Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are awaiting a statement of educational needs in England and Wales.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The special educational needs and disability code of practice published in 2014 replaced all statements of special educational needs with education, health and care (EHC) plans. No new statements were issued and all existing statements were converted to EHC plans by 2019.
The department does not hold data for the number of children and young people awaiting EHC plans.
The number of children and young people for whom an EHC needs assessment was requested during 2024 and who are waiting for that assessment to be completed as of January 2025 is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ce81a1c1-24b4-4157-fc02-08de55ac55be.
The number of EHC needs assessments carried out during 2024, and the number where the outcome of that assessment is ongoing as of January 2025, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/cee798f6-fb96-459e-ac19-08de532c2243.
The figures are from the 2025 EHC plans publication, which is available at:
These figures have been available since 26th June 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England and Wales in primary school have a classroom assistant full time.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department does not hold data on whether a child has access to a teaching assistant full time or for part of their school day.
Schools in England are asked to record the headcount and (FTE of their teaching assistants. In the November 2024 school workforce census, there were a reported 288,800 teaching assistants (FTE).
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teaching assistants in state-funded schools, is published in the ’School workforce in England statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
These figures have been available since 5 June 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people moved into the additional tax band in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of individuals moved into the additional rate of Income Tax is published in Table 3.19 of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook, linked below:
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 promote heart awareness month.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome heart awareness month, which raises awareness about heart disease, promoting lifestyle changes for a healthy heart. The Department and NHS England regularly run health-related media campaigns targeting audiences to take preventative action.
Throughout January and February, we will be running the Healthy Choices Quiz campaign which supports people to prioritise health improvements and take proactive action on a range of behaviours, many of which support heart health.
The National Health Service website includes a Better Health section, offering advice and support to make small, achievable lifestyle changes, for example, increasing physical activity, losing weight, and help to quit smoking, all of which can significantly improve long-term health, including your heart health.
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) this year. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
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 people have received Gastric Sleeve surgery in each of the last three years in England and Wales broken down by male and female.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. The Department does not hold information on gastric band and gastric sleeve surgery in Wales.
For England, the table below shows the number of gastric band and gastric sleeve surgeries undertaken between 2022 and 2025:
Financial Year | Gastric Band | Gastric Sleeve | ||||
Female | Male | Other | Female | Male | Other | |
2022-23 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 1,928 | 460 | 1 |
2023-24 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 2,443 | 568 | 18 |
2024-25 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3,122 | 664 | 26 |
This analysis is based on Hospital Episode Statistics and includes all episodes in which a procedure for the insertion of a new gastric band or gastric sleeve is recorded. These figures do not directly represent the number of individual patients, as one person may have multiple episodes of care either within the same hospital stay or across different admissions during the year and/or over years.
Data for gastric sleeve procedures also includes episodes where the sleeve is performed as part of wider surgery for a duodenal switch.
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 people have received Gastric band surgery in each of the last three years in England and Wales broken down by male and female.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. The Department does not hold information on gastric band and gastric sleeve surgery in Wales.
For England, the table below shows the number of gastric band and gastric sleeve surgeries undertaken between 2022 and 2025:
Financial Year | Gastric Band | Gastric Sleeve | ||||
Female | Male | Other | Female | Male | Other | |
2022-23 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 1,928 | 460 | 1 |
2023-24 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 2,443 | 568 | 18 |
2024-25 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3,122 | 664 | 26 |
This analysis is based on Hospital Episode Statistics and includes all episodes in which a procedure for the insertion of a new gastric band or gastric sleeve is recorded. These figures do not directly represent the number of individual patients, as one person may have multiple episodes of care either within the same hospital stay or across different admissions during the year and/or over years.
Data for gastric sleeve procedures also includes episodes where the sleeve is performed as part of wider surgery for a duodenal switch.
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 people have been referred to Weightloss clinics within the last year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service and local government provide a range of services to help people living with overweight and obesity to manage their weight.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning health services within their area in line with local population need and taking account of relevant guidance. This includes specialist weight management services, or weight loss clinics, for those living with severe obesity and associated health conditions.
The National Obesity Audit (NOA) aims to bring together existing comparable data from the different types of weight management services across England in order to drive improvement for the benefit of those living with overweight and obesity. Responsibility for the management and collection of referral data sits at a local system level, and not all providers of weight management services are submitting data into the NOA at present. It is therefore not possible to state how many people have been referred to weight loss clinics within the last year.
NHS England continues to develop the NOA with the aim of ensuring it will provide a comprehensive picture of activity, access to services, and health outcomes of patients using weight management services across England.
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 in England and Wales are awaiting specialised endometriosis care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not centrally hold data on the number of women in England and Wales awaiting specialised endometriosis care. In England, the waiting list for gynaecology care stands at 575,986. This is a reduction of 19,979 since the Government came into office.
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, including endometriosis care. Action to improve endometriosis care includes commissioning researching focussed on endometriosis diagnosis, treatment, and pain, and expanding the number of dedicated and protected surgical hubs, of which gynaecology procedures are a key offering. From 2027, a new “online hospital”, NHS Online, will also offer patients the choice to access specialist care from home. Menstrual problems potentially indicating endometriosis or fibroids from home will be among the conditions NHS Online initially focuses on, providing additional appointments to cut waiting times.
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, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, whether his Department has conducted analysis of the drivers for the 121,506 hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2024-25; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of improved outpatient and secondary care management on reducing avoidable admissions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link:
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, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, how many of those admissions were readmissions within (a) 30 and (b) 90 days of initial hospitalisation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link: