Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Sport England on expanding the Physical Activity Clinical Champions pilot.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Physical Activity Clinical Champions Programme was developed by the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities, part of the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside Sport England. The programme is designed to equip healthcare professionals with the skills to discuss the importance of physical activity with patients who have health conditions. This supports the delivery of the Government’s 10-year Health Plan and fosters greater collaboration between the health, sport and physical activity sectors.
Since 2023, the programme has been led by a consortium of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Intelligent Health and Sheffield Hallam University. An update on the future of the programme is due shortly.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the current student maintenance support system in light of sustained increases in rent, food, and energy costs; and what steps it is taking to ensure that student finance reflects real-world living expenses across all regions, including for students studying at rural institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To help higher education students with cost-of-living pressures, we are future-proofing maintenance loans by increasing them in-line with forecast inflation every year and reintroducing targeted means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from 2028/29. This year, we increased maximum maintenance loans by 3.1%, to £10,544 for students living away from home studying outside London, £13,762 for students living away from home studying in London, and £8,877 for students living at home.
Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Derby, will bring together sector experts and chair the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group. Its remit includes developing options to address regional disparities in access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to encourage universities to work with their local authorities on strategic approaches to meeting student housing needs.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce students’ reliance on paid employment alongside their studies; and how it intends to ensure that students living in rural or employment-scarce areas have equal access to financial security, opportunity, and an acceptable quality of life while in higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To help higher education students with cost-of-living pressures, we are future-proofing maintenance loans by increasing them in-line with forecast inflation every year and reintroducing targeted means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from 2028/29. This year, we increased maximum maintenance loans by 3.1%, to £10,544 for students living away from home studying outside London, £13,762 for students living away from home studying in London, and £8,877 for students living at home.
Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Derby, will bring together sector experts and chair the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group. Its remit includes developing options to address regional disparities in access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to encourage universities to work with their local authorities on strategic approaches to meeting student housing needs.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review how regional cost-of-living disparities are taken into account when calculating student maintenance support, particularly for lower-income students studying in rural university towns with limited housing supply.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To help higher education students with cost-of-living pressures, we are future-proofing maintenance loans by increasing them in-line with forecast inflation every year and reintroducing targeted means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from 2028/29. This year, we increased maximum maintenance loans by 3.1%, to £10,544 for students living away from home studying outside London, £13,762 for students living away from home studying in London, and £8,877 for students living at home.
Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Derby, will bring together sector experts and chair the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group. Its remit includes developing options to address regional disparities in access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to encourage universities to work with their local authorities on strategic approaches to meeting student housing needs.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 the adequacy of staffing levels for oncology services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Residents of Bletchley who access oncology care would most likely attend Milton Keynes University Hospital which offers on-site chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the latter led by the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Workforce reviews are currently under way to ensure that this trust can accommodate increasing demand for services and to ensure that residents can access new treatments when they become available.
The National Cancer Plan, which will be published shortly, will highlight how we will reform our workforce to improve cancer patient outcomes, including for those patients in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. We will ensure that we have the right staff, in the right places, with the right skills, so patients can access quality care when and where they need it.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of differential university tuition fees based on the Teaching Excellence Framework on further education access for students from the most financially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Maximum fee limits for all higher education (HE) providers will increase from £9,535 to £9,790 in the 2026/27 academic year, and from £9,790 to £10,050 in the 2027/28 academic year. We will then legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
In return for the increased investment that we are asking students to make, we expect the HE sector to deliver the very best outcomes both for those students and for the country. To achieve this, we will link future inflationary fee uplifts to judgements on HE providers’ quality and restrict fee income where high quality cannot be demonstrated.
The Office for Students (OfS) will consider a wide range of metrics when determining quality judgements. All HE providers registered with the OfS that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Access and Participation Plan approved by the OfS.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to commission specialist multidisciplinary services for people affected by sodium valproate exposure, including care coordination, to help reduce emergency admissions and diagnostic times.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, identified significant shortcomings in National Health Service care pathways for people harmed by sodium valproate, including fragmented services, limited diagnostic expertise, delays in diagnosis, and inequitable access to multidisciplinary care. NHS England has acknowledged variation in the availability and adequacy of care pathways, the impact of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis on long-term outcomes, and the need for improved care coordination for those requiring lifelong support.
In response, NHS England has commissioned a Fetal Exposure to Medicines Services Pilot, being delivered by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The pilot provides multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and is informing the development of improved care pathways, including consideration of specialist multidisciplinary services to support earlier diagnosis, better coordination of care, and reduced reliance on emergency care. Initial learning was shared with NHS England in September 2025, with final recommendations expected this summer to inform decisions on any national commissioning, subject to funding.
Finally, whilst integrated care boards (ICBs) are the responsible commissioners of the majority of health services, including services related to medically induced disabilities, no specific guidance has been issued to ICBs in relation to supporting individuals with complex, medicine-induced disabilities arising from sodium valproate.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of the diagnostic time taken and levels of misdiagnosis among individuals harmed by sodium valproate, and its impact on long-term outcomes.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, identified significant shortcomings in National Health Service care pathways for people harmed by sodium valproate, including fragmented services, limited diagnostic expertise, delays in diagnosis, and inequitable access to multidisciplinary care. NHS England has acknowledged variation in the availability and adequacy of care pathways, the impact of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis on long-term outcomes, and the need for improved care coordination for those requiring lifelong support.
In response, NHS England has commissioned a Fetal Exposure to Medicines Services Pilot, being delivered by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The pilot provides multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and is informing the development of improved care pathways, including consideration of specialist multidisciplinary services to support earlier diagnosis, better coordination of care, and reduced reliance on emergency care. Initial learning was shared with NHS England in September 2025, with final recommendations expected this summer to inform decisions on any national commissioning, subject to funding.
Finally, whilst integrated care boards (ICBs) are the responsible commissioners of the majority of health services, including services related to medically induced disabilities, no specific guidance has been issued to ICBs in relation to supporting individuals with complex, medicine-induced disabilities arising from sodium valproate.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of whether NHS care pathways are adequate for individuals harmed by sodium valproate that require lifelong, multidisciplinary care.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, identified significant shortcomings in National Health Service care pathways for people harmed by sodium valproate, including fragmented services, limited diagnostic expertise, delays in diagnosis, and inequitable access to multidisciplinary care. NHS England has acknowledged variation in the availability and adequacy of care pathways, the impact of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis on long-term outcomes, and the need for improved care coordination for those requiring lifelong support.
In response, NHS England has commissioned a Fetal Exposure to Medicines Services Pilot, being delivered by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The pilot provides multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and is informing the development of improved care pathways, including consideration of specialist multidisciplinary services to support earlier diagnosis, better coordination of care, and reduced reliance on emergency care. Initial learning was shared with NHS England in September 2025, with final recommendations expected this summer to inform decisions on any national commissioning, subject to funding.
Finally, whilst integrated care boards (ICBs) are the responsible commissioners of the majority of health services, including services related to medically induced disabilities, no specific guidance has been issued to ICBs in relation to supporting individuals with complex, medicine-induced disabilities arising from sodium valproate.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance exists for Integrated Care Boards on supporting individuals with complex, medicine-induced disabilities arising from sodium valproate.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, identified significant shortcomings in National Health Service care pathways for people harmed by sodium valproate, including fragmented services, limited diagnostic expertise, delays in diagnosis, and inequitable access to multidisciplinary care. NHS England has acknowledged variation in the availability and adequacy of care pathways, the impact of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis on long-term outcomes, and the need for improved care coordination for those requiring lifelong support.
In response, NHS England has commissioned a Fetal Exposure to Medicines Services Pilot, being delivered by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The pilot provides multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and is informing the development of improved care pathways, including consideration of specialist multidisciplinary services to support earlier diagnosis, better coordination of care, and reduced reliance on emergency care. Initial learning was shared with NHS England in September 2025, with final recommendations expected this summer to inform decisions on any national commissioning, subject to funding.
Finally, whilst integrated care boards (ICBs) are the responsible commissioners of the majority of health services, including services related to medically induced disabilities, no specific guidance has been issued to ICBs in relation to supporting individuals with complex, medicine-induced disabilities arising from sodium valproate.