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 gynaecology waiting times in Battersea.

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

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and cutting waiting times across all specialities, including gynaecology.

Through the Elective Reform Plan, we are increasing the relative funding available specifically for gynaecology activity, introducing innovative models of care that deliver services closer to home, including women’s integrated neighbourhoods in the NHS South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB), and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for conditions such as post-menopausal bleeding.

As of April 2026, there are fewer than 16,800 pathways on the gynaecology waiting list in the NHS South West London ICB. 12 months ago, there were fewer than 17,000. Care is being delivered quicker with the percentage of patient pathways involving waits of less than 18 weeks for treatment improving to 64.5% from 57.8% in the same period.

In April, we published the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England. The strategy represents a decisive shift towards addressing longstanding failings in women’s health outcomes, experiences, and access to care.

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 (a) diagnostic delays and (b) higher rates of hysterectomy experienced by Black women with uterine fibroids.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The Government is committed to improving care for women with uterine fibroids, and to reducing the inequalities in diagnosis and treatment that Black women experience.

Reducing inequalities is hard‑wired throughout the recently published Renewed Women’s Health Strategy. Actions in the strategy are targeted by deprivation, ethnicity, and unmet need, with a focus on marginalised women, community‑based services, neighbourhood health models, and transparent data.

The strategy commits to ending long diagnostic delays for conditions such as fibroids, by improving early assessment and access to care. It recognises heavy periods as an early warning sign of fibroids and that failure to act early leads to avoidable pain and delayed diagnosis. Specifically, the strategy commits to:

• better education for girls and women about what is normal, what is not, and when to seek help for heavy or painful periods. This is backed by an additional £1 million of investment to support targeted work in schools and community settings to support girls’ knowledge about menstrual health. This is an important factor to delays in diagnosis and treatment for fibroids;
• redesigning clinical pathways for menstrual problems, including those caused by fibroids to reduce repeat appointments and fragmented care;
• delivering care, including for fibroids, through community and neighbourhood‑based services, supported by single points of access for gynaecology referrals; and
• develop and implement new patient-reported experience measures and, where appropriate, patient-reported outcome measures, for key women’s health pathways over the next five years, which will given women a direct voice in how these services improve.

Additionally, menstrual problems, which could be a sign of fibroids, are included within the first high‑priority pathways to be supported through the new virtual hospital, NHS Online, from 2027, giving women faster access to advice and treatment if they choose digital routes.

NHS England is also due to publish an equity good practice guide to enable integrated care boards to better understand and reduce inequalities in heavy periods and menopause for women from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Earlier diagnosis and better access to the full range of treatment options are central to giving women genuine choice in regard to hysterectomies. Where fibroids are identified sooner, women can be offered less invasive treatments before surgery becomes necessary. Shared decision making and informed consent mean that hysterectomy should be a fully informed choice, not a default.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the estimate that 43% of the landlord data required for the Private Rented Sector database can be provided on day one by letting agents.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Letting agents will be able to support landlords with the registration of their properties on the PRS Database, providing certain property information on their behalf.

Both landlords and letting agents have been extensively involved throughout the Databases digital design process to help shape many aspects of its user interface in order to maximise the user-friendliness of this functionality.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to allow letting agents to submit data to the Private Rented Sector database on behalf of their landlords.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Letting agents will be able to support landlords with the registration of their properties on the PRS Database, providing certain property information on their behalf.

Both landlords and letting agents have been extensively involved throughout the Databases digital design process to help shape many aspects of its user interface in order to maximise the user-friendliness of this functionality.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has plans to ensure that the Private Rented Sector database integrates with systems used by estate agents.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Letting agents will be able to support landlords with the registration of their properties on the PRS Database, providing certain property information on their behalf.

Both landlords and letting agents have been extensively involved throughout the Databases digital design process to help shape many aspects of its user interface in order to maximise the user-friendliness of this functionality.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help ensure that estate agents and landlords have an opportunity to shape the Private Rented Sector database.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Letting agents will be able to support landlords with the registration of their properties on the PRS Database, providing certain property information on their behalf.

Both landlords and letting agents have been extensively involved throughout the Databases digital design process to help shape many aspects of its user interface in order to maximise the user-friendliness of this functionality.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the planned timetable is for the introduction and full implementation of the Private Rented Sector database.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Letting agents will be able to support landlords with the registration of their properties on the PRS Database, providing certain property information on their behalf.

Both landlords and letting agents have been extensively involved throughout the Databases digital design process to help shape many aspects of its user interface in order to maximise the user-friendliness of this functionality.

Found: in ammunition and the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, dated 13 March 2026 Correspondence from Marsha De Cordova

Found: I made this clear on 29 April in response to a parliamentary question from Marsha De Cordova (UIN 129721