Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects treatments for fatty liver disease to be approved for use on the NHS; what assessment he has made of the readiness of the NHS to make such treatments available; and what steps he is taking to ensure eligible patients will receive these treatments once approved.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims wherever possible to issue draft guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund drugs recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.

NICE is currently evaluating potential new treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) in anticipation of the medicines being granted a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) with guidance expected later this year. NHS England is actively preparing to support the potential introduction of new treatments for MASH, including fatty liver disease with fibrosis, alongside the ongoing NICE appraisal process.

The Department and NHS England will continue to work to ensure that, once approved, effective new treatments for fatty liver disease are introduced in a way that is fair, affordable and protects the wider NHS, while ensuring that patients with the greatest clinical need are able to benefit as quickly as possible.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to provide resources to help ensure (a) reports of fraud are investigated and (b) victims of fraud receive support.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

In December 2025 Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud, introducing improved reporting tools, stronger analytical capability, and enhanced victim support to ensure reports are acted on and victims receive clearer guidance and follow‑up. Performance oversight has also been strengthened through better management information and a new performance dashboard, enabling the City of London Police and the Home Office to monitor outcomes and identify emerging fraud threats.

To support the investigation of fraud, around 400 specialist investigators have been recruited to the new National Fraud Squad, which takes a proactive, intelligence‑led approach to identifying and disrupting serious fraudsters. Report Fraud also provides improved intelligence to police forces to assist with case investigations.

Report Fraud Victim Services (RFVS) provides a focused and targeted service to victims of fraud and cyber‑crime, delivering a consistent, high‑quality national standard of care across England and Wales. RFVS now supports all 43 police forces at Level 1 (non‑vulnerable victim care) and at the enhanced Level 2 service for vulnerable victims. Since 2018, RFVS has supported over 1,018,000 victims of fraud (as of October 2025), prevented nearly £14 million from being lost to fraud, and helped victims recover over £6.1 million since January 2021.

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 trends in the number of patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis on the NHS in (a) Nottinghamshire and (b) Mansfield constituency; and what steps he is taking to tackle metabolic dysfunction.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

Data on hospital admission rates for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), of which metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis is a stage in some cases, is available at the Department’s Fingertips website, and can be used by regional commissioners to monitor the incidence of the disease. This data is available at county, but not constituency level. Further information is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/liver-disease/data#page/1/gid/8000063/pat/15/par/E92000001/ati/502/are/E10000024/iid/90931/age/1/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/3/cid/4/tbm/1/page-options/car-do-0

Recognising the increasing burden that liver disease has on the population, NHS England has initiated a liver transformation programme. This focusses on awareness, prevention, diagnosis, detection and treatment of all forms of liver disease. The liver transformation programme has developed a data pack for regional commissioners using the Fingertips data mentioned above, to raise awareness of incidence of liver disease. It is for commissioners in integrated care boards to determine how best to use this information as part of local commissioning decisions.

The Government is taking decisive action to tackle ill health and shift the focus on diseases such as MASLD from treatment to prevention. As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, we are improving diets, reducing physical inactivity, and creating healthier environments so that fewer people reach the point of needing treatment. This includes updating the standards behind the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink and requiring all large food businesses to report against standardised metrics on the healthiness of food sales. We will also get millions moving more through our national movement campaign and We are committed to taking crucial steps to help people make healthier choices about alcohol, including making it a legal requirement for alcohol labels to display health warnings and consistent nutritional information.

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 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease receive community-based care with specialist input; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of that approach.

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

NHS England is investing £3.61 million of funding to expand an approach that allows more people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at rising risk of admission to be proactively identified and supported during winter 2025/26. A nationally coordinated evaluation is planned to take place, providing a consistent evidence base, sharing learning, and informing future investment in interventions to reduce COPD emergency admissions.

As part of the implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan, we are expanding neighbourhood teams and exploring how new roles such as the community health worker model can be tailored to support Core20PLUS5 populations including those with COPD.