Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with disabilities were employed in his Department on 2 September 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 2 of September 2025, 481 individuals employed by the Department have declared that they have a disability.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps their Department is taking to implement the guidance entitled The government’s approach to rural proofing 2025, published on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has made a commitment that all policy decision-making should be rural proofed. Rural proofing ensures that rural areas are not overlooked and that the intended outcomes are deliverable in rural areas.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs leads on rural proofing, but individual departments are responsible for ensuring that their policy decision-making is rural proofed.
Rural proofing is important because rural communities are an important part of the economy. Rural areas are home to approximately one-fifth of England’s population and half a million registered businesses.
Policy outcomes in rural areas can be affected by economies of scale, distance, sparsity, and demography. That is why it is important that Government policies consider how they can be delivered in rural areas. Rural proofing ensures that these areas receive fair and equitable policy outcomes.
Our Department takes its obligation to rural proof seriously. The 10-Year Health Plan and its three shifts, from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital, are aiming to better reflect the needs of the local population and thereby support better health and social care access and outcomes in rural communities.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families are receiving Healthy Start in (a) England, (b) East Anglia and (c) South West Norfolk constituency.
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, 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 and does not currently hold data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start. In addition, the NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The following table shows the number of people on the digital scheme in England as of 23 May 2025:
Country | Number of people on the digital scheme |
England | 328,685 |
East Anglia is not defined as specific geographical region within the Office for National Statistics’ Open Geography Portal, which the NHSBSA uses to define geographical regions. Therefore, the following table shows the number of people on digital scheme in the East of England region, which comprises of 45 local authorities, as of 23 May 2025:
Region | Number of people on digital scheme |
East of England | 30,892 |
In addition, South West Norfolk consists of two local authorities, namely Breckland, and King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. Therefore, the following table shows the number of people on the digital scheme in Breckland, and King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, as of 23 May 2025:
Local authority | Number of people on the digital scheme |
Breckland | 706 |
King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 734 |
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has has with relevant stakeholders on the provision of sustainable funding for transforming (a) palliative and (b) end of life care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February, I met with key palliative and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.
I also recently met Rachael Maskell MP and Baroness Finlay to discuss the progress of their independent commission into palliative and end of life care.
As part of the work to develop the 10-Year Health Plan, we will be carefully considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners.
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
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 implications for his Department’s policies of the Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement 2025; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using this fund to improve palliative and end of life care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
As part of the Spring Statement, the Government announced a £3.25 billion Transformation Fund to drive efficiencies across Government and save money later in the Parliament and set out how this would be allocated over the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement 2025; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating a sum of this money for the palliative and end of life care sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
As part of the Spring Statement, the Government announced a £3.25 billion Transformation Fund to drive efficiencies across Government and save money later in the Parliament and set out how this would be allocated over the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include measures on reforming funding allocations for (a) palliative and (b) other end of life care services in the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Spending Review is underway. We are, however, already supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England, to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
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 people requiring palliative care over the next 10 years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, approximately 600,000 people die per year in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that up to 90% of deaths could benefit from palliative and end of life care.
The Office for National Statistics has projected that, by 2040, approximately 800,000 people a year will die in the UK. Also, current trends point to a growing proportion of people dying from chronic disease, particularly cancer and dementia. Taking these considerations together, it has been estimated that the number of people needing palliative and end of life care could increase by 42% by 2040.
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered, from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures will be included in the 10 Year Health Plan to improve palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and families receive the care they need when and where they need it, including those who need palliative and end of life care.
As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we have been carefully considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, including the hospice sector.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what he has made of the potential merits of using pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy for people with cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on best practice, based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. The NICE’s guideline on the diagnosis and management of cystic fibrosis recommends pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy as a treatment option for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in patients with cystic fibrosis. The guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng78