Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of whether additional allocation priority should be available where there is clear medical evidence that kidney-failure-related valvular disease could cause a patient to lose their opportunity for transplantation in their waiting period.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national Kidney Advisory Group, made up of clinicians and patients, advises on the allocation process to ensure it is equitable for all United Kingdom patients. There are no current plans to prioritise patients with valvular disease, although the group regularly reviews the available evidence and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Further information is available at the following links:
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/39493/pol186.pdf
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the kidney allocation system takes into account the risk of kidney-failure-related valvular heart disease progressing during the waiting period to the point of making a patient unsuitable for transplantation.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national Kidney Advisory Group, made up of clinicians and patients, advises on the allocation process to ensure it is equitable for all United Kingdom patients. There are no current plans to prioritise patients with valvular disease, although the group regularly reviews the available evidence and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Further information is available at the following links:
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/39493/pol186.pdf
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on how many kidney patients were removed from the transplant waiting list because valvular heart disease had worsened while they were waiting.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national Kidney Advisory Group, made up of clinicians and patients, advises on the allocation process to ensure it is equitable for all United Kingdom patients. There are no current plans to prioritise patients with valvular disease, although the group regularly reviews the available evidence and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Further information is available at the following links:
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/39493/pol186.pdf
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to assess the impact of mandatory reporting requirements contained within the Crime and Policing Act on (a) young people’s engagement with clinical sexual health services and (b) wider sexual health outcomes in young people.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse. The new mandatory reporting duty we are working to implement will be a vital step in safeguarding children more effectively across a range of institutions and settings.
The mandatory reporting duty will be building on existing statutory safeguarding responsibilities. These measures will not remove the ability of young people to access healthcare or advice, nor should they displace the established principles which govern the provision of confidential care.
Professionals are already required to clearly explain the limits of such confidentiality, including situations in which information must be shared in order to safeguard a child or others. We are confident that when handled sensitively, this can support informed engagement rather than undermine trust in services. The duty, once commenced, will require only that information is shared with the appropriate authorities, who can then assess the circumstances and respond proportionately to safeguard and support those involved.
We will continue to engage across government and with stakeholders to help manage the implementation of the new duty to ensure readiness and compliance for when the duty comes into effect in 2027.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to effectively and proactively communicate with sexual health services on the implementation of mandatory reporting requirements contained within the Crime and Policing Act.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse. The new mandatory reporting duty we are working to implement will be a vital step in safeguarding children more effectively across a range of institutions and settings.
The mandatory reporting duty will be building on existing statutory safeguarding responsibilities. These measures will not remove the ability of young people to access healthcare or advice, nor should they displace the established principles which govern the provision of confidential care.
Professionals are already required to clearly explain the limits of such confidentiality, including situations in which information must be shared in order to safeguard a child or others. We are confident that when handled sensitively, this can support informed engagement rather than undermine trust in services. The duty, once commenced, will require only that information is shared with the appropriate authorities, who can then assess the circumstances and respond proportionately to safeguard and support those involved.
We will continue to engage across government and with stakeholders to help manage the implementation of the new duty to ensure readiness and compliance for when the duty comes into effect in 2027.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to consult medical professionals to support effective implementation of the Crime and Policing Act.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse. The new mandatory reporting duty we are working to implement will be a vital step in safeguarding children more effectively across a range of institutions and settings.
The mandatory reporting duty will be building on existing statutory safeguarding responsibilities. These measures will not remove the ability of young people to access healthcare or advice, nor should they displace the established principles which govern the provision of confidential care.
Professionals are already required to clearly explain the limits of such confidentiality, including situations in which information must be shared in order to safeguard a child or others. We are confident that when handled sensitively, this can support informed engagement rather than undermine trust in services. The duty, once commenced, will require only that information is shared with the appropriate authorities, who can then assess the circumstances and respond proportionately to safeguard and support those involved.
We will continue to engage across government and with stakeholders to help manage the implementation of the new duty to ensure readiness and compliance for when the duty comes into effect in 2027.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that decisions on the recent consultation on tobacco and vapes packaging, appearance, and retail display are informed by robust public health evidence and expertise; and protected from any attempts that were made to use technology in consultation responses to aid commercial interests.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the statement issued by the Department on 26 October in respect of the attempted interference in the consultation process, which, for ease of reference, is reproduced below:
"We always have robust controls in place to prevent the manipulation of our public consultations, and those controls worked effectively in this case. As a result, the fake responses were removed, and the consultation helped inform the landmark action we are taking to create a smoke-free generation."
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of increased investment in smoking cessation services ahead of the next Spending Review, including the impact on (a) NHS and social care expenditure, and (b) employment and economic productivity.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government has made record investment in stop smoking services, with an additional £260 million provided from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and at least £153 million per year protected for these services in the public health grant. These services have consistently proven to be cost-effective, with 37% more people supported to quit in 2025/26 compared to the period before this increased investment.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has allocated to national mass media campaigns encouraging adults to stop smoking in each of the financial years (a) 2026-27, (b) 2027-28 and (c) 2028-29.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The media budget for smoking cessation activity for 2026/27 is £2.7 million. Planning for public health prevention campaigns for 2027/28 is currently underway, therefore we don’t have figures for the periods 2027/28 and 2028/29.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of GP practices refusing shared care agreements on patients facing long waiting times for specialist care, including for ADHD and gender identity services; and what guidance her Department issues to Integrated Care Boards to ensure consistent access to shared care prescribing across primary care.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, was published on 9 October 2026, providing analysis and recommendations across a wide range of issues relating to the current provision of services in this area, including in relation to shared care agreements.
The Government issued an initial response on the day of publication but we will set out the full action that we are taking in response to the review recommendations in our new Mental Health Strategy to be published later this year, including in relation to the issues raised by the Hon. Member. This response is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-pledges-earlier-support-to-tackle-mental-health-crises
Separately, in his Review of adult gender dysphoria services published on 18 December 2025, Dr David Levy recommended that NHS England and integrated care boards should work with adult gender dysphoria services and general practitioner (GP) representative bodies to establish sustainable local arrangements for hormone prescribing and access to longer-term health monitoring. NHS England and the Department are leading the system-wide response to the review.
The General Medical Council has published guidance which supports integrated care boards and National Health Service organisations in developing and using shared care agreements, and helps GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities.