Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 including anaesthetists on the National Maternity and Neonatal Task Force; what consultation was taken with representative bodies of anaesthetists when creating the National Maternity and Neonatal Task Force; and whether he plans to include anaesthetists on the National Maternity and Neonatal Task Force in the future.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce has been designed to be agile and make decisions at pace, whilst still representing a breadth of perspectives, experiences and professions across the maternity and neonatal system. Women’s representation on the Taskforce is essential.
However, we recognise the importance of much wider perspectives to ensure the Taskforce can achieve its aims, which is why we have set up eight expert reference groups, which will feed directly into the taskforce. These groups will ensure the taskforce benefits from a broad range of perspectives including from clinical, academic, workforce, charitable and grassroots organisations, families and women, and regulatory and investigatory bodies.
We currently have anaesthetist representation on the Workforce, Clinical and Academic Expert Reference Group, namely Dr Nuala Lucas, President of the Obstetric Anaesthetists Association.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of processing times for DBS on the trends in the number of carers in the sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
As part of the Department’s commissioned research, Understanding recruitment to the adult social care workforce, undertaken by the King’s Fund, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are referenced in relation to recruitment and retention challenges. The full report is available at the following link:
DBS does not report its performance by specific job sectors. DBS publishes its performance for all checks on a quarterly basis at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-performance--2
These attainments apply to applications across all employment sectors, including the care sector.
Care workers require enhanced DBS checks, and this is the highest level of check available to those working with vulnerable groups and other positions that involve a high degree of trust. DBS aims to issue 80% of Enhanced checks within 14 days and the average attainment for the most recent quarter was 74.7%, with the 80% target met on day 20. The average turnaround time for all Enhanced checks in the quarter was 12.6 days.
For Enhanced checks, the DBS works closely with all police forces to ensure checks are completed as quickly as possible. This includes funding additional staff and overtime within forces. Where possible, police forces with capacity are also helping those with a large number of outstanding cases, a process managed by the DBS.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken for DBS check processing in Bromsgrove constituency; and what steps she is taking to help reduce that time.
Answered by Natalie Fleet
As an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Home Office, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent and responsible for the service it provides.
DBS does not collate data on processing times by local area or constituency.
The most recently published performance data for the last quarter of 2025-26 can be viewed at: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK.
This information provides the average time taken to complete all levels of check and shows that the target to process 85% of Basic checks within 2 days and 85% of Standard checks within 3 days was consistently exceeded. The target to complete 80% of Enhanced level checks within 14 days was not met, with the average attainment being 74.7% and the 80% target met on day 20. The average turnaround time for Enhanced level checks was 12.6 days.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) ensure police forces pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry to avoid categorising victim-based offences cases as a evidential difficulties outcome prematurely and (b) support police forces to reduce the number of victim-based cases being categorised as a evidential difficulties outcome.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police have a duty to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry, as set out in the Code of Practice under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.
The Home Office works with policing and the Crown Prosecution Service to improve all case outcomes, including best efforts to secure justice for all victims. A joint Police and Crown Prosecution Service action plan is implementing recommendations from a recent Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates’ inspection, which will include improvements around ensuring evidential material is sufficiently robust for a prosecution to proceed. This applies to all cases, including victim-based offences, and supports efforts to reduce closures due to evidential difficulties.