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, with reference to his Department's publication entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what progress his Department has made on the digital-only delivery of weight loss (a) services and (b) treatments; and if his Department will publish further details on how it plans to test innovative models for those services and treatments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to expanding access to weight management services through digital innovation and personalised pathways that support people in a way that best meets their needs.
The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is the only nationally commissioned weight management service delivered entirely through digital means. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, there is a clear commitment to expand access to this programme, including doubling referral volumes. The service went live in 2021, and active planning is now underway to deliver this expansion, which is expected to begin in 2026/27.
For pharmacological treatments such as tirzepatide, otherwise know as Mounjaro, for the management of obesity, NHS England is working with the Office for Life Sciences and other partners to develop digitally enabled care pathways supported by behavioural interventions and which place patient safety and clinical oversight at their core. This is part of the newly launched £85 million health innovation programme, in collaboration with Eli Lilly, to test novel delivery models for weight management. These include digital platforms, pharmacy-led services, and community-based access routes. The programme is designed to improve accessibility and reduce pressure on specialist services, whilst ensuring care is safe and aligned with national clinical standards.
These innovative pathways are being designed to bring together remote prescribing, personalised behavioural support, and ongoing clinical supervision, allowing patients to access high-quality care in a way that is convenient and tailored to their individual needs.
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 information his Department holds on the number of people who have been diagnosed with Tinnitus in the last 12 months.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
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 women under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with ADHD in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no single established dataset that can be used to monitor the numbers of people diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or to monitor waiting times for the assessment and diagnosis for ADHD by gender in England.
For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan. NHS England has also released technical guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD waits and diagnosis data as well as publishing more localised data in future. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.
NHS England established an ADHD taskforce which brought together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June, with the final report expected later this year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.
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 increase funding within the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework to help pharmacists deliver on their expanded roles under the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, working closely with other primary care providers at a neighbourhood level to deliver services.
We expect services, including those that make use of pharmacist prescribing qualifications, to be commissioned both nationally, where that is most cost effective, and locally, to meet specific local needs and to support local populations. Commissioning arrangements and funding streams will vary depending on the service being commissioned and arrangements for local health provision.
National commissioning of pharmacies includes vaccination and related services and the services commissioned through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework. As is custom and practice, we will consult Community Pharmacy England on the scope of those services and the funding available.
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 the expanded Independent Prescribing and clinical services granted to community pharmacists in the 10-year health plan will be funded.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, working closely with other primary care providers at a neighbourhood level to deliver services.
We expect services, including those that make use of pharmacist prescribing qualifications, to be commissioned both nationally, where that is most cost effective, and locally, to meet specific local needs and to support local populations. Commissioning arrangements and funding streams will vary depending on the service being commissioned and arrangements for local health provision.
National commissioning of pharmacies includes vaccination and related services and the services commissioned through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework. As is custom and practice, we will consult Community Pharmacy England on the scope of those services and the funding available.
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 deaths there have been due to sepsis in the last 24 months.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual data on the number of death registrations where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, and on the number of death registrations where sepsis was specified as the underlying cause of death, in England and Wales. The number of death registrations where sepsis was specified as the underlying cause of death is a proportion of the total number of death registrations where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate.
According to ONS, in 2023, the number of deaths registered where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate in England and Wales was 26,203. Of this total number, there were 4,260 deaths registered where sepsis was the underlying cause of death.
ONS has not yet published the number of deaths registered where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate for 2024. However, ONS has published data on the number of death registrations where sepsis was the underlying cause of death in England and Wales for 2024, which was 4,372.
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 his Department has made of the potential impact of excessive alcohol consumption on levels of prevalence of cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of the impact of excessive alcohol consumption on the prevalence of cancer and the preventable pressure it places on the National Health Service. In 2024, there were 103,000 hospital admissions due to alcohol-related cancers.
Alcohol has been identified as a causal factor in more than 200 medical conditions, including mouth, throat, stomach, liver, and breast cancers. The Government is committed to reversing the trend on alcohol-specific deaths and to shortening the amount of time people spend in ill-health due to alcohol-related harm.
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, when the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan will be published; and what support he plans to provide to the community pharmacy workforce to deliver this plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will replace the Long Term Workforce Plan with a more sustainable model. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, it will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed and what skills should they have?’.
To support community pharmacy employers in developing their staff and delivering quality National Health Services, NHS England provides a number of funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This includes independent prescriber training, clinical examination skills, and training the next generation of education supervisors.
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 potential merits of using Functional Electrical Stimulation devices to support people with Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers research into Parkinson’s disease via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). While no specific assessment has been made, the NIHR is funding the STEPS II trial, which aims to determine whether Functional Electrical Stimulation improves walking speed for people with Parkinson’s disease, and which is due to complete in September 2026. Further information is available at the following link:
https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR131791
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including Parkinson’s disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Welcoming applications on Parkinson’s disease to all NIHR programmes enables the maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
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 women aged between (a) 50-60 and (b) 60-70 years olds have been diagnosed with bowel cancer in the last 12 months.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Using the Rapid Cancer Registration Data between June 2024 and May 2025, the most recent 12-month period available:
Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-sets/rcrd