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 improve palliative care in the context of assisted dying.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Irrespective of any legislation on assisted dying, we must continue to work towards creating a society where every person who needs it receives high-quality, compassionate palliative and end of life care. The Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative care and end of life care in this shift.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England for 2024/25 and 2025/26 to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. Additionally, we are providing children and young people’s hospices with £26 million of revenue funding for 2025/26.

Earlier this year, I met with key palliative care and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve employment opportunities for young people in rural areas.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Get Britain Working White Paper set out our cross-Government plan to get people into and progress at work. A key focus is on supporting young people into employment, education or training. This is why the Government is implementing a Youth Guarantee – ensuring all 18-21-year-olds have access to training, an apprenticeship or help to find work, to prevent them becoming excluded from the world of work at a young age.

DWP already provides 16-24-year-olds with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by Work Coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.

For example, we are running a pilot of hospitality Sector-based Work Academy Programmes in partnership with UKHospitality, which is being rolled out to 26 new areas in need of jobs and opportunities, half of which are in rural and/ or coastal areas.

Following a successful trial in the north-east of England, we have issued guidance to Jobcentres on how best to support people to overcome transport barriers that hinder them from securing and remaining in work.

Youth Hubs and Jobcentres across the country are also promoting the Flexible Support Fund, which can cover transport costs for job interviews, training and Jobcentre visits.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provisions his Department has put in place to monitor the quality-of-care patients receive in NHS-funded treatments at private hospitals.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Throughout its history, the National Health Service has always worked with non-NHS healthcare providers to deliver essential services to patients. The Independent Sector Partnership Agreement, signed in January 2025, extends how the NHS and independent sector can work together to deliver more non-urgent care, free at the point of use.

The safety of all NHS funded patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or in an independent sector provider (ISP), is a top priority for the Government. Private providers are commissioned and managed by integrated care boards under the terms of the NHS Standard Contract, which applies the same standards of oversight and regulation as are applied to NHS providers.

All providers of healthcare, including ISPs, are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall. Most independent sector care is rated as high quality by the Care Quality Commission, with 92% of providers rated as good or outstanding.

Independent provider licensing and oversight was established in 2014 under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to licence and regulate independent providers of NHS services. The oversight approach was originally focused on the financial oversight of independent providers but in 2023, in line with continuously improving the oversight of NHS-funded care at private providers, the Hard to Replace policy and the requirement to maintain standards of quality governance were introduced, giving NHS England powers to intervene with some providers where there was a risk to service continuity. Further details on these developments are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/licensing-and-oversight-of-independent-providers/

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 improve the oversight of NHS-funded care at private providers.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Throughout its history, the National Health Service has always worked with non-NHS healthcare providers to deliver essential services to patients. The Independent Sector Partnership Agreement, signed in January 2025, extends how the NHS and independent sector can work together to deliver more non-urgent care, free at the point of use.

The safety of all NHS funded patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or in an independent sector provider (ISP), is a top priority for the Government. Private providers are commissioned and managed by integrated care boards under the terms of the NHS Standard Contract, which applies the same standards of oversight and regulation as are applied to NHS providers.

All providers of healthcare, including ISPs, are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall. Most independent sector care is rated as high quality by the Care Quality Commission, with 92% of providers rated as good or outstanding.

Independent provider licensing and oversight was established in 2014 under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to licence and regulate independent providers of NHS services. The oversight approach was originally focused on the financial oversight of independent providers but in 2023, in line with continuously improving the oversight of NHS-funded care at private providers, the Hard to Replace policy and the requirement to maintain standards of quality governance were introduced, giving NHS England powers to intervene with some providers where there was a risk to service continuity. Further details on these developments are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/licensing-and-oversight-of-independent-providers/

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 reduce the wait times for children’s neurodevelopmental pathway assessments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for neurodevelopmental conditions, and specifically autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has grown significantly in recent years, and that people are experiencing severe delays accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, recognising the need for early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis, particularly for children and young people.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including provision of neurodevelopmental services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following 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 has also established an ADHD taskforce which is bringing 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 in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June, with the final report expected to be published later in the year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.

The Government is also supporting inclusive environments and earlier intervention for children through the Early Language Support for Every Child and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programmes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce waiting times for specialist operations.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tackling waiting lists, including for specialist operations, is a key priority for the Government. We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an additional two million appointments, tests, and operations, having delivered 4.6 million more since July 2024. This additional 4.6 million includes specialist operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and endoscopy.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

The plan includes wide ranging reforms to improve patients’ access to, and experience of care, in part by reducing unnecessary appointments in favour of faster and more local diagnostics.

Dedicated and protected surgical hubs will transform the way the National Health Service provides elective care by focusing on providing high volume low complexity (HVLC) surgery, helping patients get quicker access to common surgical procedures. These surgical hubs help place HVLC surgeries away from the acute site, improving outcomes for patients, reducing pressures on hospitals, and improving capacity for more specialist procedures in the acute site. The Department is committed to increasing the number of hubs over the next three years, so that more operations can be carried out. Surgical hubs are endorsed by Getting It Right First Time, a national NHS England programme which undertakes reviews of specialities and identifies changes to improve how services are run, to create efficiencies and improve patient outcomes, including for surgical specialties.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has put mechanisms in place to allow NHS patients to provide feedback to the commissioners of publicly-funded private healthcare treatments.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are the National Health Service organisations responsible for planning health services for their local population, including local commissioning decisions around publicly funded healthcare treatments by private providers.

ICBs are also responsible for enforcing contracts with providers, including independent sector providers in their area, and are best placed to ensure providers are meeting the needs of their patients, delivering the best outcomes, and preventing delays. NHS patients can share their feedback to their local ICB, details of which can be found on the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/about-nhs-services/contact-your-local-integrated-care-board-icb/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department monitors agreed (a) standards and (b) targets within privately-provided services; and whether there are any contractual consequences if performance targets are not met.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The independent sector plays a vital role in partnership with the National Health Service, delivering more than 100,000 elective appointments and procedures every week for the NHS.

Contracts are awarded to independent sector providers (ISPs) in line with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR). The PSR was introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, and helps ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of patients and service users. Those providers in receipt of NHS contracts must meet additional requirements, including the standards set out in the NHS Provider License and the NHS Standard Contract.

ISPs are expected to deliver services agreed in contracts with integrated care boards (ICBs), progressing priorities set out in planning guidance, including an improvement in elective waiting time performance. ICBs can take action where these targets are not met. Data published monthly by NHS England on waiting list performance is used to track performance and ensure targets are being met, and can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/

Found: ) Melanie Onn (Labour; Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) Mike Reader (Labour; Northampton South) Bradley Thomas

Found: present: Bill Esterson (Chair); Ms Polly Billington; Wera Hobhouse; Luke Murphy; Mike Reader; Bradley Thomas