Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 assess the need for the provision of the vaccination against Covid for (a) children and (b) adults who are suffers of Long-Covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 February 2026 to Question 108759.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)'s current Highly Specialised Technologies Guidance, specifically where it does not recommend a treatment for a rare disease where treatment would have a substantial effect of a medicine on quality and length of life, but is not recommended due to cost-effectiveness estimates being higher than what NICE usually considers an acceptable use of NHS resources for Highly Specialised Technologies.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme to evaluate a very small number of medicines and treatments developed for ultra‑rare, severe and life‑limiting conditions. It uses specific methods and a much higher cost‑effectiveness threshold than standard technology appraisals, enabling NICE to recommend treatments at prices that reflect the complexities of ultra‑rare diseases. The HST programme has secured access for National Health Service patients with very rare diseases to effective treatments that NICE would not have been able to recommend through its standard technology appraisal process, with 33 out of the 35 medicines that it has evaluated through the HST programme recommended for NHS use.
There will unfortunately always be occasions when NICE is unable to recommend a treatment through the HST programme despite the use of a much higher cost-effectiveness threshold. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is right that they are taken independently and on the basis of a thorough assessment of the available evidence.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the annual meeting held to discuss progress and the role of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway and the Innovative Medicines Fund in supporting access to treatments for people living with rare diseases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of people living with rare diseases through the UK Rare Diseases Framework. One of the priorities of the framework is improving access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs.
We have continued to review the effectiveness of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, and the Innovative Medicines Fund. These access pathways across the regulatory and access system are designed to support innovative treatments being made available earlier to patients who need them, including people living with rare diseases. The last meeting was held in July 2025, and included representatives from the Department, NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as well as patient advocacy groups, industry, and clinical researchers. Further detail will be reported in the England 2026 Rare Diseases Action Plan, to be published in spring 2026.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of increasing NICE's cost-effectiveness thresholds used to evaluate Highly Specialised Technologies for rare diseases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to increase the cost‑effectiveness threshold for the highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. The HST programme already operates at a much higher threshold than standard National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisals, reflecting the challenges of bringing treatments for very rare conditions to market, and NICE has been able to recommend nearly all the treatments that have been evaluated through the HST programme for National Health Service use.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 merits of providing vaccinations against Covid-19 for children and adults who have Long Covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious disease, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has increased due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity, following recovery from infection, and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the programme is on vaccination of the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. These are the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. In line with JCVI’s advice, in autumn 2025 a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed.
On 15 December 2025, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for spring 2026 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination will be offered to the same groups as in autumn 2025 and previous spring campaigns.
Long term health consequences following COVID-19, including post-COVID syndromes, such as long COVID, have been discussed at meetings of the JCVI COVID-19 sub-committee. The JCVI’s view is that it remains uncertain whether additional COVID-19 vaccine doses, for example the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, have a significant effect on the chances of developing long COVID, how it progresses, or how it affects people. The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in regard to the upcoming closure of the the UK Rare Diseases Framework, what alternative evaluation methods will be used to assess and ensure the continued improvement of access to specialist care, treatment and drugs for patients with rare diseases.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Rare Diseases Framework was published following the National Conversation on Rare Diseases, which received nearly 6,300 responses. This helped identify the four priorities of the framework in tackling rare diseases: helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals; better coordination of care; and improving access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs.
The Government remains committed to improving the lives of those living with rare conditions, and will be publishing the next England Rare Diseases Action Plan to update on these priorities as in previous years. The evaluation of England’s action plans is expected to complete in May 2026. We recognise that despite the progress that has been made there remains considerable unmet need for people living with rare conditions. Ministers from all four nations have agreed to extend the UK Rare Diseases Framework by one year to January 2027, recognising the continued relevance of its four priorities, including improving access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. We will engage with the rare diseases community to help shape the next steps.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) non-disabled postgraduate medics entered medical training in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Post graduate medical training is initially through the two-year foundation programme, followed by progression to specialist training programmes.
NHS England publishes monthly data on the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) workforce in England. This includes data on the recorded disability status of Foundation year 1 doctors. Further information is avaiable at the following link, in the file ‘NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations – data tables’:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
For doctors entering medical specialty training, in the 2024 NHS medical specialty training programme, 285 doctors had a recorded disability, which represents 2.1% of all doctors accepting an offer, while 13,099, or 94.6%, recorded no disability, and for a further 462, or 3.3%, the disability status was not known/not recorded.
Each year NHS England published the disability status of applicants, including a count of those accepting posts, for each individual medical specialty to help future cohorts in their application processes. This information is avaiable at the following link:
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 availability of reasonable adjustments for disabled doctors and medical students in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. Employers have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to consider and make reasonable adjustments for employees who have a disability, taking advice from their local occupational health and human resources department.
The NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard sets out metrics to enable organisations to understand the experiences of disabled staff and to develop and publish an action plan. Year on year comparison enables trusts to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answered of 22 October 2025 to question 81944 on Perinatal Mortality, which four trusts have not fully implemented version three of the Saving Babies Lives Care bundle.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The four trusts that are not fully compliant with version three of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle are the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, and the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Implementation is overseen through NHS Resolution’s Maternity Incentive Scheme, a financial incentive to encourage trusts to implement safety actions to improve maternity safety. Trusts are required to demonstrate that they are on track to comply with all elements of the care bundle.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Competition and Markets Authority's report on Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Market Study, publish on 14 February 2025, what steps his Department is taking to improve the regulation of the powdered baby milk industry.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to giving every child the best start in life. Whilst breastfeeding has significant health benefits, we recognise that for those families that cannot or choose not to breastfeed, it is vital that they have access to infant formula that is affordable and high quality.
The infant formula regulations set robust nutritional and compositional standards which mean that all infant formula for sale in the United Kingdom are suitable for meeting the nutritional requirements of babies regardless of the price or brand. The regulations restrict the inappropriate marketing and promotion of infant formula that can mislead consumers and may discourage breastfeeding.
The Government welcomes the Competition and Markets Authority’s market study into the UK’s infant formula and follow-on formula market. We have been working closely with the devolved administrations to consider its recommendations. We will respond in due course.