Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families receive support under the Healthy Start scheme in York.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/

The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start. The number of people on the scheme in March 2025 in York was 595.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of speech and language therapy posts are vacant in (a) each Integrated Care Board and (b) England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold information on the number of speech and language therapist posts which are vacant.

NHS England publishes quarterly NHS hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. This data identifies vacancy rates for total NHS staff and also separately for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level but is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for speech and language therapists.

The vacancy statistics are published at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey

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 impact of the abolition of NHS England on (a) (i) autism and (ii) ADHD assessments and (b) other functions of the Patient Choice department.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. 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.

The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for all patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his EU counterparts on the potential merits of introducing a special envoy on the freedom of religion or belief.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to championing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in.

The appointment of David Smith MP as the UK Special Envoy for FoRB in December 2024 is a clear signal of the UK's ongoing commitment to the promotion of this right around the world. Many of our European partners, including the EU itself, have also appointed envoys focusing on FoRB. The UK Envoy works closely with his international counterparts, including through the Article 18 Alliance, to promote FoRB for all.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the level of capacity with the NHS for (a) ADHD and (b) autism assessments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted that demand for assessments for ADHD and autism have grown significantly in recent years, and highlighted the severe delays for accessing such assessments.

The report noted that nationally the growth in demand for ADHD assessments over recent years has been so significant that it risks completely overwhelming the available resources. NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer.

In respect of autism, the latest Autism Waiting Times Statistics published by NHS England show that, in December 2024, there were 212,964 patients with an open referral for suspected autism. Of these, 191,656 had a referral that had been open at least 13 weeks. On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance aims to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time for an NHS dental appointment was in (a) York Central constituency, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England in each of the last ten years.

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, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements. Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the York Central constituency, this is the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the impact assessment for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be published.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government expects to publish the impact assessment before Members consider the bill on Report.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to publish legal advice on the licensing of arms sales to Israel.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government has published a summary of the international humanitarian law (IHL) process used to assess and review Israel's compliance with IHL. This summary, informed by legal advice, alongside the Foreign Secretary's Oral Statement outlined the decision and where we have deemed there are risks that UK arms might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL. This is more transparent than any government has previously been about a decision of this nature.

[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summary-of-the-international-humanitarian-law-ihl-process-decision-and-the-factors-taken-into-account#:~:text=The%20government%20has%20conducted%20a%20thorough%20review%20of%20Israel%E2%80%99s%20compliance].

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications made to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund before March 31st 2025 were rejected on the basis that no future funding announcement had been made.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.

No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.

Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.

The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the availability of information on future funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund on (a) therapy providers (b) levels of redundancies of therapists that specialise in supporting (i) adopted children and (ii) children in special guardianship and (iii) their families.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.

No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.

Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.

The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issued to local authorities on the rules for applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to be carried over into the 2025 financial year.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.

No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.

Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.

The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.

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 impact of changes to the NHS Payments Scheme on access to assessment for (a) autism and (b) ADHD.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The consultation on the Payment Scheme proposed requiring commissioners to set a payment limit for elective services, and all services paid for on an activity basis, based on the value of planned levels of activity. Providers would not be paid for activity above this limit.

Following consideration of consultation feedback, this proposal has not been implemented. As in previous years, providers will be paid prices for all activity delivered, subject to any activity management restrictions contractually applied by commissioners.

Activity management provisions in the Contract will be strengthened, subject to consultation, to allow commissioners to plan affordable activity levels to meet key standards and to manage provider activity in line with their plan. The provisions in the Contract would be much more collaborative than the proposed payment limit. Commissioners would be required to engage with providers to a much greater extent and undertake analysis and discussion before any limits are applied. The escalation route would also ensure that, where needed, impartial expertise will help ensure appropriate plans are put in place.

NHS England has allocated all elective funding to integrated care boards (ICBs) and there will be no additional funding available during the year. Local ICBs are responsible for planning service provision in their local area, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism assessments. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.

Death of Pope Francis

75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights

International Day of the Midwife

Securing habitat for endangered swifts and other cavity nesting birds

British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme

International Day for Mine Awareness

Abduction of Ukrainian children

80th anniversary of Christian Aid

Protecting children from data exploitation

Israeli Defence Force attacks on humanitarian workers

Disability hate crime

News journalism and artificial intelligence tools

Wealth tax and social security reform

Dead Slow campaign

Humanitarian response to the Myanmar earthquake

Libraries in state primary schools

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