Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to hospice funding on the sustainability of end-of-life care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at end of life and their loved ones.
In recognition of this, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England for 2024/25 and 2025/26, to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Additionally, children and young people’s hospices will receive £26 million in revenue funding for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant.
In February, I met with key palliative care and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New services for patients under record pharmacy funding deal, published on 31 March 2025, what proportion of the additional funding for community pharmacies was allocated to meet the cost of increases to (a) employer National Insurance Contributions (b) business rates and (c) National Minimum Wage in (i) 2024/25 and (ii) 2025/26.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken the necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.
The Department has considered the increases in the National Living Wage and employer national insurance when consulting on the funding arrangements for community pharmacy. We have now agreed with Community Pharmacy England to increase the community pharmacy contractual framework to £3.073 billion from April 2025. This deal represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to community pharmacies of changes in the level of (a) employer National Insurance contributions, (b) business rates and (c) the National Minimum Wage from 1 April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken the necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.
The Department has considered the increases in the National Living Wage and employer national insurance when consulting on the funding arrangements for community pharmacy. We have now agreed with Community Pharmacy England to increase the community pharmacy contractual framework to £3.073 billion from April 2025. This deal represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 support the (a) development and (b) approval of (i) second- and third-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors and (ii) other targeted therapy options for patients with ROS1-positive cancer; and whether his Department has had recent discussions with (A) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and (B) pharmaceutical companies on encouraging clinical trial funding in this area.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. The NICE evaluates all new licensed cancer medicines and aims wherever possible to issue recommendations close to the time of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund treatments recommended by the NICE. The NICE published guidance that recommends the tyrosine kinase inhibitors crizotinib and entrectinib for use in the treatment of people with ROS1 positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer who have not previously been treated with ROS1 inhibitors. These treatments are now routinely funded by the NHS for eligible patients.
The Department has had no discussions with the NICE or pharmaceutical companies on encouraging clinical trial funding in this area. The Department is working closely with the NHS, industry, academia, research regulators, and charities to make clinical research in the United Kingdom more efficient, more competitive, and more accessible. We expect these efforts to attract more commercial investment in clinical research and yield a broad and diverse portfolio of clinical trials in the UK, including clinical trials for cancer. The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical research on cancer. NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority. These investments are pivotal towards efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40741 on Health Services: Public Consultation, what was the cost to the public purse of (a) travel and (b) accommodation for the 11 working groups supporting the development of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has met the costs of travel and accommodation for a small number of working group members. The total cost to date is £912.25, which is made up of £750.35 of travel expenses, and £162.00 for accommodation.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New services for patients under record pharmacy funding deal, published on 31 March 2025, what types of mental health support will community pharmacies offer to patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The New Medicine Service (NMS) is an advanced service offered by community pharmacies, providing patients with advice to address any possible side effects, issues, or questions that patients who are prescribed a new medicine may have. The service focuses on treatments for long-term conditions, including asthma and hypertension.
Early interventions of this type can improve medication adherence, patient outcomes, and can reduce pressure on the wider National Health Service. From October 2025, the NMS will expand to introduce depression as a further therapeutic area for which patients can receive support.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from what date patients who are prescribed antidepressants will be able to access mental health support from community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The New Medicine Service (NMS) is an advanced service offered by community pharmacies, providing patients with advice to address any possible side effects, issues, or questions that patients who are prescribed a new medicine may have. The service focuses on treatments for long-term conditions, including asthma and hypertension.
Early interventions of this type can improve medication adherence, patient outcomes, and can reduce pressure on the wider National Health Service. From October 2025, the NMS will expand to introduce depression as a further therapeutic area for which patients can receive support.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40741 on Health Services: Public Consultation, how much his Department has spent on the Change NHS portal to support the development of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following an invitation to tender competition process, we appointed Thinks Insight, Kaleidoscope Health and Care, and IPPR to support us in running the engagement exercise for the 10-Year Health Plan. The awarded value of the contract is up to £2,961,595.50, with an option to vary to £3,500,000 in the event that the scope of the contract evolves. This includes running in-person deliberative engagement events with members of the public and health and care staff, further online and in-person engagement activities, the Change NHS online portal, and the analysis of the insight received.
The details of this award and redacted contracts can be found on the 10 Year Health Plan Engagement Exercise Contracts Finder on the GOV.UK website. Information regarding the breakdown of the overall costs can be found from page 118 of the contract. However, this information is exempt under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which exempts from the general duty to release information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any entity, including the public authority holding the information.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40741 on Health Services: Public Consultation, how much his Department has spent on in-person engagement activities to inform the development of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following an invitation to tender competition process, we appointed Thinks Insight, Kaleidoscope Health and Care, and IPPR to support us in running the engagement exercise for the 10-Year Health Plan. The awarded value of the contract is up to £2,961,595.50, with an option to vary to £3,500,000 in the event that the scope of the contract evolves. This includes running in-person deliberative engagement events with members of the public and health and care staff, further online and in-person engagement activities, the Change NHS online portal, and the analysis of the insight received.
The details of this award and redacted contracts can be found on the 10 Year Health Plan Engagement Exercise Contracts Finder on the GOV.UK website. Information regarding the breakdown of the overall costs can be found from page 118 of the contract. However, this information is exempt under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which exempts from the general duty to release information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any entity, including the public authority holding the information.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40741 on Health Services: Public Consultation, how many people his Department has recruited to support (a) consultation and (b) engagement on the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not recruited new staff, but has redeployed 14 people from within the organisation, to support both the 10-Year Health Plan consultation and engagement.