Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 delayed Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry scan results on timely diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
NHS England guidance sets out that imaging reports must be provided within four weeks, or 28 days, of image acquisition. All National Health Service providers and imaging networks are expected to meet this. Guidance can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/diagnostic-imaging-reporting-turnaround-times/
Ensuring patients receive their diagnostic test results quickly, including DEXA scan results, is a priority for the Government. Last year in 2025, over 21,000 extra DEXA scans were delivered compared with the previous year.
In March this year, the Government announced funding for 20 new DEXA scanners across England, supported by £2.4 million of investment. Tens of thousands of patients will benefit from faster access to bone scans as a result, helping to ensure that people with bone conditions, such as osteoporosis, get diagnosed earlier. This builds on the first wave of 13 DEXA scanners announced last year.
There are also resources in place to help support healthcare professionals in the early diagnosis of osteoporosis, such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical knowledge summary on osteoporosis and the prevention of fragility fractures.
The Royal College of General Practitioners also has an e-learning module for general practitioners on the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis, developed in collaboration with the Royal Osteoporosis Society, which is designed to support the early diagnosis of osteoporosis by highlighting which groups are at higher risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of current eligibility criteria for long‑service medallic recognition for former Volunteer Reserve personnel who completed service prior to 1 April 1999; and if he will review options for retrospective recognition.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
Prior to the introduction of the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal in April 1999, service in the Reserve Forces was appropriately recognised by the separate decorations and medals that were awarded respectively to officers and other ranks in each of the Services. The Department has no plans to review options for retrospective recognition for those who served in the Reserve Forces before 1 April 1999.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 implications for the rights of disabled people of the recent Supreme Court ruling concerning the assessment of deprivation of liberty.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department’s priority is to safeguard vulnerable people and ensure their rights are protected. We are considering the Supreme Court’s judgment carefully, which sets out the factors to be applied when determining whether a person is deprived of their liberty within the meaning of Article 5(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
We remain committed to protecting the rights of disabled people. The judgment does not remove the need for robust safeguards where Article 5 is engaged, and existing legal frameworks, including the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the Care Act 2014, continue to provide protections.
The Department published an update to the health and care sector on the implications of the judgment on 15 June 2026 and will publish additional interim guidance shortly. We are working with a range of stakeholder partners and charities to develop this guidance. It will include practical case studies to help people understand how they should apply the judgment to their work.