Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 58044 on Strategic Defence Review and with reference to the freedom of information request FOI2025/17106, which trade unions were offered access to the Strategic Defence Review before 5.00pm on 2 June 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As stated in the response to FOI2025/17106 in the FOI response that the hon. Member has already received, engagement with key stakeholders ahead of any major publications, such as the Strategic Defence Review, is entirely appropriate given the impact such publications can have.
The Review as published was intended for a public audience and does not contain any classified or restricted commercial information. Trade Unions did not see the Review prior to publication.
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 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.
Month | Department Headcount | NHS England Headcount | GP Educators (Included in NHS England Headcount) | Wider Workforce (Included in NHS England Headcount) |
February 2025 | 3,682 | 18,965 | 1,137 | 17,828 |
March 2025 | 3,697 | 19,021 | 1,144 | 17,877 |
April 2025 | 3,700 | 19,015 | 1,193 | 17,822 |
May 2025 | 3,703 | 19,307 | 1,501 | 17,806 |
June 2025 | 3,700 | 19,282 | 1,540 | 17,742 |
July 2025 | 3,700 | 19,032 | 1,557 | 17,475 |
August 2025 | 3,664 | 19,193 | 1,784 | 17,409 |
Source : Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England
Note: The GP Educators workforce provides clinical supervision and training to general practitioners.
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 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:
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 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:
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 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:
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, if he plans to make interim payments to people affected by sodium valproate as recommended in the Hughes report on Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, including around interim payments. This is a complex issue involving input from different government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report.
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, when he plans to respond to the recommendations of the Hughes report on Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report.
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 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.
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, how many (a) women of child bearing age, (b) girls, (c) boys and (d) men are receiving prescriptions for sodium valproate as of 11 September 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prescription data is collected by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).
The NHSBSA bases prescription data on processed prescription data for each three-month period. This is a commonly used method for presenting prescription data for prescriptions given for chronic conditions that can last longer than one month.
The latest available prescription data is from the period between April and June 2025.
The following information is extracted from the NHSBSA ePACT2 database, using British National Formulary chemical substance sodium valproate (0408010W0) and valproic acid (0402030Q0, 040801020), prescribed in England. The following numbers of patients were prescribed one or more item between April 2025 and June 2025:
(a) 16,400 females aged 18-54
(b) 2,400 females aged 0-17
(c) 6,000 males aged 0-17
(d) 91,800 males aged 18 or over
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 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.