ten participants are black men to address identified inequalities.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 address the shortages in Pancreatic enzyme replacement medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is continuing to engage with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) to boost production to mitigate the supply issue. Increased volumes of PERT are expected for 2025, and specialist importers have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the gap in the market. In December 2024, the Department issued further management advice to healthcare professionals. This includes actions for clinicians to consider unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable and for integrated care boards to ensure local mitigation plans are put in place and implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a public facing page to include the latest update on PERT availability and easily accessible prescribing advice.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandatory training for (a) psychiatrists, (b) psychiatric nurses and (c) social workers on legal obligations under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 requires local social services authorities and National Health Service commissioners to provide or arrange for the provision of aftercare to adults or children detained in hospital for treatment under section 3, 37, 45A, or transferred under section 47 or 48 of the Act who then leave hospital. No assessment of patients is required to determine whether they are eligible for s117 aftercare although professionals would of course be expected to work with a patient to understand their individual needs.
There are no plans at present to introduce any such mandatory training or require mandatory recording of the number of people eligible for section 117 who local social services authorities and NHS commissioners have responsibility for.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 of the potential merits of introducing a mandatory and formal way for recording if and when patients have had an assessment for section 117 aftercare.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 requires local social services authorities and National Health Service commissioners to provide or arrange for the provision of aftercare to adults or children detained in hospital for treatment under section 3, 37, 45A, or transferred under section 47 or 48 of the Act who then leave hospital. No assessment of patients is required to determine whether they are eligible for s117 aftercare although professionals would of course be expected to work with a patient to understand their individual needs.
There are no plans at present to introduce any such mandatory training or require mandatory recording of the number of people eligible for section 117 who local social services authorities and NHS commissioners have responsibility for.