Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much each country has paid back for healthcare use by their citizens in the UK within the same year in the latest year for which figures are available.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad if they are not subject to immigration controls. Where the person is not ordinarily resident, the National Health Service recovers costs for healthcare provided in the UK through the immigration health surcharge (IHS), directly charging individuals for care provided and charging countries responsible for their healthcare costs through reciprocal healthcare agreements.

The UK’s reciprocal healthcare agreements with the European Union, European Free Trade Association states and Switzerland allow for the reimbursement of costs at a country level. The UK pays for healthcare costs of eligible people visiting or living in these countries under these agreements. For other countries, the UK does not fund overseas treatment and NHS costs incurred are recovered through the IHS or directly charging the individual.

The following table shows the Department’s income and expenditure on overseas healthcare from the United Kingdom’s reciprocal healthcare agreements for 2023/24, the latest year for which figures are available:

The figures in the table above relate to all reciprocal healthcare agreements where costs are exchanged between the UK and other countries. These figures are not directly comparable to the figures quoted in the Department’s accounts, which are not broken down by country and include accounting treatment and aggregation of other costs. Negative values in the table above reflect adjustments to prior year forecasts compared to actual receipts/payments received from member states.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on overseas healthcare in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by country.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad if they are not subject to immigration controls. Where the person is not ordinarily resident, the National Health Service recovers costs for healthcare provided in the UK through the immigration health surcharge (IHS), directly charging individuals for care provided and charging countries responsible for their healthcare costs through reciprocal healthcare agreements.

The UK’s reciprocal healthcare agreements with the European Union, European Free Trade Association states and Switzerland allow for the reimbursement of costs at a country level. The UK pays for healthcare costs of eligible people visiting or living in these countries under these agreements. For other countries, the UK does not fund overseas treatment and NHS costs incurred are recovered through the IHS or directly charging the individual.

The following table shows the Department’s income and expenditure on overseas healthcare from the United Kingdom’s reciprocal healthcare agreements for 2023/24, the latest year for which figures are available:

The figures in the table above relate to all reciprocal healthcare agreements where costs are exchanged between the UK and other countries. These figures are not directly comparable to the figures quoted in the Department’s accounts, which are not broken down by country and include accounting treatment and aggregation of other costs. Negative values in the table above reflect adjustments to prior year forecasts compared to actual receipts/payments received from member states.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employers who (a) pay and (b) do not pay the apprenticeship levy started new learners on apprenticeship programmes in 2024-25.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Employers start and manage apprenticeships through their apprenticeship service accounts. Employers may have more than one apprenticeship service account for their business.

In the 2024/25 academic year, 13,829 levy accounts and 58,628 non-levy accounts had apprenticeship starts.

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 (a) reduce kidney transplant waiting times, (b) respond to the findings of the Organ Utilisation Group’s 2023 report, and (c) ensure that all patients have fair and equitable access to life-saving transplant services.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation and transplantation in the United Kingdom. They also manage the NHS Organ Donor Register and the National Transplant Register.

In 2023, the Organ Utilisation Group published 12 recommendations on how to maximise the potential for organ transplantation to reduce waiting times and improve access. Following this, the Department established the Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation (ISOU) to oversee and coordinate the implementation of these recommendations, concluding its work in December 2025. Further information on the ISOU is avaiable at the following link:

https://www.odt.nhs.uk/odt-structures-and-standards/clinical-leadership/implementation-steering-group-for-organ-utilisation/

The final ISOU closure report will be published shortly, and remaining actions will be handed over to NHSBT, NHS England, and others. Further information on the outputs of the ISOU is available at the following link:

https://www.odt.nhs.uk/odt-structures-and-standards/clinical-leadership/implementation-steering-group-for-organ-utilisation/

NHSBT ensures fair and equitable access to transplants by monitoring performance of the organ allocation schemes via the NHSBT organ advisory groups and the National Transplant Clinical Panel.

NHSBT supports Living Donation Week, World Kidney Day, and Organ Donation Week every year, alongside other targeted campaigns, in partnership with charities and community groups, to promote living donation and the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme, and the importance of declaring wishes on the Organ Donor Register. Further information on the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme is available at the following link:

https://www.odt.nhs.uk/living-donation/uk-living-kidney-sharing-scheme/

Found: Jo White: Can I correct the record?

Found: Chair); Lewis Atkinson; Ben Maguire; Robbie Moore; Margaret Mullane; Chris Murray; Peter Prinsley; Jo White

Found:

Found: Stephanie Peacock 2025-09-10 Jo White MP and Ex-Footballers Michael Thomas and Brian Deane To discuss