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 take steps to use the Healthy Food Standard to help ensure that supermarkets provide a range of affordable, healthy products in smaller convenience stores.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Healthier food targets and reporting is intended to improve the healthiness of food sales. We will consult soon on the design of the measures, a key aspect of which is to allow businesses flexibility to improve the healthiness of their sales in ways that best reflect their product portfolio and business model. For example, changing store layout, price points, or the reformulation of products. The consultation will also invite views on the size of the business in scope.
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 his Department is taking to support the hospice sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Hospices play a vital role in palliative 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 plans to take to improve the level of consultant staffing in pathology departments to meed the target of 98% of histopathology tests to be reported within 10 days by March 2029, as specified in the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department is taking action to ensure sufficient provision of the histopathology workforce. As of April 2026, there were over 1,400 full-time equivalent consultants working in histopathology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 50, or 3.5%, more than in April 2025.
NHS England is expanding histopathology training places and has increased trainee numbers since 2020. Additional actions that have been taken include long-term investment in training, greater flexibility and access to education programmes, training grants, retaining senior expertise through the retire and return for teaching programme, and expanding teaching and training fellowships to support workforce growth.
Alongside workforce expansion, NHS England is increasing productivity through the adoption of digital pathology, service automation, and demand optimisation. These measures, together with consistent standards, modernised assessments to support trainee progression, and retention initiatives, will help ensure the workforce can meet growing demand and support delivery of the National Cancer Plan's ambition for 98% of histopathology tests to be reported within 10 days by March 2029.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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, for an update on the progress of the Palliative and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care in England. The MSF is a clinically-led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvements in outcomes for patients and carers, including by reducing unwarranted variation and addressing inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in last year’s 10-Year Health Plan.
We intend to publish the full MSF report in autumn 2026, with an interim update planned for publication shortly.
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 assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the proportion of Phase II and Phrase III in commercial oncology clinical trials.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department holds data on commercial clinical trials by phase and therapeutic area, including oncology. However, we do not routinely assess trends in specific segments such as Phase II and Phase III oncology clinical trials.
We use this information alongside wider intelligence to inform policy and to support a competitive environment for clinical research across all phases and disease areas, underpinned by significant investment in National Institute for Health and Care Research delivery infrastructure.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of setting up a database of genomic-enabled trials.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
No specific assessment has been made. As set out in our Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Government will design and create a single searchable database of United Kingdom clinical trials by June 2026.
As we implement the UK clinical trials database, we will consider the benefits of including genomic-enabled clinical trials and keep this area under review.
We will put the National Health Service at the front of the global genomics revolution to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan for England.
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 estimate his Department has made of the number of people in England with epilepsy who experience tonic-clonic seizures and are not seizure-free despite treatment.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department does not hold data the number of people in England with epilepsy who continue to experience tonic‑clonic seizures despite treatment. Detailed national data on seizure type, seizure frequency, and individual treatment response are not routinely collected centrally.
However, independent prevalence studies indicate that approximately one‑third of people with epilepsy have drug‑resistant epilepsy, meaning their seizures are not fully controlled despite appropriate treatment. For some of these individuals, seizures may include ongoing tonic‑clonic seizures, although the specific proportion varies depending on factors such as epilepsy type, underlying cause, and access to specialist 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, whether the forthcoming National Cancer Plan will contain measures to ensure patients with blood cancer can access lifesaving and cutting-edge new therapies via the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The National Cancer Plan, to be published in the coming weeks, will set out in more detail how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including improving access to lifesaving and cutting-edge new treatment.
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Government invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority. For example, the NIHR supported the development of an immunotherapy for patients with an aggressive form of leukaemia, which was approved for routine use in the National Health Service by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in November 2025.
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 take steps to ensure NHS patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma will continue to be able to receive the CAR-T treatment Tecartus after it has exited the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the basis of an evaluation of their costs and benefits. NICE is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) to determine whether it can be recommended for routine NHS use, taking into account real-world evidence generated through its use in the Cancer Drugs Fund. NICE has been unable to recommend the treatment in final draft guidance, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta11545/documents
This is because the available evidence does not suggest that brexucabtagene autoleucel is value for money in this population. Final guidance has not yet been published, and consultees have until 19 January to appeal NICE’s final draft recommendations.
In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.
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 specific clinical, economic, or operational thresholds (e.g., prevalence shifts, new NICE guidance, excess out of pocket costs) would need to be met to trigger a formal review of the medical exemption list.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
There are no current plans to review the list of prescription charge exemptions or the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate. There are no specific conditions that need to be met to trigger a formal review.