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 impact of the abolition of NHS England on the NHS Business Services Authority.

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

Following the announcement that NHS England will be abolished as an arm’s length body, a transformation programme has been launched within the Department.

It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.

Discussions between officials within NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), the Department, and NHS England are ongoing concerning NHSBSA’s role and services for the health and social care system in light of the abolition of NHS England.

The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) positive and (b) negative (i) HIV, (ii) hepatitis B and (iii) hepatitis C tests were performed in emergency departments as part of the opt-out blood-borne virus testing scheme in each month since January 2025.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This information is not available as the data is currently unvalidated.

Over the first 24 months of the opt-out bloodborne virus testing in emergency departments programme, 1,981,590 HIV tests, 1,502,799 hepatitis C virus tests and 1,185,678 hepatitis B virus tests have been completed.

An interim report on the programme is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bloodborne-viruses-opt-out-testing-in-emergency-departments/public-health-evaluation-of-bbv-opt-out-testing-in-eds-in-england-24-month-interim-report

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS accident and emergency departments (a) offer and (b) do not offer an (i) HIV, (ii) hepatitis B and (iii) hepatitis C test to all patients requiring a blood test.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Emergency Department (ED) opt-out testing is currently being offered to all extremely high and high HIV prevalence areas in England until the end of March 2026. A detailed list of specific sites offering opt-out HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing is contained in the attached table.

The Department, together with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England, are working together in the development of a new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish later in 2025. The plan will include a focus on scaling up HIV testing, including an assessment of the future of opt out testing based on the programme’s progress and available data in line with our 2030 ambition.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of irregular migrants arriving by small boat receive health screening.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press notice entitled 14 NHS trusts the focus of national maternity investigation, published on 15 September 2025, which NHS Trusts selected for the maternity investigation were examples of (a) high performing, (b) poor performing and (c) substantially improved Trusts.

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

The Department has not selected which trusts to include in the independent maternity and neonatal investigation.

The 14 NHS trusts were selected by the independent investigation based on a variety of factors, including results from the Care Quality Commission’s maternity patient survey and Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s perinatal mortality rates, in addition to variation in case mix, trust type, geographic coverage, provision of care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, and family feedback. Three of the trusts have been included due to their inclusion in previous investigations, these three trusts being the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

The chair’s selection of the 14 trusts has been made with a view to ensuring a diverse mix of trusts, including variation in case mix, trust type, geographic and demographic coverage and views expressed by families. By taking this approach, the investigation can capture learning from a wide range of provision and experiences, ensuring that the findings are relevant across the system.

The Department does not specifically hold data on whether National Health Service trusts are high performing, poor performing, and/or substantially improved. The latest available data on all 14 trusts is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press notice entitled 14 NHS trusts the focus of national maternity investigation, published on 15 September 2025, what criteria his Department used to decide which NHS Trusts would be included in the maternity investigation.

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

The Department has not selected which trusts to include in the independent maternity and neonatal investigation.

The 14 NHS trusts were selected by the independent investigation based on a variety of factors, including results from the Care Quality Commission’s maternity patient survey and Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s perinatal mortality rates, in addition to variation in case mix, trust type, geographic coverage, provision of care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, and family feedback. Three of the trusts have been included due to their inclusion in previous investigations, these three trusts being the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

The chair’s selection of the 14 trusts has been made with a view to ensuring a diverse mix of trusts, including variation in case mix, trust type, geographic and demographic coverage and views expressed by families. By taking this approach, the investigation can capture learning from a wide range of provision and experiences, ensuring that the findings are relevant across the system.

The Department does not specifically hold data on whether National Health Service trusts are high performing, poor performing, and/or substantially improved. The latest available data on all 14 trusts is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/

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 quality of (a) maternity and (b) neonatal services in each of the 14 NHS Trusts chosen for the maternity and neonatal investigation.

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

The Department has not selected which trusts to include in the independent maternity and neonatal investigation.

The 14 NHS trusts were selected by the independent investigation based on a variety of factors, including results from the Care Quality Commission’s maternity patient survey and Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s perinatal mortality rates, in addition to variation in case mix, trust type, geographic coverage, provision of care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, and family feedback. Three of the trusts have been included due to their inclusion in previous investigations, these three trusts being the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

The chair’s selection of the 14 trusts has been made with a view to ensuring a diverse mix of trusts, including variation in case mix, trust type, geographic and demographic coverage and views expressed by families. By taking this approach, the investigation can capture learning from a wide range of provision and experiences, ensuring that the findings are relevant across the system.

The Department does not specifically hold data on whether National Health Service trusts are high performing, poor performing, and/or substantially improved. The latest available data on all 14 trusts is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has made of the potential merits of electronic prescribing in secondary care settings.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The rollout of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in secondary care settings is underway with a goal to have at least half of National Health Service hospital trusts using it by 2026. NHS England is supporting the adoption of EPS by secondary care providers and supporting secondary care IT system suppliers to develop integration with EPS.

Benefit analysis to date indicates that EPS in secondary care improves prescription workflows, reduces administrative burden and the need for paper prescription pads, thereby enhancing security, reducing errors, and lowering costs. It supports remote consultations and enables better tracking and reporting of prescribing data.

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 impact of the proposed abolition of NHS England on the provision of central estates.

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

The future Department will be smaller, more agile, and more efficient, thereby delivering value for money for the public and empowering our health system to improve health and care for patients.

Work is progressing at pace to develop the design and operating model for the new integrated organisation, as well as the plan for the smooth transfer of people, functions, and responsibilities.

A long-term estates strategy will be implemented when the final shape of the organisation matures. We are committed to a regional structure, with the Places for Growth programme and Leeds remaining as the Department’s second headquarters. We will review our estates portfolio to ensure that it delivers value for money for the taxpayer.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the headcount of staff members was at (a) his Department and (b) NHS England in each month between February and September 2025.

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

The table below shows the number of employees in the Department and workers in NHS England at the end of each month between February and August 2025. September figures are not yet available as the month has not yet ended.

NHS England Executives made a deliberate decision not to restrict recruitment to clinical training posts until a review of post-graduate clinical education and training has been completed. While recruitment to clinical training posts has caused an overall increase in NHS England’s headcount, its wider workforce has reduced in size, as shown in the table below, due to the recruitment controls enacted.

Source : Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England

Note: The GP Educators workforce provides clinical supervision and training to general practitioners.