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 ensure that (a) prescribers and (b) pharmacy contractors adhere to guidance on the prescribing of ADHD medication by generic name.

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

The Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of brand-specific prescribing on the availability of medication at pharmacies.

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care. Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines that they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and that they take account of appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness, as well as the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards.

Prescribers can normally prescribe a medicine by brand or by the generic name, and in primary care, where a prescription specifies a branded medicine, that product must be dispensed, whereas for a generic prescription, any manufacturer’s product can be dispensed. For some medicines or some conditions, switching between manufacturers’ products carries additional clinical risks and guidance regarding the appropriateness of brand or generic prescribing for specific medicines or conditions might be issued.

To assist with the management of supply issues with certain medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, clinical experts with input from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Department developed guidance on prescribing methylphenidate generically. This guidance was issued to provide prescribers with information on how to switch between methylphenidate products. This is a guidance document and as such there is no requirement for prescribers to follow it unless they deem it necessary and suitable for their patients.

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 brand-specific prescribing on the availability of medication at pharmacies.

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

The Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of brand-specific prescribing on the availability of medication at pharmacies.

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care. Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines that they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and that they take account of appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness, as well as the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards.

Prescribers can normally prescribe a medicine by brand or by the generic name, and in primary care, where a prescription specifies a branded medicine, that product must be dispensed, whereas for a generic prescription, any manufacturer’s product can be dispensed. For some medicines or some conditions, switching between manufacturers’ products carries additional clinical risks and guidance regarding the appropriateness of brand or generic prescribing for specific medicines or conditions might be issued.

To assist with the management of supply issues with certain medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, clinical experts with input from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Department developed guidance on prescribing methylphenidate generically. This guidance was issued to provide prescribers with information on how to switch between methylphenidate products. This is a guidance document and as such there is no requirement for prescribers to follow it unless they deem it necessary and suitable for their patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish details of what the deliverables were for the contract awarded to Thinks Insight, Kaleidoscope Health and Care and the Institute for Public Policy Research in relation to the engagement exercise for the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

To develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we had the biggest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service with over a quarter of a million contributions from the public, staff, and partners including charities and patient groups.

Full information on the deliverables of the initial contract is available at the following link, on pages 172-174:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/80963989-c4d6-4a16-8e12-c31b43a81dda

In summary, the deliverables were to:

• design and run deliberative events;
• open and operate an online portal;
• develop and disseminate assets for local organisations to run engagement events;
• design an analytical framework for data collection;
• report interim findings every three weeks;
• co-design the engagement plan with the Department; and
• produce an engagement exercise report.

We committed to co-designing the engagement exercise with our delivery partners following the awarding of the contract, therefore, the scope and requirements were reviewed and adjusted during the contract.

A detailed 10-Year Health Plan engagement report will be published shortly, which will set out the methodology and results of this engagement exercise.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to FOI-1626381, what methods of engagement were used by the Department to engage with individuals from (a) the travelling community and (b) the sex worker community as part of the development of the 10-Year Health Plan.

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

To develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we had the biggest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service with over a quarter of a million contributions from the public, staff, and partners including charities and patient groups.

A detailed 10-Year Health Plan engagement report will be published in due course, which will set out the methodology and results of this engagement exercise.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) members of the travelling community, (b) sex workers, (c) asylum seekers, (d) victims of modern slavery, (e) people from ethnic minority backgrounds, (f) people experiencing homelessness, (g) people affected by drug or alcohol addiction and (h) people in contact with the justice system participated in engagement activities in relation to the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

To develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we had the biggest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service with over a quarter of a million contributions from the public, staff, and partners including charities and patient groups.

A detailed 10-Year Health Plan engagement report will be published in due course, which will set out the methodology and results of this engagement exercise.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria his Department used to define which participants in the engagement process for the 10 Year Health Plan were sex workers.

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

To develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we had the biggest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service with over a quarter of a million contributions from the public, staff, and partners including charities and patient groups.

A detailed 10-Year Health Plan engagement report will be published in due course, which will set out the methodology and results of this engagement exercise.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations are represented in each Workshop in a Box for the development of the 10 Year Health Plan.

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

To develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we had the biggest ever conversation on the future of the National Health Service with over a quarter of a million contributions from the public, staff, and partners including charities and patient groups.

A detailed 10-Year Health Plan engagement report will be published in due course, which will set out the methodology and results of this engagement exercise.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which charities received funding from the supplementary fund to support engagement with seldom heard groups as part of the 10 Year Health Plan consultation; and how much funding each organisation received.

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

National Voices, Friends, Families and Travellers, Homeless Link, and the Race Equality Foundation, carried out these engagement sessions. The total sum of funding provided was £81,311.00. The following table shows the total funding and the amount of funding each charity received:

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what selection criteria were used to identify charities eligible for funding to support community engagement with (a) sex workers, (b) travelling communities, (c) asylum seekers and (d) other seldom heard groups.

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

All members of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance were approached to support the 10-Year Health Plan engagement process to help ensure we reached seldom-heard groups and communities. Charities were selected based on their ability to deliver engagement sessions with communities and groups that were under-represented in the national conversation.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to support the development of affordable and accessible padel courts in (a) Isle of Wight East and (b) in Britain.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to support the provision of indoor or covered tennis and facilities in Isle of Wight East.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for tennis and padel facilities.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled From court to community, published on 17 September 2025, how much funding has been earmarked for (a) tennis, (b) padel and (c) other court-based sports.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the £400m UK Government funding for grassroots sports facilities will go to (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made on the potential impact of reduced pharmaceutical investment on the economy.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government monitors a wide range of indicators to assess the UK’s economic performance. Official economic forecasts and assessments of policy impacts are set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) Economic and Fiscal Outlook documents, the most recent of which was published in March 2025. The next publication will be in November 2025, providing further assessment of the UK’s economic performance.

The Government recognises the pharmaceutical industry’s vital contribution to the UK economy through creating high-value jobs, driving innovation, and improving public health through access to effective treatments.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK remains competitive for (a) pharmaceutical and (b) life sciences inward investment.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out the Government’s 10-year plan to grow the UK’s life sciences sector, including pharmaceuticals, and drive inward investment. It includes 33 actions with clear milestones and metrics to support delivery — from setting up the Health Data Research Service alongside Wellcome; to committing to reduce clinical trial set-up times to under 150 days; to streamlining regulation and market access.

Delivery is already underway: recruitment is advancing for the Chair and CEO of the new Health Data Research Service; we have launched Europe’s first Biofoundry for mRNA manufacturing; and announced the £85 million Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme with Eli Lilly.

Attendance of the Attorney General at the Bar of the House on the Chinese espionage case

Found: ); Danny Beales; Dr Beccy Cooper; Jen Craft; Josh Fenton-Glynn; Andrew George; Alex McIntyre; Joe Robertson

Found: Chair); Danny Beales; Ben Coleman; Jen Craft; Josh Fenton-Glynn; Andrew George; Alex McIntyre; Joe Robertson