Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the median time taken to register a death was in each (a) integrated care board and (b) local authority area in the most recent six months for which data is available.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms, which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024, through the Death Certification Strategic Board and a cross-Government data strategy group. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes a weekly deaths release which includes the provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the latest weeks, and which is available at the following link:
As part of this release, the ONS publishes data on the median time taken to register a death in England and Wales in each region. This data is also split by certification type and place of occurrence. The latest data available covers deaths registered in the week ending 18 April 2025. The ONS does not publish any data on the median time taken in integrated care boards or local authorities.
The introduction of medical examiners is in part about making sure deaths are properly described and improving practice, but the impact on the bereaved is also central. The reforms aim to put the bereaved at the centre of the process, and the medical examiner’s office must offer a conversation with representatives of the deceased, so they can ask any questions they have about the death or to raise concerns. Ensuring the system is appropriately resourced and works for all those who interact with it is crucial, and something we will continue to monitor with NHS England.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 29 February 2024 to Question 15468 and 6 March 2024 to Question 15467, how many staff in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have job titles that include the words (i) equality, (ii) diversity, (iii) inclusion, (iv) gender, (v) LGBT and (vi) race.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department currently has four roles with job titles that include the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT and race. These roles sit within policy areas linked to supporting the Department’s work externally, and are not internally or HR focussed.
As per 22nd of April 2025, there are 47 direct employees in NHS England whose job title include either of the following words: equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT, or race.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 30 December 2024 to Question 19000 on Social Services, when the report on the adult social care relative needs formula will be made available on the Adult Social Care Policy Research Unit Website.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is still considering this research as part of its ongoing policy work. We are working closely the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the role of a specific adult social care funding formula was considered within the consultation Local authority funding reform: objectives and principles, published on 18 December 2024 and closed on 12 February 2025. We will update further in due course.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) general practices and (b) GP premises there were in each integrated care board area in each month since June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A table showing the number of general practices and premises in each current integrated care board (ICB) area in England, each month since June 2024, is attached.
Opening and closing dates for both practices and branches were identified using data from the NHS Organisation Data Service. Locations have been mapped to current ICB boundaries. The locations sheet in the attached document includes both main and branch practices.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people starting an (a) F1 and (b) F2 placement were international medical graduates in each deanery in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The attached table contains information published by the General Medical Council (GMC) on the place of qualification of all foundation programme doctors by their region. The tables cover the period since 2012 and illustrate the increase in international recruitment following decisions taken by the last government in 2020.
This information is available at the following link as part of the GMC’s Data Explorer tool:
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients who have changed gender from female to male are still automatically invited to cervical screening.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme provides all women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 years old with the opportunity to be screened routinely to detect certain types of human papillomavirus infection, which is the cause of 99.7% of cervical cancer.
Trans men who are still registered as female with their general practice (GP) will be routinely invited to cervical screenings. Trans men registered as male do not automatically receive invitations, but are still entitled to screenings if they still have a cervix.
Trans men who want to have cervical screenings should ask their GP to contact the NHS Cervical Screening Programme so that they are opted-in on the Cervical Screening Management System and invited for screenings correctly.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many gender (a) reassignment and (b) affirmation operations were carried out by the NHS in each year since 2000 for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this data centrally, as it is held at an individual National Health Service provider level.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals for masculinising chest surgery there were from the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Service in each year for which data is available since 1997.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Referrals for masculinising chest surgery are made by the specialist clinical teams in the NHS Gender Dysphoria Clinics, not by the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Service (GDNRSS). The non-clinical role of the GDNRSS is to process the referrals on behalf of the providers.
The GDNRSS was established in 2020. Between 1 April 2020 and 31 December 2024, the GDNRSS received 5,463 requests for masculinising chest surgery.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 19413 on NHS: Expenditure, how much (a) NHS England, (b) clinical commissioning groups and (c) integrated care boards spent in aggregate on (i) mental health services, (ii) acute health services, (iii) social care services, (iv) primary medical services, (v) specialised services, (vi) NHS continuing healthcare and (vii) all other recorded spending categories in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much those organisations plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The attached table sets out the spend categories for the specified services commissioned by NHS England, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and integrated care boards (ICBs) between 2015/16 and 2023/24.
Information for 2024/25 is unvalidated and not quality assured. In-year data is not routinely reported on the methodology used for this answer and would be subject to material change between plan and outturn as a result.
Purchase of Social care expenditure is an accounts category within the Operating Expense note of the NHS England Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, with consolidated group expenditure for 2022/23 totalling £1,196,487,000 and that for 2023/24 totalling £1,024,918,000. Most of this expenditure, namely 76.2%, falls under the ‘Community’ category in the analysis provided. The report is available at the followed link:
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average time taken for deaths to be reviewed under the national medical examiner system since 9 September 2024; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken for deaths to be reviewed on the time taken to arrange funerals.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms, which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024. The median time taken to register a death since the introduction of the statutory medical examiner system in England and Wales is eight days. This figure is for all deaths, as it includes those certified by a doctor and those investigated by a coroner. The median time taken to register a death varies depending on the type of certification. Deaths certified by a doctor, that comprise approximately 80% of deaths registered each week, had a median time to registration of seven days. The Department has not conducted a separate review of the time taken to arrange funerals, which can depend on a number of external factors.
The core purposes of the death certification reforms are to introduce scrutiny of the cause of death to detect and deter malpractice, to improve reporting, and crucially to put the bereaved at the centre of the process by offering a conversation with the medical examiner about the cause of death. The expectation on doctors and medical examiners is clear, that they should complete certification as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Department is working with all stakeholders to make sure this is the case.