Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the replacement system for the NHS Electronic Staff Record will be required to record whether (a) clinicians have condition-specific specialisations such as a Parkinson’s Specialist Nurse and (b) roles are speciality-specific such as neuro physiotherapist.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service provider trusts are required to provide core workforce data to NHS England and the Department based on definitions set out in the National Workforce Data Set (NWD). The NWD is kept under review to ensure it is kept up to date while the burden on trusts of data collection remains proportionate.
The replacement system for the NHS Electronic staff Record (ESR), the Future NHS Workforce System (FWS) will make it easier to record the information that aligns with NHS organisational needs, including the skills and specialisms of staff. NHS England is currently working with the NHS Business Services Authority to make the best use of the data capture ability of the new system.
There is not a hard deadline for deciding what will be recorded on the FWS. As with ESR, new fields will be able to be added to meet the changing requirements of trusts and of national workforce planning. We will though need to continue to work with trusts to ensure that the data we require them to capture is both useful, proportionate and aligned with operational needs.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make a decision on the replacement system for the NHS Electronic Staff Record.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority signed a contract with Infosys to deliver a new enhanced workforce management system for the National Health Service on 10 October 2025. Further details on the programme can be found at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/future-nhs-workforce-solution-transformation-programme
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require NHS Trusts to offer payroll savings schemes for staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local employers across the National Health Service are best placed to understand their staff’s needs and circumstances. NHS staff have access to a range of support for financial wellbeing including credit union membership, savings schemes, and access to discount schemes such as the ‘Blue Light Card’.
NHS Employers has also published guidance for employers on salary sacrifice arrangements and tax-free childcare, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/salary-sacrifice-schemes
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were seen within (a) one, (b) two and (c) four hours at accident and emergency in the London North West University Hospital in each quarter since 2022-23.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data is not available in the format requested. NHS England does not publish data on patients seen within one or two hours. The only data available is for patients seen within four hours.
The information requested for London North West University Hospital is only collected at trust level. There is currently no publicly available data at site level. The following table shows the four-hour performance in each quarter since 2022/23 for the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust:
Quarters | Percentage of total accident and emergency attendances admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours | Patient attendances over four hours |
Quarter 1 of 2022/23 | 73.4% | 64,288 |
Quarter 2 of 2022/23 | 69.0% | 46,653 |
Quarter 3 of 2022/23 | 65.7% | 59,585 |
Quarter 4 of 2022/23 | 73.4% | 56,395 |
Quarter 1 of 2023/24 | 76.5% | 60,390 |
Quarter 2 of 2023/24 | 71.9% | 55,810 |
Quarter 3 of 2023/24 | 70.9% | 57,973 |
Quarter 4 of 2023/24 | 76.1% | 64,384 |
Quarter 1 of 2024/25 | 75.3% | 64,571 |
Quarter 2 of 2024/25 | 77.4% | 62,920 |
Quarter 3 of 2024/25 | 71.8% | 62,321 |
Quarter 4 of 2024/25 | 75.2% | 63,637 |
Quarter 1 of 2025/26 | 76.9% | 67,024 |
Quarter 2 of 2025/26 | 76.5% | 66,344 |
Source: Hospital Accident and Emergency Activity, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-accident--emergency-activity
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in (a) Harrow, (b) Barnet, (c) Brent, (d) England and (e) London were diagnosed with (i) Stage One, (ii) Stage 2, (iii) Stage 3 and (iv) Stage 4 cancer in (A) 2022-23, (B) 2023-24 and (C) 2024-25.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Disease Registration Service is the cancer registry for England, and is available at the following link:
Data can be broken down by stage as well as by geographical location. However, data is not available by local authority. Currently, data is available up to 2022.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people referred to the London North West University Hospital were (a) diagnosed with cancer and (b) had cancer ruled out within (i) 28 days and (ii) 62 days in each quarter since the start of 2022-23.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes data for the three cancer waiting time standards monthly, and this data can be broken down to a provider level, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/
Since July 2025, NHS England has published Faster Diagnosis Standard data broken down by those who were diagnosed with cancer and those who had cancer ruled out. However, this data is not publicly available at a provider level.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where does he expect a neighbourhood health centre to be established in the London Borough of Harrow; and when this will be.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise that delivering high quality NHS healthcare requires the right infrastructure in the right places.
That is why, over the course of our 10-Year Health Plan, we aim to establish a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community, transforming healthcare access by bringing historically hospital-based services into communities and addressing wider determinants of health through services like debt advice, employment support, and obesity management programmes.
We recently announced the places that will form wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP), after a rigorous assessment of applications against the core criteria. The first wave of the NNHIP covers 43 sites across England, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the south-west to Sunderland in the north-east, ensuring that communities nationwide benefit from this new model of care.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we are starting in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, using public capital to update and refurbish existing, under-used buildings.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many extra GP appointments have been created in Harrow West since the end of June 2024; and at which GP surgery locations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Harrow West sits within the NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB). Across the ICB, there were 661,209 more appointments in the 14-months to August 2025 than the 14-months to August 2024 across 343 individual practices. There were 1,617 fewer appointments in the 14-months to August 2025 than the 14-months to August 2024 in the Harrow West constituency, across 16 practices.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were waiting for more than 18 weeks for treatment at the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust at the end of (a) June 2004 and (b) June 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Monthly referral to treatment waiting times data has been published by NHS England since March 2007. The requested data for June 2004 is therefore unavailable. As of the end of June 2025, there were 38,284 pathways over 18 weeks at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. This data is available at the following link:
The standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18-weeks from referral to treatment came into effect in April 2012. Prior to this, national standards related to admitted or non-admitted completed pathways only. From 2015, trusts have solely been assessed on performance against the standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18-weeks from referral to treatment. Any data comparisons across these periods should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to support growth in the no and low alcohol market.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, the Government has committed to tackling harmful levels of alcohol consumption by exploring options to encourage consumers to reduce their alcohol intake by substituting standard strength drinks with no- and low-alcohol (NoLo) alternatives.
One of the first steps to support further growth of the NoLo sector, and potentially increase the range of NoLo products, will be to explore raising the upper alcohol limit for drinks labelled as alcohol-free to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) from 0.05% ABV, whilst providing clarity to consumers and producers. At the same time, we will explore measures to regulate access to NoLo products in line with other alcoholic beverages, including prohibiting sales to individuals under the age of 18 years old.
Alongside the plan, a large, multi-year National Institute for Health and Care Research study is underway to examine the public health impacts of NoLo products, and we look forward to the findings of that study being available in the coming year.