Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is taking to regulate the practice of overseas online prescribers supplying medicines to UK residents.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) enforces the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, but it does not hold policy responsibility for regulating the prescribing or retail supply of medicines, which sits across various sector and professional regulators. Regulators have the powers to take action against any services putting patients in danger.
Furthermore, the Department recently conducted a call for evidence on private (non-NHS) prescribing, including online and overseas prescribing, to ensure patients can continue to safely access high-quality medicines through all legal routes. Officials are currently in the process of drafting the Government’s response to the call for evidence and considering next steps.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency provides on purchasing prescription-only medicines from overseas online providers for personal use.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) enforces the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 but it does not hold responsibility for regulating the prescribing or retail supply of medicines, which sits across various sector and professional regulators. Regulators have the powers to take action against any services putting patients in danger.
The regulations establish that a person may not, except in accordance with a licence, manufacture, assemble or import a medicinal product or possess a medicinal product for the purposes of manufacturing, assembling or importing a medicinal product. However, this does not apply to a person who imports a medicinal product for administration to themselves or to any other person who is a member of that person’s household. This is commonly referred to as “personal imports” and applies to any medicinal product. This activity is thus not regulated by the MHRA and as a result no specific guidance has been issued by the agency.
In order to sell medicines in the European Union, EU-based online sellers must register, comply with relevant requirements and display an EU common logo linked to the competent authority of the country in which they are based. From 1 January 2021, Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) based online sellers are no longer required to display the EU common logo (in the UK known as the Distance selling Logo).
Because of the Northern Ireland Protocol, anyone in Northern Ireland selling medicines to the public via a website must still comply with the requirement to apply the EU common logo. This means they must be registered with the MHRA and display a Distance Selling Logo on every page of the website offering medicines for sale. For Great Britain, the MHRA will be considering an alternative to the use of the Distance Selling Logo in the future. The MHRA is no longer processing new applications for the Distance Selling Logo in Great Britain.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 on patients and NHS waiting lists of surgical operations being cancelled due to contaminated or defective sterile surgical instrument components; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure inspection protocols are in place to prevent theatre lists being assembled before defects in outsourced surgical parts are identified.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of cancelled operations due to contaminated or defective sterile surgical instrument components on National Health Service elective waiting lists. Quarterly cancelled elective operation statistics for non-clinical reasons is available online, but this information is not broken down by specialty or reason.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator in England with the responsibility to ensure that health and social care providers comply with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Regulation 15: Premises and Equipment require health and social care providers to ensure the equipment used to deliver care and treatment is clean, decontaminated and/or sterilised, and suitable for the intended purpose, maintained, and stored securely in line with current legislation and guidance. Where guidance cannot be met, the provider should have appropriate contingency plans and arrangements to mitigate the risks to people using the service.
Providers retain legal responsibility under this regulation to ensure they are compliant, including when they delegate responsibility through contracts or legal agreements to a third party, independent suppliers, professionals, supply chains, or contractors.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 people purchasing medicines from overseas online pharmacies on patient safety.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In August 2025, the Department launched a United Kingdom-wide Call for Evidence (CfE) considering whether the existing regulation and monitoring of private, non-National Health Service prescribing remains fit for purpose, and to ensure that patients can continue to safely access high-quality medicines through all legal routes in the UK. Further information on the CfE is available at the following link:
The Department sought views on how it could continue to ensure that the medicines people need are available conveniently and promptly, whilst maintaining the UK's high standards of medicine regulation, prescribing, and use. The CfE gave the public, healthcare professionals and providers, and other interested parties the opportunity to share their views on private prescribing, including prescribing from European Economic Area based practitioners.
The CfE ran from 12 August to 4 November 2025. A total of 458 responses were received: 68 on behalf of an organisation; 168 as a healthcare professional responding in a personal capacity; and 222 from members of the public. The types of organisations who responded to the CfE included pharmaceutical companies, professional bodies and regulators, pharmacy organisations, advocacy groups, and healthcare providers. Healthcare professionals who responded were largely from pharmacy, general practice, and nursing.
Officials are analysing results to inform next steps. A Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of ending the NHS' Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The current contract for the NHS Federated Data Platform is for seven years, ending in 2031, with the initial term ending March 2027.
Advice is given regularly on the contract and performance, and ministers have been given advice on the need for a decision this year on the extension of the contract in line with standard contract management processes.
We continuously assess performance against the contract, and performance of the programme as a whole, and publish data on uptake and benefits each quarter.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 increase support for the delivery of emergency care at the William Harvey Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years and is committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard across England to support the delivery of emergency care, including at the William Harvey Hospital.
East Kent Trust, which the William Harvey hospital is part of, is receiving focused support as part of the National urgent and emergency care tiering programme, designed to support the most challenged trusts with urgent and emergency care.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spent on sending letters to patients in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on National Health Service total spend sending letters to patients in the 2023/24 financial year in England is not held centrally, and will be held locally by individual trusts.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department of 22 January 2025, Official Report, column 414WH, how many displaced international care workers whose sponsor’s licence had not been revoked have been supported by regional partnerships since they were established.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, £16 million has been made available through the adult social care international recruitment fund for 15 regional and sub-regional partnerships to prevent and respond to exploitative practices of internationally recruited care staff. Between July 2024 and February 2025, approximately 8,800 people have contacted the regional partnerships for support. To date, approximately 550 of these individuals have been supported into new employment, according to self-reported data provided by the regional partnerships. This data has not been independently verified by the Department or UK Visas and Immigration. We do not hold data on the number of care workers supported into new employment whose sponsor has not had their licence revoked.
A primary aim of the 2024/25 fund is to facilitate in-country matching of overseas recruits who have been displaced by unethical practices or by their employer’s sponsorship licence being revoked. However, in some instances, regions are also providing support to care workers not impacted by sponsor licence revocation. To support regional partnerships, we have published guidance on implementing the aims of the fund, which is available at the following link:
We have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce to undertake an independent evaluation of the 2024/25 international recruitment regional fund. We expect the final report of this evaluation to be published by King's College London in 2026.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department on 22 January 2025, Official Report, column 414WH, what guidance his Department has provided to regional partnerships for supporting international care workers on ensuring they offer assistance to all care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, £16 million has been made available through the adult social care international recruitment fund for 15 regional and sub-regional partnerships to prevent and respond to exploitative practices of internationally recruited care staff. Between July 2024 and February 2025, approximately 8,800 people have contacted the regional partnerships for support. To date, approximately 550 of these individuals have been supported into new employment, according to self-reported data provided by the regional partnerships. This data has not been independently verified by the Department or UK Visas and Immigration. We do not hold data on the number of care workers supported into new employment whose sponsor has not had their licence revoked.
A primary aim of the 2024/25 fund is to facilitate in-country matching of overseas recruits who have been displaced by unethical practices or by their employer’s sponsorship licence being revoked. However, in some instances, regions are also providing support to care workers not impacted by sponsor licence revocation. To support regional partnerships, we have published guidance on implementing the aims of the fund, which is available at the following link:
We have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce to undertake an independent evaluation of the 2024/25 international recruitment regional fund. We expect the final report of this evaluation to be published by King's College London in 2026.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 effectiveness of the regional partnerships financed by the international recruitment fund for the adult social care sector; whether he plans to publish an evaluation of the project.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, £16 million has been made available through the adult social care international recruitment fund for 15 regional and sub-regional partnerships to prevent and respond to exploitative practices of internationally recruited care staff. Between July 2024 and February 2025, approximately 8,800 people have contacted the regional partnerships for support. To date, approximately 550 of these individuals have been supported into new employment, according to self-reported data provided by the regional partnerships. This data has not been independently verified by the Department or UK Visas and Immigration. We do not hold data on the number of care workers supported into new employment whose sponsor has not had their licence revoked.
A primary aim of the 2024/25 fund is to facilitate in-country matching of overseas recruits who have been displaced by unethical practices or by their employer’s sponsorship licence being revoked. However, in some instances, regions are also providing support to care workers not impacted by sponsor licence revocation. To support regional partnerships, we have published guidance on implementing the aims of the fund, which is available at the following link:
We have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce to undertake an independent evaluation of the 2024/25 international recruitment regional fund. We expect the final report of this evaluation to be published by King's College London in 2026.