Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to implement a commission lead review on dementia diagnostics.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s independent review showed that a timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well and remain independent for as long as possible.
The 10-Year Health Plan will address the challenges diagnosed by Lord Darzi, and set the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of complex health and care needs. It will set out how we support and enable health and social care services to work together better to provide that joined-up care.
The Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission, which is expected to begin in April 2025, will form a key part of the Government’s Plan for Change, recognising the importance of adult social care in its own right, as well as its role in supporting the National Health Service.
It is a once in a generation opportunity to transcend party politics and engage in genuine debate on how we can deliver a National Care Service, ensuring all voices are heard, and putting the voices of those with lived experience at the heart of the conversation.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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) future proof diagnostic systems and (b) improve access to subtype diagnoses in systems.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Darzi Report highlights the significant underinvestment of capital in the National Health Service, with outdated scanners, too little automation, and a failure to enter the digital era. Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need, including diagnostic testing, which is key to the majority of elective and cancer pathways.
Currently, the elective waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over six million people waiting. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the reforms needed to return to the 18-week Referral to Treatment (RTT) constitutional standard by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This will include ensuring the diagnostic capacity needed to deliver on the standard.
The Elective Reform Plan commits to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and speeding up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the RTT standard. This includes investment in Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs), expanding the number of CDCs operating seven days a week and 12 hours a day, as well as the tests they offer. We will also develop and roll out Straight to Test pathways, reducing the time taken for patients to receive a test, as well further improvements to the NHS’ digital capabilities. An investment of approximately £1.5 billion, as announced in the Autumn Budget, will enable diagnostics services to build on these foundations in 2025/26, to ensure diagnostic services are fit for the future. This will ensure that patients receive the diagnostic care where and when they need it, including for subtype diagnoses.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 (a) invest in diagnostic infrastructure and (b) reduce waiting times.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Darzi Report highlights the significant underinvestment of capital in the National Health Service, with outdated scanners, too little automation, and a failure to enter the digital era. Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need, including diagnostic testing, which is key to the majority of elective and cancer pathways.
Currently, the elective waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over six million people waiting. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the reforms needed to return to the 18-week Referral to Treatment (RTT) constitutional standard by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This will include ensuring the diagnostic capacity needed to deliver on the standard.
The Elective Reform Plan commits to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and speeding up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the RTT standard. This includes investment in Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs), expanding the number of CDCs operating seven days a week and 12 hours a day, as well as the tests they offer. We will also develop and roll out Straight to Test pathways, reducing the time taken for patients to receive a test, as well further improvements to the NHS’ digital capabilities. An investment of approximately £1.5 billion, as announced in the Autumn Budget, will enable diagnostics services to build on these foundations in 2025/26, to ensure diagnostic services are fit for the future. This will ensure that patients receive the diagnostic care where and when they need it, including for subtype diagnoses.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 help the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence develop guidance on mild cognitive impairment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops its guidance independently, on the basis of an assessment of the available evidence.
To support timely decision making regarding the use of disease-modifying dementia treatments (DMDTs) in the National Health Service, and to facilitate the development of useful and useable NICE guidance, the NICE’s Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory identified the key issues that might arise during the evaluation of DMDTs and concluded that the NICE’s current approach and methods are appropriate for evaluating these treatments.
The NICE is currently evaluating two new licensed disease-modifying treatments for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease, and has been unable to recommend them in its draft guidance. However, the NICE has not yet published final guidance and will take the comments received in response to its draft guidance fully into account in developing its final recommendations.
A number of other disease-modifying treatments for dementia are in late-stage development and are expected to come to market in the next few years. To prepare for the new generation of dementia treatments in development, NHS England is working to ensure the diagnostic and treatment capacity, clinical pathway redesign, and investment are in place to support the adoption of any new licensed and NICE recommended treatments as soon as possible.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of means-testing the winter fuel payment on elective care waiting lists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made on the potential impact of means-testing the winter fuel payment on elective care waiting lists. The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out an expectation that performance will increase from the current 58%, as of December 2024, to 65% by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement by March 2026.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential impact of means-testing of the winter fuel payment on the (a) NHS and (b) social care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues across Government on issues of cross-departmental interest.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has received representations on the potential merits of introducing insects into the human diet.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2021, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned an online survey to understand consumer awareness and perceptions of alternative sources of protein, including edible insects. 50% of respondents perceived edible insects as safe to eat, 26% were willing to try edible insects, and 37% were willing to try edible insects if they were ground into food for added protein. A full report of the survey is available on the FSA website at the following link:
In Great Britain, edible insects are considered novel foods and so food businesses that wish to sell them need to submit an application for a safety assessment by the FSA and Food Standards Scotland, before they can be placed on the market. There are, however, transitional arrangements in place for four species following our exit from the European Union, those being: the yellow mealworm; the house cricket; the banded cricket; and the black soldier fly. These species can remain on sale until a decision on each application is made. Information on these arrangements is available on the FSA website at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/edible-insects-guidance
The FSA is in regular contact with companies submitting applications for the use of edible insects in or as food.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 support people with osteoporosis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament. Part of the plan sets out funding to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in early diagnosis and bone health conditions such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year.
As announced in the ‘Get Britain Working’ white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven ‘Further Faster’ model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce musculoskeletal community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics and referral pathways to wider support services.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to allow (a) the General Dental Council and (b) other professional bodies to offer additional Overseas Registration Exam places to help (i) Ukrainian and (ii) other qualified refugee dentists, to practise in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentistry in the United Kingdom. Its responsibilities include setting standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to the UK dental register.
Legislative changes came into effect in March 2023 that gave the GDC greater flexibility in how it operates the processes for registering overseas-qualified dentists, including its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). The GDC is using these powers to put new ORE provider contracts in place in 2025, which will increase the availability of the exam.
On 6 December 2024, the GDC’s Council approved a policy that gives candidates with refugee or protected status priority access to ORE booking for up to two attempts each for part one and part two. The policy is being implemented in time for the April 2025 sittings of the exam. Candidates were sent an email on 13 January 2025 inviting them to submit evidence of their refugee status in order to access the exam booking system in advance of the general booking window opening.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 (a) recruit and (b) retain dentists in coastal areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.
Integrated care boards have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years, including in coastal areas.
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.