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 many tonsillectomies were carried out on children in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A count of finished consultant episodes in England for children aged zero to 17 years old with a primary or secondary procedure of tonsillectomy from 2020/21 to 2024/25 is as follows:
The increase in the number of procedures carried out each year between 2020/21 and 2024/25 reflects the National Health Service’s ongoing work to recover elective activity following the disruption caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic and represents a return to pre-pandemic levels of treatment.
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, if he will take steps to ensure that people with cystic fibrosis have access to Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio on the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In July 2024, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved three disease modifying treatments, Orkambi, Symkevi, and Kaftrio, as treatment options for eligible National Health Service patients with cystic fibrosis, under the terms of a commercial agreement reached between NHS England and the manufacturer, Vertex. These treatments are now routinely funded by the NHS in England for eligible patients.
Across England, further access to Orkambi, Symkevi, and Kaftrio on the NHS for people with cystic fibrosis who do not meet the eligibility requirements in the NICE guidance, is guided by the NHS England commissioning statement at the following link:
This means that means approximately 95% of people with cystic fibrosis in England are now eligible for modulator therapy.
NICE is an England-only body. Health is largely a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines for use in the NHS in the devolved administrations is a matter for the devolved government.
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 increase access to healthcare services in rural areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan has set out a long-term vision to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future. Addressing healthcare inequity is a core focus of the 10-Year Health Plan, to ensure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it whenever they need it.
This includes ending the postcode lottery for cancer patients through introducing new training places targeted at trusts with the biggest workforce gaps, prioritising rural and coastal areas.
There are also a range of adjustments made to integrated care board funding allocations that account for the fact that the costs of providing health care may vary between rural and urban areas. These adjustments specifically support remote or sparsely populated areas.
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 the average waiting time is for an emergency ambulance response.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.
We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26 is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, and commits to reducing category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average this year.
The latest data from December 2025 for ambulance response times in England shows progress, with category 2 incidents responded to in 32 minutes 43 seconds on average, this is 14 minutes and 43 seconds faster than the same period last year.
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 improve fire safety in healthcare settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has unique fire safety issues given the nature of its services and the patients it treats. These issues and related risks are analysed with risk reduction measures such as specific technical guidance updates and technical bulletins based on this data being developed and published where appropriate. Professional networking ensures that best practice is shared with the NHS via professional organisations such as National Fire Chiefs Council, the National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers, and the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management.
This specific fire safety guidance is provided to the NHS in the Health Technical Memorandum 05 generally referred to as Firecode. This guidance is being revised to fully reflect recent changes in legislation, technology, and policy, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/fire-safety-in-the-nhs-health-technical-memorandum-05-03/
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the number of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches employed in the National Health Service in England.
Patients presenting with headaches may be treated through multiple points of contact across primary, urgent, and secondary care, with input from different clinical teams depending on symptoms and severity.
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 help improve respite services for carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital role of unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they have the support they need.
In England, the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers. 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.
The Government is making around £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.
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 will take to increase availability of renal psychology services for kidney patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental health and psychosocial support, such as renal psychology services, for people living with kidney disease is a key priority within NHS England’s programme to improve renal care. The Renal Service Transformation Programme, published in 2023, provides a national framework for raising standards across the renal pathway, including a strengthened focus on supporting the emotional and psychological needs of 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, how much his Department spent on legal costs in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the total legal fees for the core Department per the audited annual reports from 2020/21 to 2024/25, rounded to the nearest thousand:
2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 |
£46,087 | £37,975 | £35,799 | £37,482 | £39,694 |
The legal fees for the departmental group can be found in the Annual Report and accounts in the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025#
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021
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 assessment he has made of trends in the level of vaccine uptake in schools.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors uptake of childhood and adolescent vaccinations via the school-based programmes and publishes this in annual coverage reports. Uptake across the programmes has shown a decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, with some evidence of stabilisation during the academic year 2023/24. The reports are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake
NHS England, in conjunction with regional colleagues, has produced a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination school-aged immunisation improvement and uptake plan for internal operational National Health Service use, as part of their commitment to improving vaccine coverage.
In addition, NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the HPV vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.