Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the West Coast Main Line at Stockport; and what steps she is taking to ensure that local rail services are not adversely impacted by the introduction of HS2-compatible trains on that line.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We recognise there are capacity constraints on the West Coast Mainline at Stockport. The Rail Minister has asked officials to work with Network Rail and the wider industry to explore options to address this and meet future demand.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the introduction of non-tilting HS2-compatible trains on West Coast Main Line capacity.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We anticipate the use of non-tilting trains to have no impact on the capacity of the West Coast Mainline. We are currently developing the timetable for when HS2 opens and decisions will made closer to the start of services and will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to extend land powers for the HS2 route between Birmingham and Crewe beyond 10 February 2025; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those powers lapsing on future northern rail connectivity.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Northern Growth Strategy set out the Government’s intention to ultimately deliver a full North-South new line between Birmingham and Manchester. As part of this announcement, the Government confirmed that its existing land holdings between the West Midlands and Crewe will be retained.
We are aware that the existing land acquisition powers for the HS2 Phase 2a route expire in February 2026. We will set out our future intentions shortly.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 clinicians in emergency and urgent care settings receive adequate training in the recognition and management of hamstring avulsion injuries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Regulated healthcare professionals need to meet the standards of proficiency, conduct, and performance set by the relevant professional regulator, which are independent of the Government. It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure their staff have appropriate access to ongoing training and professional development to provide safe and effective care.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will review information on the NHS website regarding hamstring injuries to ensure it adequately reflects the potential severity of hamstring avulsion injuries and the possible need for surgical intervention.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on the need for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in the case of hamstring avulsion injuries are clinically led. The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the relevant guidance.
The hamstring injury page on the NHS.UK website was recently reviewed against the latest clinical evidence and updated in July 2025. The current page does alert users to the potential for a hamstring injury to be severe and require surgery, and where and when to get medical help. NHS England routinely updates the NHS.UK website in line with clinical evidence to ensure individuals with a potential hamstring injury are provided with the latest clinical evidence.
The Department is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including for MRI. NHS England is taking steps to support MRI services to remain resilient, effective, and able to meet growing demand. Over the past five years, significant capital investment has been deployed to strengthen service resilience, increase capacity, and improve patient access. This has included funding for new MRI assets, upgrading existing machines with MRI acceleration software, and supporting trusts in replacing failing or outdated systems.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. This includes £600 million in capital funding for diagnostics in 2025/26, some of which will deliver new scanners in acute hospital settings, as well as replacement of the oldest MRI scanners and MRI acceleration software.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 adequacy of guidance for NHS trusts on the urgent provision of MRI scans for patients with hamstring avulsion injuries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on the need for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in the case of hamstring avulsion injuries are clinically led. The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the relevant guidance.
The hamstring injury page on the NHS.UK website was recently reviewed against the latest clinical evidence and updated in July 2025. The current page does alert users to the potential for a hamstring injury to be severe and require surgery, and where and when to get medical help. NHS England routinely updates the NHS.UK website in line with clinical evidence to ensure individuals with a potential hamstring injury are provided with the latest clinical evidence.
The Department is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including for MRI. NHS England is taking steps to support MRI services to remain resilient, effective, and able to meet growing demand. Over the past five years, significant capital investment has been deployed to strengthen service resilience, increase capacity, and improve patient access. This has included funding for new MRI assets, upgrading existing machines with MRI acceleration software, and supporting trusts in replacing failing or outdated systems.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. This includes £600 million in capital funding for diagnostics in 2025/26, some of which will deliver new scanners in acute hospital settings, as well as replacement of the oldest MRI scanners and MRI acceleration software.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase MRI scanning capacity in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including investment in new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. This will speed up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral to treatment 18-week standard.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. This includes £600 million in capital funding for diagnostics in 2025/26 to support delivery of the NHS performance standards. This funding will deliver new community diagnostic centres, including new MRI scanners, new scanners in acute hospital settings, as well as replacement of the oldest MRI scanners and MRI acceleration software.
Further details and allocations will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the nationalisation of Northern Rail on punctuality, reliability, and frequency of service; and whether any improvements have been identified that can be used to improve wider nationalisation of the rail industry.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department has regular discussions with Northern Trains, as with all publicly owned operators, to ensure it remains focused on reducing train service cancellations and providing a reliable, predictable train service for customers. As part of this, we share success between operators so each one can assess how it could build on others’ good practice to improve its services.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 ensure parity of funding and service provision between physical health services and mental health services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. We know that, for people living with severe mental illness, life expectancy is 15 to 20 years shorter than that for the general population.
As the Medium-Term Planning Framework makes clear, we need a new approach for mental health, to drive down waits, improve the quality of care, and increase productivity of mental health services. Funding is a key part of this. We have set out that over the next three years, integrated care boards will be required to meet the mental health investment standard by protecting mental health spending in real terms. In other words, rising in line with inflation from 2026/27.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for the neighbourhood health service. This is about bringing care into local communities, convening professionals into patient-centred teams, ending fragmentation, and abolishing the National Health Service default of ‘one size fits all’ care. Through six pilot sites we are testing 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres. These provide round the clock, open-access to treatment and support for adults with severe mental health needs, and we are now looking to roll the model out more widely. The centres will work in close partnership with primary care to provide wraparound support for service users.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the places intended to be filled by the Government's Golden Hello Scheme for NHS dentists have been, and what work the Government will be doing with local ICBs to ensure that they hit more of their targets.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are continuing to recruit dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. The scheme offers a £20,000 recruitment incentive payment to dentists to work in those areas that need them most. The scheme remains a national priority.
Golden Hello data will be published this year and will consist of data showing the regional distribution of the original allocation of posts and the number of posts recruited to at both a national and regional level.