Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 21 July 2025 to Question 67468 on Diseases: Undocumented Migrants, what information her Department holds on the number of irregular migrants who were found to have an infectious disease upon arrival in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) does not routinely collect or hold data on communicable disease by visa status for new arrivals to the United Kingdom. However, if an outbreak occurs, data associated with outbreak cases may be collected.
There was an outbreak of diphtheria among this group in 2022 and 2023. Monthly data on these cases is published by UKHSA and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diphtheria-cases-among-asylum-seekers-in-england-2022/diphtheria-cases-among-asylum-seekers-in-england-weekly-data-tables
No cases were reported in 2024, and two cases have been confirmed so far in 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help reduce the number of blood cancer patients diagnosed through A&E.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. There have been improvements in the prognosis of blood cancer patients, with patients now living twice as long. However, we recognise that because of the damaged NHS this Government inherited, patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
There are no current plans to introduce a specific proxy staging measure or a corresponding national target to support the earlier diagnosis of blood cancers. However, the Department will continue to engage with blood cancer charities and key stakeholders to determine how to support the best outcomes for blood cancer patients.
At this time no current assessment has been made on the potential merits of a proxy measure for early diagnosis in unstageable blood cancers. However, we remain committed to making improvements across different cancer types and reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities. The NHS currently track early diagnosis in stageable blood cancers by combining the percentage of diagnoses within stage 1 or 2, as it would for any other stageable cancer.
Furthermore, to tackle late, emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Services, collects information on how many people in England have cancer. Blood cancer is included as a distinct category, labelled haematological neoplasms. The NDRS website also shows the number of people treated for different tumour types by treatment type, as well as survival rates, mortality rates, and data on urgent suspected cancer referrals. Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-outputs/cancer-data-hub
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients in England, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will ensure patients, including those with blood cancer, have timely access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 improve the early (a) detection and (b) diagnosis of blood cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. There have been improvements in the prognosis of blood cancer patients, with patients now living twice as long. However, we recognise that because of the damaged NHS this Government inherited, patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
There are no current plans to introduce a specific proxy staging measure or a corresponding national target to support the earlier diagnosis of blood cancers. However, the Department will continue to engage with blood cancer charities and key stakeholders to determine how to support the best outcomes for blood cancer patients.
At this time no current assessment has been made on the potential merits of a proxy measure for early diagnosis in unstageable blood cancers. However, we remain committed to making improvements across different cancer types and reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities. The NHS currently track early diagnosis in stageable blood cancers by combining the percentage of diagnoses within stage 1 or 2, as it would for any other stageable cancer.
Furthermore, to tackle late, emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Services, collects information on how many people in England have cancer. Blood cancer is included as a distinct category, labelled haematological neoplasms. The NDRS website also shows the number of people treated for different tumour types by treatment type, as well as survival rates, mortality rates, and data on urgent suspected cancer referrals. Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-outputs/cancer-data-hub
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients in England, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will ensure patients, including those with blood cancer, have timely access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake a review of the adequacy of targets based on the staging of solid tumours for the early diagnosis of blood cancers in patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. There have been improvements in the prognosis of blood cancer patients, with patients now living twice as long. However, we recognise that because of the damaged NHS this Government inherited, patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
There are no current plans to introduce a specific proxy staging measure or a corresponding national target to support the earlier diagnosis of blood cancers. However, the Department will continue to engage with blood cancer charities and key stakeholders to determine how to support the best outcomes for blood cancer patients.
At this time no current assessment has been made on the potential merits of a proxy measure for early diagnosis in unstageable blood cancers. However, we remain committed to making improvements across different cancer types and reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities. The NHS currently track early diagnosis in stageable blood cancers by combining the percentage of diagnoses within stage 1 or 2, as it would for any other stageable cancer.
Furthermore, to tackle late, emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Services, collects information on how many people in England have cancer. Blood cancer is included as a distinct category, labelled haematological neoplasms. The NDRS website also shows the number of people treated for different tumour types by treatment type, as well as survival rates, mortality rates, and data on urgent suspected cancer referrals. Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-outputs/cancer-data-hub
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients in England, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will ensure patients, including those with blood cancer, have timely access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the repurposing of hotels as asylum accommodation on the number of jobs in the accommodation sector in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered. The Home Office is committed to ensuring that destitute asylum seekers are housed in safe, secure and suitable accommodation, and that they are treated with dignity while their asylum claim is considered.
There is no obligation for hotels to contract with Home Office accommodation providers. This Government is delivering on its pledge to close asylum hotels; drastically reducing taxpayer costs and giving control back to local communities.
From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9 million a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS follows the UK Government’s AI Playbook principles on safe, effective and responsible adoption of AI, and works closely with DSIT as the “Digital centre of government”.
Any use of third party AI tooling is subject to multidisciplinary assurance prior to any use, including Cyber security, Data Protection, Knowledge and Information Management, and Technology assurance.
DCMS is in its early days in terms of AI usage and measuring benefits to productivity. In the past year the Department has used AI for the following:
Summarising large documents and emails
Analysis of large documents, drawing out key information and drafting reports
Drafting meeting notes
Generating draft content
Enhancing our departmental data science capability
Proof of concept of using AI large language models (LLMs) to analyse free text responses to a public consultation
AI produced data or drafts are manually reviewed. No decisions are made by the Department based on AI outputs, without manual checks and manual intervention.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help tackle anti-Christian violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are deeply concerned by an escalation in attacks by Islamic State - Democratic Republic of the Congo (IS-DRC), also known as the Allied Democratic Forces, who primarily target Christians. The UK has repeatedly raised the actions of IS-DRC in the United Nations, including at the United Nations Security Council and Human Rights Council, and have sanctioned them through the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
AI is being used for a range of purposes in the Home Office to improve business delivery as part of overall digital improvements in the department with well-established systems such as e-Gates, to allow entry at the Border; in our passport service, to support online applications; triage tools, which route cases to the appropriate teams; and the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) Classifier, which helps police officers grade child sexual abuse material (CSAM) more swiftly and reduces their exposure time to harmful content
The Home Office continues to introduce AI tools, including the rollout of Microsoft Copilot to assist in day-to-day activities. We have also provided bespoke tools to specific teams to support asylum decision making.
We are also running several AI trials to test their potential for wider productivity and quality improvements in existing business processes.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure coordination between her Department and the Department for Work and Pensions when monitoring foreign nationals' eligibility for Universal Credit.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP always checks a person’s immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. The DWP verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks, which the Home Office is increasingly rolling out to other Government departments and public authorities.
The data made available through those system-to-system checks is specific to the need of each department and contains only the necessary information to inform their decision making.
No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is a standard condition applied to most categories of temporary immigration permission, which prevents those who are subject to immigration control from accessing certain services or benefits.
Those who are in the UK without lawful status are also prevented from accessing public funds. This includes access to Universal Credit.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure Ofcom regulation does not lead to censorship of lawful content online.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Safeguards for freedom of expression have been built into the framework of the Online Safety Act. Ofcom is independent but must act in a way that is compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights, including in relation to freedom of expression. This is particularly important as Ofcom develops codes of practice and make enforcement decisions.
In-scope companies must implement safeguards for freedom of expression when fulfilling their duties. The framework's focus on transparency and user reporting will also enable users to more effectively appeal incorrect content removal.