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, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of waiting times at York Hospital on patients in January (a) 2025 and (b) 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that patients have been let down for too long, with their health deteriorating, while they wait for the care they need.
Reducing waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are putting patients first by ensuring that they are seen on time and that they have the best possible experience of care across the country, including at York Hospital.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, with an interim target of 65% by March 2026.
The Department does not hold waiting list data for January 2026 and at a hospital level. The latest waiting list data for the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as of November 2025, shows that 55.7% of waits are below 18 weeks, a 0.2 percentage point improvement from the previous year.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of people who were treated following female genital mutilation in the (a) 2022–23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are a range of services available to support women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) including treatment, counselling, and further referrals to urology and gynaecology, depending on clinical need.
Data published in the FGM Enhanced Dataset records the number of FGM-related attendances in National Health Service settings. This data is published by NHS England and shows health attendances by patients where FGM was identified or a procedure for FGM was undertaken. The FGM data is collected by NHS healthcare providers in England, including acute hospitals, mental health services, and general practices. The following table shows the number of individual women and girls who had an attendance where FGM was identified, and the number of FGM related attendances for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
Period | Number of individual women and girls who had an attendance where FGM was identified | Number of FGM related attendances |
April 2022 to March 2023 | 6,000 | 12,660 |
April 2023 to March 2024 | 6,695 | 14,395 |
April 2024 to March 2025 | 6,980 | 16,300 |
Source: Female Genital Mutilation, Annual Report - April 2024 to March 2025, published by NHS England, and available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/female-genital-mutilation/april-2024-to-march-2025
Notes:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Significant payments to companies, £25,000 and over, are published by month as part of the Department’s transparency data. This provides the most up to date data, including the companies used to deliver advertising and marketing. They are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/spending-over-25-000--2
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support for training and resources his Department is providing to integrated care boards to help implement the NHS England Maternal Care Bundle, published on 6 January 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Maternity care remains a top priority for NHS Providers, as demonstrated in the planning guidance.
Maternity services in England are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs), and maternity funding, which formed part of the System Development Funding in 2024/25, has been transferred to ICB core allocations for 2025/26. This is to allow local leaders more flexibility to serve the needs of their population.
The Maternity Care Bundle codifies best practice standards and therefore the implementation of the Maternity Care Bundle will be absorbed through ICB core allocations.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department is undertaking into the treatment of Polycystic Kidney Disease.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including polycystic kidney disease.
These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on polycystic kidney disease to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Details of NIHR funding allocated to individual research awards are openly published and updated quarterly on the ‘Open Data’ site of the NIHR website, at the following link:
https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/explore/
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 trends in the level of capacity pressures in secondary care, particularly at hospital front doors, including staffing levels and bed availability.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over the winter months. The NHS has been preparing for winter this year with the development and thorough testing of winter plans. This includes the surge capacity and escalation plans in place across all NHS and urgent care services.
While pressure has remained high on acute hospitals, performance has been better than in previous years. Accident and emergency four-hour performance was 73.8% in December 2025, an improvement of 2.7% from 71.1%. Provisional data for December 2025 indicates that there were 101,200 General and Acute beds open for all acute trusts, 93,177 of which were occupied, a 92.1% occupancy rate.
There were 431,000 more accident and emergency attendances in year-to-date to December in 2025/26 compared to the same period in 2024/25, a growth rate of 2.1%. This is lower than the average annual growth rate of 3.9% seen between 2021/22 and 2024/25 but still represents an increase in pressure on accident and emergency departments. Growth in attendances at consultant-led type 1 accident and emergency departments was 1.8% in the year to date to December in 2025/26, greater than the average annual growth rate of 1.3% between 2021/22 and 2024/25.
The 10-Year Health Plan aims to expand urgent care capacity through Neighbourhood Health Services and virtual wards, enabling patients to receive care closer to home where clinically appropriate and easing pressure on hospitals.
The responsibility for staffing levels should remain with clinical and other leaders at a local level, responding to local needs, supported by guidelines by national and professional bodies, and overseen and regulated in England by the Care Quality Commission.
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, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by his Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were no transactions (subscription costs or otherwise) identified with LinkedIn as a supplier in the 2024/25 financial year.
The total subscription fees identified for the 2024/25 financial year was £832,046.14. This figure excludes membership of the World Health Organisation which is considered a subscription for accountancy purposes.
The response relates to the core department only and does not include information relating to the department’s arm’s-length bodies.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
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 24 November 2025 to question 91186, what steps he will take to engage with BSL signers to assess the suitability of products which use Artificial Intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of a number of emerging products that use artificial intelligence (AI) to support translation into British Sign Language (BSL). While the Department and its arm’s‑length bodies are not currently developing or deploying such tools, any AI‑enabled BSL product proposed for use in the National Health Service would be subject to the medical device regulatory framework and will be assessed to determine whether it falls with the scope of regulations. These regulations are underpinned by rigorous standards established by bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Health Research Authority, and the Care Quality Commission. These agencies ensure that AI technologies are safe, effective, and cost-effective within healthcare settings.
For any BSL products that use AI, meaningful engagement with BSL signers and Deaf communities is critical. This includes ensuring that proposed products provide a high quality service, meet communication needs identified through the Accessible Information Standard, and reflect the lived experience of BSL users. NHS England continues to work with stakeholders, including BSL users, providers, and representative groups, to improve accessibility and to understand where emerging technologies may safely and effectively support communication.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of peer reviewed medical journals publishing articles that propose alternative terminology for practices that are criminal offences in the United Kingdom on patient safeguarding and public confidence.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, regulated healthcare professionals are required by law to maintain standards in competence, ethics, patient safety, and accountability. Independent professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, safeguard public health by establishing and enforcing standards. They maintain registers and ensure accountability. Although they operate independently from the Government, they function within statutory frameworks and are accountable to Parliament.
Funders of research, including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), builds assessment of skills into the research funding process. During the grant application process, proposals undergo expert peer review where all relevant skills, including statistical skills are assessed. In addition, UKRI and NIHR are signatories to the Concordat to Support Research Integrity.
The Department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of peer reviewed medical journals publishing articles that propose alternative terminology for practices that are criminal offences in the United Kingdom on patient safeguarding and public confidence.
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, what guidance his Department provides to NHS bodies regarding engagement with external academic publications that discuss practices which are illegal under UK law.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, regulated healthcare professionals are required by law to maintain standards in competence, ethics, patient safety, and accountability. Failure to meet these standards can result in investigation, restrictions, suspension, or permanent removal from the register. Responsible employment practices are an important element in ensuring all those working in the research and innovation system can thrive and deliver high quality research.
Researchers funded through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and other publicly funded sources are expected to comply with the highest standards of research ethics and integrity, including responsible publication practices. Both UKRI and NIHR are signatories to the Concordat to Support Research Integrity.
The NIHR's support for the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment aligns with its dedication to research integrity, transparency, and fostering a culture where research excellence is measured in a more holistic and meaningful way.