Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 improve the collection of data on triple-negative breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on triple negative breast cancer for England is collected through the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS). An NDRS Quality Assurance Team is in place to identify, investigate, and monitor data quality issues, with over 130 Quality Assurance reports being run each month as well as quarterly reports to assess the completeness of key data.
To drive up the completeness of the data, progesterone receptor status, human epidermal growth factor receptor in situ hybridization status, and oestrogen receptor status are assessed as part of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Data set, which supports national registration.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that pregnant women are (a) asked about alcohol use at the earliest point in their pregnancy and (b) given healthcare to abstain from alcohol use throughout the duration of their pregnancy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pregnant women with alcohol problems are often highly vulnerable with multiple and complex support needs. The Government is committed to ensuring pregnant women with alcohol problems are supported to reduce the risk of harm to themselves and the foetus, and later the baby, and to help them to engage in antenatal care, safeguarding, and other local services.
The Department, with the support of partners from the devolved administrations, has recently developed and published the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. The guidelines have a full section dedicated to pregnancy and perinatal care which sets out the principles that guide the personalised care that women and other people who are pregnant should receive, in order to be supported to reduce, and when safe to, stop their alcohol use as quickly as possible, and that this should be done in a non-judgemental, non-stigmatising way. Healthcare staff, including in maternity and alcohol treatment services, should make every effort to provide accessible care and to engage women who are pregnant and who are alcohol dependent or drinking heavily.
The guidelines also reference the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance QS204, which recommends that pregnant women are asked about their alcohol use throughout their pregnancy and that the response is recorded. If there is evidence of failure to follow NICE guidelines, which can lead to negative outcomes, the Care Quality Commission can take appropriate action in response. NICE guidance is expected to be followed unless there is clear justification and alternative evidence-based practice for any deviation from them.
We are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion ringfenced funding over the next three years for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol treatment and recovery services and can invest in interventions that strengthen the support available to children and families, including pregnant women affected by alcohol, according to a local assessment of need.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has allocated to mental health services for people in the criminal justice system in the current financial year and the previous five financial years; and how that funding has been distributed in (a) England and (b) Suffolk and Norfolk.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally. NHS England commissions healthcare services in every prison in England, and funding for mental health services for individuals within the criminal justice system is embedded within wider service contracts. These include services such as RECONNECT and Liaison and Diversion, and the specific expenditure on mental health within these services is not collected.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which specific measures set out in the Tackling violence against women and girls strategy, published on 18 December, apply to (a) England only and (b) England and Wales.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Strategy applies to areas under UK Government responsibility. Commitments on crime, policing, and justice apply to England and Wales, while those on health, social care, housing, transport, and education apply to England only, as these are devolved matters. Reserved areas, such as online safety and immigration, apply across the UK.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department was consulted prior to the publication of the British Medical Journal article concerning terminology used in relation to female genital mutilation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department was not consulted prior to the publication of the British Medical Journal Article concerning terminology used in relation to female genital mutilation.
The Government does not tolerate female genital mutilation which can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. The focus remains on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice.
This includes a mandatory reporting duty for regulated health professionals to report cases of female genital mutilation in girls under 18 years of age to the police.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed the potential impact of ICB mergers on continuity and access in rural and semi-rural areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across larger integrated care board (ICB) footprints there will be a renewed focus on the local level as part of our commitment to delivering care closer to home, and this includes rural and semi rural areas. As outlined in our 10-Year Health Plan, neighbourhood health plans will be created and will be brought together as part of the ICBs’ plans to improve population health locally.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what procedures are in place to ensure that savings thresholds in relation to care costs are communicated to the public at both local and national level.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department undertakes an annual review of the capital limits and the social care allowances within the adult social care charging system.
The capital limits determine eligibility for means-tested local authority support with care costs, and the social care allowance rates set the statutory minimum income that individuals must retain after charging.
To communicate the rates for the upcoming financial year, 2026/27, the Department will publish a Local Authority Circular on the GOV.UK website, in early 2026. Local authorities should reflect these updates in their publicly available charging policies, ensuring consistent communication at both a local and national level.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of (a) speech and (b) language therapists in North Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community health services, including speech and language therapy, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities.
North Cornwall Speech and Language therapist services are commissioned through the National Health Service, local authorities, educational institutions, independent providers, and the non-profit sector across multiple settings within geographical areas.
Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) workforce for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly includes:
We recognise the impact that long waits to access speech and language therapy can have on the individual, their families, and carers and we are working closely with NHS England to improve timely access to community health services and on actions to reduce long waits. We have also published for the first time an overview of the core community health services, in Standardising Community Health Services, which includes speech and language therapy, and that integrated care boards should consider when planning for their local populations to support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has been made of whether children’s social care practice adequately supports parents who have experienced trauma, including childhood abuse, to recover and safely parent.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The children’s social care national framework (2023) is statutory guidance that sets direction for children’s social care practice. It describes expectations for practitioners working sensitively with whole families, including to identify and address the impact of trauma. Ofsted plays a crucial role in upholding children’s social care standards. In November 2025, Ofsted confirmed they will update their Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services inspection framework from April 2026 and continue to align inspection with the national framework.
The department has also confirmed the national rollout of Family Help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision making reforms, delivered through the Families First Partnership programme. These services will prioritise supporting the whole family and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent problems escalating, including where there are experiences of trauma. This will require excellent place-based service design driven by local authorities working effectively with local partners, including health, police and education providers, and listening closely to families.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 potential impacts of the decriminalisation of abortion on (a) clinical safeguards, (b) informed consent procedures, (c) access to alternative support services, and (d) the protection of vulnerable women.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (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, including 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, we expect all providers to have due regard to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s national safeguarding guidance for under-18 year olds accessing early medical abortion services.
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.