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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of information to (a) patients and (b) family members of deceased patients about making a formal complaint in the event of (i) injury and (ii) death following medical treatment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are a wide range of sources of information for patients and family members about making a complaint about any aspect of National Health Service care, treatment, or services.
Under the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009, NHS organisations must make information available on their arrangements for handling complaints, and those arrangements should ensure complainants receive assistance to enable them to understand the complaints procedure.
Patient Advice and Liaison Services is a free, confidential service, available in most NHS hospitals, that provides information, advice, and support to resolve issues affecting NHS patients, including how to make a formal complaint. Other sources of independent advocacy are available to support those thinking about making a complaint about NHS services, including the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service, which local authorities have a legal duty to provide.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging education employers to promote membership of a credit union to teachers and non-teaching staff.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is a strong supporter of the mutual sector, including credit unions. The department is not the employer of any school staff, and it would therefore be inappropriate to encourage or recommend membership to specific financial products or institutions.
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 recent discussions he has had with the Professional Standards Authority regarding the effectiveness of the i) General Medical Council ii) Health and Care Professions Council to protect patient safety.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the 10 statutory bodies that regulate healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom and social workers in England. This includes the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
It scrutinises the work of the regulatory bodies by monitoring and reporting on their performance against its Standards of Good Regulation, auditing decisions made during investigations into complaints about registrants’ practise, and making referrals or appeals to the relevant court if it considers that a final fitness to practise decision is insufficient to protect the public. In its 2024/25 performance review assessments, the PSA reported that the HCPC had met 17 out of 18 Standards of Good Regulation and the GMC had met all 18 standards.
Professional regulators are not subject to the statutory Duty of Candour, which applies to health and social care providers, nor to the professional Duty of Candour, which applies to individual registrants. However, the PSA expects regulators to operate in ways that reflect the principles underpinning the Duty of Candour, including openness, transparency, and accountability. In line with the Ministerial Code, details of all ministerial meetings, including those with the PSA, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
In January, I met with the PSA to discuss how it carries out its oversight role and the PSA’s new Standards for regulators and Accredited registers. The updated standards will strengthen requirements on regulators and Accredited Registers with regards to public protection, learning, and improvement. The new standards will also strengthen expectations that regulators’ governing bodies and senior leaders promote openness, transparency, and learning, including how organisations respond when things go wrong and how they maintain public confidence through clear accountability and reporting.
Officials from the Department hold regular meetings with the PSA to discuss all aspects of its work.
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 recent discussions he has had with the Professional Standards Authority regarding the extent to which Duty of Candour principles are embedded in the conduct of i) General Medical Council ii) Health and Care Professions Council.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the 10 statutory bodies that regulate healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom and social workers in England. This includes the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
It scrutinises the work of the regulatory bodies by monitoring and reporting on their performance against its Standards of Good Regulation, auditing decisions made during investigations into complaints about registrants’ practise, and making referrals or appeals to the relevant court if it considers that a final fitness to practise decision is insufficient to protect the public. In its 2024/25 performance review assessments, the PSA reported that the HCPC had met 17 out of 18 Standards of Good Regulation and the GMC had met all 18 standards.
Professional regulators are not subject to the statutory Duty of Candour, which applies to health and social care providers, nor to the professional Duty of Candour, which applies to individual registrants. However, the PSA expects regulators to operate in ways that reflect the principles underpinning the Duty of Candour, including openness, transparency, and accountability. In line with the Ministerial Code, details of all ministerial meetings, including those with the PSA, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
In January, I met with the PSA to discuss how it carries out its oversight role and the PSA’s new Standards for regulators and Accredited registers. The updated standards will strengthen requirements on regulators and Accredited Registers with regards to public protection, learning, and improvement. The new standards will also strengthen expectations that regulators’ governing bodies and senior leaders promote openness, transparency, and learning, including how organisations respond when things go wrong and how they maintain public confidence through clear accountability and reporting.
Officials from the Department hold regular meetings with the PSA to discuss all aspects of its work.
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 is taking to ensure that the Health and Care Professions Council meets the Professional Standards Authority Standard 15 on the time taken to conclude cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government takes the performance of the health and care professional regulators, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), very seriously.
On 27 June 2025, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) published its 2024/25 performance review of the HCPC. The HCPC met 17 out of 18 of the PSA’s standards of good regulation but failed to meet standard 15.
On 29 October 2025, I met with the Chair and Chief Executive of the HCPC to discuss the PSA’s performance review of the HCPC. I expect the HCPC to improve its performance against standard 15.
During this parliamentary term, the Government will reform the HCPC’s legislative framework, which will allow it to operate a more efficient fitness to practise process.
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 consider standardising the disciplinary sanctions available to healthcare regulators at the closure of cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to modernising the regulation of all healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom. As a first step, on 24 March 2026, we published our Reforming the General Medical Council legislative framework consultation, which sets out proposals to modernise the General Medical Council’s regulatory framework. The consultation runs until 23 June 2026. Further information is available at the following link:
The draft General Medical Council Order 2026 includes a modernised fitness to practise process, including standardising the final registration measures that should be available to case examiners and fitness to practise panels at the end of fitness to practise proceedings.
Subject to the outcome of the consultation and the parliamentary process, the Government plans to roll out this fitness to practise process to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council during this UK parliamentary term, and to all regulators in due course.
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 assessment he has made of the provision for i) patients ii) family members of deceased patients to contribute to Fitness to Practice proceedings overseen by i) General Medical Council ii) Health and Care Professions Council.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The regulators of registered healthcare professionals, including the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), are independent of the Government, as they are directly accountable to Parliament and responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.
Anyone can raise concerns directly with the relevant regulator and contribute information or evidence as part of Fitness to Practise proceedings. This includes patients, family members, and third parties. Both the GMC and HCPC publish guidance and provide support for such witnesses who are involved in these proceedings.
While the Department regularly engages with the GMC and HCPC on a range of issues, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not made a separate assessment of these provisions, which sit within the regulators’ statutory responsibilities.
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation for the creation of a single assurance body proposed by the Professional Standards Authority in its report Regulation Rethought.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no plans to implement the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care’s proposal to create a single assurance body for all healthcare professionals, as set out in its 2016 Regulation Rethought report.
The Government is committed to reforming the regulation of healthcare professionals across the United Kingdom, and on 24 March published its Reforming the General Medical Council legislative framework consultation, which sets out proposals to modernise the General Medical Council’s regulatory framework. The consultation runs until 23 June 2026, and further information is available at the following link:
We also plan to deliver legislative reform for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council during this UK parliamentary term.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with exam boards on offering GCSEs in Tamil.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by four independent awarding organisations – AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC – rather than by central government. These organisations have the freedom to create a Tamil GCSE based on the subject content for modern foreign languages set by the department. This decision would be informed by several factors, including the level of demand from schools and the proportion of the population in the UK speaking the language.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the funding per student in English further education colleges in 2010, 2024 and 2025-26.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below uses the published 16 to 19 funding allocations to derive the average total programme funding per student in general further education (FE) colleges, for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years. The figures are not available for 2010 to 2011.
Average funding per student in general FE colleges | |
2024/25 | £6,753 |
2025/26 | £7,419 |