Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the Department plans to ensure online marketplaces have a duty to notify consumers who have been sold (a) unsafe and (b) illegal products.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK product safety law is clear: all products must be safe. Despite this, unsafe products are too readily available to consumers online. The Government has introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill to allow us to update our regulatory framework, including clarifying and modernising responsibilities of online marketplaces, building on best practice, to create an effective and proportionate framework.
Alongside this, the Office for Product Safety and Standards takes action to reduce risks from non-compliant products online, including risk-based intelligence-led test purchasing, enforcement of online marketplaces and others, consumer and business advice campaigns, and coordinated interventions at ports and borders.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that online marketplaces are accountable for the sale of unsafe products on their platforms.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK product safety law is clear: all products must be safe. Despite this, unsafe products are too readily available to consumers online. The Government has introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill to allow us to update our regulatory framework, including clarifying and modernising responsibilities of online marketplaces, building on best practice, to create an effective and proportionate framework.
Alongside this, the Office for Product Safety and Standards takes action to reduce risks from non-compliant products online, including risk-based intelligence-led test purchasing, enforcement of online marketplaces and others, consumer and business advice campaigns, and coordinated interventions at ports and borders.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to establish a fully (a) funded, (b) staffed and (c) equipped national Asian Hornet Task Force to tackle the threat posed by the Asian Hornet Wasp.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The response to Yellow-legged hornet (YLH) also known as Asian hornet, is carried out by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) National Bee Unit (NBU). The NBU has been taking action against YLH since 2016 and has developed a fine-tuned response. In 2024, 24 nests were located and destroyed, compared to 72 nests in 2023. They frequently find a nest within a day of an initial sighting being reported.
The NBU are able to draw on further resources from wider APHA to manage the impact on other areas of NBU work including taking action on notifiable bee diseases, while continuing to provide an effective response to YLH.
Genetic analysis of hornet samples, conducted by Fera Science Ltd., also aids the response. Results from the analyses of nests destroyed in 2024, have been used to identify areas where there is a higher risk of hornets overwintering. In 2025, spring trapping will be carried out by the NBU in these areas. Although evidence was found that hornets had overwintered in 2023 this is not considered to be strong evidence of an established YLH population.
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 his Department has plans to review NHS targets to incentivise improvements in patient experience and outcomes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure patients are seen on time and ensuring people have the best possible experience of care. Our efforts to improve patient experience will be patient-led and co-developed to support and empower the people who use services within the National Health Service.
In the Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, the Government committed to work with patients, carers and their representatives to publish the standards patients should expect to experience while they wait for care. Once published, these standards will set an expectation to all Trusts about the service they are expected to deliver. We will continue to work with patients and carers to build on this work and establish a gold standard for experience.
We will support NHS trusts to prioritise experience of care by ensuring they make customer care training available to non-clinical staff with patient facing roles, as well as ensuring the take up of training already available on the e-Referral Services to support more effective referral, booking and waiting list management processes. NHS trusts will also be required to name an existing director who will be responsible for improving experience of care.
The Department will also make improvements to patient experience on a national level; for example, by expanding the NHS App and Manage Your Referral website to improve information and appointment management for patients, as well as parents and carers through proxy access.
Additionally, in January 2025, NHS England published NHS Planning Guidance for 2025-26, setting out the first steps for reform, and the immediate actions for systems to take to deliver on the Government’s objectives. Acting on findings from the Darzi review, instructions to the NHS have been stripped down to what matters most to patients, including, for instance, improving patient experience of access to general practice as measured by the Office for National Statistics’ Health Insights Survey and shifting focus from inputs to outcomes for patients.
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 his Department is taking to tackle sexual misconduct in the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is taking a leading role in tackling sexual misconduct across the National Health Service. The NHS has a responsibility to protect staff, patients, and service users and offer safe spaces and routes for support.
In 2024, NHS England launched a new national sexual misconduct people policy framework and sexual safety charter assurance framework for integrated care bards (ICBs) and trusts to adopt and adapt, so that any member of staff who has experienced inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours at work is supported by their employer. The frameworks are available at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-people-sexual-misconduct-policy-framework/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/sexual-safety-charter-assurance-framework/
The new guidance was published following the launch in 2023 of the first-ever Sexual Safety Charter in collaboration with healthcare systems and people with lived experience of sexual misconduct. The Charter focuses on providing staff with clear reporting mechanisms, training and support, and ensuring that a zero-tolerance approach is taken by organisations.
All ICBs and trusts have signed the Sexual Safety Charter and are taking steps to prevent sexual misconduct at work. They have also been asked to appoint a domestic abuse and sexual violence lead to implement the new sexual misconduct guidance, review policies and provide support to staff relating to domestic abuse and sexual violence. There are now more than 300 in place across England.
NHS England, in collaboration with those with lived experience, has also developed NHS-wide training on sexual misconduct awareness, now available to the entire workforce.
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 his Department is taking to incentivise surgeons to work in areas with high waiting lists for elective procedures.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Within the terms and conditions of employment for consultants in England, there is the facility for employers to apply a local recruitment premium in addition to the base salary, time-limited for a maximum of four years. This can be used in circumstances where there is evidence of difficulties in recruiting which cannot be remedied through a non-pay solution.
The value of the premium is determined by the employer but should not typically exceed 30% of the normal starting salary for a consultant post.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we will ensure a return to 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard, including a focus on reforming delivery by working more productively, consistently, and in many cases differently, to deliver more elective care.
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 his Department is taking to ensure consistent application of retention policies across NHS trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, to ensure the retention of our hardworking and dedicated staff. NHS England is leading the National Retention Programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts.
Retention efforts are aligned with the NHS People Promise, which was co-developed with staff to reflect what matters to them. This ensures that trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.
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 has taken to incentivise dental practitioners to work in areas with significant waiting lists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice and no national waiting list is in operation, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. Dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements.
We acknowledge that there are areas of the country that are experiencing recruitment and retention issues and that this can mean that patients may have difficulty accessing an NHS dentist.
We are taking steps to address the workforce challenges across the country. Integrated care boards have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
As of 10 February 2025, in England, 35 dentists have commenced in post and a further 33 dentists have been recruited but are yet to start in post. A further 249 posts are currently advertised.
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 the total number of consultant surgeons is in (a) England (b) Wales (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Scotland.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in surgical specialty group roles by grade in the National Health Service in England, as of November 2024:
Grade | FTE doctors |
Consultant surgeons | 11,203 |
Specialty and associate specialist surgeons | 2,832 |
Resident doctors with a core and specialty training level in a surgical specialty group | 11,228 |
Resident doctors with foundation years on placements in surgical specialties | 4,292 |
Source: Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce Statistics, NHS England.
Healthcare in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland is a devolved responsibility and so the Department does not hold the data requested.
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 the total number of resident surgeons is in (a) England (b) Wales (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Scotland.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in surgical specialty group roles by grade in the National Health Service in England, as of November 2024:
Grade | FTE doctors |
Consultant surgeons | 11,203 |
Specialty and associate specialist surgeons | 2,832 |
Resident doctors with a core and specialty training level in a surgical specialty group | 11,228 |
Resident doctors with foundation years on placements in surgical specialties | 4,292 |
Source: Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce Statistics, NHS England.
Healthcare in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland is a devolved responsibility and so the Department does not hold the data requested.