Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the MRS has made in delivering mechanistic research into ME/CFS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not know what ‘MRS’ refers to in this context. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). A limited amount of mechanistic research is funded through the NIHR, but the majority of mechanistic research is funded through the Medical Research Council (MRC), a UK Research and Innovation Council sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Mechanistic research into myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, is within the remit of the MRC.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
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 implement a sustainable funding model for independent adult hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have provided a £125 million capital funding boost for eligible adult, and children and young people’s, hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
Officials are working closely with a number of stakeholders from the hospice sector in the development of the MSF.
Additionally, the recently published Medium-Term Planning Guidance and the Model ICB Blueprint set out that ICBs should act as strategic commissioners with core functions including: understanding current and projected total service utilisation and costs; identifying underserved communities; assessing quality, performance, and productivity of existing provision; and significantly reducing avoidable unplanned hospital admissions.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 help improve digital infrastructure and IT connectivity for community care in primary care settings.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2026/27, and as per the Medium Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29, all integrated care boards and community health services providers must identify and act on productivity opportunities, including ensuring teams have the digital tools and equipment they need to connect remotely to health systems and patients, and expanding point-of-care testing in the community.
Through the Community Health Services Data Plan (2024/25-2026/27), work is underway to improve the quality, relevance, and timeliness of community health service data and, in turn, improve the patient experience in community health services.
In addition, our 10-Year Health Plan will help put services at the heart of the community and expand digital tools to manage health, including through the Single Patient Record. It will give patients real control over a single, secure, and authoritative account of their data and enable more coordinated, personalised, and predictive care. It will improve clinical outcomes, make decision-making more informed, and speed up the delivery of care.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department provides on the complaints and redress routes available to vulnerable patients who have concerns about the contractual terms of telecare services to which they are referred following hospital discharge.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care.
Telecare is not a mandatory service for local authorities, but many choose to provide a telecare service due to its benefits. Some local authorities will also fully or partially fund telecare for some individuals based on a financial assessment. Local authorities are responsible for the contractual terms of telecare services that they provide, therefore in the first instance an individual should consider making a complaint with the relevant local authority.
If an individual is not satisfied with the way a local authority has dealt with their complaint, they may escalate it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is the independent complaints lead for adult social care and investigates complaints from those receiving social care.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides on when a mental capacity review should be carried out on a patient.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) is designed to protect and empower people who lack the mental capacity to make a decision themselves. It says that every person must be presumed to have capacity to make the decision in question unless it is established otherwise, and sets out a two-stage test to establish if a person can make specific decisions regarding their care and treatment. Capacity assessments are done locally, and data is not collated or held centrally on how many assessments are carried out.
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is a procedure prescribed in law under the MCA when a person who lacks mental capacity to consent to their care or treatment is being deprived of their liberty in a care home or hospital in order to keep them safe from harm. DoLS assessments data is collated and published, the most recent data available is for 2023/24.
In 2023/24 there were 323,870 DoLS applications completed, 145,945 fully assessed, 15,270 closed partially assessed, 162,655 closed without assessments, and 123,790 not completed at year end.
The MCA code of practice gives guidance to people who work with, or care for, people who can’t make decisions for themselves, including when a mental capacity assessment should be carried out, and by whom. Government is clear that professionals applying the MCA are expected to keep up to date with guidance and caselaw, and to correctly use the principles within the act.
In October 2025 we announced our intention to run a joint consultation with the Ministry of Justice to consult on Liberty Protection Safeguards and an updated draft of the Code of Practice in 2026.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the government actions requested by the Royal College of Midwives as part of the "Safe Staffing = Safe Care" campaign.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department, NHS England, and the Nursing Midwifery Council are urgently working to ensure that midwifery training consistently delivers modern maternity care that respects a woman’s choice and individual circumstances.
We will introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026 to deliver our ambition to make the National Health Service the best place to work. We are committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the NHS. As of November 2025, there were 25,530 full time equivalent midwives working in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is an increase of 824, or 3.3%, compared to November 2024. We are also investing over £149 million through the 2025/26 Estates Safety Fund to address critical safety risks on the maternity estate, enabling better care for mothers and their newborns.
In addition, Baroness Amos is leading an independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care. This includes understanding the experience of staff and healthcare professionals delivering care at all stages of the maternity and neonatal care pathway and how they can best be supported in providing high-quality, safe, and compassionate care. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will chair a maternity and neonatal taskforce that will address the recommendations of the investigation by developing a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance she has issued to (a) Health and Social Care Trusts and (b) fostering service providers on the treatment of foster care allowances in the assessment of Universal Credit; and what steps she is taking to ensure that potential foster carers are given full information to make an informed decision on becoming a carer.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Fostering is a devolved issue. Guidance to Health and Social Care Trusts is a matter for the devolved Northern Irish government.
The department funds Fosterline, which provides guidance on Universal Credit to fostering services and to prospective and current foster carers in England.
In England, the government sets the National Minimum Allowance to cover carers’ day‑to‑day caring costs. Fostering income is disregarded when determining eligibility for Universal Credit.
During discussions with a Department for Work & Pensions work coach, foster carer support can be tailored by recording that they are an approved foster carer and looking after children.
English fostering standards make clear that carers should receive clear information about the financial support they will receive before they start looking after a child. The department has also launched a call for evidence which included questions on financial transparency, to improve the understanding and consistency of financial support that is available to foster carers.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to HCWS1271, what metrics his Department uses to measure geographic inequalities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and survival; which regions perform worst on early diagnosis and cancer outcomes; whether he will bring forward interventions to targeted the worst performing areas; and how his Department monitors and reports steps it is taking to help reduce such geographic disparities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department monitors geographic inequalities in cancer diagnosis and treatment through the NHS Cancer Waiting Time Standards, for which data is published at integrated care board and provider level. The NHS England Acute Provider Table for all 134 providers supports this transparency.
Early diagnosis is monitored through NHS England’s annual publication of early diagnosis data in England, the Case-mix Adjusted Percentage of Cancers Diagnosed at Stages 1 and 2. Early diagnosis data is published for England as a whole and for the integrated care boards. Survival data is monitored through NHS England's annual publication of cancer survival data in England. Cancer survival data is published for England as a whole, for the National Health Service regions, integrated care boards, and Cancer Alliances for 21 selected cancers. The index of cancer survival for all cancers is published for England, integrated care boards, and Cancer Alliances.
The Department recognises that outcomes remain poorest in some deprived, rural and coastal areas, where rates of early diagnosis and cancer survival are lower. To support improvement, the Government has provided £200 million of ring‑fenced funding for Cancer Alliances in 2026/27 to help the lowest‑performing trusts strengthen diagnostic pathways and reduce delays.
The Department monitors progress through regular oversight with NHS England, tracking improvements in early diagnosis and treatment standards across regions. These measures underpin our commitment to reducing geographic disparities so that a patient’s chances of survival do not depend on where they live.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the provision of NHS treatment for Functional Neurological Disorder; and what steps he will take to resolve the disparities that currently exist between regions for the treatment of this condition.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s updated Specialised Neurology Service Specification, published in August 2025, includes specific reference to functional neurological disorder (FND). It states that all specialised neurology centres must include access to treatment services for FND. The updated Specialised Neurology Service Specification is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-neurology-services-adults/
There are a number of other national-level initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with neurological conditions, including FND, such as the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the Neurology Transformation Programme, which aim to improve care for people by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
Additionally, we have set up a UK Neuro Forum facilitating formal, which are twice-yearly meetings across the Department, NHS England, the devolved administrations and health services, and the Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learning across the system and to discuss challenges, best practice examples, and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including FND.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that there will be enough pathologists to support the Plan’s delivery.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan sets out how we will strengthen the cancer workforce, including for diagnostics, such as pathology. The plan sets out sustainable workforce growth, focused not on simply expanding numbers but on ensuring staff are properly trained, supported, and able to work at the top of their skills.
The plan sets out how we will support pathologists to work more efficiently through a £604 million investment in digital diagnostics, including digital pathology, and £96 million in the automation of histopathology, as well as further investment in digital technology and artificial intelligence. Expansion of advanced clinical practice for scientists will also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the pathology workforce as a whole.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will be published in spring, setting out further action to create a workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.