Asked by: Daniel Francis (Labour - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national service specification for adult cerebral palsy to be used to commission specialist services within integrated care system areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that people with cerebral palsy have access to appropriate support and services at all stages of their lives, so that they can fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive lives. Later this year, NHS England’s service specification for neurology services is being updated. The specification defines standards and manages care pathways for neurological conditions like cerebral palsy.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 steps he is taking to improve patient safety in hospitals.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s commitment to advancing patient safety in the National Health Service is demonstrated by various measures.
This includes delivery of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, which is overseen by NHS England. The strategy is now achieving its aims of saving an extra 1,000 lives per year. By April 2025, the strategy’s patient safety improvement programmes had led to over 1,500 neonatal lives saved, over 500 fewer cerebral palsy cases in premature babies, and more than 1,900 deaths prevented overall through medicine safety improvements, including work to reduce long term opioid use. Further information on the NHS Patient Safety Strategy is available at the following link:
The strategy includes other key programmes, such as the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, the Learn From Patient Safety Events service, the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus, and the Framework for Involving Patients in Patient Safety, that are focussed on improving the NHS’ systems, capability, and capacity to improve safety. Further information on the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, the Learn From Patient Safety Events service, the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus, and the Framework for Involving Patients in Patient Safety is available, respectively, at the following four links:
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/patient-safety
Other measures include implementing Martha’s Rule in 143 hospital sites, which has led to hundreds of life-saving interventions and changes to care that have avoided harm, and implementation of scrutiny by medical examiners of all deaths that are not investigated by a coroner, in order to facilitate learning and improvement at a local level.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ensure annual health checks for all adults with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on care and support for adults with cerebral palsy, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng119
The guidance recommends that people with cerebral palsy should have an annual review of their clinical and functional needs, carried out by a healthcare professional with expertise in neurodisabilities.
Whilst NICE guidelines represent best practice, they are not mandatory, although the Government expects healthcare commissioners to take the guidelines fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local population, and to work towards their implementation over time.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payments recipients do not meet four points on a single descriptor for (a) arthritis, (b) cardiovascular diseases, (c) respiratory diseases, (d) multiple sclerosis and neuropathic diseases, (e) cancer, (f) cerebral palsy and neurological muscular diseases and (g) psychotic disorders.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information you requested can be found in Table 2.28 in the Pathways to Work: Evidence Pack: Chapter 2.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 42060 on Pathways to Work: Impact Assessments, whether her Department’s further programme of analysis will include a disaggregation of data by category of (a) disability and (b) health condition.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A breakdown of the impact of the reforms on disability overall has been published as part of an Equality Analysis of the Spring Statement package of measures (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pathways-to-work-reforming-benefits-and-support-to-get-britain-working-green-paper/spring-statement-2025-health-and-disability-benefit-reforms-equality-analysis).
Data on the health conditions of UC claimants being placed in the LCWRA has been published (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-work-capability-assessment-statistics) and will continue to be taken into account in the future programme of analysis.
Analysis of those who do not score 4 points in at least one daily living activity for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has now been undertaken and is provided in the table below. This shows the volume of claimants with the 18 most common disabling conditions in receipt of the PIP daily living component in January 2025, as well as the volume and proportion of these claimants who were awarded less than 4 points in all ten daily living activities.
Health condition category | Volume of PIP Claimants in receipt of Daily Living component | Claimants awarded less than 4 points in all daily living activities | |
Volume in each condition group | Proportion in each condition group | ||
Cancer | 70,000 | 23,000 | 33% |
Anxiety and Depression | 587,000 | 282,000 | 48% |
Autistic Spectrum Disorders | 206,000 | 13,000 | 6% |
Learning Disabilities | 188,000 | 7,000 | 3% |
ADHD / ADD | 75,000 | 14,000 | 19% |
Psychotic Disorders | 112,000 | 26,000 | 23% |
Other Psychiatric Disorders | 90,000 | 25,000 | 28% |
Arthritis | 279,000 | 214,000 | 77% |
Chronic Pain Syndromes | 173,000 | 118,000 | 68% |
Back Pain | 194,000 | 154,000 | 79% |
Other Regional Musculoskeletal Diseases | 136,000 | 97,000 | 71% |
Cerebrovascular Diseases | 56,000 | 19,000 | 34% |
Epilepsy | 36,000 | 11,000 | 30% |
Multiple Sclerosis and Neuropathic Diseases | 80,000 | 38,000 | 48% |
Cerebral Palsy and Neurological Muscular Diseases | 47,000 | 11,000 | 24% |
Other Neurological Diseases | 97,000 | 35,000 | 36% |
Respiratory Diseases | 83,000 | 45,000 | 55% |
Cardiovascular Diseases | 61,000 | 38,000 | 62% |
All Other Conditions | 272,000 | 126,000 | 46% |
Source: PIP Administrative Data
Notes:
- Visual Diseases
- Other General Musculoskeletal Diseases
- Endocrine Diseases
- Hearing Disorders
- Gastrointestinal Diseases
- Genitourinary Diseases
- Skin Diseases
- Autoimmune Diseases (Connective Tissue Disorders)
- Infectious Diseases
- Diseases of the Liver, Gallbladder or Biliary Tract
- Haematological Diseases
- Metabolic Diseases
- Multisystem and Extremes of Age
- Diseases of the Immune System
- Anxiety disorders - Other / type not known
- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Stress reaction disorders - Other / type not known
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Phobia - Specific
- Phobia - Social
- Agoraphobia
- Panic disorder
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Anxiety and depressive disorders - mixed
- Conversion disorder (hysteria)
- Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)
- Dissociative disorders - Other / type not known
- Somatoform disorders - Other / type not known
- Depressive disorder
- Bipolar affective disorder (Hypomania / Mania)
- Mood disorders - Other / type not known
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he is taking steps to (a) strengthen the right to flexible working for people with neuro-disabilities and (b) make it the default position for all employers to offer reasonable adjustments for people with (i) cerebral palsy and (ii) other neuro-disabilities.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Employment Rights Bill contains measures to make flexible working the default for all employees, except where it is not reasonably feasible.
A job applicant or employee with cerebral palsy will almost certainly meet the Equality Act 2010's definition of disability, which is a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. As such, the law will already have the "default" position that an employer must make reasonable adjustments for that person, provided that they are aware that the person has the condition, in the case of job applicants. In the case of neuro-diverse people, it is appropriate for employers to use the definition set out above, to make decisions on the need for reasonable adjustments.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) level of support and (b) opportunities to access long-term education for people with cerebral palsy with no cognitive impairment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth to the answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22163.
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, if he will have discussions with (a) NHS England and (b) integrated care boards on the adequacy of NICE guidelines on the management of cerebral palsy in people under 25 years old with no cognitive impairment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines are developed by experts based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive public and stakeholder engagement. They represent best practice and should be taken fully into account by healthcare professionals in the care and treatment of their patients.
NICE is responsible for making decisions on updates to its guidelines and keeps its guidelines under surveillance to ensure that they reflect developments in the evidence base. NICE is not due to update its guideline on the assessment and management of cerebral palsy in people under 25 years old at the current time. If relevant new evidence emerges, NICE will follow its processes and consider whether any update is needed to the current guideline.
To support those people under 25 years old who are diagnosed with cerebral palsy, NHS England has worked with key stakeholder organisations, including children and young people, and their families and carers, to develop a framework targeted to integrated care systems to be used a supportive tool to aid the commissioning of high-quality services for children and young people with cerebral palsy, including those in the transition period to adult services.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions in England, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country. The GIRFT National Speciality Report provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally.
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, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the care continuity for individuals with Cerebral Palsy with no cognative impairment moving from childrens care pathways to adult support networks.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
There are no current plans to make such an assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on cerebral palsy in under 25 year olds, guidance code NG62, includes recommendations on the transition from children to adult services and stresses the requirement to ensure that an individual's developmental, social, and health needs are addressed when planning and delivering the transition. The guidance also sets out key considerations to be made around transition planning, including: clear pathways involving both the young person's general practitioner and named clinicians in adult services; ensuring sufficient training for the professionals involved in the care; clear communication at each point of transition; and a named worker to support continuity of care.
Further NICE guidance on cerebral palsy in adults, code NG119, recommends that adults with cerebral palsy should be offered an annual review of their clinical and functional needs, as part of ongoing care, carried out by a healthcare professional with expertise in neurodisabilities.
NHS England has worked with key stakeholder organisations, including children and young people, and their families and carers, to develop a framework targeted at integrated care systems to be used as a supportive tool to aid in the commissioning of high-quality services for children and young people with cerebral palsy, including those in the transition period to adult services.
In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to delivering a service model for zero to 25-year-olds to improve young people’s experiences and health outcomes. To aid implementation of this model, the Children and Young People’s Transformation programme collaborated with key partners to develop national guidance on how the National Health Service can better support young people’s transfer into adolescent and adult services. The guidance is due to be published shortly and will be hosted on the NHS England website. The policy aligns with existing NICE guidelines, code NG43, and outlines the principles and steps of a zero to 25-year-old service model, along with best practice examples from across the country.
The Children and Young People’s Transformation programme is working with the NHS Youth Forum to gather the experiences and ideas of young people on adolescent healthcare. The forum will develop recommendations to inform future policies on healthcare transition, including how to deliver developmentally appropriate and person-centred care.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to education, health and care plans for children with cerebral palsy in education settings.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government is committed to strengthening the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system for all children and young people, including those with cerebral palsy, to ensure they receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
For too long the education system has not met the needs of all children, particularly children and young people with SEND, with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care (EHC) plan processes.
The department is aware that local authorities have experienced increased demand for EHC plans and the subsequent demands on workforce capacity. This government wants to ensure that EHC needs assessments are progressed promptly and plans are issued quickly in order to provide children and young people with the support they need to help them achieve positive outcomes.
Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, the department helps the local authority to identify the barriers and put in place an effective recovery plan.
The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND. The department has also announced £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to invest in places for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision.
The department is working closely with experts on reform, recently appointing a strategic advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider next steps.