Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 adequacy of the level of funding for epilepsy research.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR invested £12.8 million in direct research funding on epilepsy. This investment in epilepsy research allows us to develop our understanding of the condition, including its prevalence, and make a real difference to people living with epilepsy.
Funding is not ringfenced by condition, and no formal assessment has been made of the adequacy of the level of funding for epilepsy research. The NIHR continues to welcome high-quality research applications on epilepsy, which are assessed through open competition and peer review.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 increase the number of GPs and nurses with specialist training in epilepsy.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that healthcare professionals are appropriately trained to identify and manage epilepsy.
General practitioners and nurses receive training in neurological conditions, including epilepsy, as part of their undergraduate education and continuing professional development (CPD). Individual healthcare professionals are responsible for maintaining their own CPD to ensure their knowledge and skills remain up to date, in line with professional standards set by their regulatory bodies.
Through its e-learning for healthcare platform, NHS England offers free, evidence-based epilepsy training packages designed for health and care professionals. These modules focus on raising awareness, improving primary care management, and supporting children, young people, and adults living with the condition. Professional bodies and charities, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners and epilepsy-focused organisations, also provide additional training and resources to support clinicians in improving their knowledge and skills in this area.
Guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) also plays a key role in raising awareness and supporting education among health professionals by providing clear, evidence‑based recommendations on the diagnosis and management of epilepsy. It brings together the latest clinical evidence and expert consensus in a single, accessible resource, helping general practitioners, nurses, and other clinicians to recognise symptoms more quickly, understand best practice in treatment and referral, and deliver more consistent care.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services that meet local population needs, including ensuring that staff have the appropriate training and expertise. Through national programmes such as Getting It Right First Time, NHS England is also supporting systems to improve pathways, share best practice, and ensure that people with epilepsy can access timely, specialist care.
Together, these actions aim to strengthen the workforce, improve access to specialist expertise, and deliver better outcomes for people living with epilepsy.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on compensating people with pelvic mesh injury sufferers; and what his planned timeline is for delivering that compensation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Government is carefully considering the work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out recommendations for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh.
The Government has deep sympathy for all those affected and recognises the profound impact that these harms have had on individuals and their families.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been clear that he wants to make meaningful progress during this Parliament, although a decision to provide compensation has not yet been made. We recognise how difficult and disappointing this uncertainty is for those affected, and we will ensure that the public is kept informed as soon as any decision on redress is made.
I met with the Patient Safety Commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes since I have been in post, and had a very productive discussion about the ongoing health initiatives led by the Department regarding sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. Details of the Government’s work to date are set out in recent letters to the Dr Hughes, which are published on her website.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Enhanced protections for homeowners on freehold estates, published on 18 December 2025, when he expects to publish legislation to address the issues raised in that consultation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 128335 on 27 April 2026.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on implementing the findings of the Farming Profitability Review 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Baroness Batters’ Review offers a clear assessment of the challenges alongside 57 recommendations for strengthening farm businesses. We are carefully considering the findings and recommendations with the sector to support farmers to access the tools and opportunities to succeed.
That is what the 25-year Farming Roadmap, to be published in 2026, will deliver. It will bring together our work on regulation, innovation, skills, investment and environmental recovery into a single, long-term plan for the sector.
The report will inform Defra policy including the development of the Farming Roadmap, the Food Strategy and the recently published Land Use Framework, as well as wider government missions, especially economic growth. This will help ensure our farming sector is more viable, self-sustaining and competitive in the long-term.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her department is taking to support British farming profitability.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Our Environmental Land Management schemes are strengthening the environmental foundations of farm profitability, and the Farming and Food Partnership Board will drive long-term profitability across the farming sector.
Furthermore, our response to Baroness Batters’ profitability review and our Farming Roadmap will outline our long-term plans for ensuring a thriving and profitable farming sector.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 the psychological impacts of chronic urinary tract infections are recognised.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England recognise the psychological impact of chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs). NHS England published the Excellence in Continence Care framework on 23 July 2018, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/excellence-in-continence-care/
This framework brings together evidence-based resources and research as guidance for commissioners, providers, health and social care staff, and it explicitly acknowledges a range of psychological impacts including loss of self-esteem, depression, loss of independence, and impacts on relationships and employment prospects.
Further, NHS England’s existing system wide clinical messaging around UTIs acknowledges behavioural and cognitive impacts, particularly confusion, agitation, and changes in mental state, indicating institutional recognition of psychological and neuro‑behavioural effects associated with UTIs.
NHS England’s national UTI awareness campaign states that UTIs can cause agitation and confusion in older adults, demonstrating the system’s acknowledgement that infection-related symptoms extend beyond physical pain to include cognitive and psychological changes. This ensures clinicians are prompted to consider psychological and cognitive changes as part of UTI presentations. The awareness campaign can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his department has to increase the uptake of annual diabetes health checks.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting people with diabetes. Improving the uptake of annual diabetes health checks recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is a key primary care metric in the NHS Oversight Framework, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-oversight-framework-2025-26/
The framework sets out how NHS England will assess providers and integrated care boards, to identify where support is needed and promote improvement.
NHS England is also working closely with systems within the National Health Service to monitor improvement of achievement rates in delivering the annual diabetes health checks. To help deliver this, NHS England has recently launched a new National Diabetes Audit Care Processes and Treatment Targets dashboard to support systems to benchmark and improve delivery of the health checks.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 improve access to finger-prick blood glucose testing for Type 1 Diabetes when symptoms first appear.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As I set out in the debate on Type 1 Diabetes: Infant Testing in response to petition 728677 on Monday 9 March 2026, the Government is committed to supporting people with type 1 diabetes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recently updated the clinical guidelines on type 1 diabetes in children and young people, which is available at the following link:
http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng18
This sets out that children and young people without a known diagnosis of diabetes can also present with diabetic ketoacidosis which requires urgent diagnosis and management. This includes the measurement of capillary blood glucose, which is usually undertaken through a finger-prick test.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 phage medicines on tackling (a) recurrent and chronic urinary tract infections and (b) associated antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises bacteriophage, or phage, medicines as a promising complementary option for difficult bacterial infections, including recurrent and chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs), and as a potential tool to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
However, phage therapy is not yet used routinely in the National Health Service. Although case reports and small studies show benefit in hard-to-treat infections, there is still insufficient largescale, high-quality clinical trial evidence to support widespread adoption.
For UTIs specifically, there is currently no evidence of benefit of phage therapy from randomised controlled trials, the only trial to date showed no effect. The proposed UK Clinical Phage Service will help generate further clinical evidence and support individual patient use where treatment options are limited.
As a result, phage therapy in the United Kingdom is generally accessed only through specialist or compassionate use pathways, typically when conventional antibiotics have failed and expert clinical teams judge it appropriate. This cautious approach ensures appropriate safety, efficacy, and regulatory oversight before routine use.