Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 July 2026 to Question 10227 on Migraines: Drugs, which specific NICE guidance addresses the prescribing interface between preventive migraine treatment and psychiatric comorbidity, including the identification and recording of psychiatric history, psychotropic medication use and previous psychiatric adverse drug reactions, for patients with both conditions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline CG150, Headaches in over 12s: diagnosis and management, provides recommendations on the assessment and treatment of migraine, including preventive treatments, and highlights important safety considerations for certain medicines.
The guideline advises clinicians to take account of relevant safety information, contraindications, and patient-specific risk factors when selecting treatment. Before starting preventive treatments, including propranolol or amitriptyline, healthcare providers must evaluate the patient’s comorbidities, psychiatric history, and risk for adverse drug reactions and discuss the benefits and risks with the patient, specifically taking into account these factors.
When prescribing propranolol, the guideline advises that clinicians use caution in patients with a history of depression to minimise the risk of self-harm, drug toxicity, or rapid deterioration in overdose. Also, when considering amitriptyline as a preventive treatment, clinicians are directed to follow NICE guidance, Medicines Associated with Dependence or Withdrawal Symptoms, reference code NG215, regarding safe prescribing, managing adverse reactions, and safe withdrawal.
Guideline CG150 makes it clear that clinicians should take the guidance fully into account alongside the individual needs, preferences, medical history, and the circumstances of each patient when exercising their clinical judgement.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 June 2026 to Question 7594 on Migraine: Medical Treatments, whether the Getting It Right First Time programme's remit includes governance arrangements for identifying and acting on patient psychiatric history, psychotropic medication use and previous psychiatric adverse drug reactions at the migraine prescribing interface.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Get It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a clinically led improvement programme which aims to reduce unwarranted variation in care by using data, peer review, and best practice guidance across a range of specialties, including neurology. While GIRFT supports improvements in prescribing practice and clinical decision-making, it does not set formal governance requirements or mandate for the assessment of specific clinical factors, such as a patient’s psychiatric history, use of psychotropic medicines, or previous adverse drug reactions. Instead, the GIRFT Neurology workstream focuses on improving the care pathway for migraine patients by reducing variation in National Health Service care, improving outpatient waiting times, and building better pathways between general practitioners and hospital specialists.
Clinical responsibility for considering these factors rests with individual healthcare professionals, who are expected to assess the full clinical picture when initiating or reviewing treatment, including at the migraine prescribing interface. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, including that on headache and migraine, supports safe prescribing by emphasising the importance of taking into account co-morbidities, potential drug interactions, and patient history when selecting treatments.
NHS England also promotes a multidisciplinary, patient-centred approach to care, particularly where there is clinical complexity, including mental health comorbidity. GIRFT complements this by identifying opportunities to improve pathways and consistency of care, but governance arrangements for clinical assessment and prescribing decisions are determined locally by providers and commissioners, in line with national guidance and professional standards.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 extending free school milk provision until the end of the Reception year on (a) child nutrition, (b) oral health outcomes and (c) health inequalities among children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Nursery Milk Scheme (NMS) is a statutory scheme which allows early years childcare settings to reclaim the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk per day to children under the age of five years old who attend a setting for two or more hours per day. Schools can claim reimbursement from the scheme in respect of their pupils aged under five years old.
There are no plans to extend free school milk provision through the NMS until the end of the reception year, so no assessment has been made. The School Food Standards provide that milk must be available in schools for those who want it at least once a day during school hours. Separate legislation allows pupils who are eligible for free school meals to continue to receive free milk at school after the age of five years old. The Government is expanding eligibility of free school meals, meaning that more children are able to access milk as part of their free meals.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the independent review of haematopoietic stem cell supply will include consideration of appointing a single accountable organisation, such as NHS Blood and Transplant, with overall responsibility for the UK HSC supply chain.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
To ensure sustainability and resilience of the United Kingdom’s stem cell supply, the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum recommended a 45% share for UK-to-UK donor to recipient provision. Imported stem cells have a significantly higher cost than collecting them from UK donors. Through our funding of the DHSC Stem Cell Programme we have supported recruitment of UK donors to the UK aligned stem cell registry to make progress towards the suggested target. The Department recognises that UK-to-UK provision has nonetheless continued to decline and we have launched a comprehensive review of the current system to ensure stem cell supply and use for transplantation is optimised.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 financial implications for the NHS of the level of reliance on imported haematopoietic stem cell donations.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
To ensure sustainability and resilience of the United Kingdom’s stem cell supply, the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum recommended a 45% share for UK-to-UK donor to recipient provision. Imported stem cells have a significantly higher cost than collecting them from UK donors. Through our funding of the DHSC Stem Cell Programme we have supported recruitment of UK donors to the UK aligned stem cell registry to make progress towards the suggested target. The Department recognises that UK-to-UK provision has nonetheless continued to decline and we have launched a comprehensive review of the current system to ensure stem cell supply and use for transplantation is optimised.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 implications for national health security of the decline in domestically sourced haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donations from 42% in 2017/18 to 24% in 2024/25, in the context of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum's recommended minimum of 45%.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
To ensure sustainability and resilience of the United Kingdom’s stem cell supply, the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum recommended a 45% share for UK-to-UK donor to recipient provision. Imported stem cells have a significantly higher cost than collecting them from UK donors. Through our funding of the DHSC Stem Cell Programme we have supported recruitment of UK donors to the UK aligned stem cell registry to make progress towards the suggested target. The Department recognises that UK-to-UK provision has nonetheless continued to decline and we have launched a comprehensive review of the current system to ensure stem cell supply and use for transplantation is optimised.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 making vision rehabilitation specialists a regulated profession.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.
The Department keeps the professions subject to regulation under review but has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to vision rehabilitation specialists.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 June 2026 to Question 7593, whether his Department plans to assess the adequacy of national clinical arrangements for identifying, recording and acting on patient psychiatric history, psychotropic medication use and previous psychiatric adverse drug reactions before the initiation of preventive migraine treatment.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department has no plans to make a further assessment beyond the position set out in the Answer of 15 June 2026 to Question 7593.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 underutilisation of cord blood haematopoietic stem cell units in the UK; and what steps he is taking to develop a national strategy for their use within clinical pathways.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The United Kingdom maintains a national cord blood inventory through NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and Anthony Nolan's Cord Blood Banks, ensuring that cord blood remains available as an important treatment option for patients where it is clinically indicated. NHSBT and Anthony Nolan continue to monitor developments in clinical practice and emerging evidence relating to cord blood transplantation, in the face of a significant international decline in clinical demand for cord blood, and a reduced demand in the United Kingdom as alternative clinical options such as haplo-identical transplant have been preferred by many clinicians in the last five years. NHSBT and Anthony Nolan are running a number of initiatives to help support the UK transplant community to encourage use of cord blood. These initiatives include cord blood selection advisory panels, cord thawing and transfusion support programmes, and annual Cord Blood Residential workshops for clinicians which are all supported by the UK Cord Blood Working Group.
The Department has launched a comprehensive review of the current system to ensure stem cell supply and use for transplantation is optimised. Variation in selection of stem cell source across transplant centres will be considered as part of the review.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to renew or extend the DHSC Stem Cell Programme funding of £400,000 per year to Anthony Nolan and NHS Blood and Transplant respectively for the recruitment of minority ethnic and mixed heritage stem cell donors.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department’s Stem Cell Programme has facilitated the creation of a unified stem cell registry, a cord stem cell bank, and most recently included a focus on diverse donor recruitment to reduce health inequalities. The Department has agreed to a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), providing £800,000 per year to support priorities identified by the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum. The programme will support projects aimed at improving donor availability and implementing the recommendations of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum Data Commission. It will include initiatives that improve access to stem cell transplantation for patients from minority ethnic and mixed heritage backgrounds. NHSBT will allocate half of the funding following an open funding call. Details of successful projects and funding allocations will be determined following completion of the application and assessment process.
There are growing challenges associated with recruiting and retaining volunteer stem cell donors. This is the experience of registries worldwide since the global COVID-19 pandemic. NHSBT and UK Aligned Stem Cell Registry partners continue to undertake targeted recruitment activities, including a particular focus on younger donors and donors from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds, to support sustainable growth of the United Kingdom donor base and improve access to suitably matched donors for UK patients.
A range of factors may affect donor availability, including changes in personal circumstances and donor demographics. UK Aligned Stem Cell Registry partners continue to implement measures to improve donor engagement and retention and to reduce attrition throughout the donation pathway. The Department’s Stem Cell Programme will support the Data Commission recommendations and UK Aligned Stem Cell Registry activity to improve donor availability when identified as a potential match for a patient.
The Department has launched a comprehensive review of the current system to ensure stem cell supply and that use for transplantation is optimised. Donor recruitment and retention will be considered as part of this review.