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 set a target date for the implementation of a nationwide prostate cancer screening programme for men with a BRCA variant.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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 plans to answer Question 90914 on NHS: Software.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 December 2025 to Question 90914.
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 with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure income generated from speed enforcement is spent on roads maintenance and roads policing.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport currently has no plans to bring forward proposals that would allow income generated from speed enforcement to fund specific road maintenance or road policing measures. Money from fines and penalty receipts, including those for speeding, is paid to the Treasury and goes into the Consolidated Fund.
The Consolidated Fund supports general expenditure on public services, which includes services that benefit motorists, such as policing, local government grants, and transport.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will update guidance to allow 30mph speed limit repeater signs on roads with street lighting.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has no plans to update legislation to allow 30mph speed limit repeater signs on roads with street lighting. Repeater signing is not used on street lit roads subject to a 30mph speed limit because the lamp columns act as the repeaters. Guidance is provided in rule 124 of the Highway Code. This has been law for over 70 years and all drivers are required to learn this in order to pass their driving test.
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 data he holds on NHS spending on external consultants for (a) compliance and (b) the recovery of Value Added Tax.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care does not hold detailed data which can identify consultancy spending for compliance and the recovery of Value Added Tax.
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 NHS providers are making use of the NHS barcode.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England figures show that 81 trusts in England use National Health Service number barcodes on patient identification wrist bands. This total includes a mix of trusts compliant with the former ISB 1077 and the current DCB1077 standard, a standard which supports the accurate, timely, and safer identification of NHS patients in England, by using barcodes for positive patient identification. 37 trusts, of the 81 trusts, are compliant with the current DCB1077 standard.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
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 full modelling and cost-effectiveness analyses underpinning the JCVI’s advice on COVID-19 vaccination eligibility for winter 2025–26, including the assumptions used on transmission, hospitalisation, mortality, and productivity losses.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) advice on COVID-19 vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026 was published on 13 November 2024. The JCVI met in September and October 2024 to formulate this advice, carefully considering the evidence on risk of illness, hospitalisation, or death as a consequence of infection, vaccine effectiveness and safety, and modelling and cost-effectiveness analysis. The minutes of these meetings, including a summary of the evidence considered, were made publicly available on the GOV.UK website in November 2024, and are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation
The cost-effectiveness analysis of COVID-19 vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026 was carried out by the University of Warwick. This was published in the peer-reviewed academic journal ‘Vaccine’ in April 2025 by Keeling et al, including with a detailed description of the methodology and assumptions used, and is available at the following link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25002452
As per the JCVI Code of Practice, productivity losses were not included in this cost-effectiveness analysis.
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 efficacy of hospitals delivering specialist multi-disciplinary teams for patients experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published guidance in 2024 called Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness to support the care transfer hub, which is available at the following link:
This guidance recognises the necessity for multi-disciplinary teams. It recommends that dedicated housing options officers are embedded within the care transfer hub and advises hospitals treating over 200 homeless patients a year to offer access to a specialist multi-disciplinary homeless discharge team.
Some areas of the country have introduced High Intensity Use Services to proactively meet the needs of the most frequent attenders of the local accident and emergency, a significant portion of whom are experiencing homelessness. These services include multi-disciplinary teams that are helping to address health inequalities faced by this cohort while alleviating pressure on urgent and emergency care pathway,
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s recommendation to narrow eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccination programme in 2025–26 on public health and the economy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with this, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
Under their standard cost-effectiveness approach, the JCVI considers a vaccination programme cost effective if the health benefits are greater than the opportunity costs. The Department does not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of the wider economic benefits of a vaccination programme.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.