Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish a national eye strategy.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to develop a National Eye Strategy. The 10-Year Health Plan supports more locally developed and integrated neighbourhood care rather than a top down, one size fits all solution. Integrated care boards will want to take different approaches to commissioning primary and secondary eye care services, depending on local need as well as the skills and resources available to them.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 (a) fund and (b) implement a national awareness campaign for mouth cancer to help improve (i) early detection and (ii) public understanding of the disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England runs campaigns, most recently in early 2025, to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and to address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible if they notice a change in their health. The campaigns have focused on recognising a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging general body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. This has included symptoms of mouth cancers in wider campaign messages.
In addition, NHS England is working in partnership with major supermarket chains to include messages about common cancer symptoms on the packaging of relevant products. This has included specific messaging on mouth cancer symptoms on toothpaste and mouthwash packaging.
NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including mouth cancer. This information can be found at sources like the NHS.UK website, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will publish the date for the planned full rollout targeted lung screening as recommended by the UK National Screening Committee.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for lung cancer. The NHS is currently rolling out the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme to people with a history of smoking.
The timescale for full implementation of the lung cancer screening programme, alongside further 10-Year Health Plan initiatives, will be specified in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to learn from the Ministry of Defence’s handling of the Chinook ZD576 crash.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
One of the primary purposes of each of the investigations and inquiries following the tragic loss of life in the Chinook ZD576 crash, was to ascertain what went wrong and why, in order to prevent a recurrence. This is the aim of all Service Inquiries and consequently the process of learning and applying lessons is a constantly evolving one. My noble friend Lord Coaker has written to the Chinook Justice Campaign inviting family members to meet with him before the end of the year.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will set out a plan with (a) clear aims for stakeholders and (b) other steps to tackle issues facing chalk streams.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Chalk streams are embedded in our plan to reform the water industry. The Government has announced an ambitious programme of reforms to clean up our rivers, lakes, and seas for good. Subject to consultation, we will abolish Ofwat and create a new, powerful, and integrated regulator, including a regional element to ensure greater local involvement in water planning and allow all sources of pollution to be addressed across the river catchment.
The Government is investing £1.8 million through the Water Restoration Fund and Water Environment Improvement Fund for locally-led chalk stream clean-up projects across affected regions. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), over 1000 improvement projects are planned within chalk stream catchments between 2024-2029.
The Government recognises that catchment planning is a vital part of improving the water system. Local Catchment Partnerships are a well-established way to plan and deliver improvements to water quality, manage quantity and reduce flood risk. Following the IWC report and the Costa Beck Court of Appeal judgment, we are moving to a catchment-based model and developing a targeted, ground-up approach to review and identify new measures in a small number of catchments.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve Catchment partnerships for chalk streams.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Chalk streams are embedded in our plan to reform the water industry. The Government has announced an ambitious programme of reforms to clean up our rivers, lakes, and seas for good. Subject to consultation, we will abolish Ofwat and create a new, powerful, and integrated regulator, including a regional element to ensure greater local involvement in water planning and allow all sources of pollution to be addressed across the river catchment.
The Government is investing £1.8 million through the Water Restoration Fund and Water Environment Improvement Fund for locally-led chalk stream clean-up projects across affected regions. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), over 1000 improvement projects are planned within chalk stream catchments between 2024-2029.
The Government recognises that catchment planning is a vital part of improving the water system. Local Catchment Partnerships are a well-established way to plan and deliver improvements to water quality, manage quantity and reduce flood risk. Following the IWC report and the Costa Beck Court of Appeal judgment, we are moving to a catchment-based model and developing a targeted, ground-up approach to review and identify new measures in a small number of catchments.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timeline is for the reform of the regulation of healthcare professionals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to modernising the regulatory frameworks for all healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom.
As a first step, we aim to consult on secondary legislation to modernise the General Medical Council’s (GMC) regulatory framework in early 2026 and to lay this legislation before Parliament in the same year. We also plan to deliver legislation for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council within the current parliamentary period.
We will take forward legislative change within this Parliament to introduce a statutory barring system for senior National Health Service leaders and will set out further detail regarding this when we consult on the GMC Order in early 2026.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people who were seen by a GP in (a) September and (b) October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England collects and publishes statistics on the total number of general practice (GP) appointments delivered each month. This data is published one month in arrears in order to allow for sufficient time for all appointment records to be collated, validated, and quality assured. As a result, data for October will be available at the end of November.
For context, in September 2025, 32 million appointments were delivered, 14 million of which were delivered by GPs, or 43%. In August 2024, 27 million appointments were delivered, with 12 million provided by GPs, also 44%.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish further guidance on the regulation of NHS managers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to modernising the regulatory frameworks for all healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom.
As a first step, we aim to consult on secondary legislation to modernise the General Medical Council’s (GMC) regulatory framework in early 2026 and to lay this legislation before Parliament in the same year. We also plan to deliver legislation for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council within the current parliamentary period.
We will take forward legislative change within this Parliament to introduce a statutory barring system for senior National Health Service leaders and will set out further detail regarding this when we consult on the GMC Order in early 2026.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 ensure that hospice contracts reflect the (a) cost of the services they provide and (b) needs of their local populations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.
The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10- Year Health Plan.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.