Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 public health impact of removing people with Type 1 diabetes from eligibility for the NHS autumn COVID-19 booster vaccination programme; and what clinical advice informed the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s recommendation on that eligibility.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s policy on groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Over time, the risk from COVID-19 has reduced across the United Kingdom population, through exposure to the virus, changes in the virus and vaccination.
The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of illness, serious disease in specific groups, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis, to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. The evidence indicates that whilst the risk from COVID-19 is now much lower for most people, adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and those who are immunosuppressed are those at highest risk of serious COVID-19 disease. A more targeted vaccination programme, aimed at individuals, with a higher risk of developing serious disease, and where vaccination was considered potentially cost-effective, was advised for autumn 2025.
Whilst current COVID-19 vaccines provide good protection against hospitalisation and/or death for those at highest risk, they provide very limited protection against acquiring COVID-19 infection or mild illness, meaning any potential public health benefit of reducing transmission is much less evident.
Long term health consequences following COVID-19 infection, including post-COVID syndromes, such as long COVID, have been discussed at meetings of the JCVI. It remains uncertain whether getting extra COVID-19 vaccine doses has any effect on the chances of developing long COVID, how it progresses, or how it affects people.
The JCVI has proactively published an updated list of Research Recommendations, encouraging future investigations on the exploration of data and evidence on the benefit of vaccination amongst post-COVID syndromes, and those with underlying medical conditions who are not currently eligible.
The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review. Accordingly, the Government will consider any additional advice from the JCVI in due course. Further information on the details of the modelling and analysis considered are within the 2025 and spring 2026 advice, on the GOV.UK website.
Information is collected on hospital bed occupancy and on the reason for hospital admissions. It is, however, not possible to determine which admissions associated with COVID-19 were for individuals who were eligible for vaccination in autumn 2024 but no longer eligible in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 24 February 2025 to Question HL4889 on Knee Replacements: Waiting Lists, what specific steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for (a) knee replacements and (b) other orthopaedic operations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of August 2025, the waiting list for Trauma and Orthopaedics, which includes patients waiting for knee replacements and other orthopaedic operations, stood at 866,426. Performance against the 18-week referral to treatment standard was 58.8%.
The Department is taking a range of specific steps to reduce waiting times for these procedures. To continue to expand and enhance surgical capacity, we have allocated £1.65 billion in capital funding in 2025-26 to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care. As of September 2025, 123 surgical hubs are operational across England and we are committed to ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years, so more operations can be carried out. These dedicated and protected surgical hubs focus on high volume low complexity surgeries, with the majority of hubs undertaking trauma and orthopaedics procedures.
We are improving efficiency within existing capacity. Theatre utilisation within elective surgical hubs has shown a steady improvement from around 79% in August 2024 to an average of around 81% in August 2025, enabling a greater number of procedures to be undertaken across all specialties.
As part of the Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, we are also optimising perioperative care to ensure patients are ready for surgery sooner. This includes encouraging patients waiting for surgery to engage in prevention health measures such as smoking cessation and weight management, ensuring more patients are assessed as fit to proceed to surgery, and therefore leave the waiting list faster.
This Government is committed to putting patients first and tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. These measures have already contributed to increased elective activity. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra 2 million operations, scans, and appointments in our first year, having delivered 5.2 million more appointments. This marked a vital First Step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the NHS constitutional standard, by March 2029.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 adequacy of the Ambulance Response Programme in the East Midlands Ambulance Service .
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government accepts that urgent and emergency care performance has, in recent years, been short of the standards the public rightly expect. We are determined to put things right.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Plan for 2025/26 commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. We are also tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, ensuring ambulances are released more quickly and get back on the road to treat patients.
We have already seen improvements in response times across the country, including in the East Midlands. The latest national figures for the East Midlands show that Category 2 'emergency incidents' were responded to in 32 minutes 35 seconds on average. This is faster than the 36 minutes 8 seconds seen in July 2024.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing restrictions on recruitment to enable NHS Trusts to recruit more British doctors trained abroad.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. British doctors who obtained their medical degree abroad need to meet the requirements of the General Medical Council, the independent professional regulator of the medical profession, to practise medicine in the United Kingdom.
British doctors who have obtained a medical degree abroad are then able to apply for jobs in the National Health Service on the same basis as UK medical graduates.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 allowing British students who obtain a medical degree abroad to be treated the same as domestic students when applying for jobs in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Subject to their registration status, British students who have obtained a medical degree abroad are able to apply for jobs in the National Health Service on the same basis as United Kingdom medical graduates.
Following completion of a medical degree, in order to be eligible for full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), UK medical graduates must undertake and complete the first year of the UK Foundation Programme, a work-based training programme that will be their first job as a doctor in the NHS.
Some individuals who have obtained a medical degree abroad, which may include British citizens, will already hold or expect to hold full registration with the GMC due to the level of experience working in clinical settings that they have obtained. These individuals would not need to, and would not be eligible to, apply to the UK Foundation Programme, and instead can consider applying for jobs as a fully registered doctor. In these instances, they should liaise with the GMC to confirm which jobs they are eligible to apply for.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 impact of allowing Chinese researchers access to medical records held by UK Biobank on national security.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The public’s data must be used lawfully, with respect, held securely and with the right safeguards, encompassing legislative requirements, security standards and toolkits and advice from independent advisory bodies.
Participants who consent to share their data with UK Biobank are informed that information and samples from UK Biobank participants will be available only to researchers who have relevant scientific and ethics approval for their planned research. This could include researchers who are working in other countries.
The National Health Service provides data to Biobank in line with patients’ direct wishes and to support this lifesaving and life changing research. UK Biobank has contractual agreements with NHS England that UK Biobank can only use the data provided by NHS England in line with the consent patients have provided and in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation. NHS England carries out audits and other assurance reviews of organisations it has contracts with, including of international data access processes and compliance with legislation.
Beyond this, through the delivery of the UK Biological Security Strategy, the Government is committed to ensuring the United Kingdom is resilient to a spectrum of biological threats and a world leader in innovation by 2030. As part of the strategy, the Government is undertaking a programme of work to mitigate the potential risks associated with biological data, to protect our burgeoning bioeconomy and build domestic confidence in sharing personal data to improve health outcomes.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 reforming the Food Standards Agency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Work is currently underway within the Department to examine the whole health and social care system, which will result in further changes to the arm’s length body landscape to deliver better outcomes and better value for taxpayers. The Government will set out its plans for reform of the health care system in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 of the potential impact of the Food Standards Agency reducing the discount rate for official control fees on abattoirs.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The meat charging rates for 2025/26 have been calculated and were published on the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) website on 28 February 2025. The 2025/26 Charges Guide and full details about the calculation of the FSA’s charges, including the discount applied, are available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/charges-for-controls-in-meat-premises
In February and March 2025, the FSA held stakeholder engagement sessions in Belfast, Cardiff and London. The sessions provided an opportunity for stakeholders to offer insight to help the FSA better understand the importance and value of the discount provided. Analysis of the information gathered at the stakeholder sessions is currently taking place. The key findings from both the stakeholder engagement and internal economic analysis are to be discussed by the FSA Board at its June 2025 meeting.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 tackle the shortage of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy drugs.
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. Suppliers have managed to secure additional pharmaceutical ingredients resulting in expected increased volumes of PERT for 2025. The Department has also reached out to specialist importers who 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 directs clinicians to consider these unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable and includes actions 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 webpage to include the latest updates on PERT availability and easily accessible advice on the prescribing and ordering of alternative PERT products.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of reports of (a) rape and (b) sexual assault that have taken place in hospitals since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the appalling crimes of rape and sexual assault. NHS England has introduced a comprehensive package of measures to improve sexual safety across the NHS.
NHS providers have a mandatory duty to notify the Care Quality Commission of all incidents that affect the health, safety, and welfare of people who use services, including allegations of sexual abuse.
NHS England is investing in improving the collection and analysis of sexual violence data to support organisations to implement policies that reduce incidents of sexual misconduct in the NHS.
Data relating to rape and sexual assault would be held at NHS Trust level. There is no single national dataset in the NHS which captures information on rape and sexual assault for all combinations of staff, patients or visitors to NHS hospitals. Local police forces hold data where there has been a report to the police of rape or sexual assault.
For assaults on staff, the most recent NHS Staff Survey includes questions about staff experiences of sexual misconduct. Results from the 2024 staff survey are expected to be available after March 2025. Results are made available for each NHS Trust, and they are not broken down into hospital and non-hospital settings and do not include patient, carer, or visitor reports.