Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people who need one will be able to get a same-day GP appointment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a general practitioner (GP). The 8:00am scramble will end, we will train more doctors, and we will guarantee digital consultations within 24 hours. We have delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources
In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 1,900 individual GPs into primary care networks across England, which has expanded capacity, and will help to make same-day appointments more available to the patients that need them.
The new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 practices across England, enabling more appointments and supporting same-day access.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 61959 on Dentistry: Recruitment, how many (a) recruited dentists and (b) dental posts are being advertised per region in England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on Golden Hellos will be published by the end of August 2025. Once a publication date has been confirmed, this will be announced on the NHS England website.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) respond to threats to religious freedom for Christian and other minority faith communities in Iraq.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to championing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. On 8 July, the Government publicly set out its approach to FoRB, providing a framework for UK engagement, including for countries navigating the impact of conflict, both past and present, such as Iraq.
In July 2025, the Minister for Human Rights and the UK Special Envoy for FoRB met with Mir Hazem Tahsin Beg, the Prince of the Yazidis. We also raise threats to minority faith communities into regular engagements with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and in multilateral fora. For example, at Iraq's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in June, we recommended that Iraq upholds the right for minorities to freely practice their religion or belief, without fear of persecution.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the (a) cost of abolishing NHS England and (b) resulting redundancy package will be paid for from his Department’s settlement at the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have recently announced the Spending Review settlement, which provides an additional £29 billion of annual day-to-day spending in real terms by 2028/2029 compared to 2023/2024. Ahead of asking the National Health Service to commence a multi-year planning round, we are now carefully reviewing how the settlement is prioritised, including making provision for redundancy costs. At this stage, it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while transition planning is ongoing.
While there will be some upfront costs, we expect the reform to eliminate duplication and drive a smaller centre, based in a single organisation, that will generate significant savings in the long run, which can be diverted to the front line.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make changes to the Foundation Programme allocation process, following the most recent application round.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is due to review the Foundation Programme allocation process. The review is aiming to commence in 2026. NHS England will advise stakeholders, including the British Medical Association, on how they can input in due course.
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period, for specialty training.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
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 monitor the (a) fairness and (b effectiveness of the Foundation Programme allocation process.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is due to review the Foundation Programme allocation process. The review is aiming to commence in 2026. NHS England will advise stakeholders, including the British Medical Association, on how they can input in due course.
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period, for specialty training.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the last financial year, 2024/25, 95.7% of procurement contracts were awarded to suppliers which reported to the Department that their legal entity is registered in the United Kingdom, in the UK Companies House Register.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of potential impacts of the decriminalisation of abortion on (1) clinical safeguards, (2) informed consent procedures, (3) access to alternative support services, and (4) the protection of vulnerable women.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion for a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The bill will now continue its progress through Parliament.
Informed consent is separate from the requirements set by the Abortion Act for two doctors to certify that a woman meets the grounds for abortion. Consent to treatment means a person must give permission before they receive any type of medical treatment, test, or examination. For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision. These principles will continue to apply irrespective of whether abortion is decriminalised.
As part of standards set by the Care Quality Commission, abortion services must be able to prove that they have processes in place to ensure that all women and girls are seeking services voluntarily. It will also remain a requirement for an abortion service, as laid out in the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures, that staff should be able to identify those who require more support than can be provided in the routine abortion service setting, for example young women, those with a pre-existing mental health condition, those who are subject to sexual violence or poor social support, or where there is evidence of coercion.
Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and abortion providers are required to have effective arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults accessing their services. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained to recognise the signs of potential abuse and coercion and know how to respond. In addition, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published national safeguarding guidance for under-18 year olds accessing early medical abortion services, which aims to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded in all services. We expect all providers to have due regard to this guidance.
The Department is continuing to monitor abortion related amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill and will consider whether current arrangements are sufficient or if additional guidance is needed.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what they are taking to ensure that women considering abortion are provided with comprehensive information on all available options, including parenting, adoption, and perinatal palliative care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women seeking abortion services must be given impartial, accurate, and evidence-based information so that they are able to make an informed choice about their preferred course of action.
The National Health Service website provides factual information on abortion, including directing people seeking impartial information and support to their general practice or to regulated organisations such as Brook, for under 25 year olds, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, MSI Reproductive Health Choices UK, and National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service. All the main abortion providers offer pregnancy counselling, which includes advice on options such as parenting and adoption.
Following a diagnosis of fetal anomaly, women and their partners must receive appropriate counselling and support. At no stage should there be a bias towards abortion. All staff involved in the care of a woman or couple facing a possible termination of pregnancy must adopt a nondirective, non-judgemental, and supportive approach. It should not be assumed that a woman will choose to have a termination, and a decision to continue with the pregnancy must be fully supported. In addition, the charity Antenatal Results and Choices offers information and support for people who have received a diagnosis after antenatal screening.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England work in communications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the end of June 2025, the Department had 90 full-time equivalent staff working in the Communications Directorate.
In NHS England, there are 328.8 full-time equivalent staff sitting under Communications in the Strategy Directorate. These individuals cover a wide range of communication roles and support functions, including business operations, system and stakeholder engagement, events and visit teams, and Parliamentary briefing and Freedom of Information management. There are a further six members of staff, who work in ‘Communications’ or ‘Comms’ teams in the wider business, which includes individuals working in Freedom of Information management and Parliamentary business.