Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to add additional Trusts to the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation following the removal of (a) Shropshire and (b) Leeds.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional surgical hubs are due to (a) open and (b) be built in the next 12 months.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

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 ensure patients receive time-critical medication in care settings.

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

Hospital providers are responsible for ensuring that patients within hospital settings receive the appropriate medication on time, and there is a variety of different mechanisms that can be used to support timely administration.

These include:

• Training on time critical medications, which is part of the delivery of safe and effective medicines optimisation through the operation of each organisation’s Medicines Policy.
• Electronic prescribing and medicines administration, which continues to be rolled out in the National Health Service in England. This is recognised to be essential to record compliance with time critical medications.
• Self-administration may help some patients, following a shared risk assessment and where providers have the space and facilities to offer patients personalised secure storage for their medicines and there is facility to monitor when doses have been taken independently.

Furthermore, NHS England is leading the Medicines Safety Improvement Programme, as part of the wider NHS Patient Safety Strategy. A focus on time critical medicines has been agreed as a priority for this programme and work is underway involving 80 NHS trusts, with 48 of them receiving active support for innovation and improvement.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of 28 October 2025 on World Stroke Day, what the maximum (a) travelling time and (b) distance a thrombectomy service will be from a person's home.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children receiving education in state funded special schools were born abroad.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The requested information is not held by the department.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children with education, health and care plans were born abroad.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The requested information is not held by the department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral contribution of 6 May 2025, Official Report, column 540 and his letter to the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham dated 29 May 2025, when he will meet the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham to discuss time-critical medication.

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

My office has been in touch with the hon. Member to arrange a meeting.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason some people with motor neurone disease are receiving tofersen during its evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; and if he will take steps to make it available to all patients who would benefit from it.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by the superoxide dismutase – 1 (SOD1) gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE has not yet been able to start the evaluation of tofersen as it is unable to issue guidance on the use of the technology without receiving an evidence submission about the technology’s clinical and cost-effectiveness from the marketing authorisation holder. Therefore, NICE is ready to review tofersen via its HST programme, as soon as Biogen indicates that it is ready to start the NICE evaluation.

I am aware that the marketing authorisation holder has established early access programmes (EAPs) through which some patients are currently accessing tofersen. Participation in company-led schemes is decided at an individual NHS trust level and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the NHS, but NHS trusts must still cover the administration costs and must provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP. No assessment has been made of regional variation in access to tofersen through the programme.

NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge medicines schemes, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks. ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any of these schemes, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/free-of-charge-foc-medicines-schemes-national-policy-recommendations-for-local-systems/

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 ensure that all individuals with superoxide dismutase-1 motor neuron disease have access to early access programmes for motor neurone disease.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by the superoxide dismutase – 1 (SOD1) gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE has not yet been able to start the evaluation of tofersen as it is unable to issue guidance on the use of the technology without receiving an evidence submission about the technology’s clinical and cost-effectiveness from the marketing authorisation holder. Therefore, NICE is ready to review tofersen via its HST programme, as soon as Biogen indicates that it is ready to start the NICE evaluation.

I am aware that the marketing authorisation holder has established early access programmes (EAPs) through which some patients are currently accessing tofersen. Participation in company-led schemes is decided at an individual NHS trust level and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the NHS, but NHS trusts must still cover the administration costs and must provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP. No assessment has been made of regional variation in access to tofersen through the programme.

NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge medicines schemes, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks. ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any of these schemes, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/free-of-charge-foc-medicines-schemes-national-policy-recommendations-for-local-systems/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the National Health Data Service to collect data on pancreatic cancer.

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

The Government is setting up the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) to help improve healthcare for everyone in the United Kingdom. The National Health Service has collected health information from millions of people over 75 years old and has a unique set of data which could hold the secret to curing and better treating major illnesses.

HDRS will safely and responsibly capitalise on the UK's rich health and care datasets to unlock breakthroughs in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, including cancers. With streamlined access to this data, researchers will be able to carry out research that will prevent illness and benefit patients sooner, with improved and tailored treatments.

HDRS will be open to a diverse range of customers with a legal and ethical research project and will be designed to support the broadest spectrum of research topics, including rare diseases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the National Health Data Service to collect data on rare cancers.

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

The Government is setting up the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) to help improve healthcare for everyone in the United Kingdom. The National Health Service has collected health information from millions of people over 75 years old and has a unique set of data which could hold the secret to curing and better treating major illnesses.

HDRS will safely and responsibly capitalise on the UK's rich health and care datasets to unlock breakthroughs in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, including cancers. With streamlined access to this data, researchers will be able to carry out research that will prevent illness and benefit patients sooner, with improved and tailored treatments.

HDRS will be open to a diverse range of customers with a legal and ethical research project and will be designed to support the broadest spectrum of research topics, including rare diseases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what action he is taking to ensure people with Huntington's disease have a single point of contact to coordinate their care.

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

The revised NHS England Specialised Neurology Services (adults) Specification 2025 outlines a comprehensive model of care, detailing the requirements for specialised neurology services but also outlining the expectations of a system wide approach. It articulates how patients should move into and out of specialised neurology services, including patients with Huntington’s disease, incorporating end to end pathways within an Integrated Neurology System.

The NHSE Specialised Commissioning Neurology Transformation Team (NTP) have also produced a number of guidance documents to support the implementation of the revised service specification. This includes developing a neurology transformation toolkit, which outlines the impact of care coordination and case management functions in supporting more equitable and efficient care for people with long-term neurological diseases, including Huntington’s disease.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people released from custody in error remain at large since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.

While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.

We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again.

Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK and provide data up to March 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve the identification of people with undiagnosed hypertension.

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

It is estimated that around 29% of all people who have hypertension are undiagnosed. We are taking action to address this as part of the 10-Year Health Plan which outlines our intention to publish a Modern Service Framework for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This will identify the best evidenced interventions, set clear quality standards, drive innovation in CVD prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation.

We have invested heavily in hypertension case-finding for those over 40 in community pharmacies. As of August 2024, 7,641 pharmacies were actively delivering the service.

We continue to deliver the NHS Health Check programme in England which assess the top risk factors for CVD among people aged 40 to 74 years and this includes measuring blood pressure. For every 1.4 million NHS Health Checks delivered annually, there are over 340,000 cases of high blood pressure identified, which results in 40,000 diagnoses of hypertension.

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 trends in the levels of (a) gonorrhea, (b) chlamydia, and (c) syphillis in people.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

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 the average annual cost of treating a person with HIV.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

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 the average cost of testing an adult for HIV.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to information provided below Figure 11 in the UK Health Security Agency's official statistics entitled HIV testing, PrEP, new HIV diagnoses and care outcomes for people accessing HIV services: 2025 report, published on 7 October 2025, if he will publish the underlying data on the years in which newly diagnosed HIV patients first arrived in England.

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

The number of people newly diagnosed in England in 2025 who were born abroad, by year of arrival, is published in figure 12 of the recently published HIV testing, PrEP, new HIV diagnoses and care outcomes for people accessing HIV services: 2025 report, available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-annual-data-tables/hiv-testing-prep-new-hiv-diagnoses-and-care-outcomes-for-people-accessing-hiv-services-2025-report

Among the 1,669 people born abroad and newly diagnosed with HIV in England in 2024:

• 346 arrived in 2024;
• 434 arrived in 2023;
• 163 arrived in 2022;
• 535 arrived before 2022; and
• 191 did not have year of arrival reported.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the NHS long-term workforce plan.

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

The Government will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.

This plan will set out action to create a workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 2023 2023 UK surgical workforce census report compiled by the Royal College of Surgeons, what steps he is taking to expand surgical training capacity in the context of bottlenecks in posts.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan, published on 3 July, set out that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need.

The plan also sets out that we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. We will set out next steps in due course.

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 sexually transmitted infections on the future fertility of people.

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

Bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI) such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea are a recognised cause of pelvic inflammatory disease, which can in some cases lead to tubal factor infertility.

Chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed STI. It often has no symptoms but, if left untreated, can have serious health complications in women, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and tubal factor infertility. It has been estimated that 0.5% of untreated chlamydia infections can lead to tubal factor infertility.

The National Chlamydia Screening Programme is a public health programme aimed at reducing the reproductive harm caused by untreated chlamydia infections. The programme involves making opportunistic offers of a chlamydia test to young women aged 15 to 24 years old without symptoms, with the primary aim of reducing the health harm caused by untreated chlamydia infection.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to develop a modern services framework for (a) arthritis and (b) musculorskeletal disease.

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

As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board will oversee the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity.

Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, mental health, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions with significant health and economic impacts for future waves of modern service frameworks.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of people receiving NHS HIV care in England were born overseas.

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

The UK Health Security Agency publishes data on the number of people who were newly diagnosed in England in 2025, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-annual-data-tables/hiv-testing-prep-new-hiv-diagnoses-and-care-outcomes-for-people-accessing-hiv-services-2025-report

Information is not collected on residency status or nationality, and access to HIV testing, care, and treatment is free at the point of contact regardless of residency status. This is crucial to prevent mortality, morbidity, and onward HIV transmission. People who are treated for HIV and attain a suppressed viral load cannot pass on HIV to sexual partners.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the national cancer plan.

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

The National Cancer Plan will be published in the new year. We have received over 11,000 responses to our Call for Evidence and have had significant ongoing engagement with patients, clinicians, and charities.

The plan will include further details on how we will improve the experience and outcomes for patients with cancer, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Health of 23 October 2025 on Impact of NHS workforce levels on cancer patients, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to publish the NHS workforce plan.

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

The Government will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.

This plan will set out action to create a workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.