Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 61217 on Government Departments: Reviews, how many lines of activity in his department were considered as part of the zero based review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2025 Spending Review included a zero-based review of spending. The Department scrutinised every line of spending to ensure that it is delivering value for money. The review covered resource budgets across the full Department Group, defined as the Department and all its arm’s length bodies.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral answer on 21 October 2025, Official Report, col 789, what proportion of the increase in NHS budget was provided to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All National Health Service organisations will benefit from the record funding growth agreed for the NHS this year. Revenue funding is provided to integrated care boards (ICBs) and is informed by a calculation of what would constitute a ‘fair share’ for that system. NHS trusts and foundation trusts are not directly funded in the same way. They finance their spending through income generated from the provision of healthcare services, paid via contracts agreed with their commissioning ICBs. Whilst national funding growth is defined by Spending Review settlements, the level of funding in individual trusts is not set by the Government and income levels are dependent on the level of healthcare activity they undertake for their local communities.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding allocated to dentistry was clawed back by NHS England for each ICB area in 2024-5.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dental budgets have been ringfenced since 2023/24. The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
The information requested on the amount of funding allocated to National Health Service dentistry that was recovered from underperforming contracts by NHS England in respect of each integrated care board area in 2024/25 is currently unavailable, as this data has not yet been validated. Once validated, data on any funding recovered from underperforming contracts by NHS England will be published in the NHS financial accounts.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ICBs have retained their unspent dental allocation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested information is not available. Dental budgets have been ringfenced since 2023/24. The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most. Where there are unused resources, NHS England will seek to ensure that these are used to improve dental access.
The total underspend for the 2023/24 financial year was £392 million. Information on underspend for the 2024/25 financial year is currently unavailable, as this data has not yet been validated. Prior to the 2023/24 financial year, a dental ringfence was not in place.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 25328 on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, whether he has received a copy of the report; and, with reference to his Department policy paper entitled New Hospital Programme; plan for implementation, published on 20 January 2025, what his planned timetable is for the publication of the site-by-site report of the RAAC hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of staff and patients at the seven predominantly reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) hospitals remains our utmost priority.
The completion date for the report has been extended to ensure a detailed understanding of the complex data and issues considered, including the RAAC condition, planned and current mitigations, and the remaining expected life of the hospital sites. By building a better understanding, we can support each scheme to move forward more effectively. We expect the report will be complete this year. A decision has not yet been taken regarding the publication of the report.
In the interim, the seven predominantly RAAC hospitals continue their programme of RAAC mitigation works and the plans for the replacement hospitals continue at pace.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce a provisional registration scheme for trained international dentists to practice (a) under supervision and (b) with training support in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is a considerable waiting list for candidates to sit the General Dental Council’s (GDC) Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). I have asked the GDC to urgently develop an action plan of concrete measures to reduce the ORE waiting list, and will be regularly meeting with them to monitor progress.
I have welcomed the additional sittings of both parts of the ORE that the GDC has put in place, and their ongoing procurement of new ORE provider contracts. I will continue to discuss the new arrangements with the GDC, with a focus on understanding how they will further increase the availability of the ORE exam in the short and longer term.
We will not be providing the GDC with any additional legislative powers for international registration at this time. Having considered the options for a provisional registration scheme, the Government’s view is that other, more cost-effective and efficient routes to registration should be the immediate priority.
Meanwhile, we expect the GDC to make full use of the flexibility afforded by the international registration reforms introduced in 2023 to ensure that those who have the right skills and experience are able to join its registers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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 expand Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) capacity beyond the additional (a) 1,800 places for part 1 and (b) 576 places for part 2.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is a considerable waiting list for candidates to sit the General Dental Council’s (GDC) Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). I have asked the GDC to urgently develop an action plan of concrete measures to reduce the ORE waiting list, and will be regularly meeting with them to monitor progress.
I have welcomed the additional sittings of both parts of the ORE that the GDC has put in place, and their ongoing procurement of new ORE provider contracts. I will continue to discuss the new arrangements with the GDC, with a focus on understanding how they will further increase the availability of the ORE exam in the short and longer term.
We will not be providing the GDC with any additional legislative powers for international registration at this time. Having considered the options for a provisional registration scheme, the Government’s view is that other, more cost-effective and efficient routes to registration should be the immediate priority.
Meanwhile, we expect the GDC to make full use of the flexibility afforded by the international registration reforms introduced in 2023 to ensure that those who have the right skills and experience are able to join its registers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made in the procurement process for a new examination board for applicants wanting to take the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE).
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is a considerable waiting list for candidates to sit the General Dental Council’s (GDC) Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). I have asked the GDC to urgently develop an action plan of concrete measures to reduce the ORE waiting list, and will be regularly meeting with them to monitor progress.
I have welcomed the additional sittings of both parts of the ORE that the GDC has put in place, and their ongoing procurement of new ORE provider contracts. I will continue to discuss the new arrangements with the GDC, with a focus on understanding how they will further increase the availability of the ORE exam in the short and longer term.
We will not be providing the GDC with any additional legislative powers for international registration at this time. Having considered the options for a provisional registration scheme, the Government’s view is that other, more cost-effective and efficient routes to registration should be the immediate priority.
Meanwhile, we expect the GDC to make full use of the flexibility afforded by the international registration reforms introduced in 2023 to ensure that those who have the right skills and experience are able to join its registers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59412 on Government Departments: Reviews, if his Department will publish the line by line review of its spending conducted for the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has used this Spending Review to maximise the value from every taxpayer pound. Phase 2 of the Spending Review marks the first zero-based review in nearly 18 years, with every line of Government spending scrutinised, to make sure it is delivering value for money.
The Government published robust delivery plans that set out exactly how departments will achieve their efficiency targets. HM Treasury published an overview of departmental efficiency targets and delivery plans for the 2025 Spending Review on 11 June 2025. These are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/departmental-efficiency-delivery-plans
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, what recent discussions his Department have had with HM Treasury on the provision of funds for valproate (a) financial redress and (b) interim payments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report in due course.