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 patients with (a) vague and (b) non-specific symptoms can undergo a range of tests in one visit at Community Diagnostic Centres.

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

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the 18-week constitutional standard by the end of this Parliament. The plan commits to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and to speeding up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral to treatment 18-week standard.

As well as expanding capacity by building up to five more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2025/26 and by expand existing CDCs, the plan commits to optimising the use of this capacity by increasing same day tests and consultations, as well as the range of tests offered. We are also increasing the operating hours of CDCs so that more offer services 12 hours a day, seven days a week, so that tests are accessible for patients around their busy working lives. This is backed by part of the £600 million of capital for diagnostic services announced at the October Spending Review.

NHS England is also taking steps to improve diagnostic pathways. Strongly coordinated pathways will involve testing in one visit in order to support early and accurate diagnosis.

Patients can be referred to CDCs via their general practitioner or via hospital based clinical teams. Clinicians are responsible for working with patients to assess symptoms that may be considered as vaguer and more non-specific, ensuring that this includes referral for appropriate diagnostic tests.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of skills levels on advanced manufacturing businesses in Calder Valley constituency.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

This Government recognises the importance of skills for manufacturing across the UK, including for businesses in West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley. Through our new Modern Industrial Strategy we are investing an extra £1.2 billion yearly by 2028-29 to develop workforce capabilities and career opportunities.

The accompanying Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan outlines further government support for building a skilled, inclusive workforce through skills reforms including shorter apprenticeships, sector-wide reskilling, and changing public perceptions of manufacturing.

DBT works closely with Department for Education and Skills England. Skills England published two reports this summer, the Skills for growth and opportunity report, and the Assessment of priority skills to 2030, providing invaluable evidence to shape skills policy, including for the manufacturing sector.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking through the provision of apprenticeships to tackle skills shortages in manufacturing in Calder Valley.

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

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will give greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Calder Valley, and support the industrial strategy.

We know that skills gaps are holding back business growth across the country and that is why the government is supporting employers to invest in skills training. Employers have long been calling for greater flexibility in the apprenticeships levy, and we are delivering this.

In August, we reduced the minimum duration of an apprenticeship to 8 months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible. All sectors will be able to make use of this flexibility where this is appropriate for the role or the apprentice. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.

Additionally, we have introduced new foundation apprenticeships, to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. The first foundation apprenticeships are focussed on industrial strategy and priority areas including engineering and manufacturing.

They will be underpinned by an employer incentive payment of up to £2,000 to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career. This is in addition to the £1,000 we pay to employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in care.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support the engineering and manufacturing industry to take on apprentices.

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

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will give greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Calder Valley, and support the industrial strategy.

We know that skills gaps are holding back business growth across the country and that is why the government is supporting employers to invest in skills training. Employers have long been calling for greater flexibility in the apprenticeships levy, and we are delivering this.

In August, we reduced the minimum duration of an apprenticeship to 8 months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible. All sectors will be able to make use of this flexibility where this is appropriate for the role or the apprentice. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.

Additionally, we have introduced new foundation apprenticeships, to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. The first foundation apprenticeships are focussed on industrial strategy and priority areas including engineering and manufacturing.

They will be underpinned by an employer incentive payment of up to £2,000 to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career. This is in addition to the £1,000 we pay to employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in care.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support innovation in novel diagnostic technologies through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published on 16 July 2025.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Life Sciences Sector Plan focuses on enabling world-class R&D, making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest in life sciences, and driving healthcare innovation and reform.

To ensure the NHS is equipped to adopt innovation at pace and scale, we must futureproof our regulatory landscape, streamline procurement and accelerate adoption and spread.

Targeted policies will drive this agenda forward, including the Regional Health Innovation Zones, which will be empowered to experiment, test and generate evidence on implementing innovation. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will accelerate the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic products and provide wraparound support to connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support research and development projects using novel diagnostic technologies.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Life Sciences Sector Plan commits to enabling world class research & development (R&D) within the UK, with specific actions to support Medtech and Biotech companies including those focused on diagnostics. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will deliver on this in parallel, accelerating the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic productions and providing wraparound support that will connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who (a) have indefinite leave to remain status and (b) are employed in the (i) NHS and (ii) social care sector.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not centrally held.

The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics relating to decisions on applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and those made through the EU Settlement Scheme, in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK publication, both of which provide an overview of those persons with indefinite leave to remain in the UK. However, we do not link indefinite leave to remain grants to current occupation.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to expand defence procurement processes to enable greater participation by (a) advanced manufacturers in the Calder Valley valve industry and (b) other small and medium sized businesses.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a crucial place in UK defence. They are the backbone of the UK economy and are vital to delivering the innovation, expertise and agility that we need now and in the future. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy, as well as the Department’s Social Value policy.

We work with our largest suppliers through a network of their SME Champions, trade associations and SME representatives to ensure that smaller companies have access to opportunities in our supply chain and that our prime contractors are adopting policies, such as fair payment practices, that support small businesses working in defence. We are also introducing a new SME Commercial Pathway as part of our broader acquisition transformation. Through this pathway, Defence will increase the number of opportunities for SMEs, and make our contracting processes simpler, less onerous and faster.

This Government has already announced an ambitious but achievable target to spend £7.5 billion with SMEs by 2028 which will see direct spend increase by approximately £700 million during the next three years, and we will launch a new Office For Small Business Growth to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK, including those in the Calder Valley, continue to lead the way in developing the world-beating technologies and services that we will need.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the average time between the (a) onset of symptoms and (b) formal diagnosis for patients with (i) lung, (ii) pancreatic, (iii) liver, (iv) brain, (v) oesophageal and (vi) stomach cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.

To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.

NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.

The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.

Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.

As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.

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 reduce the time taken to diagnose (a) lung, (b) pancreatic, (c) liver, (d) brain, (e) oesophageal and (f) stomach cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.

To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.

NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.

The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.

Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.

As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.

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 reduce the time taken to diagnose (a) cancers that present with (i) vague and (ii) non-specific symptoms and (b) pancreatic cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.

To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.

NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.

The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.

Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.

As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with the (a) General Medical Council and (b) Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on the implementation of the new Guidance for MPTS Tribunals, published in October 2025.

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

Discussions have taken place between the Department and both the General Medical Council and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to understand how the updated guidance will influence tribunal decision making and whether the new sanction bandings in the guidance, which set out recommended sanction levels based on the type and severity of the case, will lead to more consistent outcomes.

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