Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which recommendations of the Government’s British Sign Language Advisory Board he will implement to ensure the NHS is accessible to deaf and blind people.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Equality Act 2010, health and care organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach and provision to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else.
All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard, which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss, including Deaf and blind people.
We welcome the British Sign Language Advisory Board’s report, Locked out: Exclusion of deaf and deafblind BSL users from health and social care in the UK. We will carefully consider its recommendations, including how, in the context of our work on the 10-Year Health Plan and reform of adult social care, we can improve the experiences of Deaf and blind people when accessing health and care services.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 (a) support the development of treatments for Huntington's disease and (b) improve the ability of the NHS to deliver new gene therapies for people living with rare diseases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the significant challenges faced by those living with rare diseases such as Huntington’s Disease. The Department supports research into Huntington’s disease through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR infrastructure supports pioneering research into Huntington's, including the positive preliminary results for a novel gene therapy reported this year. NHS England will assess the service delivery impact of any specific gene therapy for Huntingdon's disease within three years of its expected licensing decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will make recommendations for the National Health Service on new medicines based on clinical and cost effectiveness. NHS England is required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NHS has a dedicated team to support the adoption of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) that are recommended by NICE. NHS England works with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to ensure timely patient access to ATMPs that are on NICE’s technology appraisal and highly specialised technology workplan.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 additional NHS funding leads to pay rises for (a) nurses and (b) other frontline staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has remitted the independent pay review bodies (PRBs) to begin their work on pay recommendations for 2026/27 for nurses and other frontline National Health Service staff. The Government will carefully consider the PRB recommendations, which is the usual process to determine pay uplifts for NHS workers. As part of this process, the PRBs consider the evidence submitted, including a range of factors such as the economic context and the available funding.
We hugely appreciate the work of the many talented staff across the NHS, which is why on 22 May 2025, we accepted the headline pay recommendations for 2025/26 made by the PRBs giving them a much deserved, above-inflation, pay rise.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 improve care for people with Huntington's disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The revised NHS England Specialised Neurology Services (adults) Specification 2025 outlines a comprehensive model of care, detailing the requirements for specialised neurology services but also outlining the expectations of a system wide approach. It articulates how patients should move into and out of specialised neurology services, including patients with Huntington’s disease, incorporating end to end pathways within an Integrated Neurology System.
The NHSE Specialised Commissioning Neurology Transformation Team (NTP) have also produced a number of guidance documents to support the implementation of the revised service specification. This includes developing a neurology transformation toolkit, which outlines the impact of care coordination and case management functions in supporting more equitable and efficient care for people with long-term neurological diseases, including Huntington’s disease.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 protect patients with cystic fibrosis in the context of a shortage of Creon gastro-resistant capsules.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is in regular discussions with the supplier of Creon on the latest stock availability and the actions that are being taken to mitigate the supply issue that is affecting the whole of the United Kingdom. Through these discussions we have managed to secure additional volumes of Creon for 2025 for the UK. We are continuing to work with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) to understand what more can be done to add further resilience to the market. The Department has also reached out to specialist importers who have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the remaining gap in the market.
In the longer term, the Department has had interest from non-UK suppliers of PERT wishing to bring their products to the UK and, along with colleagues in the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), we are working with these potential suppliers, and if authorised, these products could further diversify and strengthen the market.
The Department has issued management advice to healthcare professionals which directs clinicians to unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and which includes actions for integrated care boards to put in place local mitigation plans to ensure that patients are not left without PERT. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a public facing page to include the latest update on PERT availability and easily accessible prescribing advice for clinicians.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 improve the accessibility of face-to-face GP appointments (a) in general and (b) for people less digitally literate.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practitioners (GPs) must provide face to face appointments alongside remote consultations. Online services must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, in-person consultations.
The GP contract also makes clear that patients have a right to request a face-to-face appointment and practices must make every effort to meet their preference, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.
We know that some patients can struggle to access digital services. To help address this, digital tools used in primary care settings must meet required minimum standards of functionality set by NHS England, ensuring a consistent quality of service for patients. All organisations providing services in the National Health Service, including primary care providers, must follow the Accessible Information Standard.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to accelerate provision of (a) therapy services, (b) wheelchairs, (c) orthotics, (d) prosthetics and (e) other equipment for children and young people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of most children’s therapy services and equipment services in the National Health Service. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for children and young people are specialised services, and are commissioned by NHS England.
NHS England is working to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes co-producing a wheelchair quality framework with key stakeholders and people with lived experience. It is due to be published by the end of 2024/25 and will set out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets.
NHS England will shortly publish a revised service specification, Amputee Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Services for People of All Ages with Limb Loss and Limb Difference. The revised specification ensures greater emphasis on children and young people being seen with an age-appropriate setting, with greater collaboration between the young person’s acute and rehabilitation teams.
In relation to AAC services, NHS England is reviewing the current service specification, and it is anticipated that the revised service specification will be published in spring 2025.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue guidance clarifying the (a) roles and (b) responsibilities of (i) local services and (ii) the third sector in the provision of specialist equipment for disabled children.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population. NHS England Specialised Commissioning commissions complex disability equipment services, including communication aids, environmental controls, and prosthetics.
We expect ICBs to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022, the NICE published the guidance Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs: integrated service delivery and organisation across health, social care and education, which is available at the following link:
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that education, health, and social care services must work together to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In May 2023, NHS England issued statutory guidance setting out the requirement for ICBs to have an Executive Lead for SEND, who will lead on supporting the Chief Executive and the board in ensuring the ICB performs its functions effectively, in the interests of children and young people with SEND.
Local authorities are responsible for providing social care services for disabled children, which can include specialist equipment. The guidance on supporting disabled children and their carers is available at the following link:
Further guidance on the roles and responsibilities of different organisations in meeting the needs of children with SEND can be found in the SEND Code of Practice, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 adequacy of legal protections against the (a) abuse and (b) neglect of older people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any form of elder abuse or neglect is unacceptable.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to investigate safeguarding concerns under the Care Act 2014. The statutory guidance of the Care Act 2014 makes it clear that local authorities must ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective, and of high quality. Since April 2023, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has had a duty to assess local authorities’ delivery of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
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 impact of an increase in employers national insurance contributions on charity and not for profit providers of adult social care; and if he will publish this information.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process. This assessment took into account a wide range of factors, including changes to employer National Insurance contributions, and the National Living Wage increases.
In response to the range of pressures facing local authorities, the Government is providing a real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of approximately 3.2%, which includes £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26.