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 Minister for Secondary Care of 18 December 2024, Official Report, column 345, when he chaired the first of the weekly winter preparedness meetings.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care first held discussions on winter planning with the Department ahead of the general election. The first briefing the Secretary of State received on winter preparations was on his first day in office, on 5 July 2024. Since then, heading into winter, ministers speak regularly with staff in the department, NHS England and social care leaders to make sure we were as well prepared for this winter as we could be.

In addition, I chaired fortnightly meetings on winter preparedness from 26 September 2024 until early December 2024 at which point, as planned, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, began chairing a weekly meeting.