Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to Healthy Start for 2026-27.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Spending Review on 11 June 2025 set total departmental budgets for day-to-day spending from 2026/27 until 2028/29. Departments must now allocate these budgets to portfolios, programmes, and projects. As such, the budget allocated to Healthy Start for 2026/27 is still to be determined.
Healthy Start is a demand-led, statutory scheme and aims to support those in greatest need. We recently announced in Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan that we will uplift the value of weekly payments by 10%, boosting the ability to buy healthy food for those families who need it most. From April 2026, pregnant women and children aged over one and under four years old will each receive £4.65 per week, up from £4.25, and children under one years old will receive £9.30 per week, up from £8.50.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Leader of the House of Lords on the commencement date for the Committee stage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and officials from the Department are regularly in touch with their counterparts across Government. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has had its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and the Committee stage will take place when parliamentary time allows. We expect the bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which community diagnostic centres are under construction.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
170 community diagnostic centre (CDCs) sites are operational across England. 110 of these CDCs are described as ‘fully operational’. Of the remaining 60 CDCs, 39 are live and delivering activity on their permanent site but are still operating some services via temporary facilities, and 21 are delivering activity from a nearby temporary location whilst the permanent site is completing construction.
£1.65 billion of capital funding has been made available in 2025/26 for secondary and emergency care, which includes £0.6 billion for investment in diagnostics. This includes funding to enable the completion of 2024/25 schemes. Funding will also support the National Health Service to expand existing CDCs and build up to five new CDCs as part of our Elective Reform Plan.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he had had with stakeholders on the potential impact of poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene in low- and middle-income countries on the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to deliver the United Kingdom’s second five-year National Action Plan on Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). The Action Plan recognises the need to support international action on AMR alongside domestic activity, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) which bear a disproportionate burden of infectious disease and AMR.
At the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR in September 2024, the UK championed global agreement on a political declaration that commits member states to reduce global AMR attributed deaths by 10% by 2030. Following extensive consultation with member states and wider stakeholders, the political declaration also commits to international action on improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in LMICs through improved stewardship, monitoring and surveillance. These commitments were revisited at the 2025 World Health Assembly, where the UK co-chairs the annual Alliance of Champions against AMR meeting with international Health Ministers to discuss shared priorities for addressing AMR.
Globally, we work with partners including the World Bank, UNICEF and WHO to provide data on WASH services in health care facilities to support governments prioritising, planning and mobilising finance to improve WASH.
In November 2024, the UK co-chaired the WHO/UNICEF Global Strategic Network on water, sanitation, hygiene, waste management and electricity in health care facilities, bringing together a range of country officials, health, WASH and energy sector stakeholder to share actions to reduce service gaps in lower-middle- and low-income countries. The Government will continue to hold discussions on AMR and WASH, including with WaterAid UK.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence on taking steps to keep the NHS data of serving military personnel confidential.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt. Hon. friends, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Defence, are united in their commitment to ensuring serving military personnel receive excellent health services through the Defence Medical Services working in partnership with the National Health Service.
The Defence Medical Services provide primary healthcare for serving personnel. All serving personnel will have a Defence Health Record which records their healthcare through their military service, whether provided by the Defence Medical Services or the NHS. Serving personnel are provided with a medical care summary and a patient’s full Defence Health Record can be provided on request from their NHS general practitioner (GP).
There is an existing process for the transfer of healthcare information to the NHS when they leave the Armed Forces. A secure email gateway exists between the Ministry of Defence and NHS networks, permitting the secure transmission of email classified up to, and including, OFFICIAL SENSITIVE PERSONAL material.
To improve the transfer of healthcare information, the Defence Medical Services are working towards a greater interoperability with NHS systems and the electronic transfer of medical records from Defence Medical Services to NHS GPs.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the confidentiality of NHS data for serving personnel.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt. Hon. friends, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Defence, are united in their commitment to ensuring serving military personnel receive excellent health services through the Defence Medical Service working in partnership with the National Health Service.
The Defence Medical Services provide primary healthcare for serving personnel. Secondary care for Armed Forces personnel is provided by the NHS in England or by the devolved administrations outside of England, working with the Defence Medical Services to ensure that specific defence requirements are met.
All serving personnel will have a Defence Health Record which records their healthcare through their military service, whether provided by the Defence Medical Services or the NHS. The principles that underpin the handling of such sensitive records are patient privacy, confidentiality, integrity, and availability. There is an existing process for the transfer of healthcare information to the NHS when people leave the Armed Forces. Serving personnel are provided with a medical care summary and a patient’s full Defence Health Record can be provided upon request from their NHS general practitioner.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on (a) medical and (b) dental healthcare provision for serving military personnel.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt. Hon. friends, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Defence, are united in their commitment to ensuring serving military personnel receive excellent health services through the Defence Medical Service working in partnership with the National Health Service.
The Defence Medical Services provide primary healthcare for serving personnel. Secondary care for Armed Forces personnel is provided by the NHS in England or by the devolved administrations outside of England, working with the Defence Medical Services to ensure that specific defence requirements are met.
All serving personnel will have a Defence Health Record which records their healthcare through their military service, whether provided by the Defence Medical Services or the NHS. The principles that underpin the handling of such sensitive records are patient privacy, confidentiality, integrity, and availability. There is an existing process for the transfer of healthcare information to the NHS when people leave the Armed Forces. Serving personnel are provided with a medical care summary and a patient’s full Defence Health Record can be provided upon request from their NHS general practitioner.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Written Ministerial Statement of 22 May 2025 on NHS Workforce, HCWS663, which areas of spending have been reduced in order to fund these pay uplifts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As the Written Ministerial Statement sets out, the Government has had to make difficult decisions to afford the pay award.
Areas of spending where we have made, or plan to make, reductions include administration budgets, bank and agency spend, and the Department and NHS England’s central programmes, including communications and campaigns. Additionally, a change to the personal injury discount rate has also led to a reduction in the forecast for clinical negligence.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of average cost per activity under the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service, in the context of value-for-money references during the Urgent Question on the NHS Volunteer and Care service on 19 May 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response and then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the important contribution of our much-valued volunteers, and NHS England has recently taken the decision to close the programme.
The following table shows the cost to the public purse of the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme, for 2023/24 and 2024/25:
Financial year | Total |
2023/24 | £6,360,598 |
2024/25 | £4,330,652 |
Note: NHS England is awaiting final invoices for 2024/25 so this figure may change, although the total cost for 2024/25 is expected to be no more than £4,330,652, excluding VAT.
The monthly and quarterly breakdown of costs varies based on invoicing schedules rather than by use of the programme, and therefore only annual figures have been provided. The average cost per task for 2024/25 was £40.74, based on the estimated programme cost of £4,330,652 in 2024/25 and delivery of 106,297 completed tasks, as per figures provided by the Royal Voluntary Service.
Providing a volunteer-based programme will always incur costs as there is a need to provide a supportive infrastructure including recruitment and management of volunteers, appropriate safeguarding support, the digital infrastructure and overall management of the scheme, as well as practical support for volunteers such as payment of expenses. However, the current cost per task is not considered value for money.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service in each (a) month, (b) quarter and (c) year since January 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response and then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the important contribution of our much-valued volunteers, and NHS England has recently taken the decision to close the programme.
The following table shows the cost to the public purse of the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme, for 2023/24 and 2024/25:
Financial year | Total |
2023/24 | £6,360,598 |
2024/25 | £4,330,652 |
Note: NHS England is awaiting final invoices for 2024/25 so this figure may change, although the total cost for 2024/25 is expected to be no more than £4,330,652, excluding VAT.
The monthly and quarterly breakdown of costs varies based on invoicing schedules rather than by use of the programme, and therefore only annual figures have been provided. The average cost per task for 2024/25 was £40.74, based on the estimated programme cost of £4,330,652 in 2024/25 and delivery of 106,297 completed tasks, as per figures provided by the Royal Voluntary Service.
Providing a volunteer-based programme will always incur costs as there is a need to provide a supportive infrastructure including recruitment and management of volunteers, appropriate safeguarding support, the digital infrastructure and overall management of the scheme, as well as practical support for volunteers such as payment of expenses. However, the current cost per task is not considered value for money.