Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Answer of Question 108286 on Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust: ADHD and Autism, what steps he is taking to help support Surrey and Borders to meet their diagnostic targets for the assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance intends to help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for those referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also set out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism.

Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.

NHS England established an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce which brought together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support. The final report was published on 6 November 2025, and we are carefully considering its recommendations.

Building on the work of the Independent ADHD Taskforce, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced on the 4 December 2025 the launch of an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. The review will inform our approach so that people with ADHD and autistic people have the right support in place to enable them to live well in their communities.

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 the River Thames Scheme; what her planned timetable is for that scheme; and what the (a) current and (b) projected expenditure is for that scheme, in the context of the project’s mid-project review.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Significant progress has been made in preparing for The River Thames Scheme to undergo Statutory Consultation to inform the application of a Development Consent Order (DCO).

The mid-project review, initiated by Project Sponsors: The Environment Agency (EA) and Surrey County Council, is ensuring the scheme design is optimised before finalising the DCO.

In addition, the Sponsors commissioned the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to independently assess the readiness of the project and sponsoring organisations to deliver the project. The cost of the development work up to this point has been £104 million.

The EA will be bringing forward an updated business case this Summer, which will set out the revised timetable to submit the DCO, an updated cost assessment, and any revised arrangement for delivery of the scheme.

Subject to approval of this business case, the next stage in progressing the project is to secure the DCO.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the cost of travel for all families of children with health conditions requiring repeated attendance at specialist centres.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and recognises the challenges families of children needing regular specialist care can face. On 3 February 2026, Government announced a £10 million financial support package for families of children and young people with cancer to cover travel costs to and from appointments.

In addition to this support package, there are two established National Health Service funded travel schemes for patients, or their parents/guardians.

The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme is part of the NHS Low Income Scheme. It provides financial support to all patients, or their parents/guardians, that meet the established means-tested criteria. This includes children with health conditions requiring repeated attendance at specialist centres. Further information on the means-tested criteria is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/healthcare-travel-costs-scheme-htcs/

The NHS also provides funded transport to eligible patients under the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS) scheme. Patients, including children, with health conditions requiring repeated attendance at specialist centres may be eligible for NEPTS provision under these criteria. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/B1244-nepts-eligibility-criteria.pdf