Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has he made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the length of the waiting list for post-mortem examinations for children.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is aware of the workforce challenges within perinatal pathology, which can impact on waiting times. A national programme was established in late 2022 to address this, and significant work has been undertaken in relation to workforce funding, training, and incentives. Actions taken include:
- the 2024 launch of a fully funded international recruitment campaign;
- a £20,000 golden handshake for doctors entering paediatric and perinatal pathology training;
- additional funding being made available to support training posts in areas where there have been interested candidates but no training post for them at a specific provider/location;
- the appointment of a new National Training Programme Director role which has revised the examination structure and aspects of the national training course, and supported an increase in the number of training posts across several recruitment rounds; and
- the perinatal and paediatric training pathway, which will be at a full complement of 16 training posts from February 2026, and with applications for the next specialty training level three having exceeded expectations.
NHS England is also pursuing medium-long-term options to increase service capacity alongside workforce initiatives.
A system of national mutual aid was established in late 2022 to maintain timely access to National Health Service post-mortems in areas with workforce shortages. This has been supported by over £1 million of additional funding in 2025/26.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely access to post-mortem examinations for children.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is aware of the workforce challenges within perinatal pathology, which can impact on waiting times. A national programme was established in late 2022 to address this, and significant work has been undertaken in relation to workforce funding, training, and incentives. Actions taken include:
- the 2024 launch of a fully funded international recruitment campaign;
- a £20,000 golden handshake for doctors entering paediatric and perinatal pathology training;
- additional funding being made available to support training posts in areas where there have been interested candidates but no training post for them at a specific provider/location;
- the appointment of a new National Training Programme Director role which has revised the examination structure and aspects of the national training course, and supported an increase in the number of training posts across several recruitment rounds; and
- the perinatal and paediatric training pathway, which will be at a full complement of 16 training posts from February 2026, and with applications for the next specialty training level three having exceeded expectations.
NHS England is also pursuing medium-long-term options to increase service capacity alongside workforce initiatives.
A system of national mutual aid was established in late 2022 to maintain timely access to National Health Service post-mortems in areas with workforce shortages. This has been supported by over £1 million of additional funding in 2025/26.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate funding for post-mortem examinations for children.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is aware of the workforce challenges within perinatal pathology, which can impact on waiting times. A national programme was established in late 2022 to address this, and significant work has been undertaken in relation to workforce funding, training, and incentives. Actions taken include:
- the 2024 launch of a fully funded international recruitment campaign;
- a £20,000 golden handshake for doctors entering paediatric and perinatal pathology training;
- additional funding being made available to support training posts in areas where there have been interested candidates but no training post for them at a specific provider/location;
- the appointment of a new National Training Programme Director role which has revised the examination structure and aspects of the national training course, and supported an increase in the number of training posts across several recruitment rounds; and
- the perinatal and paediatric training pathway, which will be at a full complement of 16 training posts from February 2026, and with applications for the next specialty training level three having exceeded expectations.
NHS England is also pursuing medium-long-term options to increase service capacity alongside workforce initiatives.
A system of national mutual aid was established in late 2022 to maintain timely access to National Health Service post-mortems in areas with workforce shortages. This has been supported by over £1 million of additional funding in 2025/26.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers to be appointed and whether a job specification has already been created.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. We will implement the Rare Cancers Act, which received Royal Assent on 5 March 2026, including by designating a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers by summer 2026. This person will be based in the NIHR Research Delivery Network and will support research delivery for rare cancers research. A job specification for the role is under development.
The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and provide regular updates to ministers. The board will be co-chaired by the Director General for Planned Care in the Department and an independent representative. In addition, several national leads will sit on the board, including a clinical lead for rare cancers. The national leads will oversee delivery of the plan and advise ministers directly and independently on what action should be taken to improve outcomes.
It is important to choose the most suitable appointment process for selecting an independent representative to co-chair the board and to the national lead roles. Officials from NHS England and the Department are carefully following the required public appointments procedures including creating job specifications.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of rules on tax relief on touring costs in Europe.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, and supports the sector through a range of tax reliefs which are among the most generous in the world, providing over £2.4 billion of support in 2023–24.
The reliefs support the sector with the cost of touring. Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) provides a generous rate of 45 per cent tax relief on orchestral production costs – including the cost of domestic touring, such as transport and accommodation – and provided £50 million of support in 2023-24. There is currently no other country in the world which offers such a tax relief for orchestras. Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR), provide a 40% rate of relief to non-touring productions but offer higher rates of relief (at 45%) for touring productions.
The Government carefully considers the design of the creative sector tax reliefs to ensure they are well targeted, effective in achieving their policy objectives, and represent value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to change cultural tax reliefs to account for the cost of touring.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, and supports the sector through a range of tax reliefs which are among the most generous in the world, providing over £2.4 billion of support in 2023–24.
The reliefs support the sector with the cost of touring. Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) provides a generous rate of 45 per cent tax relief on orchestral production costs – including the cost of domestic touring, such as transport and accommodation – and provided £50 million of support in 2023-24. There is currently no other country in the world which offers such a tax relief for orchestras. Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR), provide a 40% rate of relief to non-touring productions but offer higher rates of relief (at 45%) for touring productions.
The Government carefully considers the design of the creative sector tax reliefs to ensure they are well targeted, effective in achieving their policy objectives, and represent value for money for the taxpayer.