Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 prepare for potential flu outbreaks in winter 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have done more than ever to prepare for winter this year with the development and better testing of winter plans. This includes surge capacity and escalation plans for urgent and emergency care.
The flu vaccination programme began on 1 September 2025 for children and pregnant women. Adults aged over 65 years old, those with long term health conditions, and frontline health and social care workers will start from 1 October 2025.
Further details of the plans for this year, including actions to reduce the effects of flu on demand for services, are set out in the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
On 16 September, the Secretary of State addressed a gathering of Chief Executives and undertook a joint visit with the NHS England Chief Executive to set out how winter preparations were being strengthened. A further meeting with Chief Executives on 3 November also focused on winter planning.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 potential merits of extending business rates reimbursements to community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and to continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.
This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce a modern service framework for kidney disease; and what steps he is taking to support early diagnosis and prevention.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board is overseeing the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
Early priorities include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions with significant health and economic impacts for future waves of modern service frameworks.
NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease. In 2023, NHS England published a renal services transformation toolkit to support earlier identification of chronic kidney disease and strengthen management across the whole patient pathway.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the trend in the levels of timeliness of Civil Service Pension payments since Capita took over administration of the MyCSP system on 1 December 2025.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Capita took over the administration on 1 December 2025. Since then, Capita has completed pension payments to approximately 730,000 retired members on time. However, some civil servants and pension scheme members are facing unacceptable delays in accessing their pension payments.
While Capita inherited a significant backlog of cases from the previous provider, MyCSP, this is now worse and we are urgently addressing that. In response, we have set up a dedicated team to work urgently with Capita, with 650 full time staff across Government and Capita clearing critical cases by the end of February and restoring normal service as soon as possible.
We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. This includes specific commitments to restore service levels for priority cases, deploy additional resources, and improve communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.