Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to issue guidance to Integrated Care Boards on commissioning speech and language therapy services for people with primary progressive aphasia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving care for everyone with dementia, which is why we have funded the work of Dementia 100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme. This brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool and will help simplify best practice. A number of experts, including those with expertise in speech and language therapy and dementia care, provided independent, desktop analysis of the tool and this invaluable feedback was integrated into the tool. The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool can be found at the following link:
We will also deliver the first ever Modern Service framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, which is expected this year. The Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
We are committed to publishing an interim product in September this year to feed into NHS and local government planning cycles, and will aim to publish the full modern service framework by the end of this calendar year as recommended by Baroness Casey.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 access to speech and language therapy for people with primary progressive aphasia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs) and may include speech and language therapy. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Patients can be referred to a speech and language therapist at any time after a diagnosis. The therapist will assess speech, language, and communication difficulties and how they are affecting the patient or making everyday life difficult. They can also help with eating, drinking, and swallowing difficulties.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the costs involved in maintaining the building and grounds of Bootham Park Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Bootham Park Hospital site is a Grade I listed heritage asset and therefore requires significant ongoing management. The costs associated with maintaining the buildings and grounds have been £5.5 million since 2018, which covers maintenance, security, and insurance across the site, as well as the upkeep of areas that remain operational, including the chapel used by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the work required to maintain safe public access through parts of the site. NHS Property Services continues to progress plans to sell the site, which would bring these ongoing holding costs to an end.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is a mechanism in place for Integrated Care Boards to respond to correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are statutory bodies as established under the NHS Act 2006 amended by the Health and Care Act 2022. As such they must follow their own internal governance, accountability, and decision-making requirements. How ICBs follow these requirements when replying to correspondence is managed by the ICB.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS Workforce Plan will include clinicians required for Palliative Medicine in (a) acute, (b) community and (c) hospice settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. This includes shifting care from hospitals to community settings. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.
The scope of the 10 Year Workforce Plan is the National Health Service workforce. However, we know that for this shift to be meaningful, multi-disciplinary working and effective integration will be vital for many services, including palliative care.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how is he assessing the performance of ICBs and their delivery on population health.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Oversight Framework provides a consistent and transparent approach to assessing National Health Service organisations. The framework will be reviewed in 2026/27 to incorporate work to implement the NHS operating model and to take account of the ambitions and priorities in the 10-Year Health Plan. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhs-oversight-framework/
NHS England has a legal duty under the National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health Service and Care Act, to undertake an annual performance assessment of each integrated board. Further information is available at the following link:
The latest summary of assessments is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 that patients are referred early for assessments for palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2025/26, the Quality and Outcomes Framework incentive payment for maintaining a palliative care register was retired, meaning general practices (GPs) no longer receive a payment for this activity. However, the use of palliative care registers did not cease, with GPs still able to actively maintain and use their register as part of good clinical practice, including proactive identification, personalised care, and support planning and ongoing reviews.
Early identification of someone who has palliative and end-of-life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit, which are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/
The number of people identified as having palliative care and end-of-life care needs has risen, from 290,433 in 2022/23 to 356,543 in 2024/25.
Timely and equitable identification of palliative care and end-of-life care needs will be a key element of our Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF). NHS England and the Department are working closely with a wide range of stakeholders on the development of the MSF, looking at how we can enable more proactive assessment of palliative care need and subsequent access to services and personalised care and support, including advance care planning.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how will GPs identify and refer patients for palliative care following the retiring of the Palliative Care Register.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2025/26, the Quality and Outcomes Framework incentive payment for maintaining a palliative care register was retired, meaning general practices (GPs) no longer receive a payment for this activity. However, the use of palliative care registers did not cease, with GPs still able to actively maintain and use their register as part of good clinical practice, including proactive identification, personalised care, and support planning and ongoing reviews.
Early identification of someone who has palliative and end-of-life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit, which are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/
The number of people identified as having palliative care and end-of-life care needs has risen, from 290,433 in 2022/23 to 356,543 in 2024/25.
Timely and equitable identification of palliative care and end-of-life care needs will be a key element of our Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF). NHS England and the Department are working closely with a wide range of stakeholders on the development of the MSF, looking at how we can enable more proactive assessment of palliative care need and subsequent access to services and personalised care and support, including advance care planning.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria is being used to determine the replacement for the Carr-Hill funding formula.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The first phase of the Carr-Hill review is expected to conclude in March 2026. Subject to ministerial decision, further work would be undertaken to technically develop and model any proposed changes to the formula. Findings from the review will be published in due course by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Members of Parliament will be updated once the review findings are available.
Implementation of any new funding approach would be subject to ministerial decision and consultation with the General Practice Committee for England of the British Medical Association, in the context of the available funding and our commitment to substantively reform the General Medical Services Contract within this Parliament.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 equal access to palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know there are inequalities in access to palliative care and end of life care, and the Government is looking at how best to reduce these.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has published statutory guidance which outlines areas for consideration when commissioning services, which makes reference to improving equity of access and reducing inequity in outcomes and experience. This includes the completion of an Equalities and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment and action plan.
NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care has been recently extended for a further two years to run to the end of 2028, delivering high-quality policy research to help improve palliative care and end-of-life care, and tackle inequalities.
Through our Modern Service Framework on Palliative Care and End of Life Care, due for publication later this year, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.