Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with NICE on its work programme and the objectives of the Women's Health Strategy to ensure that women's health technologies and treatments are prioritised within future NICE work programmes.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns that women have raised about inequalities in their healthcare, and we are committed to ensuring that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the development of its guidance and for the prioritisation of topics for guidance development.
NICE evaluates all new licensed medicines, including medicines for women’s health, and women’s and reproductive health is one of NICE’s priority topic areas for the maintenance and updating of guideline content.
NICE has prioritised a number of topics for guidance development related to women’s health including Digital Health Technologies for the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy to help manage the symptoms of menopause, technologies for the rapid diagnosis of endometriosis, and technologies to improve the detection of endometrial cancer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on its Topic Selection processes for hormone-based therapies used in the treatment of menopause and female sexual dysfunction and the need for timely decisions on women's health technologies awaiting appraisal.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns that women have raised about inequalities in their healthcare, and we are committed to ensuring that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the development of its guidance and for the prioritisation of topics for guidance development.
NICE evaluates all new licensed medicines, including medicines for women’s health, and women’s and reproductive health is one of NICE’s priority topic areas for the maintenance and updating of guideline content.
NICE has prioritised a number of topics for guidance development related to women’s health including Digital Health Technologies for the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy to help manage the symptoms of menopause, technologies for the rapid diagnosis of endometriosis, and technologies to improve the detection of endometrial cancer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of NICE's topic selection and health technology assessment processes in prioritising conditions that predominantly affect women, including menopause-related conditions and female sexual dysfunction; and whether she plans to review those processes.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns that women have raised about inequalities in their healthcare, and we are committed to ensuring that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the development of its guidance and for the prioritisation of topics for guidance development.
NICE evaluates all new licensed medicines, including medicines for women’s health, and women’s and reproductive health is one of NICE’s priority topic areas for the maintenance and updating of guideline content.
NICE has prioritised a number of topics for guidance development related to women’s health including Digital Health Technologies for the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy to help manage the symptoms of menopause, technologies for the rapid diagnosis of endometriosis, and technologies to improve the detection of endometrial cancer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of NICE in addressing medical and clinical misogyny within health technology assessment and clinical guideline development; and what steps she is taking to identify and eliminate systemic bias against women's health conditions.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns that women have raised about inequalities in their healthcare, and we are committed to ensuring that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the development of its guidance and for the prioritisation of topics for guidance development.
NICE evaluates all new licensed medicines, including medicines for women’s health, and women’s and reproductive health is one of NICE’s priority topic areas for the maintenance and updating of guideline content.
NICE has prioritised a number of topics for guidance development related to women’s health including Digital Health Technologies for the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy to help manage the symptoms of menopause, technologies for the rapid diagnosis of endometriosis, and technologies to improve the detection of endometrial cancer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with NICE on its appraisal and topic selection processes to ensure they comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty in relation to women's health.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns that women have raised about inequalities in their healthcare, and we are committed to ensuring that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the development of its guidance and for the prioritisation of topics for guidance development.
NICE evaluates all new licensed medicines, including medicines for women’s health, and women’s and reproductive health is one of NICE’s priority topic areas for the maintenance and updating of guideline content.
NICE has prioritised a number of topics for guidance development related to women’s health including Digital Health Technologies for the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy to help manage the symptoms of menopause, technologies for the rapid diagnosis of endometriosis, and technologies to improve the detection of endometrial cancer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NICE guidance on GLP-1 medications for obesity is implemented consistently across Integrated Care Boards; and if he will review the methodology used to allocate funding for GLP-1 medications and specialist weight management services so that it reflects the true number of clinically eligible patients in each ICB and reduces regional variation in access.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are legally required to make funding available for medicines recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in line with NICE guidance and the NICE Funding Variation for tirzepatide.
NHS England is supporting ICBs to implement local pathways for the assessment, prescribing, and management of tirzepatide, and has centrally commissioned wraparound support for eligible patients. It has also provided additional funding in 2025/26 and 2026/27 to support towards the cost of prescribing weight loss medicines. From 2026/27, NHS England has introduced new Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators, with additional funding to support implementation of obesity medicine pathways in primary care.
NHS England monitors implementation through routine engagement with systems. There are currently no plans for NHS England to review the methodology used to allocate funding to ICBs for these services.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on establishing a cross Government obesity strategy that treats modern obesity treatment, including GLP-1 medications and digital wraparound support, as an investment with ring fenced, long-term funding; and if he will publish any modelling his Department holds on the potential savings to the NHS and welfare budgets from such an approach.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The 10-Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, set out the decisive action the Government is taking to tackle the obesity crisis and ease the strain on the National Health Service. This included a commitment to expand access to GLP-1 medicines.
The NHS is one of the first health systems globally to provide population level access to GLP-1 weight loss medicines through a publicly funded service. Rollout of access through primary care is being phased in, with an initial focus on prioritising those with the highest clinical need, while ensuring services can expand safely and sustainably. From 2026/27 new general practice incentives will support more consistent identification and treatment of patients with obesity in primary care.
Every NHS patient prescribed tirzepatide for obesity in primary care should also be offered structured wraparound behavioural support. NHS England has centrally commissioned wraparound behavioural support for eligible patients, which it is currently re procuring for a further multi-year period.
There are currently no plans to publish modelling on potential savings to the NHS and welfare budgets.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports were submitted by members of the public through the Yellow Card scheme, in each of the past five years, in relation to the sale of (a) counterfeit medicines, (b) unapproved medicines in the UK, and (c) medicines which are authorised for supply in the UK but supplied through unregulated channels.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Answering the question raised by the Hon. Member would require the Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency staff to go through a large volume of data manually. This is because the information is not held in such a way to be able to filter by the requested categories.
The sections (a) and (b) would require a data extraction to identify all reports received from members of the public over the last five years. Following this, a manual review would need to be undertaken of every report to cross reference the suspect drug against all active licenses at the time of reporting for each individual case and would thereby incur disproportionate cost. Section (c) is information which is not held in the Yellow Card database.
The Guide to Parliamentary Work sets here out that there is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The Guide to Parliamentary Work is published online and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports submitted by members of the public through the Yellow Card scheme resulted in enforcement action by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, in each of the past five years, in relation to the sale of (a) counterfeit medicines, (b) unapproved medicines in the UK and (c) medicines which are authorised for supply in the UK but supplied through unregulated channels.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 March 2026 to Question 122732.
The Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected adverse drug reactions, medical device incidents, and concerns about the safety and quality of medicines. Where appropriate, reports raising potential counterfeit, compliance, or safety issues may be referred to relevant teams within the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for consideration of regulatory or enforcement action.
However, this information is not held in a format that readily allows the MHRA to identify how many reports submitted by members of the public resulted in enforcement action in relation to counterfeit medicines, unapproved medicines in the UK, and medicines which are authorised for supply in the United Kingdom but supplied through unregulated channels. Extracting this information from Yellow Card reports would require a manual review of individual records and would incur disproportionate cost. The MHRA is therefore unable to provide the requested figures for each of the past five years.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether the current resourcing level in the Criminal Enforcement Unit of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is sufficient to progress enforcement action in all cases where warranted.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Resourcing levels and operational demand are kept under ongoing review to ensure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Unit remains able to respond effectively to evolving criminal threats. While additional capacity could facilitate additional activity, the unit delivers an effective enforcement response within the resources allocated, applying risk-based prioritisation to ensure the most serious threats to public health are addressed.