Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 current and projected workforce needs in interventional radiology; and what steps his Department is taking to support training and recruitment in this specialty.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.
The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned level of funding per post is for the additional 1,000 medical specialty training posts referred to in the 10 Year Workforce Plan; and how this compares with the current level of funding per post for existing medical specialty training posts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently in discussions with local National Health Service providers on proposals to expand specialty training posts, with a view to introducing these through an additional recruitment round in 2026.
NHS England has written to NHS Providers on the 30 January setting out an offer of funding. There are a range of funding models used for postgraduate medical training posts in the NHS and NHS England is currently considering the contribution that central and local funding should make for these additional posts, which will be finalised shortly in discussions with providers.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the additional 1,000 medical specialty training posts referred to in the 10 Year Workforce Plan will be allocated in the current calendar year or phased over multiple years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently in discussions with local National Health Service providers on proposals to expand specialty training posts, with a view to introducing these through an additional recruitment round in 2026.
NHS England has written to NHS Providers on the 30 January setting out an offer of funding. There are a range of funding models used for postgraduate medical training posts in the NHS and NHS England is currently considering the contribution that central and local funding should make for these additional posts, which will be finalised shortly in discussions with providers.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question UIN 82954, answered on 15 January 2026, what activities the £18,818,566 paid by NHS England for validation exercises (April to September 2025) funded; whether those payments were made on the basis of a per-patient or per-pathway “RTT clock stop” rate (or any other unit rate); and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has provided funding to increase validation of waiting lists in 2025/26, as part of the Government's plans for a more productive and improved approach to elective care which is better for patients. A £33 fee is provided for each additional referral to treatment clock stop per patient pathway above a provider’s agreed baseline.
Validation is a clinically supported process and forms a long-standing part of trusts’ routine management of their waiting lists. National guidance from NHS England provides further information about the validation process and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Boards will be required to designate a named lead for the implementation of statutory guidance issued under the Down Syndrome Act 2022.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Down Syndrome Act 2022, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is required to give guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education, and housing services on what they should be doing to meet the needs of people with Down syndrome.
Relevant authorities, as defined in the schedule to the act, have a duty to have due regard to the final guidance once it is published. The act does not create any new functions beyond this duty. Rather, it brings together existing statutory requirements and guidance that relevant authorities must and/or should already be complying with to support people with Down syndrome and people with other conditions and/or a learning disability who have similar needs.
NHS England published statutory guidance on 9 May 2023 which says that every integrated care board (ICB) should identify a member of its board to lead on supporting the ICB to perform its functions effectively in the interest of people with Down syndrome. The statutory guidance sets out NHS England’s expectations about fulfilling executive lead functions and outlines the responsibilities of these roles in more detail, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/executive-lead-roles-within-integrated-care-boards/
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms will be used to monitor compliance by public bodies with statutory guidance issued under the Down Syndrome Act 2022.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Down Syndrome Act 2022, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is required to give guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education, and housing services on what they should be doing to meet the needs of people with Down syndrome.
Relevant authorities, as defined in the schedule to the act, have a duty to have due regard to the final guidance once it is published. The act does not create any new functions beyond this duty. Rather, it brings together existing statutory requirements and guidance that relevant authorities must and/or should already be complying with to support people with Down syndrome and people with other conditions and/or a learning disability who have similar needs.
NHS England published statutory guidance on 9 May 2023 which says that every integrated care board (ICB) should identify a member of its board to lead on supporting the ICB to perform its functions effectively in the interest of people with Down syndrome. The statutory guidance sets out NHS England’s expectations about fulfilling executive lead functions and outlines the responsibilities of these roles in more detail, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/executive-lead-roles-within-integrated-care-boards/
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 role of community-based diagnostic services and AI-supported electrocardiogram interpretation in the early detection of inherited cardiac conditions in young people.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A number of diagnostics are used to detect inherited cardiac conditions in young people at an early stage, including electrocardiograms (ECGs) and imaging. National Health Service artificial intelligence-supported ECG interpretation helps detect inherited cardiac conditions in young people by identifying subtle, subclinical patterns in heart electrical activity that are invisible to the human eye.
12-lead ECGs and ambulatory ECG monitoring are core cardiac science diagnostic tests for any community diagnostic centre (CDC). Currently, electrocardiography services are provided in 108 of the 170 CDCs across England, helping to expand community based diagnostic provision for all patients, including young people.
NHS England’s Physiological Sciences strategic framework clearly positions AI as a key enabler of community-based diagnostics, supporting faster and more standardised analysis of ECG tests. We are actively working to expand access to AI enabled ECG investigations.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 trends in the level of diagnostic overshadowing for people with Down syndrome; and whether that issue will be included in the final statutory guidance under the Down Syndrome Act 2022.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2023, NHS England produced a guide for frontline staff to support people with learning disabilities which asks staff to be aware of diagnostic overshadowing. NHS England does not hold data on the extent of diagnostic overshadowing for people with Down syndrome, nor is the data held centrally. This guide is available at the following link:
Through the implementation of the Down Syndrome Act 2022, the Government is striving to improve life outcomes for people with Down syndrome, raise awareness and understanding of their needs, and break down barriers to opportunity that they, and other disabled people, face.
Under the Down Syndrome Act, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is required to give guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education and housing services on what they should be doing to support the needs of people with Down syndrome. The draft guidance, which was published for public consultation on 5 November 2025, acknowledges that many people with Down syndrome may experience diagnostic overshadowing and recognises its impact on the care and treatment that people receive.
The Department welcomes specific suggestions of other topics for inclusion or additional detail on those already covered through the consultation. Once the consultation has closed, the Government will consider all consultation responses to inform the final guidance to be published.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the final statutory guidance issued under the Down Syndrome Act 2022 will include Down syndrome-specific training for health, education and social care professionals.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Maidenhead on 5 January 2026 to Question 103131.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that references to learning disability and support needs in the draft statutory guidance under the Down Syndrome Act 2022 reflect the needs profile of people with Down syndrome.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Down Syndrome Act, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is required to give statutory guidance to relevant authorities in health, social care, education, and housing services on what they should be doing to meet the needs of people with Down syndrome. The consultation on the draft guidance was launched on 5 November 2025 and will remain open until 30 March 2026.
The draft guidance has been informed by over 1,500 responses to the call for evidence in 2022. A summary of these findings was published on 5 November 2025. In developing the draft guidance, the Department for Health and Social Care engaged with NHS England and all relevant Government departments, including the Department for Education. Officials also engaged with people with Down syndrome and those with other conditions and/or a learning disability who have similar needs, and their parents and carers, as well as experts and practitioners from multiple sectors, to ensure the guidance is robust, evidence-based and fit for purpose.
Based on what we were told during the call for evidence and subsequent engagement, a needs profile paper has also been developed which sets out the specific needs of people with Down syndrome. The needs paper, which has been published alongside the consultation, was used to inform the development of the draft guidance.