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 ensure that patients who live in England and treated in Wales are impacted by changes to NHS organisation in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are special cross-border arrangements for patients who live on the English-Welsh border to ensure that they receive healthcare without confusion or delay and that patient data can be accessed by relevant professionals.
To drive reform of the health and care system, we are creating a new operating model for the health and care system, with a smaller, more agile centre. The changes will allow the national centre to operate very differently to the current arrangements and support delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan. Throughout this work we will retain focus on delivery, patient safety, and on driving reform across the whole of the health and care system.
As part of these wider changes, NHS England has also asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health and care services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure, with the expectation of achieving a reduction in their running cost allowance.
ICBs have developed their plans in accordance with the guidance set out by the Model ICB Blueprint. NHS England is working with the ICBs to review and implement these plans. These plans should affirm the critical role of the ICBs as strategic commissioner, with their core functions centred in population health management, including understanding local context, developing a long-term strategy, allocating resources, and evaluating impact. ICBs, as strategic commissioners, continue to have the duty to arrange health services that meet the needs of their population and to manage cross-border arrangements.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her oral statement of 8 July 2025 on Road and Rail Projects, what assessment she has made of potential impact of those projects on (a) jobs and (b) journey times in North Shropshire.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Backed by over £92 billion from the Spending Review settlement, the Government is delivering the biggest boost to England’s transport infrastructure in a generation, and unlocking schemes that deliver for the taxpayer and drive growth.
Millions of commuters and businesses will benefit from quicker journeys, as more than fifty road and rail upgrades have been given the green light - including funding for the Midlands Rail Hub as well as the M54 / M6 link road, which will help to cut journey times and connect thousands to key economic hubs across the Midlands and North Shropshire.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to include upgrades to the A483 in North Shropshire in the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3).
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Whilst I cannot commit to upgrades at this stage in the process of setting the next Road Investment Strategy, I can confirm National Highways is investigating a range of options to improve the safety performance of the A483 in North Shropshire which will be considered for possible delivery.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will visit Llynclys Crossroads in North Shropshire constituency to assess the impact of potential design changes on road safety at that junction.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State would be interested to learn more about the particular issues with Llynclys Crossroads, but existing diary commitments mean she is unable to commit to a visit at this stage.
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 colleagues in the Department for Transport on the potential impact of access to public transport on access to healthcare.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers regularly engage with Cabinet colleagues on a variety of issues, including, but not limited to, areas impacting access to healthcare. As set out in the Plan for Change, by March 2029 we will deliver the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. The Government is clear that reforming elective care must be done equitably and inclusively for all adults, children, and young people.
It is important that patients do not miss or cancel hospital appointments due to a lack of affordable and/or accessible transport options in their area. This is why the Elective Reform Plan, published January 2025, committed to reviewing existing national health inequalities improvement initiatives, to develop them and increase their uptake. Specifically, the plan committed to reviewing local patient transport services and improving the signposting to, and accessibility of them for patients, to make it easier for vulnerable groups to travel to, and access appointments.
This includes improving the accessibility, awareness, and efficiency of the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme, with a focus on reducing health inequalities and improving the patient experience.
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 conduct a child rights impact assessment of the proposed merger of NHS England and his Department.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is completely focused on delivery during this period of change, including taking forward our Health Mission and putting in place measures to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.
It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, including those to children, as is due process. These ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure that the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to help ensure decisions about open access applications prioritise services that connect stations that do not have direct services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the current system access decisions are solely for the ORR. We’re supportive of Open Access services where they encourage growth, improve connectivity and provide more choice for passengers. When a new application is received the DfT can submit its views to the ORR via a consultation process and we highlighted the new direct services that formed part of the Wrexham Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR) application when we wrote in support of this application in February 2025.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve the reliability of train operators on the West Coast Mainline.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are starting to see train performance stabilise, following a decade of decline. We are working with the rail industry on a Performance Restoration Framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels, including timetable resilience, staffing and keeping trains safely moving during disruptive events.
The Rail Minister is meeting with the Managing Directors of all train operators and their Network Rail counterparts, to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.
Network Rail is undertaking a programme of renewal activity on the West Coast Main Line north of Crewe to improve the performance and reliability of the railway. This section of the route was last upgraded in the 1970s and suffers from performance issues today.
We are also investing in increasing the capacity and capability of the power system at both ends of the West Coast Main Line to improve performance on the route, enable the introduction of new electric services, and support growth.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce journey times on public transport between North Shropshire and London.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials continue to work directly with train operators to ensure the best possible service for both passenger and taxpayer.
For passengers travelling from Shropshire and changing to join services to London, Avanti West Coast increased the number of weekday services from 270 in 2024 to 295 from May 2025. Additional services now operate between London and Liverpool, Birmingham, North Wales and Glasgow providing more connections.
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 increase the number of NHS dentists in North Shropshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the North Shropshire constituency, this is the NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB.
ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The NHS Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin ICB is expected to deliver 7,408 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 6 June 2025, in England there were 93 dentists in post or appointed to post. A further 230 posts are currently being advertised.