Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of research funding is allocated to epilepsy research; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of this proportion.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has committed a total of over £25.5 million since 2018/19 on epilepsy research, including over £9.5 million in 2024/25. This research spans discovery science and fundamental understanding of the disease, through to new approaches for diagnosis and intervention. MRC also supports epilepsy research within its portfolio of larger investments. For example, this includes a new MRC Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Restorative Neural Dynamics which aims to develop brain stimulation devices to treat a range of conditions including childhood epilepsy, and the UK data platform for Traumatic Brain Injury research (TBI-REPORTER) which includes post-traumatic epilepsy as one of the areas of focus.
The Department of Health and Social Care also funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has funded a range of ongoing epilepsy research and has awarded £12.8 million to studies in the last five financial years. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including alternative treatments for epilepsy.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the impact of resident doctors’ industrial action on NHS capacity and patient safety during the winter period.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government made a comprehensive offer to resident doctors in writing on 8 December 2025. The offer included a range of measures, such as introducing emergency legislation to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates, increasing the number of training posts over the next three years, and measures which would put money back in doctors’ pockets. The offer was rejected by the British Medical Association (BMA) resident doctor membership on 15 December 2025.
As a result, planned strikes from 17 to 22 December went ahead, posing risks to the National Health Service during a critical period. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has taken all possible steps to prevent these strikes, including offering to extend the BMA’s mandate to allow further consultation.
The Department and the NHS are now focused on managing the combined challenges of flu and industrial action, having already vaccinated 17 million people, 170,000 more than last year, and 60,000 more NHS staff, and are working closely with frontline leaders to prepare for disruption.
An operational response, led by NHS England, is stood up to prepare and mitigate the impacts of strikes and to ensure patient safety is maintained. As has always been the case, employers will seek to mitigate the impact of any industrial action, including seeking to agree voluntary patient safety mitigations with trade unions at a local or national level with support from NHS England, and rearranging elective care, as appropriate, to maintain urgent services.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
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 (a) improve capacity within the social care system and (b) reduce delayed discharges.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with NHS England and local authorities to improve social care capacity and reduce delayed discharges.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) provided over £1 billion to local authorities for adult social care over 2025/26, based on their areas’ needs, to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers, increasing adult social care workforce recruitment and retention, and reducing waiting times for care.
We are also supporting the digitisation of adult social care, which can strengthen capacity within the social care system through productivity improvements. 80% of registered care providers now have digitised care records, benefitting 89% of people who draw on care. Digital care records can save time spent on administrative tasks, releasing over 20 minutes per care worker, per shift.
The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. In addition, the 2025/26 policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays.
Starting in the financial year 2026/27, we will reform the Better Care Fund. This reform will provide a sharper focus on ensuring consistent joint NHS and local authority funding for those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation and reablement. We will set out further details in due course.
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, if his Department will provide emergency funding to areas with the most severe dental shortages, including Great Yarmouth.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural and coastal areas such as Great Yarmouth.
In 2024/25, the Government invested around £3.7 billion on primary care dentistry. We want to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Great Yarmouth constituency, this is the NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most.
ICBs are also recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on shorter term improvements to the NHS dental contract on 16 December 2025. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with the greatest needs first while incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Welltower on ensuring that its acquisition of HC-One, Barchester and Care UK does not have adverse impacts on a) care staff and b) care home residents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any discussions with Welltower about their recent investment in the acquisitions of care homes.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of Welltower’s acquisition of Barchester Healthcare on the market concentration in London and the South East. Merger investigations on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently of Government. The CMA determines which transactions to review based on statutory thresholds and whether there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. The Government keeps the merger control regime under regular review to ensure it remains fit for purpose and works effectively within the current regulatory environment.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people, and to develop and build local market capacity. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.
Whilst fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
Private providers also hold much of the responsibility for recruitment and retention as adult social care employers. However, English local authorities do also have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Welltower's acquisition of HC-One, Barchester and Care UK on the quality and affordability of care in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any discussions with Welltower about their recent investment in the acquisitions of care homes.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of Welltower’s acquisition of Barchester Healthcare on the market concentration in London and the South East. Merger investigations on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently of Government. The CMA determines which transactions to review based on statutory thresholds and whether there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. The Government keeps the merger control regime under regular review to ensure it remains fit for purpose and works effectively within the current regulatory environment.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people, and to develop and build local market capacity. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.
Whilst fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
Private providers also hold much of the responsibility for recruitment and retention as adult social care employers. However, English local authorities do also have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care.
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 information his Department holds on the number of children in Great Yarmouth constituency that were unable to access an NHS dental appointment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not held on the number of children in the Great Yarmouth constituency that were unable to access a National Health Service dental appointment in the last 12 months.
The data for the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, which includes the Great Yarmouth constituency, shows that 55% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2025, compared to 57% in England. This year, resources have also been provided to Norfolk County Council to support 5,605 children through the national supervised toothbrushing programme.
On 16 December, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on interim improvements to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments, and will reduce clinically unnecessary check-ups. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to prevent CHC funding reductions from compromising care for vulnerable patients in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England have made clear that any work to manage costs by integrated care boards (ICB) must be carried out with clear safeguards in place to protect frontline responsibilities.
ICBs remain legally responsible for the operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and must have regard to the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, which is available at the following link:
Funding for CHC is not ringfenced, but is calculated using the ICB allocation formula. Individual ICBs should decide how best to use their overall funding allocation to deliver their statutory functions, including CHC. Any ICB measures to manage costs should not impact on an individual’s eligibility for CHC, or their care. This means that eligible individuals must continue to receive appropriate care that meets their assessed needs.
NHS England has issued a good practice guide for CHC to support National Health Service staff by providing practical ways for ICBs to enhance system efficiency and deliver sustainable services.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 ensure that CHC funding cuts do not reduce access to care in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England have made clear that any work to manage costs by integrated care boards (ICB) must be carried out with clear safeguards in place to protect frontline responsibilities.
ICBs remain legally responsible for the operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and must have regard to the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, which is available at the following link:
Funding for CHC is not ringfenced, but is calculated using the ICB allocation formula. Individual ICBs should decide how best to use their overall funding allocation to deliver their statutory functions, including CHC. Any ICB measures to manage costs should not impact on an individual’s eligibility for CHC, or their care. This means that eligible individuals must continue to receive appropriate care that meets their assessed needs.
NHS England has issued a good practice guide for CHC to support National Health Service staff by providing practical ways for ICBs to enhance system efficiency and deliver sustainable services.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department is supporting NHS staff who may be adversely affected by CHC funding reductions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England have made clear that any work to manage costs by integrated care boards (ICB) must be carried out with clear safeguards in place to protect frontline responsibilities.
ICBs remain legally responsible for the operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and must have regard to the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, which is available at the following link:
Funding for CHC is not ringfenced, but is calculated using the ICB allocation formula. Individual ICBs should decide how best to use their overall funding allocation to deliver their statutory functions, including CHC. Any ICB measures to manage costs should not impact on an individual’s eligibility for CHC, or their care. This means that eligible individuals must continue to receive appropriate care that meets their assessed needs.
NHS England has issued a good practice guide for CHC to support National Health Service staff by providing practical ways for ICBs to enhance system efficiency and deliver sustainable services.