Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 improve breast cancer screening rates in Devon.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking a range of actions to improve participation in breast screening in Devon, through the NHS Breast Screening Programme. These actions include:
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she had made of the potential impact of the Amazon Web Services outage in October 2025 on NHS services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are not aware of any impact to National Health Services resulting from the outage at Amazon Web Services.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 number of NHS dentists in the Newton Abbot constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Newton Abbot constituency, this is the Devon ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025.
ICBs are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 cancer survivability rates in Devon.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early cancer diagnosis is a key priority for the Government, as the chances of survival are higher if cancer is diagnosed at an early stage.
The Department recognises that cancer patients, including those with in Devon, are often waiting too long for referral and treatment. As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment, NHS England has delivered an extra 100,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration. This is supported by an increase in capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new MRI and CT scanners. The government is investing an extra £26 billion in the NHS and opening up community diagnostic centres (CDCs) at evening and weekends, including three CDCs located within NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, to help diagnose cancer earlier.
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan for England. The plan will include further details on how the Government will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including brain cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on granting support for Indefinite Leave to Remain for international medical graduates who have completed their training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, on a range of subjects including immigration policy.
As part of the Immigration White Paper, published in May 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, announced a proposed contribution-based settlement model which will include the expansion of the settlement qualifying period from five years to ten years, though some people will be able to qualify earlier. The Home Office will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 assessment of the potential impact of planned changes to funding for NHS services in Devon on (a) health inequalities and (b) funding for public health programmes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Devon’s financial planning aligns with the NHS England planning round. The integrated care board is developing detailed commissioning intentions to allocate resources in line with its five-year Health and Care Strategy.
This strategy prioritises tackling health inequalities through targeted prevention, integrated neighbourhood care, and population health management.
Funding for local authority public health programmes is not affected by changes to NHS Devon’s internal budget allocations.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help reduce health inequalities in Newton Abbot constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain, to ensure people can live well for longer, and spend less time in ill health. Our reimagined National Health Service will be designed to tackle inequalities in both access and outcomes, as well as to give everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, the means to engage with the NHS on their own terms.
The NHS South West Regional Team, whose area includes Newton Abbot, provides assurance and support on inequalities, system performance, and productivity. Engagement with key stakeholders in the region is undertaken through the Regional Reducing Inequalities Group.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 91 of his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the future: 10 year health plan for England, published 1 July 2025, what criteria was used to determine which conditions should receive a modern service framework; and whether respiratory health meets these criteria.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone in the National Health Service is responsible for delivering high-quality care. As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board will oversee the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity.
Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions with significant health and economic impacts for future waves of modern service frameworks.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 merits of producing a modern service framework for respiratory care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone in the National Health Service is responsible for delivering high-quality care. As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board will oversee the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity.
Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions with significant health and economic impacts for future waves of modern service frameworks.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 impact of not giving the COVID vaccine to NHS patients under 75 who are clinically vulnerable.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s policy on the groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of illness and serious disease in specific groups, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis, to provide the Government with advice on the COVID-19 autumn 2025 vaccination programme. The evidence indicates that whilst the risk from COVID-19 is now much lower for most people, adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and those who are immunosuppressed are those at highest risk of serious COVID-19 disease.
A more targeted vaccination programme, aimed at individuals with a higher risk of developing serious disease, was advised for autumn 2025.
The latest UK Health Security Agency data in the national flu and COVID-19 surveillance report supports this change in eligibility, showing that there is a strong association between age and COVID-19 hospitalisation rates. These reports can be accessed on the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/weekly-national-flu-reports#2025-to-2026-season
As part of its role, the JCVI reviews vaccination programmes as new data becomes available, and this includes if strong evidence should emerge indicating a change in the groups affected. Accordingly, the Government will consider any additional advice from the JCVI in due course.