Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help improve access to life-extending (a) treatments and (b) medicines for patients with incurable secondary breast cancer in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to reducing waiting times for cancer treatment and to improving access to treatment across England, including for patients with incurable secondary breast cancer in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over four million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment.
In May 2025, NHS England announced the world’s first roll out of liquid biopsy testing, which is now available for all eligible breast cancer patients, and which aims to speed up diagnosis and inform better treatment options for those with breast cancer.
The National Cancer Plan for England will be published later this year and will set out further details on how we will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with secondary breast cancer. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 12 of the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether parents will be able to opt-out of universal newborn genomic testing.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan set out an ambition to offer newborn genomic testing as part of routine care within the next decade. Delivering against this ambition will be subject to evidence gathered through the Generation Study. This research programme is evaluating the effectiveness of using whole genome sequencing to test 100,000 newborns for more than 200 rare genetic conditions.
Participation in the Generation Study is voluntary, with parental consent required to store genomic and health data securely. Consent is an ongoing process, and parents can withdraw their child at any time before age 16, when the child will be asked to re-consent. If genomic testing becomes part of routine screening, parental consent will still be required, as with the current NHS screening programmes for newborn babies.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients will be able to access private healthcare services provided through the NHS on the NHS app.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We estimate there are around 450 independent sector providers that are providing National Health Service services via the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS). There is no classification of private healthcare or independent sector in the e-RS Directory of Services. Patients can already access referrals to these private healthcare providers via the NHS App where they have been shortlisted by their GP.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press release entitled Prime Minister unveils new opportunities for young people to re-connect with their communities, published on 5 August 2025, how much additional funding will be available in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund launched Phase 3 of the Million Hours Fund, a £19 million joint investment, to provide youth organisations with funding to deliver additional hours of positive activities for young people in areas with higher levels of anti-social behaviour. Wards who were eligible for the Million Hours Fund in Bedfordshire can be found here.
Additionally, organisations in Bedfordshire are eligible to apply to the Adventures Away from Home Fund which will support organisations to deliver outdoor learning experiences for disadvantaged or vulnerable young people. Funding by area will be known once all awards have been made. Applications are open until Friday 26th Sept 2025 through the UK Youth website.
Bedfordshire is not eligible to apply for the Better Youth Spaces Fund nor a participant in the pilot phase of the Local Youth Transformation programme. However, local areas who were not selected this year may not be excluded from participating in any future rounds depending on geographical eligibility.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the sectoral economic impact of US tariffs.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My department has been assessing the impact of US tariffs on the economy. This includes sector-by-sector impact assessments and scenario modelling. We are constantly engaging directly with businesses from across all sectors to gather real time intelligence on the impact of tariffs to directly inform our discussions with the US and the ways that we support UK businesses in this rapidly changing environment.
This analysis underpinned our agreement of the Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD), which protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has conducted an impact assessment for the UK-India trade deal.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I refer the member for Mid Bedfordshire to the answer my predecessor gave to UIN 73978 on 5 September 2025.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of US tariffs on economic growth.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My department has been assessing the impact of US tariffs on the UK economy, in a rapidly changing global trading environment. We are constantly engaging directly with businesses from across all sectors to gather real time intelligence on the impact of tariffs to directly inform our discussions with the US. This analysis underpinned our agreement of the Economic Prosperity Deal, which protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK.
By securing and implementing this deal, we are supporting the conditions necessary for economic growth.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 82 of the NHS Ten Year Plan, whether ICBs undergoing re-organisation will be further re-organised if their boundaries are not coterminous with new strategic authorities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To deliver a reduction in running costs, a number of integrated care boards (ICBs) will cluster together to share leadership and functions. Clustering ICBs remain legally separate organisations with their own financial allocations. It will mean that during this financial year, the number of ICB senior leadership teams will go from 42 to 26. These have been published on the NHS England website, available at the following link:
In the long term, there will be fewer, larger ICBs enabling them to harness a shared budget of sufficient size to improve efficiency and reduce running costs.
In areas where the boundaries of strategic authorities are not known, ICBs, including those that have clustered, may undergo future boundary changes to allow for alignment with newly created strategic authorities, and newly established unitary authorities resulting from local government reorganisation. Our aim throughout will be to deliver the best solutions for patients and citizens.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the value for money of the (a) economic growth contribution and (b) research output provided by each university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the vital role universities play in driving economic growth, producing world-leading research, and delivering value for money to students. Frameworks like the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) help ensure accountability for public research funding and demonstrate the quality and value of the research and knowledge exchange delivered by UK universities.
For each £1 of publicly funded research income, the UK higher education (HE) sector’s research and knowledge exchange activities generate approximately £9.9 in economic impact across the UK (2021/22). For every £1 of public funding for its teaching activities, the UK HE sector generates approximately £13 in economic impact from these activities across the UK (2021/22).
For students, the Office for Students (OfS) monitors outcomes including continuation, completion, progression and graduate earnings, helping ensure that public investment in HE delivers high quality outcomes for both individuals and society.
The department continues to work closely with the OfS and other bodies to support universities in delivering positive impacts for students and the wider economy.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the value for money to students of each UK university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the vital role universities play in driving economic growth, producing world-leading research, and delivering value for money to students. Frameworks like the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) help ensure accountability for public research funding and demonstrate the quality and value of the research and knowledge exchange delivered by UK universities.
For each £1 of publicly funded research income, the UK higher education (HE) sector’s research and knowledge exchange activities generate approximately £9.9 in economic impact across the UK (2021/22). For every £1 of public funding for its teaching activities, the UK HE sector generates approximately £13 in economic impact from these activities across the UK (2021/22).
For students, the Office for Students (OfS) monitors outcomes including continuation, completion, progression and graduate earnings, helping ensure that public investment in HE delivers high quality outcomes for both individuals and society.
The department continues to work closely with the OfS and other bodies to support universities in delivering positive impacts for students and the wider economy.