Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 ensure that the implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy is coordinated across relevant Government departments; and whether he plans to publish a framework for measuring progress against the Strategy's objectives.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to delivering the five-year cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy, which sets out over 100 actions across the Government and the sector to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide. The strategy was designed to be iterative, and we will continue to consider where further action can be taken most effectively.
The Department regularly engages with cross-Government counterparts and monitors progress against the strategy’s actions to save lives, improve support for people who self-harm, and improve support for those bereaved by suicide.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are in place to identify, evaluate and disseminate examples of effective suicide prevention practice developed by voluntary, community and public sector organisations across England.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector plays a vital role in suicide prevention and supporting people at risk of suicide.
Between 2023 and 2025, the Department funded the Suicide Prevention Grant Fund, which supported voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver suicide prevention initiatives for higher-risk groups. The programme included evaluation of funded projects to improve understanding of effective approaches and inform future policy development. We will continue to engage closely with those organisations, and use learning from their programmes, to support delivery of the Suicide Prevention Strategy.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage employers to adopt evidence-based workplace suicide prevention practices and standards to improve employee wellbeing and reduce suicide risk.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Government’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care for England. Wales and Scotland have their own national strategies.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2026 to Question 15027 on Wheelchairs: Children, what information his Department collects on the amount of under-18 year olds not prescribed a wheelchair or personal wheelchair budget after being seen by wheelchair services.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now integrated care boards (ICBs), on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. NHS England’s wheelchair data collection reports on the proportion of adults and children whose episode of care was closed in the reporting period and prescribed equipment was delivered within 18 weeks or less.
NHS England is supporting ICBs to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 a Modern Service Framework for hearing health on innovative models of audiology care, including community-based and digitally enabled services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the impact of a modern service framework (MSF) for hearing health on variation in access to audiology and ear wax removal services between integrated care boards (ICBs).
The Government's 10-Year Health Plan announced the development of MSFs to support more consistent, high-quality care, and to reduce unwarranted variation. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.
ICBs have a statutory responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their local populations, including audiology services and, where clinically required, ear wax removal services. In exercising their functions, ICBs must have regard to reducing inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, healthcare services. Ear wax removal services should be commissioned in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 a Modern Service Framework for hearing health on variation in access to (a) audiology and (b) ear wax removal services between Integrated Care Boards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the impact of a modern service framework (MSF) for hearing health on variation in access to audiology and ear wax removal services between integrated care boards (ICBs).
The Government's 10-Year Health Plan announced the development of MSFs to support more consistent, high-quality care, and to reduce unwarranted variation. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.
ICBs have a statutory responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their local populations, including audiology services and, where clinically required, ear wax removal services. In exercising their functions, ICBs must have regard to reducing inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, healthcare services. Ear wax removal services should be commissioned in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the National Security Online Information Team has taken steps to respond to online information threats related to the recent disorder in Southampton.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) leads the department’s operational response to online information threats. Its publicly available remit, which is kept under review by DSIT ministers, is public safety or national security risks to UK audiences. The team conducts open-source analysis of the online information environment to identify and assess potential threats within this remit. This includes mis- and disinformation arising from incidents such as the recent unrest in Belfast and Southampton.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the National Security Online Information Team conducted any work in relation to the recent unrest in Belfast.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) leads the department’s operational response to online information threats. Its publicly available remit, which is kept under review by DSIT ministers, is public safety or national security risks to UK audiences. The team conducts open-source analysis of the online information environment to identify and assess potential threats within this remit. This includes mis- and disinformation arising from incidents such as the recent unrest in Belfast and Southampton.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what topics will be in the remit of the National Security Online Information Team in 2026.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) leads the department’s operational response to online information threats. Its publicly available remit, which is kept under review by DSIT ministers, is public safety or national security risks to UK audiences. The team conducts open-source analysis of the online information environment to identify and assess potential threats within this remit. This includes mis- and disinformation arising from incidents such as the recent unrest in Belfast and Southampton.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's speech on the Met's use of technology, published on 24 June 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing the police to adopt new AI policing tools without requiring additional legislation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
AI has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of policing, including by supporting investigations, reducing administrative burdens and helping officers make better use of evidence.
The Government is committed to enabling the responsible adoption of AI across policing through the new National Centre for AI in Policing (PoliceAI). PoliceAI will support forces to adopt AI responsibly, ensuring that tools are subject to appropriate technical testing, evaluation and scrutiny, to minimise bias and inaccuracy. It will support forces in demonstrating compliance with responsible AI adoption principles which includes public transparency and accountability measures.
To support transparency, PoliceAI will publish a public-facing national registry of police AI use, which will provide information about how tools are used, the benefits they deliver, the risks associated with their deployment, and the safeguards in place to mitigate those risks. It aims to produce a first version of the registry by the Autumn. The registry is intended to increase public confidence through maximum transparency by default, and PoliceAI will withhold funding for AI tools for those forces that have not completed registry entries for their deployed tools.