Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the crown court backlog.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 110,000 sitting days this year, 4,000 higher than the last Government.
We have launched an independent review into the efficiency of the criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to deliver once-in-a-generation reform.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 tackle inequalities in (a) access to clinical trials and (b) specialist psychological support for young people with cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research and to ensuring that clinical trials are more accessible.
The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical trial participation for young people with cancer.
The NIHR has made research inclusion a condition of its funding. Applicants to domestic research programmes are required to demonstrate how inclusion is being built into all stages of the research lifecycle, and are also required to provide details of how their research contributes towards the NIHR’s mission to reduce health and care inequalities. Before the end of March 2026, this will also be required for global health research and infrastructure awards.
The Department is dedicated to ensuring that all children and young people with cancer have access to psychological support, to help them through their diagnosis and treatment.
NHS England has published service specifications that set out the service standards required of all providers of children and young people’s cancer services. The requirements include ensuring that every patient has access to specialist care and reducing physical, emotional, and psychological morbidity arising from the treatment for childhood cancer. Further information on NHS England’s published service specifications is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-b/b05/
Children and young people’s cancer care is managed by Principal Treatment Centres (PTCs) who ensure quality care. Each PTC has a multi-disciplinary team which meets at least weekly and includes a specific focus on the psychosocial needs of patients. The multi-disciplinary team ensures that each service user is assessed for psychological needs and can access any psychosocial support that is required.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 within current NHS workforce planning to improve uptake of digital consultations for Parkinson’s patients as a mechanism to reduce neurology waiting times and reduce the backlog in accessing a neurologist.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
Whilst no specific assessment has been made of how workforce shortages are impacting the delivery of care, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.
We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.
A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 (a) help tackle shortages across the Parkinson’s disease specialist workforce and (b) assess how current workforce shortages are impacting the delivery of multi-disciplinary care as outlined in NICE guidance; and what plans he has to increase the Parkinson’s disease specialists workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
Whilst no specific assessment has been made of how workforce shortages are impacting the delivery of care, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.
We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.
A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 reduce variations in access to treatments approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for advanced and complex Parkinson’s Disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients, including for those with Parkinson’s, across our communities.
There are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP).
The GIRFT National Specialty Report made recommendations designed to improve services nationally and to support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country. The report highlighted differences in how services are delivered, and provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally. In addition, the NTP has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.
Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 neurology centres across England. Within these specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
In addition, in February 2024, a new treatment for advanced-stage Parkinson’s, foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, was rolled out in the NHS. It has been shown to improve motor function, with patients experiencing longer periods of time without dyskinesia.
The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance. If there are any concerns with the availability of a NICE-recommended treatment in a particular area, they should be raised with the local ICB in the first instance.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that Parkinson’s Disease services across England are supported to provide the full range of NICE-approved treatment options to eligible patients in a timely manner.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients, including for those with Parkinson’s, across our communities.
There are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP).
The GIRFT National Specialty Report made recommendations designed to improve services nationally and to support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country. The report highlighted differences in how services are delivered, and provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally. In addition, the NTP has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.
Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 neurology centres across England. Within these specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
In addition, in February 2024, a new treatment for advanced-stage Parkinson’s, foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, was rolled out in the NHS. It has been shown to improve motor function, with patients experiencing longer periods of time without dyskinesia.
The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance. If there are any concerns with the availability of a NICE-recommended treatment in a particular area, they should be raised with the local ICB in the first instance.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 young people with cancer who were diagnosed at Stage (a) one and (b) two.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 March 2025 to the Hon. Member for Colne Valley, to Question 38920.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to fill the humanitarian and development gap left by the USAID funding freezes.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are currently working to assess the implications of the US funding pause across development sectors, geographic regions, and multilateral organisations. We are gathering information and working with other donor partners to share analysis of the pause before making any decisions.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 ensure patients that rely on medicines for (a) epilepsy, (b) ADHD and (c) Parkinson's are not impacted by supply shortages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, some issues, including with some carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.
We are aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets, with the resupply date to be confirmed. Other manufacturers of topiramate tablets can meet the increased demand during this time.
The Department is aware of supply constraints with one supplier of amantadine 100 milligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department have also been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10 milligram pre-filled syringes from April 2025, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients, and management guidance has been issued to the National Health Service.
The Department has also been working hard with industry and NHS England to help resolve the supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. As a result of intensive work, some issues have been resolved and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.
We are continuing to work to resolve the remaining issues for methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets. We are 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 continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. To improve supply and resilience, we are working with prospective new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to expand the UK’s supplier base.
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.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timescale is for introducing legislation to ban the import of hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn, on 23 July 2024, PQ 591.