Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has reviewed the findings of the independent analysis commissioned by Prostate Cancer Research on the economic model used by the UK National Screening Committee.

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

The independent analysis commissioned by Prostate Cancer Research was submitted to the UK National Screening Committee’s public consultation on its draft recommendation on screening for prostate cancer. This consultation has now closed, and the committee is considering the responses.

We anticipate a final recommendation on screening for prostate cancer soon. Following this, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation, and what next steps are needed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to conduct a full Equality Impact Assessment as part of the decision making process on prostate cancer screening recommendations.

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

Yes, a full equality impact assessment will be undertaken as part of the decision-making process on prostate cancer screening recommendations.

On 28 November, the UK National Screening Committee opened a 12-week public consultation on a draft recommendation on screening for prostate cancer. This consultation has now closed, and the committee is considering the responses.

We anticipate a final recommendation soon. Following this, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation, and what next steps are needed. Any policy developed from the recommendation will be supported by an equality impact assessment to ensure that health inequality that could be caused by the policy will be mitigated against.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for offences relating to the termination of pregnancy through the the pills-by-post scheme.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions across England and Wales for a wide range of offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK

The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.

Information centrally held does not specify how many of these convictions are linked to the use of the pills-by-post scheme.

The Department of Health and Social Care is responsible for the policy relating to the pills-by-post scheme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overseas prescriptions are dispensed in a) the UK and b) England i) in total, ii) by medicines dispensed and iii) by origin country.

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

The United Kingdom only recognises overseas prescriptions from European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland. Most medicines, with the exception of schedule 1 to 3 controlled drugs and specials, prescribed in these countries can be dispensed by United Kingdom pharmacies, so long as the prescriber is from a profession recognised by the statutory guidance that is legally entitled to issue a prescription of that kind in the country in which the prescription is issued.

As they are dispensed as private, or non-National Health Service, prescriptions, we do not have any data for the number of EEA/Swiss prescriptions that have been dispensed in the 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 Written Statement of 23 February 2026 on Clinical trials, HCWS1347, in which the letter from MHRA refers to correspondence from 7 November 2025, if he will publish that correspondence.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is not releasing the 7 November letter at this point as the decision is the subject of litigation, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency does not comment on ongoing litigation proceedings.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions there have been for offences relating to the termination of pregnancy through the the pills-by-post scheme.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The At-Home Early Medical Abortion or EMA (known as the “pills by post” scheme), was implemented to allow eligible individuals to receive medication to terminate a pregnancy of less than 10 weeks via post after a telephone or video consultation. Introduced in England and Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to improve access to care, the scheme was made permanent in August 2022.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of prosecutions for offences relating to the illegal use of medication expressly procured to cause an abortion. To establish number and outcomes of prosecutions where relevant offences relating to the misuse of medication were prosecuted would require a manual review of case files and this would be at disproportionate cost.

Management information is available which shows the number of offences charged by way of Sections 58 and 59 (administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion / procuring drugs, instruments to cause abortion) and Section 1 (child destruction) in which a prosecution commenced. The table below shows the number of these offences from 1^st April 2020 to 31^st March 2025.

The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data are held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many charges there have been for offences relating to the termination of pregnancy through the the pills-by-post scheme.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does collect and publish official statistics on the number of charges for the offences of ‘Procuring illegal abortion’ offences and ‘intentional destruction of a viable unborn child’ recorded by the police in England and Wales.

However, it is not possible to separately identify investigations relating to the termination of pregnancy through the pills-by-post scheme in data that is held centrally.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date he plans to bring into force the provisions of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill.

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

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 5 March 2026. The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 (Commencement) Regulations 2026 were made on 5 March 2026, which brought into force all provisions of the Act on 6 March 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the current Chair of the adult clinical reference group for adult gender dysphoria services refused to comply with requests for data for the date linkage study which was recommended by the Cass review.

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

It is well documented that a number of adult gender clinics were unwilling to collaborate with data sharing requests made of them previously, in respect of the data linkage study, and that this meant that the data linkage study was unable to proceed at the time. Further engagement with a range of stakeholders has since led to small but important proposed improvements in study design. These have been subject to positive feedback from representatives of commissioned adult gender clinics and should support collaboration on data sharing once the necessary research approvals are in place to enable the study to begin. Given the importance of this study as part of the wider national gender research programme, the Department will continue to closely monitor progress in partnership with NHS England and consider whether any further support is required to enable study delivery.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, whether he plans to complete the data linkage study before the Pathways puberty blockers trial commences.

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

The data linkage study is an important commitment within a wider national gender research programme, which is being jointly delivered by NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

The data linkage study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It is important to highlight that as the study is not designed as a comparative clinical trial, it will not provide direct evidence on the cause or effect of any individual treatment approach, nor provide evidence relating to any treatment’s safety or efficacy. Its findings will relate to a former, decommissioned model of NHS care and to a previous cohort of children and young people with gender incongruence.

The PATHWAYS suite of studies, including the currently paused clinical trial, and the data linkage study, have very different designs and will generate different types of new evidence. They remain separate elements of the wider national gender research programme, and their delivery timelines are not co-dependent.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, whether he expects the data linkage study to be completed before the abolition of NHS England.

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

The Department currently expects the data linkage study analysis to have been completed, or be close to completion, by April 2027, dependent on the timing of research approvals being secured. However, should any remaining actions be required to complete, and publish the findings of, the study at the point NHS England is abolished, these will transfer as legacy delivery commitments for completion by the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, what is his expected timeframe for research and ethics approval.

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

Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the data linkage study to begin, including the laying of an updated statutory instrument, or Order, to provide appropriate legal protections for those individuals and organisations who will be sharing or processing data for the specific purpose of the study, that are potentially subject to the specific protections of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. In parallel, refreshed research approvals are currently being sought from the Health Research Authority (HRA). The HRA provides independent scrutiny and approval of research studies, with the outcome of the data linkage study’s application expected in the next few weeks. Both the new order and HRA study approvals will need to be in place before the study, including data sharing, can begin.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, what the small but important improvements in study design are to which he refers in his statement.

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

Small but important proposed improvements include refining the data sharing requirement of adult gender clinics, so that data is only requested that directly relates to the study cohort. Careful consideration has also been given to how best to run the study-specific data opt out so that it is simpler and more accessible to individuals in the study cohort, and can remain open longer. This will provide the parallel benefit of reducing the administrative burden on individual gender clinics.

Excise

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Sureena Brackenridge; Dr Caroline Johnson; Darren

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Sureena Brackenridge; Dr Caroline Johnson; Darren