Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken steps to provide forums for (a) officials and (b) Ministers to learn from international examples of best practice in the delivery of healthcare.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely engages with partners from overseas to share knowledge and best practice, to support strategy and policy development across the Department.
As part of the 10-Year Health Plan engagement exercise, we have been working with international experts to understand different countries’ approaches to delivering healthcare, and the three shifts at the centre of the plan, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. In March, the Department jointly hosted two ministerial led roundtables with WHO EURO and Kings College London, where international experts shared experiences of implementing the three shifts. Attendees from around the world included former ministers, government officials, academics, and health system experts, to provide expert insight into international best practice.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has provided for suicide prevention (a) nationally and (b) locally in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for suicide prevention is included in baseline National Health Service funding for mental health services, and is not separately identified.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, additional funding of £57 million was provided through the NHS Long Term Plan to embed local suicide prevention activity and suicide bereavement support services in every local authority area.
In addition, the Department provided £5.4 million of funding in 2021/22 and £10 million from 2023 to 2025 through grant schemes targeted at national and local voluntary community and social enterprise sector organisations delivering suicide prevention activity.
A further £550,000 of funding was also provided to the Local Government Association in 2021/22 for a support programme to help local authorities strengthen their suicide prevention plans.
Integrated care boards, previously clinical commissioning groups, are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations, and it is up to them to decide how much funding to allocate to suicide prevention services in 2025/26.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has committed to suicide prevention in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for suicide prevention is included in baseline National Health Service funding for mental health services, and is not separately identified.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, additional funding of £57 million was provided through the NHS Long Term Plan to embed local suicide prevention activity and suicide bereavement support services in every local authority area.
In addition, the Department provided £5.4 million of funding in 2021/22 and £10 million from 2023 to 2025 through grant schemes targeted at national and local voluntary community and social enterprise sector organisations delivering suicide prevention activity.
A further £550,000 of funding was also provided to the Local Government Association in 2021/22 for a support programme to help local authorities strengthen their suicide prevention plans.
Integrated care boards, previously clinical commissioning groups, are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations, and it is up to them to decide how much funding to allocate to suicide prevention services in 2025/26.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 10 March to Question 34747, when responsibility for oversight and funding of the National Lung Screening Programme will transfer from NHS England to his Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation. This reform is about devolving resources and responsibility to the frontline, thereby empowering staff to focus on delivering better care for patients.
As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will put plans in place to ensure continuity of care. We recognise the importance of lung cancer screening and are committed to ensuring its continuity during the transformation.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that the planned reductions in headcount in NHS England and his Department do not result in disruption to the implementation of lung cancer screening.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation. This reform is about devolving resources and responsibility to the frontline, thereby empowering staff to focus on delivering better care for patients.
As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will put plans in place to ensure continuity of care. We recognise the importance of lung cancer screening and are committed to ensuring its continuity during the transformation.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 10 March to Question 34747, whether it remains his Department's policy to reach full rollout of lung cancer screening to the eligible population by 2029.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes across England, including for lung cancer. The NHS Lung Screening Cancer Programme is designed to catch more cancers earlier when they are more treatable, with the hope of saving more lives. The target is to be available to 100% of the population by the end of 2029/30.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 7 March 2025 to Question 32628 on Parkinson's Disease: Medical Treatments, what steps he is taking to improve access to treatment for people with (a) advanced and (b) complex Parkinson's.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s disease can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. One of these neurological centres is based at the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.
Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
The service specification for neurology, which is in the process of being updated and published later this year, sets out the requirements for specialised neurology services, as well as the expectations of non-specialised neurology services, to support a system-wide approach.
Service specifications must be included in all future provider contracts for specialised services. This is agreed in jointly signed delegation agreements between integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional teams. ICBs are responsible for monitoring provider compliance with service specifications and may periodically carry out more detailed compliance exercises with providers, as a means of ensuring and improving the quality of care.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 ensure Parkinson's services in Integrated Care Systems meet the requirements of the neurology service specifications.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.
Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s disease can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. One of these neurological centres is based at the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.
Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
The service specification for neurology, which is in the process of being updated and published later this year, sets out the requirements for specialised neurology services, as well as the expectations of non-specialised neurology services, to support a system-wide approach.
Service specifications must be included in all future provider contracts for specialised services. This is agreed in jointly signed delegation agreements between integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional teams. ICBs are responsible for monitoring provider compliance with service specifications and may periodically carry out more detailed compliance exercises with providers, as a means of ensuring and improving the quality of care.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 hold integrated care boards to account for meeting their statutory duty and implementing policy frameworks on children’s palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including for children and young people, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year, and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish a Sexual Health Action Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving sexual heath in England, and the Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are working together to develop a new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. A key objective of the new plan will be to stabilise and support wider sexual health system enablers.
To help improve local authority commissioned sexual and reproductive health services, in 2025/26 we are increasing funding through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.
We continue to support the delivery of local sexual health services, by providing guidance and data to support local decision makers. In October 2024, the UKHSA published the STI Prioritisation Framework, which, combined with ongoing support from the UKHSA, will enable local systems to identify which combination of interventions to focus on for which populations, informed by the local situation.