Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the ten advice and guidance referral pathways selected by each integrated care board.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish the legal text for the UK-US pharmaceuticals deal.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The full text of the UK-US pharmaceutical agreement is available at the following link:
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the Neighbourhood Health Framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.
The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of neighbourhood health services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework.
General practice, primary care, pharmacies, mental health providers, community health services, social care services, local authorities, and civil society partners are included, to deliver the ambition to shift care from hospital to communities, improve access, and provide proactive, holistic care for people with complex needs.
This is not an exhaustive list of all possible providers of neighbourhood health services but illustrates the types of providers with whom we are actively working.
No specific criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the framework. The framework does not prevent other providers from being part of neighbourhood health services.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 potential impact of the level of volatility in the prices of petrol and diesel on the budgets of hospital trusts and ambulance trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will be carefully monitoring the impact of the current volatility in fuel prices on the National Health Service, with a view to managing it as part of usual in-year financial management of risk. The impact on fuel prices will be felt by all organisations who rely on fuel for transport, including the indirect potential impact on the cost of deliveries, and direct costs on the NHS fleet which consists of over 20,000 vehicles travelling over 460 million miles every year. The impact is likely to vary, for example as part of the NHS Net Zero travel and transport strategy, a number of ambulance trusts are trialling zero-emission response vehicles.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of optometrists on neighbourhood‑level health planning; and whether he considered including optometrists as a listed provider in the Neighbourhood Health Framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 potential impact of hospital handover delays on the budgets of ambulance trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, recognises handover delays as a system wide responsibility and effective collaboration between ambulance services, acute trusts, integrated care boards, and others is required to reduce ambulance handover times toward the 15-minute standard.
NHS England continues to monitor average hospital handover times, sharing data with regions to support focussed discussions and identify improvement actions with those trusts not achieving handovers within 45 minutes.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 work with local optometrists to ensure that neighbourhood‑level eye care services are supported.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 with local optometrists to support eye care services within neighbourhood health systems.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many days were taken by NHS England staff as sick leave in total in each of the last ten years; and what the average number was.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly information on the sickness absence of staff employed by NHS bodies, including NHS England. This is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-rates
Annual (financial year) summaries are included within the publication up to 2021/22. Subsequent years’ sickness absence days taken and the associated sickness absence rates can be constructed by aggregating the monthly published data.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many days were taken by NHS England staff as sick leave in total in each month since January 2024; and what the average number was.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly information on the sickness absence of staff employed by NHS bodies, including NHS England. This is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-rates