Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to include testing for chronic kidney disease as part of the NHS Health Check programme within the framework of the 10-year health plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. We expect the 10-Year Health Plan to be published in Spring 2025.
The NHS Health Check programme aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease among adults aged 40 to 74 years old, and engages over 1.4 million people a year. The programme assesses for high blood pressure, which is a strong risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease. Where an individual’s NHS Health Check indicates high blood pressure, it is for a general practitioner to consider the results, and then, if required, undertake further clinical investigation and treatment where appropriate.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 ensure early (a) screening and (b) diagnosis for chronic kidney disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early diagnosis is crucial for people with long-term conditions like chronic kidney disease in accessing timely treatment, preventing deterioration, and improving survival rates. The NHS Health Check programme aims to detect and prevent conditions like heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease among adults aged between 40 and 74 years old, and engages over 1.4 million people a year.
The Department is already developing a digital version of the check to provide a more accessible and convenient service for people. The NHS Health Check Online service will be piloted in three local authorities from spring 2025 for six months, with the aim of being rolled out nationally from spring 2026, delivering approximately one million checks in the first four years.
The Elective Recovery Plan, published in January 2025, also set out measures to improve diagnostic capacity and access.
More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support the early detection and faster treatment of chronic kidney disease.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 improve access to SGLT2 inhibitors for patients with (a) type 2 diabetes, (b) chronic kidney disease and (c) heart failure.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based best practice guidance for the National Health Service.
The NICE has been able to recommend two SGLT2 inhibitors, empagliflozin and dapagliflozin, for treating chronic kidney disease and for treating chronic heart failure with reduced, preserved, or mildly reduced ejection fraction, subject to specified clinical criteria. The NICE has also recommended several SGLT2 inhibitors as monotherapy, or in combination with other drugs, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance, so these treatments should now be available for healthcare professionals to prescribe to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.
In September 2024, the NICE added links to the relevant technology appraisal guidance on SGLT-2s, namely empagliflozin and dapagliflozin, to the guideline Chronic kidney disease: assessment and management. This is to provide easy access to the relevant appraisal guidance at the right point in the guideline, and to help users find the information more easily.
The NICE is updating its guideline Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management, to reflect changes in clinical practice and the introduction of new drug classes, such as SGLT2 inhibitors, since the guideline was first published, ensuring that the NICE’s guideline recommendations and treatment algorithms are up to date, so that all patients can receive equitable care. The updated guidance is expected to be published in August 2025. The NICE publishes a range of resources to support services in putting its recommendations into practice.
The NICE has also published a general practice indicator on chronic kidney disease and SGLT2 inhibitors. NICE indicators measure outcomes that reflect the quality of care or processes and can be used in a number of different settings to support high quality care, including in the uptake of NICE-recommended treatments, such as SGLT2 inhibitors.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in which patient groups will recommendations for combining GLP-1 receptor agonists with SGLT2 inhibitors be included as part of the updated NG28 guidelines.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops its guidelines independently based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with stakeholders.
The NICE’s independent committee is currently updating its clinical guideline recommendations on the use of medicines for the management of type 2 diabetes in adults. The draft recommendations will be issued for public consultation at the earliest opportunity. It is not possible to say what those recommendations will be at this time.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of a ban on the (a) marketing and (b) advertising of (i) e-cigarette and vaping products, (ii) non-medically licensed nicotine products, and (iii) heated tobacco products on adult smokers switching from combustible cigarettes to alternatives.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has published a thorough impact assessment of the measures included in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, including the prohibition on the advertising of vaping products and nicotine products.
Public health messaging and campaigns will continue to support the promotion of vapes as a quit aid for smokers, as outlined on the Better Health and National Health Service websites. Additionally, through our national Swap to Stop scheme, we’re helping adult smokers to quit by providing up to one million vapes to local authorities.
The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 prohibits the advertisement and sponsorship of tobacco products, and that prohibition applies to tobacco products intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked, or chewed. The Department’s view is that heated tobacco is captured by this definition.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled 10-year study to shed light on youth vaping, published on 19 February 2025, what steps he plans to take to ensure all data reviewed is from the use of vapes compliant with UK regulations.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Due to the nicotine content and unknown long-term harms, vapes and nicotine products carry risks of harm and addiction, and this is particularly acute for adolescents whose brains are still developing.
The 10-year Adolescent Health Study (AHS) will follow a cohort of 100,000 eight to 18 year olds from across the United Kingdom and will provide further insights about the health consequences of vaping for young people. This will provide healthcare professionals and policymakers with the robust evidence they need to shape future policy. We will continue to engage with the AHS team during the study’s development.
Alongside this, we will continue to clamp down on illicit vapes and those which are not compliant with UK regulations. We have also committed to invest £10 million of new funding in 2025/26, to support Trading Standards to tackle underage and illicit tobacco and vape sales.
Through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we are also introducing powers to introduce a retail licensing scheme and create a more robust product registration scheme. A new registration scheme, along with stricter rules on testing and product requirements, will support a safe and legal market for tobacco and vape products, and will allow us to quickly identify illicit products which should not be on shelves.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes in the levels of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain on NHS (a) capacity and (b) waiting times.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of changes in the levels of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain on National Health Service capacity or waiting times, and there are no current plans to undertake such an assessment.
Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The Government remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 impact of an increase in Indefinite Leave to Remain visa grants on NHS capacity.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of changes in the levels of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain on National Health Service capacity or waiting times, and there are no current plans to undertake such an assessment.
Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The Government remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 granting Indefinite Leave to Remain to people with Health and Care Worker visas on welfare services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. Health and Care Worker visa holders may be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after five years on the visa. No estimate has been made of the potential impact on public services of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain to people with Health and Care Worker visas.
The Government remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the National Health Service. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 support hospices that rely on charitable donations, in the context of changes to National Insurance thresholds.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance contributions (ENICs) rise will be implemented in April 2025.
The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, like hospices, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with ENICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim ENICs reliefs, including those for under 21 and under 25 year old apprentices, where eligible. The Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.