Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to counselling services for victims of rape and sexual assault in 2024-2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We cannot provide the information on this as the Department does not hold a single, centrally allocated budget line specifically for counselling services for victims of rape and sexual assault. Funding for these services is provided through a combination of routes, including National Health Service-commissioned mental health services, and through funding administered by other departments.
NHS England also funds sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) which provide crisis care, medical and forensic examinations, and onward referral to other support services. NHS England spent £57.6 million on SARCs in 2024/25.
More widely, the 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including victims of rape and sexual assault. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App.
The plan will build on the work that has already begun to bring down waiting lists. This includes providing an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 prevent double payments in clinical negligence cases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to develop a workforce strategy to provide support for diabetes patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a National Health Service workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different service areas and professional groups, such as those that support diabetes patients.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 a robust audit of diabetes services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Diabetes Audit (NDA), and the National Peadiatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA), which are delivered in partnership with NHS England, provide comprehensive data on care processes and outcomes.
NHS Digital’s NDA dashboards and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s NPDA dashboards are designed to help integrated care boards, providers, and paediatric diabetes units benchmark themselves and target improvements. Further information on NHS Digital’s NDA dashboards and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s NPDA dashboards is available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/NPDA-dashboards
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 increase the number of nurses and midwives.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support exists for children under 16 diagnosed with Long Covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has invested significantly in supporting people with long COVID. This includes setting up specialist long COVID services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, and investing in ensuring general practice (GP) teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition. Since April 2024, in line with the National Health Service operating framework and the establishment of integrated care systems, the commissioning of services to support patients with long COVID, including children, has been the responsibility of integrated care boards. Where local long COVID services are not available, children and young people with long COVID symptoms should see their GP, who will be able to refer them to alternative existing services depending on their clinical needs.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, are committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long COVID. This includes a new funding opportunity for a development award which is focussed on the feasibility of a phase 2 platform clinical trial that tests multiple repurposed pharmaceutical and/or non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and long COVID.
We have also funded research specifically focused on long COVID in children and young people, including the approximate £1.9 million CLoCk study jointly funded by the NIHR and the MRC. The study developed an agreed definition of long COVID in children and young people and associated symptoms, to improve understanding of the condition and help harmonise research.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 at-home test kits for cervical smears.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has announced the introduction of human papilloma virus (HPV) self-testing in the National Health Service cervical screening programme for the under-screened population in England. The NHS has begun planning an in-service evaluation (ISE) of HPV self-testing in the wider population.
The purpose of the ISE is to ensure that the self-test is acceptable, accurate, and feasible compared with a clinician collected specimen, and to evaluate its impact on cervical screening uptake and ensure that the programme continues to prevent the same number of cancers. The findings of the ISE will inform any future UK National Screening Committee recommendation to ministers to offer self-testing across the whole population, alongside clinician-led screening.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is providing additional resources for respite care for parents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of high-quality care and support services, including support for carers.
The Government is making over £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care in England in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements. This includes additional grant funding, growth in other sources of income available to support adult social care, and an increase to the National Health Service contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund compared to 2025/26.
The Better Care Fund includes funding that can be used for carer support, including short breaks and respite services. Local areas determine how the money is best used to support carers, depending on local need and with reference to their statutory responsibilities.
We have raised the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit from £151 to £196 per week, the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage and representing the largest cash increase ever.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to provide a 24/7 thrombectomy service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working to increase the size of the workforce trained to deliver thrombectomy so that 24/7 access is available across England by April 2026.
To achieve this NHS England is working with the General Medical Council in approving a credential to support neuroradiologists to conduct thrombectomy and increase the number of thrombectomies that can be delivered.
In addition, NHS England’s National Medical Director and National Clinical Director for Stroke has supported comprehensive stroke centers in England to improve quality and reduce variation in thrombectomy delivery.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to digitise patients’ medical records.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
£1.9 billion has been invested to ensure all National Health Service trusts achieve baseline digital capability, and 95% of trusts will have implemented or upgraded their Electronic Patient Record system (EPR) by March 2026, with the remainder planning to implement after this.
Recent areas for focus have been EPR optimisation, working to improve functionality, efficiency and usability, and a new tiger team service in the Frontline Digitisation Support offer for 2025/26, which is available to provide trusts with rapid on-site support at critical points of their EPR journey. The team’s work will also inform practical guidance to help other trusts deploy successfully and realise the benefits of digitisation.
NHS England is continuing to conduct digital maturity assessments to support local systems and trusts to prioritise and plan local digital investment.