Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for bringing the cancer travel fund for children and young people into effect.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out clear actions and timeframes for when commitments will be delivered within the next 10 years. The action to provide £10 million annually for children and young people’s cancer travel costs will be in effect by 2027.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is available to (a) hospitals, (b) healthcare settings and (c) healthcare staff in (i) preventing and (ii) responding to incidents of patients going missing.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed

The Department does not hold a national figure for the number of people reported missing from hospitals or other healthcare settings in 2024/25 or in 2025/26.

Clear guidance is in place to support hospitals, other healthcare settings, and staff in preventing and responding to incidents where patients go missing. This includes the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, published in 2023, which sets out how health services, local authorities, and the police should work together to ensure people with mental health needs receive the right support from the right service. The agreement makes clear that patient safety must be protected and that inappropriate police involvement should be avoided, including in situations involving missing patients or people leaving healthcare settings before treatment is complete.

Further guidance published by NHS England supports local commissioners and providers to put practical arrangements in place. This covers steps to reduce the risk of patients leaving care unexpectedly, action to take when someone does leave, and arrangements to locate and safely return patients from mental health inpatient settings, including where individuals are detained under the Mental Health Act, was admitted under the Mental Capacity Act, or is in hospital voluntarily.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were reported missing from (a) hospitals and (b) other healthcare settings in 2024/25 and so far in 2025/26.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed

The Department does not hold a national figure for the number of people reported missing from hospitals or other healthcare settings in 2024/25 or in 2025/26.

Clear guidance is in place to support hospitals, other healthcare settings, and staff in preventing and responding to incidents where patients go missing. This includes the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, published in 2023, which sets out how health services, local authorities, and the police should work together to ensure people with mental health needs receive the right support from the right service. The agreement makes clear that patient safety must be protected and that inappropriate police involvement should be avoided, including in situations involving missing patients or people leaving healthcare settings before treatment is complete.

Further guidance published by NHS England supports local commissioners and providers to put practical arrangements in place. This covers steps to reduce the risk of patients leaving care unexpectedly, action to take when someone does leave, and arrangements to locate and safely return patients from mental health inpatient settings, including where individuals are detained under the Mental Health Act, was admitted under the Mental Capacity Act, or is in hospital voluntarily.

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 (a) ensure that people with adrenal insufficiency have timely access to appropriate emergency steroid treatment and (b) prevent avoidable adrenal crises when time‑critical medication is (i) unavailable and (ii) insufficient in the context of the discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed

The Department is aware of the discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 100 milligram/one millilitre solution for injection, and we continue to work with industry to find a longer-term solution.

Hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100 milligram powder and solvent for solution for injection vials remains available for patients. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals on how to manage patients while supply is disrupted. The guidance highlighted the differences between the two hydrocortisone injections. It also included resources for patients and healthcare professionals on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone injection.

We also understand that The Addison’s Self Help Group have also published information on this discontinuation to keep patients informed along with resources for patients on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone.

Found: Hoare (Chair); Markus Campbell-Savours; Sam Carling; Lauren Edwards; Peter Lamb; John Lamont; Richard Quigley

This inquiry will examine two reports laid by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in September 2025 which relate to separate investigations into two complaints about the Charity Commission for England and Wales (the Charity Commission).