Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 NICE’s severity modifier on people with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its recommendations. The severity modifier was introduced in January 2022 as part of a number of changes intended to make NICE’s methods fairer, faster, and more consistent.
NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended. This showed that the proportion of positive cancer recommendations is higher, at 84.8%, than with the end-of-life modifier it replaced, at 75%, and the proportion of positive recommendations for advanced cancer treatments is also higher, 81.1% compared to 69%.
Since the introduction of the severity modifier, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed. These treatments are now available to eligible National Health Service patients.
NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 adequacy of NICE’s definition of a very severe condition.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) introduced the severity modifier in 2022 to replace the existing end of life modifier, based on evidence of societal preferences and as part of a comprehensive review of NICE’s methods and processes. The modifier was designed through extensive public and stakeholder engagement and in line with the principle of opportunity cost neutrality. NICE’s updated methods, including the severity modifier, have enabled it to recommend a number of treatments for conditions such as hepatitis D and cystic fibrosis, that it may not otherwise have been able to recommend for use on the National Health Service. Under these new methods, the proportion of positive recommendations is higher, at 86.5%, than with the end-of-life modifier, at 82.5%.
NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 people with incurable secondary breast cancer have access to world-leading treatments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England announced in April 2025 that eligible women with secondary breast cancer could soon have access to a new targeted treatment, capivasertib, used alongside fulvestrant, on the National Health Service.
In May, NHS England announced the world’s first roll out of liquid biopsy testing, which is now available for all eligible breast cancer patients, and which aims to speed up diagnosis and inform better treatment options for those with breast cancer.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 with manufacturers of blood transfusion sampling bottles to improve their design.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting and processing blood donations across England, to meet hospital demand for treating patients.
Blood collection tubes are used to collect blood samples at the time of blood donation. These samples are used to perform mandatory and discretionary infectious disease marker screening and blood grouping at every donation. Additional samples are taken from apheresis donors for tests such as haemoglobin levels, total protein testing. Sample tubes are also used for quality monitoring of components.
NHSBT is not aware of any issues surrounding the current containers and is therefore not actively working with manufacturers of blood transfusion sampling bottles, as the current design meets their needs.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on implementing the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is now in its fourth year of delivery, and we are seeing important progress. 75 local authorities have established a network of family hubs and are providing universal, preventative services that benefit babies, children, and their families. Local authorities are developing services based on local need to improve health and educational outcomes, delivered through integrated, multi-agency workforces. Through Start for Life funding, families with babies can access support for perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships, and infant feeding.
The effectiveness of the programme will take time to be realised, as long-term evaluation is required. The programme is subject to two national, independent evaluations to understand its implementation and impact. We are already seeing evidence of promising progress as demonstrated by the thematic review undertaken by the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 potential impact of family hubs on (a) neighbourhood health and (b) the effectiveness of the delivery of integrated community-based health services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to moving towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and support people to stay healthier and maintain their independence for longer.
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme supports the three reform shifts set out in the Government’s Health Mission, including the shift from hospital to community. It is already delivering a community-based model to transform health outcomes for babies, children, and their families.
The effectiveness of the programme will take time to be realised, as long-term evaluation is required. The programme is subject to two national, independent evaluations to understand its implementation and impact.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of appointments in (a) Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK that have been delayed due to a lack of availability of medical radioisotopes in 2025 to date.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While we do not typically hold this information centrally, the Department is aware that the number of appointments delayed related to radioisotope supply issues at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the period of January 2025 to May 2025 consist of:
- 68 patients delayed for a fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18 FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan;
- 48 patients delayed for a F-18 FDG, prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan; and
- 57 patients delayed across multiple nuclear medicine tests.
We do not hold the information for the East Midlands more widely, or for the United Kingdom as a whole. The Department regularly engages with suppliers, specialist clinicians, the British Nuclear Medicine Society, and the UK Radiopharmacy Group to support the continued supply of medical radioisotopes for National Health Services. The Department continues to work with the NHS and other parts of the Government to better understand future need for medical radioisotopes.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 potential merits of enabling dental assistants to perform dental procedures under supervision.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We support making the best use of the range of skills held by dental teams so that they work to their full scope of practice. This enables clinicians to deliver more complex care and reduce delays for patients.
The General Dental Council’s (GDC) Scope of Practice guidance sets out the areas in which dental professionals have the knowledge, skills, and experience to practise safely and effectively in the best interests of patients. NHS England’s guidance of January 2023 further sets out that dental therapists and dental hygienists can open and close National Health Service courses of treatment and provide direct access to NHS care within the GDC’s guidance.
We are holding a roundtable with dental care professionals on 10 July 2025 where we will listen to feedback about the implementation of recent reforms to increase the scope of practice for dental therapists and hygienists, and the potential for making better use of their skills in future.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 (a) increase and (b) ensure the ongoing availability of medical radioisotopes for NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department regularly engages with suppliers, specialist clinicians, the British Nuclear Medicine Society, and the UK Radiopharmacy Group to support the continued supply of medical radioisotopes for the National Health Service. The Department continues to work with the NHS and other parts of the Government to better understand future needs for medical radioisotopes.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 potential impact of (a) parents and (b) carers reading to young children on the mental wellbeing of (i) children, (ii) parents and (iii) carers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. We know that, according to research, reading helps to reduce stress levels and could be beneficial to mental health and well-being.