Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support the continued delivery of SOS buses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supportive of the work of volunteer initiatives, such as SOS buses. Voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs) play a vital role in supporting communities up and down the country with a huge variety of issues. However, I recognise that the last few years have created a difficult environment for VCSEs, due to a number of challenges including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living, and many are seeing increased financial pressures.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is supporting VCSEs with their financial sustainability, including through the delivery of a number of grant programmes, growing other sources of funding such as the social investment market, and supporting the viability of local government contracts. There are a number of ways in which organisations can find available funding opportunities, including:
The Government has made it a priority to reset the relationship with civil society and build a new partnership to harness its full potential by developing a Civil Society Covenant.
Further, if local healthcare commissioners judge that SOS buses would help meet the healthcare needs of their respective populations, they can choose to commission those services.
Such a decision would be taken at the local level as integrated care boards across England are responsible for managing the National Health Service budget and arranging NHS healthcare services which meet the needs of their respective populations.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to NHS trusts to support mental health inpatient wards operating above safe occupancy levels.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual mental health trusts and local health systems are expected to effectively assess and manage their bed capacity. NHS England’s mental health, learning disability, and autism inpatient quality transformation programme is supporting cultural change and a new model of care across all National Health Service-funded mental health inpatient services, so that people can access timely, high-quality community support, closer to their families and loved ones. Local health systems have now published their three-year plans for localising and realigning inpatient care, in line with this vision.
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, we are focussing on treatment that is away from hospital and inpatient care and are making sure that more mental health crisis care is delivered in the community through new models of care and support, so that fewer people need to go into hospital.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate has he made of the average length of stay in mental health inpatient units; and how this compares with the average length of stay for physical health inpatient admissions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the median average length of stay for adults and children who were discharged from mental health inpatient units in England between 1 March and 31 May 2025:
| People aged 0 to 17 years old | People aged 18 to 64 years old | People aged 65 years old and over |
Number of people discharged | 731 | 13,681 | 2,737 |
Median average length of stay of people discharged | 5 days | 27 days | 73 days |
Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England.
No comparison can be made with the average length of stay for physical health inpatient admissions. NHS England has advised that data is not collected under the description of ‘physical health’ as the term is too broad.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 recruitment and retention in the mental health workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and is there when people need it, we are over halfway towards our target to recruit an extra 8,500 mental health staff. NHS England is also working to improve retention within the mental health workforce through clearer career progression pathways.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 reduce the time taken to diagnose brain tumours.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving diagnosis rates is a key priority for the Government for all cancer types, including brain cancers. To achieve this, we are improving public awareness of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlining referral routes, and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
In addition, the Government has now exceeded its pledge to deliver two million extra operations, scans, and appointments, having delivered 4.5 million additional appointments as a first step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.
Furthermore, NHS England is delivering a range of interventions to support general practices in diagnosing brain cancer earlier, for example through the early cancer diagnosis service specification for primary care networks. This specification is designed to support improvements in rates of early cancer diagnosis by requiring primary care networks to review the quality of their general practices’ referrals for suspected cancer and take steps to improve this, where appropriate.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 the UK does not fall behind other countries in access to innovative treatments for secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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 recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. To enable rapid access for NHS patients to new and effective life-extending treatments, NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the point of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund the use of NICE approved cancer medicines. NICE has recommended 24 out of the 25 breast cancer treatments it has assessed since April 2018. These medicines are now available to NHS patients in England.
The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention and research. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Research and innovation are key focuses of the National Cancer Plan. The plan will look to build on the success of our life sciences sector and projects such as the NHS cancer vaccine launch pad, and will also consider the ways that we can accelerate the uptake of innovative, life-saving treatments so all NHS patients can benefit.
The plan is due to be published later this year and will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 impact of third-sector providers on NHS pressures related to drug and alcohol treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment.
No assessment has been made on the impact of third-sector providers on National Health Service pressures related to drug and alcohol treatment. Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and for commissioning services to meet those needs. The majority of drug and alcohol treatment services are delivered by charities, with a smaller proportion delivered by the NHS or companies.
Dame Carol Black’s independent review of evidence related to drugs, published in February 2020, found that the harms associated with wholly drug-related hospital admissions are estimated at £37 million. This cost includes admissions for mental and behavioural disorders, overdoses and poisonings, and drug-related neonatal disorders. The total cost of all harms associated with partially drug-related hospital admissions is estimated at £156 million. Research shows treatment for drug users can reduce the cost of drug related hospital attendances by 31%.
Effective community alcohol treatment can reduce costs to the NHS. The institute of Alcohol Studies estimates that alcohol costs the NHS and healthcare services £4.9 billion a year, based on 2021/22 prices. Accessible specialist treatment services can help people with alcohol dependence access healthcare at an earlier stage for the high levels of comorbidity they experience.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support partnerships between local pharmacies and drug and alcohol support charities to deliver harm reduction services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve alcohol and drug treatment services and recovery support, including housing and employment, in England. This funding can be used by local authorities to support community pharmacies to deliver harm reduction services.
Many community pharmacies provide locally commissioned services aimed at reducing harm from the misuse of alcohol and drugs, such as supervised consumption of methadone alongside support for self-care, which is an essential service all pharmacies provide. This includes free healthcare advice, public health interventions, and signposting to relevant organisations and services.
The Department is aware of the challenges in the ability of some community pharmacies to provide some substance misuse services such as dispensing, supervised consumption of methadone, and needle and syringe programmes.
The Department has been supporting drug and alcohol treatment services to identify local solutions, including increased payment and some alternative models of provision of these services.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to support (a) social and (b) cultural assimilation of legal immigrants arriving in the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published on Monday 12 May, announced proposals on a wide range of reforms, including in the areas of community cohesion, integration and English language requirements, further details of which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the pupil premium at reducing attainment gaps in (a) England and (b) in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Schools receive pupil premium, worth over £3 billion in 2025/26, to support disadvantaged pupils’ educational outcomes. South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency’s pupil premium allocation this financial year is £5.59 million.
The department published an evaluation of pupil and recovery premia in March 2025: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67dd5b7f0114b0b86e59f42b/Pupil_premium_and_recovery_premium_evaluation.pdf.
This contained positive findings, for example 85% of schools and 91% of trusts agreed that having pupil premium meant they had a better strategy for meeting disadvantaged pupils’ needs.