Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendations in respect of pelvic mesh made by the (a) Cumberlege report of 2020 and (b) Hughes report of 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Seven of the nine recommendations of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review were previously accepted in full, in part, or in principle. Four of these have been successfully implemented, including:
- issuing an unreserved apology on behalf of the healthcare system;
- appointing the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner in England in respect of medicines and medical devices;
- establishing nine specialist mesh centres, which are in operation across England; and
- establishing and working with a Patient Reference Group to help develop the response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review.
Work is ongoing in respect of the remaining recommendations, including working across Government to carefully consider the recommendations in the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report and the Hughes Report, which looked into and provided advice on options for redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh.
The Government will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
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 implications for his policies of the proposals of the East Midlands fertility policy review on the number of IVF cycles set out in that review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the East Midlands fertility policy review, at a national level. It is for local integrated care boards to decide on local health policies for their population, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence fertility guidelines.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
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 (a) improve access to and (b) reduce waiting lists for the UK's 9 independent NHS pelvic mesh centres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are nine specialist mesh centres across England, ensuring that women in every region with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse get the right support. Each mesh centre is led by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure patients get access to the specialist care and treatment that they need, including pain management and psychological support. NHS England publishes data on referral to treatment waiting times. This is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/
The Department does not have information on the average waiting times specifically for mesh centres.
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission, and we are taking steps to return to the 18-week standard. The Elective Reform Plan sets out how the National Health Service will reform elective care services and meet the 18-week referral to treatment standard by March 2029.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 22633 on NHS: Weather, on what date in early December he first chaired a winter preparedness weekly meeting.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care first held discussions on winter planning with the Department ahead of the general election. The first briefing my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care received on winter preparations was on his first day in office, on 5 July 2024.
On 4 September my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chaired a preliminary winter preparations meeting. The Minister of State for Health chaired fortnightly meetings on winter preparedness from 26 September 2024 until 2 December 2024 at which point, as planned, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, began chairing a weekly meeting.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with refence to his oral statement of 20 January 2025 on New Hospital Programme Review, Official Report columns 748-750s, what the (a) pre-construction works, (b) full construction start and (c) completion date in his re-phasing of the new hospital programme is of (i) Leicester general hospital and Leicester royal infirmary, (ii) Watford general hospital, (iii) Specialist and emergency care hospital in Sutton, (iv) Kettering general hospital, (v) Leeds general infirmary, (vi) Musgrove Park hospital, (vii) Princess Alexandra hospital, (viii) Torbay hospital, (ix) Whipps Cross hospital, (x) St Mary’s hospital in London, (xi) Charing Cross hospital, (xii) Hammersmith hospital, (xiii) North Devon district hospital, (xiv) Eastbourne district general hospital, (xv) Conquest hospital and Bexhill hospital, (xvi) Hampshire hospitals, (xvii) Royal Berkshire hospital, (xviii) Royal Preston hospital, (xix) the Royal Lancaster infirmary and (xx) Queen’s medical centre and Nottingham city hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the start dates for the pre-construction work, which involves business case development and critical enabling works, and the main construction work, for the schemes requested:
Scheme | Pre-construction works start | Main construction works start |
Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital | From 2028 | 2032 to 2034 |
Watford General Hospital | From 2028 | 2032 to 2034 |
Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, Sutton | From 2029 | 2032 to 2034 |
Kettering General Hospital | From 2028 | 2032 to 2034 |
Leeds General Infirmary | From 2030 | 2032 to 2034 |
Musgrove Park Hospital | From 2031 | 2032 to 2034 |
Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow | From 2030 | 2032 to 2034 |
Torbay Hospital | From 2030 | 2032 to 2034 |
Whipps Cross Hospital, north-east London | From 2029 | 2032 to 2034 |
St Mary’s Hospital, north-west London | From 2030 | 2035 to 2038 |
Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, London | From 2030 | 2035 to 2038 |
North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple | From 2030 | 2035 to 2038 |
Eastbourne District General, Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital | From 2030 | 2037 to 2039 |
Hampshire Hospitals | From 2030 | 2037 to 2039 |
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading | From 2030 | 2037 to 2039 |
Royal Preston Hospital | From 2030 | 2037 to 2039 |
Royal Lancaster Infirmary | From 2030 | 2035 to 2038 |
Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital | From 2030 | 2037 to 2039 |
Note: the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital are counted as one scheme under the New Hospital Programme, as are Eastbourne District General Hospital, Conquest Hospital, and Bexhill Hospital
The expected completion dates for the schemes in the New Hospital Programme will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case, as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book, and as is usual for large infrastructure projects, and they are therefore not included.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of Land Registry application processing times; and what steps she is taking to improve those times.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Improving speed of service remains the top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). It has been delivering on this objective by increasing the capacity and capability of its staff and enhancing the services its customers use. This work has been undertaken whilst continuing to deliver the essential services required to enable property transactions to complete. There has been a significant reduction in the overall age of applications in recent months, and HMLR is determined to build on this progress.
HMLR acknowledges that some customers may not yet feel the positive impact of these improvements. Anyone who is concerned that a delay with their application may cause financial, legal or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.
HMLR publishes information each month about its latest processing times. These can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
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 NHS England 987 inclusion health scheme on access to A&E services outside of the scope of that scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Access to National Health Service care at accident and emergency departments, and the waiting times at the point of delivery for those services, will always be based on clinical priority.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency's budget for flood prevention and mitigation was in Leicestershire in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has spent the following in Leicestershire on flood prevention and mitigation:
Additionally, in 23/24 the EA were allocated £2.9 million revenue funding for flood prevention and mitigation in Leicestershire. This is for the EAs work on asset maintenance and repairs, and in-river maintenance such as vegetation clearance and de-silting.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what additional (a) funding and (b) support his Department has provided to (i) communities and (ii) local authorities in Leicestershire to help tackle the impact of recent flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, the Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.
In addition, the Government’s new Floods Resilience Taskforce sets out a new approach to preparing for flooding by working cross-government and with external stakeholders. It plans to meet again in January 2025 and will discuss the recent flooding.
During the flooding incident, the Environment Agency (EA) has informed the public about flood risk; operated flood risk assets to prevent or reduce the severity of flooding; supported authorities to pump flood water away from properties and infrastructure; and worked with partners to coordinate the emergency response.
Going forward, the EA will contribute to the Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Recovery Cell; continue to deploy officers to affected communities to assess the impacts of flooding to properties and businesses; and continue to work with others to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicestershire and support the resilience of communities to flooding.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of developments on flood risks in Leicestershire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has committed to ensure we are building more high-quality, well-designed and sustainable homes, and creating places that increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery. Flood risk is an important consideration in the planning system.
The Environment Agency (EA) is a statutory consultee in the planning process on flood risk matters, in particular flooding from rivers.
On a strategic level, the EA actively engages with Local Planning Authorities’ (LPAs) Local Plan making process to ensure that new developments will be in line with the National Planning Policy Framework’s requirements on flood risk.
The EA ensures the LPA has the most up-to-date flooding information and data to make informed decisions regarding which locations they choose for significantly sized new development, using the principle that those areas at least risk of flooding should be chosen first.