Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 the palliative care workforce is able to cope with growing demand for end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10-Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10-Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it, including in palliative care and end of life care.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 reduce emergency hospital admissions involving people who are in the last 12 months of life.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan sets out that community-based advice and support will help more people die in their home rather than in hospital, while community teams will work closely with care homes and paramedics to share care plans to avoid people being taken to accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. Teams can include hospice outreach staff and palliative care professionals. Additionally, rapid response teams will help symptom management, including pain.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 reduce the number of deaths in hospital.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan sets out that community-based advice and support will help more people die in their home rather than in hospital, while community teams will work closely with care homes and paramedics to share care plans to avoid people being taken to accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. Teams can include hospice outreach staff and palliative care professionals. Additionally, rapid response teams will help symptom management, including pain.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 increase the early identification of palliative care needs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
The early identification of someone who has palliative and end of life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit. Further information on the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/
NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. The universal principles for ACP are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the covid-19 vaccination booster people with (a) diabetes and (b) coeliac disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Southampton Itchen on 19 November 2025 to Question 90568.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 elderly people with the cost of care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The adult social care system is means tested and provides funded support for those with the least financial means. While the Department sets the minimum thresholds for accessing local authority support, local authorities have the discretion to set more generous thresholds if they choose.
We have heard from many families who have been impacted by high and unpredictable care costs, and we recognise their frustration at the situation in which they find themselves.
The Government has launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The terms of reference are sufficiently broad to enable the commission to consider the affordability of care costs.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take legislative steps to ensure that food outlets must display their Food Standards Agency food hygiene rating.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Introducing a statutory scheme in England would require primary legislation as well as the securing of a suitable legislative vehicle and parliamentary time. Ministers will consider the options in due course supported by the FSA.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 the (a) development and (b) expansion of women’s health hubs across the country.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are supporting integrated care boards (ICBs) to continue improving their delivery of women’s health hubs, in line with their responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their local populations.
We have heard from ICBs on the positive impacts that women’s health hubs have on both women’s access to care in the community and their experience. The Government is committed to encouraging ICBs to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to moving towards a neighbourhood health service, with more care delivered in local communities, to identify and address problems earlier and closer to home. Women’s health hubs are an example of this approach and can play a key role in delivering the government’s manifesto commitments on tackling long NHS waiting lists, as well as shifting care into the community.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 equitable access to Mounjaro for people with bile acid malabsorption.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, medicines need to have a licence before they can be marketed, and these are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). To get a licence, the manufacturer of the medicine has to provide evidence which shows that the medicine is safe and effective enough to be used for a specific condition and for a specific group of patients, and that they can manufacture the medicine to the required quality.
Most newly licensed medicines are then evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to see if they can be recommended for routine use on the National Health Service, based on an assessment of their clinical and cost-effectiveness. Mounjaro is not currently licensed for the treatment of bile acid malabsorption and therefore has not been evaluated by NICE for routine NHS use in this indication.
Clinicians can however prescribe medicines outside their licensed indication (known as ‘off-label’ use) where they consider it to be the best treatment option for their patient, and subject to funding by the NHS locally. In the absence of NICE guidance on the use of a medicine, including where it is used off-label, NHS organisations are expected to make decisions on funding based on an assessment of the available evidence.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the average time taken to diagnose postural tachycardia syndrome.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are investing in additional capacity to deliver appointments to help bring waiting lists and times down. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the specific productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard, that 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment, by March 2029.
Additionally, the shifts outlined in our 10-Year Health Plan will free up hospital-based consultants’ time by shifting care from hospitals to communities, utilising digital technology to reduce administrative burdens, and promoting prevention to reduce the onset and severity of conditions that lead to hospital admissions. This includes expanding community-based services, employing artificial intelligence for productivity, developing integrated neighbourhood health teams, and investing in digital tools and data. These shifts will allow specialists to focus on more complex cases of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), enabling earlier identification and management, and improved patient outcomes.