Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether information standards in force under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 will be (a) replaced by mandatory information standards made under the amended framework introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022, (b) revoked and (c) allowed to expire; and whether she plans to retain existing information standards on a non-mandatory have due regard basis indefinitely.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025 allow information standards made under the existing system to remain in place, until such a time as they are revoked, replaced, expire, or go through the prescribed procedures to become mandatory. That continuity will provide NHS England with the time it needs to review the existing standards and determine what should happen to them.Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to reinstate the Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting time data for audiology services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to make the change described.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the General Osteopathic Council’s proposed increase in registration fees on self-employed osteopaths and recruitment & retention within the profession; and whether she has discussed, alternatives to passing increased fitness-to-practise costs on to registrants.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. The General Osteopathic Council is an independent statutory regulator and decisions on registration fees are a matter for the Council.
On 6 August 2026, the Council launched a public consultation on its proposed changes to registration fees. The Council has stated that fees have not increased since 2014 and were reduced between 2012 and 2014. The consultation is open until 29 October 2026 and invites views from osteopaths, patients and other interested stakeholders before any decision is taken.
Should the Council decide to proceed with changes following consultation, amendments to the relevant statutory rules would require parliamentary approval before they could come into force.
Further information on the fees consultation is available at the following link:
https://www.osteopathy.org.uk/about-gosc/how-we-work/consultations/current-consultations/
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increased use of optometrists to provide commissioned eye care services beyond the testing of sight, including post-operative cataract care, acute eye care services and glaucoma detection and monitoring, to increase capacity within hospital eye services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the ophthalmology specialism, which includes cataract services, 73.8% of patients were waiting within 18 weeks as of June 2026, with six of seven regions already meeting the March 2027 target of 70%.
Integrated care boards are responsible for deciding whether to commission enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of regional variation in access to cataract services, including waiting times for assessment and treatment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the ophthalmology specialism, which includes cataract services, 73.8% of patients were waiting within 18 weeks as of June 2026, with six of seven regions already meeting the March 2027 target of 70%.
Integrated care boards are responsible for deciding whether to commission enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
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 9 July 2026 to Question 11285, and with reference to the report entitled UK National Screening Committee, Screening for prostate cancer, whether his Department is taking steps to estimate the cost of identifying new BRCA2 variant carriers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department estimates that there are approximately 1,500 men currently known to have both a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, pancreatic, ovarian, or prostate cancer who will be eligible for the targeted prostate cancer screening programme. The Department has not estimated the costs of identifying additional BRCA2 variant carriers, as the UK National Screening Committee, which advises the Government on all screening related matters, did not recommend proactively identifying BRCA2 carriers.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
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 improve health outcomes for people living with COPD.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
To enable faster diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a key intervention to improve the health of people with COPD. NHS England has published commissioning standards for pulmonary rehabilitation and COPD, setting out the benchmarks for high-quality services. This includes reducing health inequalities and ensuring equitable access.
In addition, smoking is the number one preventable cause of COPD. The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Act will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free United Kingdom.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
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 merits of using the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme to improve the earlier diagnosis of chronic respiratory diseases, including COPD.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is designed to detect lung cancer at an earlier stage in people at high risk of developing the disease.
The Government is advised on all screening matters by the independent UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). At its most recent review in June 2022, the UK NSC recommended targeted lung cancer screening for people aged 55 to 74 years old who are at high risk of developing lung cancer. The modelling that informed this recommendation did not include chronic respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
NHS England has introduced a national Incidental Findings Protocol to ensure clinically significant incidental findings are referred for appropriate investigation and follow-up through established National Health Service pathways.
In April 2026, the UK NSC concluded a three-month public consultation on screening for COPD. The outcome of this consultation will be published in due course. In addition, the UK NSC's annual open call for new evidence and proposals for screening programmes is currently open until 30 September 2026, providing an opportunity for individuals and organisations to submit proposals supported by evidence.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of additional men expected to be eligible for prostate cancer screening each year under the UK National Screening Committee’s recommended criteria, when taking into account those men already known to genetic services through BRCA testing pathways.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The UK National Screening recommendation was for a targeted screening programme, involving prostate-specific antigen testing every two years, for men aged 45 to 61 years old who have a pathogenic, or able to cause disease, BRCA2 variant with a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer.
It is estimated that approximately 1,500 men in England will be eligible for the targeted prostate cancer screening programme. Based on similar programmes for people with genetic risk factors, uptake is expected to be high.
The intention is to use the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register (NICPR), to identify men with a known BRCA2 gene variant. Individuals are added to the NICPR as their gene variants are identified, and this is usually through cascade screening or as the result of having cancer and their tumour being genotyped. No estimate has been made of the additional numbers that may be identified using this method.
The Department is not undertaking analysis of the costs associated with identifying additional BRCA variant carriers. The committee did not recommend proactively identifying more men with a BRCA variant, as this would constitute a separate screening programme. The committee recommended that the best method of identifying men with a BRCA2 gene variant should be evaluated over time.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the Department’s analysis of the costs associated with identifying additional BRCA variant carriers to be completed.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The UK National Screening recommendation was for a targeted screening programme, involving prostate-specific antigen testing every two years, for men aged 45 to 61 years old who have a pathogenic, or able to cause disease, BRCA2 variant with a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer.
It is estimated that approximately 1,500 men in England will be eligible for the targeted prostate cancer screening programme. Based on similar programmes for people with genetic risk factors, uptake is expected to be high.
The intention is to use the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register (NICPR), to identify men with a known BRCA2 gene variant. Individuals are added to the NICPR as their gene variants are identified, and this is usually through cascade screening or as the result of having cancer and their tumour being genotyped. No estimate has been made of the additional numbers that may be identified using this method.
The Department is not undertaking analysis of the costs associated with identifying additional BRCA variant carriers. The committee did not recommend proactively identifying more men with a BRCA variant, as this would constitute a separate screening programme. The committee recommended that the best method of identifying men with a BRCA2 gene variant should be evaluated over time.