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 proportion of hospital appointment letters sent by post do not arrive before the appointment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The monitoring of National Health Service patient correspondence, including appointment letters, is the responsibility of individual NHS providers. Data is not held centrally on the whether appointment letters are received prior to an appointment taking place. No assessment has been made of the adequacy of mail deliveries of NHS correspondence to patients.
The Government’s focus on shifting from analogue to digital will streamline information and communication processes, including by improving the NHS App. This will make it easier and quicker for patients to access information about their appointments, to cancel and reschedule appointments, and to receive correspondence on NHS test results. 96% of acute trusts in England now allow patients to view appointment information via the NHS App if they wish, reducing reliance on physical letters. Usage has increased significantly, with the App now supporting approximately eight million patient–trust interactions per month, an increase of 82% compared to a year ago. It also saves staff time to focus on providing high quality, non-digital communication for those who want and need it.
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of mail deliveries of NHS correspondence to patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The monitoring of National Health Service patient correspondence, including appointment letters, is the responsibility of individual NHS providers. Data is not held centrally on the whether appointment letters are received prior to an appointment taking place. No assessment has been made of the adequacy of mail deliveries of NHS correspondence to patients.
The Government’s focus on shifting from analogue to digital will streamline information and communication processes, including by improving the NHS App. This will make it easier and quicker for patients to access information about their appointments, to cancel and reschedule appointments, and to receive correspondence on NHS test results. 96% of acute trusts in England now allow patients to view appointment information via the NHS App if they wish, reducing reliance on physical letters. Usage has increased significantly, with the App now supporting approximately eight million patient–trust interactions per month, an increase of 82% compared to a year ago. It also saves staff time to focus on providing high quality, non-digital communication for those who want and need it.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 22 April 2026 to Question 124528 and in the context of the March RPI figure being published, what is the estimated total fiscal cost of the policy of capping the maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6% for the 2026/7 academic year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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 assessment he has made of the equity of the process for accessing the General Dental Council's Overseas Registration Examination; and whether he has assessed the potential merits of introducing a queuing system.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is aware that the booking process for its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) can be challenging for candidates due to the very high demand for exam places. The GDC’s recently concluded procurement exercise has resulted in new contracts for ORE provision that will substantially increase capacity of the exam, with places for Part Two increasing from 720 to 944 in the first year of the contract, and to 1,500 by year three.
The GDC currently offers priority booking to candidates approaching their five-year time limit to pass the ORE exam, as well as to candidates with refugee status, as they are particularly disadvantaged by their inability to return to their country of origin to practise as a dentist.
The Department has asked the GDC to develop an improved booking system as part of the new ORE contract arrangements and to consider what measures could be taken to support candidates on the waiting list who are resident in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many grants of indefinite leave to remain have been revoked this month
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There were 8 grants of ILR revoked in March and 5 grants of ILR have been revoked in April 2026 to date.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many, in each of the last 10 years (a) individuals and (b) organisations were empowered under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Community Safety Accreditation Scheme enables police chief officers to accredit and designate non-police personnel with limited powers to address low level crime. The Home Office does not hold information on the number of accredited individuals or organisations as the responsibility for accreditation, training and the recording of accreditations under the Scheme, rests with the chief officer of the relevant police force.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total value of court-imposed fines outstanding in England and Wales is.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Financial penalties imposed by the courts will often consist of multiple elements including, amongst others, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecutor’s costs and a fine. The imposition is enforced as a whole, and any receipts received are applied to the offender’s account in accordance with a strict legal hierarchy. This ensures that the victims receive any monies they are due first, with the fine element being the last to be collected. This can result in the fine element, which is the punitive element of an imposition taking longer to be paid.
The Government takes the recovery and enforcement of all financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to ensuring impositions are paid. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay and use a variety of sanctions to ensure the recovery of criminal fines and financial penalties. These sanctions can include deducting money from an individual offender’s earnings or benefits, if they are unemployed, or issuing warrants instructing approved enforcement agents to seize and sell goods belonging to the offender. If the offender does not pay as ordered and the money cannot be recovered by other means, then the court can take other actions which includes sending them to prison for non-payment of the financial penalty including a fine.
The value of outstanding fines is reported annually in the HMCTS Trust Statement, the information can be found on page 35 in table 4, using the link below, the outstanding value at 31 March 2025 was £1,139,192,851 We anticipate the data for the 31 March 2026 being published in July 2026.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service Trust Statement 2024-25
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people paid court fines in the (a) quarter ending in November 2025 and (b) other four most recent quarters for which data is available.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no central data available on the number of people who have paid court fines. It would be necessary to interrogate all records manually. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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 information his Department holds on the number of homicide incidents in each of the last 12 months which involved a suspect who had been a patient of an NHS mental health trust within the preceding six months.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides (NCISH) which has two functions in relation to homicides. First, it reports a count of homicides by people in the care of mental health services. Second, it does research into suicides and homicides, with the aim of helping to identify opportunities for improvements to clinical care in order to improve safety.
The ‘count’ of patient homicides by people under the care of mental health services, is not real-time, and there is a delay between the incident occurring and the incident being included in this national data. This is because an incident can only be confirmed as a mental health homicide when a judicial process has determined whether a homicide has been committed and by whom, as well as the nature of the crime.
In line with the national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, in addition to local provider led safety reviews, any reported homicides/suspected homicides involving mental health patients are shared for review by regional NHS England teams, to establish whether an independent investigation is also required. Those requiring independent investigation are commissioned by regional teams.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Interest rate cap introduced to protect Plan 2 borrowers, published on 7 April 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of capping interest on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6% for the 2026/7 academic year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston to the answer of 22 April 2026 to Question 124528.