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 ensure that increased medicine prices do not have an adverse impact on NHS activity.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

This deal is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our National Health Service and world leading life sciences sector to increase access to life-changing medicines without taking essential funding from our frontline NHS services.

We will always prioritise the needs of NHS patients and at the Spending Review we delivered record real terms increase for day-to-day spending for the NHS in England up to April 2029.

This deal will be funded by allocations made at the Spending Review, where front line services will remain protected through the record funding secured. Future year funding will be settled at the next Spending Review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report by the National Association of Disability Practitioners entitled Critical Response to the Equality Impact Assessment and Decision-Making in the Removal of DSA support for Students who are Disabled by Higher Education Academic Practices Involving Spelling and Grammar; and whether she plans to respond to this report.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is aware of the report produced by the National Association of Disability Practitioners in December 2025 concerning the decision to remove Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding for nonspecialist spelling and grammar software from March 2025, except in exceptional circumstances. The department considers that the current policy ensures DSA funding is managed appropriately, with support still available where there is a clear disability related need. The department has considered the report carefully but is not intending to make any changes to this policy as a result.

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 improve clinical communications between primary and secondary care providers.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10 Year Health Plan is clear that the National Health Service needs to modernise and shift toward providing continuous, accessible and integrated care. This relies on clear communication across different services, including primary and secondary care. The Plan set out our commitment to delivering the recommendations of the ‘Red Tape Challenge’, which includes making improvements at the interface between primary and secondary care. This contains measures such as improving access to shared care records and greater standardisation of forms and processes across services.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, set out the need for more integrated working between primary and secondary care. As part of the approach, the Government expanded the Advice and Guidance (A&G) scheme in 2025/26 with £80 million of funding allocated for General Practice to increase uptake. Between April 2025 and October 2025, there has been an increase of 22% in processed A&G requests compared to the same period last year. A&G facilitates communication between General Practice and specialists to ensure care is delivered in the most appropriate place.

The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, also set out an improved approach to triaging patients. From April 2026, the NHS will start moving toward a unified access model where all appropriate requests and referrals (excluding urgent suspect cancer) will flow through a Single Point of Access, acting as a single ‘front door’ to support clinical triage to the most appropriate service or outcome. This will enable primary care referrers to get a response from specialists at the start of a patient’s care journey in secondary care, as well as timelier and more joined up care for patients.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his department has made on the implementation of the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 in England and Wales.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Work is ongoing to implement Administrative Liability Orders (ALO).

While Child Maintenance is reserved, enforcement of CM arrears in Scotland requires using the Scottish judicial system, which is devolved.

We are working closely with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to ensure enforcement action resulting from ALOs operates effectively across the UK, and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament to implement the measures across England, Scotland and Wales, as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish (a) the total amount owed to parents in child maintenance payment arrears and (b) how much this has increased by over the last 10 years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)and the latest statistics are currently available to September 2025. Table 5 of the latest National tables shows the total amount of child maintenance that Paying Parents should have paid since the CMS began, and how much of that has not been paid at the end of every quarter, from March 2015 to September 2025.

Student finance system reform

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest

UNESCO World Heritage status for chalk streams in England

Airport drop-off charges

Delay Repay scheme

Energy prices for households and businesses

Endometriosis Awareness Month 2026

Funding for rural fire and rescue services

Relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Sinking of SS Tilawa

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

Cardiac risk in the young

Sodium valproate and surgical mesh redress

Public inquiry into Epstein links

Palantir and the NHS

Horse and rider road safety

Leasehold reform (No. 2)

Independent parking regulator