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, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of closing NHS England on integrated care boards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation. As we work to bring the two organisations together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.
As part of the necessary changes to support the National Health Service to recover, NHS England has also indicated that integrated care boards (ICBs) should reduce in size. We will work with the NHS to get it back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
In a letter from Sir Jim Mackey on 1 April 2025, NHS England published further detail on the future of ICBs in a letter issued to all ICBs and NHS trusts and foundation trusts. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
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 is taking to help support women with endometriosis in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care received by those suffering from gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.
We encourage any woman or girl with symptoms of endometriosis to contact their general practice (GP). In Central Bedfordshire, GPs have been participating in education sessions over the last year focused on periods and endometriosis, to help improve care and treatment. This includes reviewing the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance which recommends giving a likely diagnosis of endometriosis, after careful assessment, and initiating treatment with options including hormonal contraceptive methods if needed. This can take place in parallel with a referral to the specialist service.
The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board also commissions a specialist endometriosis service which is provided by a multidisciplinary team of gynaecologists, a nurse specialist, laparoscopic bowel surgeons, urologists, radiologist, and the pain team. For Central Bedfordshire residents, this is provided by the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and a referral by a GP or sexual health doctor is required. The service was recently accredited for 2025 as a British Society of Gynaecology Endoscopy Endometriosis Centre.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 38205 on Tree Planting: Bedfordshire, what the range of sensitives are.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission provides guidance on the common constraints and designations that might be relevant to tree planning – this is available at Forestry project checks: constraints - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 38205 on Tree Planting: Bedfordshire, if he will publish county level statistics.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no plans to publish county level statistics.
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, if he will publish his Department’s impact assessment on closing NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.
It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure that the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.
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 is taking to help reduce times for the diagnosis of endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and we are making progress in ensuring that women with endometriosis receive timely and effective treatment.
Clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat conditions. In November 2024 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated its guideline on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis. This includes updated recommendations that, for women with symptoms of endometriosis, initial pharmacological treatment should take place in primary care, and that this can take place in parallel with additional investigations and referral to secondary care if needed. This will help women receive more timely treatment. The guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng73
We have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, as well as the piloting of gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres. Alongside the plan, we published a new partnership agreement between the NHS and the independent sector, which will help cut gynaecology waiting lists faster.
Additionally, to provide quicker access for patients to common surgical hub procedures such as a laparoscopy, which can be used to diagnose and treat endometriosis, we have committed to opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025, and ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years.
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, if he will make an assessment of the current average diagnosis time for endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care for gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an update to the guideline on endometriosis diagnosis and management in November 2024. This makes firmer recommendations for healthcare professionals on referral and investigations for women with suspected endometriosis, which will help women receive a diagnosis and treatment more quickly.
For many women with symptoms of endometriosis, initial pharmacological treatment takes place in primary care and can be in parallel with a referral for further investigations. As a result, looking at diagnosis times alone is unlikely to be the only measure of whether women are receiving care for endometriosis in a timely matter. NHS England is looking into metrics that best reflect timely access to care and outcomes for women, including for endometriosis. This work will explore whether time to diagnosis is the optimum measure.
An ongoing study by the Office for National Statistics is investigating the impact of endometriosis on women's labour market outcomes. One component of this study is linking primary and secondary care data to better understand diagnosis times for endometriosis.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 35439 on Forests and Rivers: Access, what plans he has considered for other national forests.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra launched the Western Forest on 21 March 2025 and is considering its approach to the creation of further national forests.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36504 on Mental Health Services: Children, how many of the 8,500 additional mental health workers will be based in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working with NHS England to consider options to deliver this commitment alongside the refresh of the Long Term Workforce Plan.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2025 to Question 38447 on Environmental Delivery Plans, whether uncompleted conservation projects will lapse at the end of the Environmental Delivery Plan period.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 38477 on 24 March 2025.