Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 30 June 2025 to Question 62450 on Vamorolone, which NHS Trusts have submitted prior approval forms.
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.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 improve access to NHS occupational therapists involved in Disabled Facilities Grants for (a) children and (b) other people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Occupational therapists play an important role in delivering the Disabled Facilities Grant at a local level by assessing older and disabled people’s needs, recommending home adaptations, and ensuring the suitability of proposed solutions.
Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level ensuring they have the right number of staff in place and with the right skills mix, to deliver safe and effective care. These staff include Allied Health Professionals such as occupational therapists.
The Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, to ensure that we retain more of our skilled and dedicated staff. NHS England is leading work nationally through its retention programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date he expects the final report of the independent ADHD taskforce to be published.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The ADHD taskforce's final report is expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have accessed Vamorolone since it was given NICE approval for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy; what assessment he has made of the adequacy of availability of Vamorolone to patients with DMD in that period; and whether the NHS had fully implemented the NICE recommendation by the April 2025 deadline.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its technology appraisal, titled Vamorolone for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy in people 4 years and over, on 16 January 2025. NHS England routinely commissioned vamorolone in line with the guidance, from 16 April 2025.
When a patient is started on vamorolone, the prescribing clinician submits an electronic prior approval form, confirming that NICE’s recommendation criteria are met. NICE’s costing report, included in the technology appraisal, suggested that 1,390 people expected to receive vamorolone in 2025/26. The NICE’s technology appraisal is available at the following link:
There is only 10 full weeks of data available since routine commissioning commenced in mid-April, and over this period there have been 32 prior approval forms submitted. Whilst submission of a form is not confirmation that treatment has begun, this is used as a proxy indication for the number of patients starting treatment.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 adequacy of the availability of phlebotomy services to perform blood tests for children in (a) Oxfordshire and (b) nationally.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that patients have the best possible experience during their care.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to home as well as greater choice on where and how they are undertaken. This reduces the need for hospital visits, reduces pressure on hospitals, and speeds up diagnosis. CDCs are expected to offer their services to children and young people where it is safe and appropriate to do so. The Oxfordshire, Oxford CDC in Cowley delivers a range of diagnostic services, including phlebotomy services.
Phlebotomy services are also provided by general practices (GPs). Where services are provided by GP, they are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs), based on local population need, and are funded as part of their annual funding allocations.
In Oxfordshire, the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB has commissioned GPs to deliver phlebotomy services for all ages, including children. Services must be led by suitably trained professionals.
Guidance communicated to GPs from the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Local Medical Committee, the body representing all NHS GPs practising in the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire area, is that GPs should not perform blood tests for patients under 12 years old and instead that these should be performed by specialist paediatric trained staff. Where GPs have clinical staff with the training, competence, and experience to perform blood tests on patients under 12 years old, these services may be available. However, at practices that do not have these staff, they will instead refer the child to alternative providers, such as in a children’s hospital clinic.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of 24/7 palliative care in Oxfordshire: and what steps he is taking to extend provision of this service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government will shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative care and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift.
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire ICB, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
The statutory guidance makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24/7 and includes a priority action for ensuring that staff, patients, and carers can access the care and advice they need, whatever time of day.
Earlier this year, I met with key palliative care and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 merits of reforming GP licensing; and whether he will make it his policy to protect GPs from unaffordable costs when a practice fails financially.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Most general practices (GPs) are run by general, unlimited liability partnerships. Limited liability partnerships are currently not permitted as business vehicles for General Medical Services or Personal Medical Services contractors. However, limited companies can be used to manage financial risks in a partnership. GP partnerships may also manage liabilities through indemnities and different forms of insurance. As independent contractors and small business owners, these are decisions for GP partners to make, with legal and accounting advice.
We have committed to substantive GP Contract reform within this Parliament following acceptance of the 2025/26 contract by the General Practitioners Committee England. As part of this, we expect to consider a breadth of topics, which may include updates to the partnership model.
We are investing an additional £889 million in GPs, to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service and to bring back the family doctor, bringing the total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and means we are reversing the recent trend by allocating a rising share of total NHS resources to GPs.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria his Department has used to determine the allocation of repair funds to the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £750 million Estates Safety Fund is part of the overall 2025/26 capital allocation announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget 2024.
The £750 million was divided between integrated care systems (ICSs) through indicative funding allocations as part of the NHS Capital Guidance 2025/26. Each system’s indicative allocation represents a proportion of the £750 million based on need, taking into account levels of critical infrastructure risk, incidents and returns to the recent maternity estates survey.
Due to the diverse needs of the National Health Service estate, a flexible approach has been taken to ensure national and regional priorities are addressed effectively. ICSs worked with their local systems to identify and prioritise which schemes would be funded at which sites from their provisional allocations to deliver maximum safety benefits. The value of these schemes determined the financial allocations to NHS trusts.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 merits of reforming GP licensing; and if he will develop plans to protect GPs from costs when practices fail financially.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to substantive GP contract reform within Parliament following acceptance of the 2025/26 contract by the England general practitioners committee of the British Medical Association. As part of this, we expect to consider a breadth of topics, which may include updates to the partnership model.
Practices with a General Medical Services contract are eligible for rent reimbursements, with different terms depending on the ownership or occupation arrangements for the property, as set out in the Premises Costs Directions 2024. The commissioner has discretion to provide further financial assistance if other costs rise exponentially, such as service charges, all budget-dependent.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 private providers of physiotherapy services to the NHS (a) provide value for money and (b) do not operate with excessive profit margins.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Throughout its history, the National Health Service has always worked with non-NHS healthcare providers to deliver essential services to patients, especially at times of operational pressures. The overall proportion of health spending on independent sector providers has not increased significantly over recent years. In 2013/14, 6.1% of total health spending, or £6.5 billion, was spent on purchase of healthcare from independent sector providers. In 2023/24, this was 6.8% or £12.4 billion.
The Provider Selection Regime is a set of rules for procuring health care services in England, giving decision-makers the flexibility they need to arrange services that best promote the interests of patients, the taxpayer, and the population. As part of the Provider Selection Regime, commissioners need to be transparent in their decision making to ensure that there is proper scrutiny and accountability of decisions made about NHS services.
Rates of payment for physiotherapy services are set at a local level. Pursuant to the Government’s public interest test, NHS bodies are not obliged to accept any bids submitted by external suppliers unless they clearly demonstrate value for money and deliver against the aims and objectives of a business cases. It is expected that any outsourced services are delivered in a way that improves quality, ensures greater stability and longer-term investment in the workforce, and delivers better value for money as part of broader commitments on procurement.