Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on reported incidents of (a) the early termination of calls and (b) other technical issues with the Healthy Start helpline.

Calls to the NHS Healthy Start scheme are not terminated by the NHS Business Services Authority. The NHS Healthy Start scheme call centre has seen a high call volume and the number of calls is currently capped to prevent people being on hold for a long time. Where a caller has been unable to contact the call centre staff, a message advises them that lines are currently busy and to call back later. There have been no technical issues with the NHS Healthy Start helpline.