Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the quality and availability of palliative and end of life care with international best practice; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that England provides world-leading palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has recently been made, but the Prime Minister and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, have made clear their commitment to improve the quality and availability of palliative and end-of-life care through a new Modern Service Framework, as set out in the answer of 14 September to Question 27682.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for (a) brain cancer, (b) breast cancer, (c) lung cancer, (d) bowel cancer and (e) prostate cancer research since 2018, what amount and what percentage of reported public research expenditure consisted of infrastructure, programme or other expenditure not directly attributable to a named research project or study; and by what methodology that expenditure was included within disease-specific research expenditure figures.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not available as it is not held centrally. For brain cancer expenditure, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 25 June in response to Question 9944.
On the wider issues raised, I refer the Hon. Member to the National Cancer Plan, published in February, which sets out the Government’s approach to research and treatment in these and other areas. The plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-cancer-plan-for-england
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made with the devolved Administrations of the resilience of the UK’s insulin supply chain; and whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of supporting increased domestic insulin manufacturing capacity in order to improve long-term supply security.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department is aware of supply issues with some insulin presentations. However, a variety of alternative insulin products remain available, some of which are also suitable alternatives to those affected by shortages or discontinuations. We continue to work closely with the suppliers to ensure alternative insulin products can continue to support increased demand. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to the National Health Service, including all general practitioners and community pharmacists.
The resilience of United Kingdom supply chains is a key priority, and the Department and NHS England are committed to helping to build long-term supply chain resilience for medicines. We are continually learning and seeking to further improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions. However, medicine shortages are a complex and global issue and everyone in the supply chain has a role to play in addressing them, and any action will require a collaborative approach. The Government is also enhancing domestic manufacturing capability alongside strengthening international partnerships to build long-term supply resilience and help ensure patients can access the medical products they need.
We are not aware of any current plans to increase domestic production of insulin specifically, but we continue to engage with the pharmaceutical industry and other stakeholders to ensure continuity of supply.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with the devolved administrations to assess the potential merits of introducing a UK-wide screening programme for prostate cancer.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in the four countries of the United Kingdom about all aspects of screening. The implementation of any UK NSC screening recommendation is a devolved matter.
Officials from the devolved governments are observers at all UK NSC meetings, and the Department’s screening policy officials hold monthly catch-up meetings with their counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sharing planning and development work across the four countries enables working in parallel where there is a shared desire to do so.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with UK Research and Innovation on increasing funding for research into invasive lobular breast cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which includes the Medical Research Council (MRC). The Department for Health and Social Care and UKRI officials meet regularly to discuss a range of research investments to drive the maximum collective research impact on policy, practice, and individual lives.
The MRC and the NIHR are committed to supporting the development of fundable research proposals in lobular breast cancer and continues to encourage researchers to submit high quality funding applications to funding programmes in this area.
To further stimulate research in this area, in November 2025, the NIHR issued a highlight notice encouraging applications for new research into lobular breast cancer, to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term surveillance of patients.
The Government recognises the crucial need for research into all forms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer. It remains committed to the role of research to drive a stronger collective understanding of the biology behind lobular breast cancer and to improve outcomes for women.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on his Department's modelling of workforce numbers in the 10 Year Workforce Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026. This plan will set out action to create a National Health Service workforce which is able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.
That engagement began well before the call for evidence was closed. In early November, ministers hosted an event with nearly one hundred representatives of partner organisations to hear views from across the health system.
Engagement is now continuing while we analyse the submissions to our call for evidence, including a roundtable with medical royal colleges on 14 January, which I chaired.
We have committed to publishing regular workforce planning. This will start with the 10-Year Workforce Plan, which will include updated workforce modelling and its underlying assumptions when published in spring 2026. The updated workforce modelling will be subject to independent scrutiny by our appointed external scrutiny panel.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
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 early flu season on (a) corridor care, (b) hospital capacity and (c) patient outcomes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to monitor the impact of flu and the performance of hospitals over the winter months.
The Department is continuing to take key steps to ensure the health service is prepared for the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency, increasing vaccination rates, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care boards and trust winter plans to ensure that they are able to meet demand and ensure patient flow.
Flu is a recurring pressure that the National Health Service faces every winter. There is particular risk of severe illness for older people, the very young, pregnant people, and those with certain underlying health conditions. The flu vaccine remains the best form of defense against influenza, particularly for the most vulnerable, and continues to be highly effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalisation.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
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 help improve access to (a) specialist healthcare, (b) information at diagnosis and (c) financial support for people living with Parkinson’s disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their population, including for Parkinson’s. In doing so, the Government expects ICBs to take account of the relevant guidelines and best practice in designing their local services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on Parkinson’s disease, code NG71, states that people with Parkinson’s should have an accessible point of contact with specialist services, which can be provided by a Parkinson’s nurse specialist, and that all individuals should be offered access to the services provided by these specialist nurses to support ongoing care and advice
NHS England has established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support ICBs to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including for those with Parkinson’s. This focuses on providing access equitably across the country, care as close to home as possible, and early intervention to prevent illness and deterioration in patients with long-term neurological conditions. A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model, which will include components on delivering acute neurology services, improving health equity in neurology, and improving community neurology services.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and RightCare Toolkit for Progressive Neurological Conditions aim to improve care for patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s Connect allows healthcare professionals to refer patients at the point of diagnosis directly to support that Parkinson’s UK offers, such as local support groups, a confidential helpline, and online learning resources.
The Diagnosis Connect service will directly refer patients to specialist charities at the point of diagnosis for personalised advice, information, guidance, and support.
The Department for Work and Pensions offers Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to individuals with health conditions or disabilities. However, there is currently no automatic entitlement to PIP in relation to a specific health condition, except in cases of people nearing the end of life.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
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 help prevent patients being treated in (a) corridors, (b) converted office spaces, (c) gyms and (d) other inappropriate spaces in winter 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are doing everything we can as fast as we can to eliminate corridor care. The Government is determined to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so that patients can be treated with dignity.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out the steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding. This plan includes a target to reduce the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge from an emergency department compared to 2024/25, with the aim of this occurring less than 10% of the time, and a commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care.
We will also publish new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care which will support better hospital flow, which aims to reduce overcrowding and long waits.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to adopt the provisions set out in Annex XVI of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on products without an intended medical purpose.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working to deliver a future regulatory framework for medical devices that prioritises patient and public safety, gives patients access to the medical devices they need, and ensures the United Kingdom remains an attractive market for innovators.
In 2021, the Government consulted on the future regulation of medical devices, including on proposals to bring certain products without an intended medical purpose but with similar risk profiles to medical devices into the scope of the Medical Devices Regulations 2002. We intend to conduct further consultation and engagement with trusted stakeholders on certain aspects of our proposed policy approach to the future enhancement of our regulations, including on our approach to products without an intended medical purpose.
Moreover, the Government is committed to taking action to address longstanding concerns about the safety of the cosmetics sector and is also exploring options for further regulation of cosmetic procedures, including the practitioners who perform them. We will set out the details of our approach in our response to the consultation on the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, which we will publish as soon as possible.