Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department plans to refer the Arakan Army in Myanmar to international justice and accountability mechanisms, including via targeted financial sanctions, for potential atrocity crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned by reports of human rights violations in Myanmar, involving a range of armed actors, and we continue to push for accountability for such abuses, wherever they occur. In April, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, condemning ongoing violations, particularly against ethnic minorities.
The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 to support the collection, verification, and preservation of evidence for future prosecution, and established the Myanmar Witness programme to verify open-source evidence of human rights violations.
It has been the long-standing practice under successive governments not to comment on potential future sanctions designations, as doing so could reduce their impact, but we keep all measures to promote peace and accountability in Myanmar under regular review.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other mass atrocity crimes and egregious violations of human rights perpetrated by the Arakan Army in Myanmar.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned by reports of human rights violations in Myanmar, involving a range of armed actors, and we continue to push for accountability for such abuses, wherever they occur. In April, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, condemning ongoing violations, particularly against ethnic minorities.
The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 to support the collection, verification, and preservation of evidence for future prosecution, and established the Myanmar Witness programme to verify open-source evidence of human rights violations.
It has been the long-standing practice under successive governments not to comment on potential future sanctions designations, as doing so could reduce their impact, but we keep all measures to promote peace and accountability in Myanmar under regular review.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the report Reading the Signals: Maternity and Neonatal Services in East Kent since its publication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following publication of Dr Bill Kirkup’s report, Reading the Signals: Maternity and Neonatal Services in East Kent, Dr Kirkup was appointed by the Department to develop concrete actions to implement the report’s recommendations. In this work, Dr Kirkup concluded that a national maternity plan was needed to oversee improvements in maternity and neonatal care.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, led by Baroness Amos, will also help us understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies, and families experience unacceptable care. The investigation is bringing together the findings from past reviews, including East Kent, from local investigations of maternity and neonatal services in selected trusts, and evidence from families and staff into one clear national set of recommendations.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will address the investigation’s final recommendations, tackling the recurrent systemic issues identified in the interim report, and will hold the system to account for improving outcomes and experiences for women, babies, and families, and staff experiences.
One of the recommendations of the East Kent report was to introduce a Maternity Outcomes Signal System (MOSS), which was launched in November 2025. The system is now being used by maternity services across England. MOSS monitors outcomes in near-real time to identify potential declines in the safety of maternity services, prompting timely action to reduce harm.
Additionally, to improve representation of maternity services on trust boards, all boards are required to have a board level Maternity Safety Champion and quarterly reports to the board providing comprehensive assessment of maternity and neonatal quality and safety.
NHS England has developed a new, mandated, intensive improvement offer for the most challenged National Health Service providers, the National Provider Improvement Programme, which assesses trusts based on:
effective board and organisational leadership;
effective and insightful governance arrangements;
engaged staff; and
a shared approach to, and capability for, improvement.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on implementing the 15 Immediate and Essential Actions set out in the final report of the Ockenden Review into maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Ockenden review into maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust identified 15 Immediate and Essential Actions. Following its publication, NHS England wrote to all trusts and systems asking them to deliver the actions and report to their public boards.
The Three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, developed in partnership with families and key stakeholders and published in 2023, brought together the immediate and essential actions from the Ockenden review with those from other reports and guidance. The National Health Service operational planning guidance in 2025/26 set out the expectation that trusts should implement the key actions from the plan. In accordance with the NHS operating framework, it is for integrated care boards to oversee local progress. The technical guidance which accompanied the plan sets out how NHS England has monitored progress of the three-year delivery plan implementation at a national level.
The national independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care, led by Baroness Amos, will also help us understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies, and families experience unacceptable care. The investigation is bringing together the findings from past reviews, from local investigations of maternity and neonatal services in selected trusts, and evidence from families and staff into one clear national set of recommendations.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
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 (a) developing and (b) publishing a national implementation plan for Fracture Liaison Services.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030. Integrated care boards (ICBs) remain well-placed to make decisions according to local need. The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy sets an expectation that ICBs prioritise community-based models when commissioning new fracture prevention services.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
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 Mann Review (March 2026) as potential justification for retaining the General Medical Council’s section 40A appeal power in the Draft Order.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All of the proposals relating to the findings of the Williams Review and the Mann Review contained within the Reforming the General Medical Council legislative framework consultation, published 24 March 2026, are currently open for public consultation. We welcome stakeholder views on the consultation and responses will be carefully considered to help inform future policy decisions.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department continues to support Recommendation 6.1 of the Williams Review on removing the General Medical Council’s right of appeal under section 40A of the Medical Act 1983.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All of the proposals relating to the findings of the Williams Review and the Mann Review contained within the Reforming the General Medical Council legislative framework consultation, published 24 March 2026, are currently open for public consultation. We welcome stakeholder views on the consultation and responses will be carefully considered to help inform future policy decisions.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require that healthcare professionals involved in the care of people with very severe ME complete condition-specific (a) training and (b) e-learning.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England, with support from the Department, has developed an e-learning programme to support healthcare professionals in the care of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), of all levels of severity. All four sessions of the e-learning programme are now available, with sessions one, two, and three having universal access, whilst the fourth session, which includes support and clinical management of severe ME/CFS, is only available to healthcare professionals. Further information can be found at the following link:
https://learninghub.nhs.uk/catalogue/mecfselearning?nodeId=7288
The Medical Schools Council will promote the e-learning programme to all United Kingdom medical schools and will encourage those medical schools to provide undergraduates with direct patient experience of ME/CFS.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has developed guidance on the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS, including mental health support for people with ME/CFS and their families. NICE guidelines are evidence-based, informed by clinical expertise, and represent best practice, and although NICE guidelines are not mandatory, healthcare professionals are expected to take them fully into account.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
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 trends in the (a) prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Godalming and Ash constituency compared with national averages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Godalming and Ash and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence | 2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025) | 2025/26 (April 2025 to November 2025) |
Godalming and Ash | 935 | 775 |
England | 612,855 | 511,558 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Surrey, which includes Godalming and Ash, can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the functions of local Healthwatch will be delivered by ICBs and local authorities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The abolition of local Healthwatch (LHW) and the transfer of its functions will require primary legislation. The timing of this is subject to the will of Parliament and will happen when parliamentary time allows.
We are proposing to place responsibility for the health function of LHW with integrated care boards. Local authorities will be responsible for the social care LHW functions.