Asked by: Emily Darlington (Labour - Milton Keynes Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to the potential merits of introducing further (a) professional or (b) regulatory requirements for those undertaking ultrasound scans.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no plans to introduce further professional or regulatory requirements for those undertaking ultrasound scans. While there are no legal requirements for those carrying out ultrasound in the United Kingdom to hold specific professional qualifications or registration, all providers in England who provide ultrasound scans must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and meet its fundamental standards, which includes ensuring that anyone carrying out such activity has the appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 ensure that neonatal services are fully incorporated into the scope of the National maternity and neonatal investigation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has published the terms of reference for the national maternity and neonatal investigation. The terms of reference fully incorporate neonatal care into its aims. The full terms of reference are available at the following link:
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following data reflects employees’ self-declared disability information as of the end of September 2025. The following table shows the number of Department staff who declared as having a mental health condition by grade, as of September 2025:
Grade | Headcount |
Administrative Officer/Executive Officer | 10 |
Higher Executive Officer/Fast Stream/Senior Executive Officer | 60 |
Grade 7/6 | 50 |
Senior Civil Servant | [c] |
Total | 120 |
Note: [c] means the figure is confidential and has been suppressed due to small numbers of less than five
In addition, the following table shows the number of Department staff who declared as having a physical disability by grade, as of September 2025:
Grade | Headcount |
Administrative Officer/Executive Officer | 20 |
Higher Executive Officer/Fast Stream/Senior Executive Officer | 70 |
Grade 7/6 | 60 |
Senior Civil Servant | 10 |
Total | 160 |
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of calls (a) answered (b) abandoned was for each public helpline numbers provided by his Department and its executive agencies for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held in the format requested. The NHS England 111 calls offered and abandoned are all published. The NHS 111 Minimum Data Set was the official source of Integrated Urgent Care data from 2011 until the end of March 2021, and is available at the following link:
The annual national data is provided for each financial year. The Integrated Urgent Care Aggregate Data Collection was published as experimental statistics from June 2019, using April 2019 data, until May 2021, using March 2021 data. This data collection is available at the following link:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 increase the proportion of written parliamentary questions which receive answers within the usual time period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department takes seriously its parliamentary obligations. I am grateful to my colleagues for their patience as we respond to a very high number of written parliamentary questions (PQs).
The Department of Health and Social Care is the busiest Department in Whitehall in terms of the volume of PQs that we receive, routinely receiving in excess of 1,400 PQs each month. In the most recent period for which the Table Office has provided data on PQ performance, from 24 March to 30 June 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care received nearly double the number of PQs as the next highest volume departments, and received 15% of all PQs tabled across Whitehall.
We are taking action to improve PQ performance. This includes enhancing the data available to policy teams on outstanding casework and ensuring that the joint leadership of the Department is championing the importance of PQs.
Asked by: Lizzi Collinge (Labour - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure that individuals who have signed an S1 certificate and reside abroad are correctly recorded as non-resident for NHS purposes; and what measures are in place to prevent or recoup costs for any routine NHS treatment received in the UK by such individuals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department publishes guidance for United Kingdom-issued S1 holders when moving and retiring abroad. UK-issued S1 holders should notify the relevant UK authorities, including their general practitioner, so their general practice registration can be removed. The full guidance can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/guidance/moving-living-or-retiring-abroad
The S1 scheme is part of Reciprocal Healthcare Agreements between the UK and European Economic Area/Switzerland. In England, people with a registered UK S1 residing abroad are exempt from charging under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 while on a temporary visit. The National Health Service is required to check for the S1 entitlement before applying this exemption. There are therefore no measures in place to prevent or recoup costs from people holding a UK-registered S1. In exchange for providing this additional benefit for UK S1 holders, the UK receives a discount to costs for their healthcare in the country where they live.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what has his department identified as the drivers of the recent trend in specialised commissioning high cost devices as noted in the NHS England Financial performance update of 22 September 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most significant driver of the growth in the expenditure noted in the financial update is an increased volume in clinical activity and the use of implantable devices to treat patients. This has been driven by the overall growth in elective activity as part of the elective care recovery programme.