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 discussions he has had with NHS England on delays to the supply of Heraeus bone cement.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with NHS England, professional bodies and industry partners and have implemented a range of measures to resolve the shortage of bone cement.
The National Health Service has secured stock of an alternative bone cement product, which is now in the United Kingdom for onward distribution. There is sufficient supply to confidently resume elective procedures, and further deliveries are planned in the coming weeks.
The NHS also issued immediate guidance to hospitals to ensure that trauma and urgent care could continue safely.
We will keep our horizon-scanning processes under review and work specifically to identify future potential risks and safeguard continuity of future bone cement supplies.
The Department has held regular discussions with NHS England on the supply position, operational impact, and plans to secure alternative products, including through established incident coordination structures.
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 to (a) minimise disruption caused by delays to the supply of bone cement and (b) ensure the availability of adequate supplies of bone cement in the future.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with NHS England, professional bodies and industry partners and have implemented a range of measures to resolve the shortage of bone cement.
The National Health Service has secured stock of an alternative bone cement product, which is now in the United Kingdom for onward distribution. There is sufficient supply to confidently resume elective procedures, and further deliveries are planned in the coming weeks.
The NHS also issued immediate guidance to hospitals to ensure that trauma and urgent care could continue safely.
We will keep our horizon-scanning processes under review and work specifically to identify future potential risks and safeguard continuity of future bone cement supplies.
The Department has held regular discussions with NHS England on the supply position, operational impact, and plans to secure alternative products, including through established incident coordination structures.
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 guidance he has issued to (a) public (b) private and (c) voluntary organisations involved in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme on best practice data sharing.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England.
The NNHIP is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health: the National Health Service; local government; social care providers; other statutory and non-statutory organisations; and the voluntary sector.
We are working closely with the relevant transformation teams to strengthen data‑sharing arrangements across the programme. Sites are already exchanging learning on effective local approaches, and we are jointly developing practical guidance to support safe and consistent data sharing while wider national solutions are progressed.
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 to help facilitate compliant data sharing between organisations involved in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England.
The NNHIP is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health: the National Health Service; local government; social care providers; other statutory and non-statutory organisations; and the voluntary sector.
We are working closely with the relevant transformation teams to strengthen data‑sharing arrangements across the programme. Sites are already exchanging learning on effective local approaches, and we are jointly developing practical guidance to support safe and consistent data sharing while wider national solutions are progressed.
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 much funding his Department has provided to community pharmacies through retained margin in the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in real terms accounting for inflation in each year since 2016.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the nominal and real terms funding through retained margin as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) each year since 2015/16:
Year | Nominal value | Gross domestic product deflator at December 2025 | Real terms value 2025/26 prices |
2015/16 | £800,000,000 | 72.46 | £1020,000,000 |
2016/17 | £800,000,000 | 73.91 | £1009,000,000 |
2017/18 | £800,000,000 | 74.85 | £1001,000,000 |
2018/19 | £800,000,000 | 76.55 | £988,000,000 |
2019/20 | £800,000,000 | 78.57 | £971,000,000 |
2020/21 | £800,000,000 | 82.68 | £939,000,000 |
2021/22 | £800,000,000 | 82.87 | £937,000,000 |
2022/23 | £800,000,000 | 88.70 | £890,000,000 |
2023/24 | £800,000,000 | 93.38 | £853,000,000 |
2024/25 | £850,000,000 | 97.14 | £874,000,000 |
2025/26 | £900,000,000 | 100 | £900,000,000 |
Notes:
The Department, along with Community Pharmacy England, assess the medicines margin retained through a quarterly ‘medicines margin survey’. Where the medicine margin survey shows under or over delivery against the funding provided, then adjustments are made to reimbursement prices to bring it line with the allowed medicine margin as per CPCF.
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 adequacy of care for people who have received dementia diagnoses, in the context of the contribution of (a) continued activity and (b) social engagement for slowing the progression of dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). Therefore no central assessment has been made of the adequacy of care for people who have received dementia diagnoses in the context of the contribution of continued activity and social engagement for slowing the progression of dementia. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and oversee the quality of the services they commission.
We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
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 adequacy of Dementia Assessment Services in Shropshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No central assessment has been made of the adequacy of Dementia Assessment Services in Shropshire. The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards and ensuring they are responsive to the needs of local communities.
However, NHS England does collect and publish data about people with dementia at each general practice (GP) in England, including those in Shropshire, to enable National Health Service GPs and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.
GPs also provide a count of patients up to the end of the reporting period who have received an assessment for dementia and who have received or declined an initial memory assessment, a referral to a memory clinic, a care plan, a care plan review, and/or a medication review.
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 dedicated funding he is providing to (a) primary care networks and (b) integrated care boards for the development of integrated neighbourhood teams.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will design Neighbourhood Health Services that reflect the needs of their local populations as part of their wider responsibilities within their funding allocations. Nationally, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling Neighbourhood Health.
Funding for primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams is included within ICBs overall allocations. Additional funding has also been provided to support the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which was launched in 2025 in 43 places. Work is underway to consider the future direction of the programme, informed by the learning and feedback from wave 1.
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, whether the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme will be continuing beyond March 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will design Neighbourhood Health Services that reflect the needs of their local populations as part of their wider responsibilities within their funding allocations. Nationally, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling Neighbourhood Health.
Funding for primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams is included within ICBs overall allocations. Additional funding has also been provided to support the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which was launched in 2025 in 43 places. Work is underway to consider the future direction of the programme, informed by the learning and feedback from wave 1.
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of moving data controller responsibilities from GPs to (a) NHS and (b) government bodies.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we will build on our programme of national public engagement on the use of health data and work with the system, including clinical staff, to move towards national and regional models of decision making for access to all National Health Service data for secondary uses, for instance data used for purposes beyond an individual’s care, for example planning NHS services and research. We will use a combination of policy and legislative change to implement this and speed up secure access to this data. This may result in changes to data controllership responsibilities for secondary uses of data.
General practices (GPs) would remain data controllers for data in GP records for an individual’s care.