Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will review the covid-19 vaccination eligibility criteria for (a) frontline workers and (b) carers to ensure that (i) those who work in high-risk environments, (ii) those who provide unpaid care, (ii) carers aged 70 and over, (iv) those who have previously had contact with infectious diseases and (v) those in who cannot afford to access private vaccination services are not excluded from receiving the vaccine.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice is available at the following link:
The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 on 26 June 2025. The announcement is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/advice-accepted-on-autumn-2025-covid-19-vaccination-programme
In its advice for autumn 2024, the JCVI advised that in the era of highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants, any protection offered by the COVID-19 vaccine against the transmission of infection from one person to another is expected to be extremely limited. Therefore, the indirect benefits of vaccination, for instance vaccinating an individual such as an unpaid carer or household member in order to reduce the risk of severe disease in other people, are less evident now compared with previous years. In 2025, the JCVI conducted an extensive review of the scientific evidence surrounding the impact of vaccination on the transmission of the virus from frontline health and social care workers (HSCWs) to patients, the protection of HSCWs against symptoms of the disease, and staff sickness absences. In line with the JCVI’s advice, frontline health and social care workers and unpaid carers are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination under the national programme for autumn 2025. The focus of the programme is now on those who remain at greatest risk of serious disease and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination.
As with all NHS-provided vaccination programmes, only those eligible are offered vaccination. Any of the groups mentioned above who are otherwise eligible, because of their age or due to immunosuppression, are encouraged to take up the offer of vaccination.
As with all vaccines offered as part of the national programme in England, there is no charge for COVID-19 vaccination for those who are eligible. There is therefore no cost to those individuals that might discourage uptake.
The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and has no plans to change the eligibility for autumn 2025. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on undertaking a sprint review.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The sprint review is initiated and led by the Ministry of Defence, working with the Department of Health and Social Care and other Governmental and private organisations. A series of meetings are planned for late 2025 which will explore and progress the joint plans to meet the recommendations outlined in the Strategic Defence Review.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve funding for speech and language (a) support and (b) specialists for children in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department, in collaboration with NHS England, has extended the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme, to strengthen early identification and intervention for children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.
Under the Best Start in Life strategy, the department continues to invest in evidence-based initiatives such as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, which has demonstrated significant impact on oral language and early literacy, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
Recognising the critical role of speech and language therapists, the department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
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 steps his Department is taking to ensure that the cancer service specifications for teenagers and young adults published in 2023 are (a) funded and (b) implemented as part of the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving outcomes and patient experience for teenagers and young adults with cancer. The Department recognises that cancer in teenagers and young adults is different to cancer in adults and children, and that age-appropriate care is necessary regarding treatment, diagnosis, and wider support, as per the NHS England service specifications.
The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more teenagers and young adults survive. The Department and NHS England are taking a range of steps to improve waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment across all cancer patient groups. This includes the NHS delivering an extra 40,000 scans, appointments, and operations each week to ensure that patients are seen and treated as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, the Department set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. The Department has asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the Faster Diagnosis Standard, to reduce the number of patients, including teenagers and young adults, waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including those that are most common in teenagers and young adults. Further information on cancer signs and symptoms is available on the NHS.UK website.
The national service specifications relating to the provision of Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) Cancer Services describes the service and clinical standards, as well as the relationships that need to be in place with other services that patients might need to access. Alongside the publication of the TYA Cancer Service Specifications, NHS England provided investment to establish and run networks, whose purpose is to drive improvements to pathways and the co-ordination of care. As of 1 April 2025, the responsibility for commissioning TYA Cancer Services was delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs). This means that ICBs are responsible for ensuring continued compliance with national service specifications.
TYA Cancer Services provide a level of psycho-social support for patients dealing with cancer diagnosis and treatment through cancer nursing and clinical support. Teenagers and young adults with cancer may also access support for their mental health needs in mental health services commissioned by ICBs, for example Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
The National Cancer Plan, due to be published in the new year, will have a commitment to children and young people, aged between zero and 24 years old with cancer, as a priority group. The plan will cover the entire pathway and aims to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer.
On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 help support (a) innovation and (b) collaboration in improving public health outcomes in rural areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Upper and single tier local authorities have a statutory duty to take steps to improve the health of local people. Under this duty, local authorities commission a range of public health services and are responsible for determining the most effective approaches to the delivery of these services, taking account of different local needs, including the needs of rural areas. This can include testing new approaches to service delivery, implementing technology-based interventions or improving data analytics to better understand population health. In 2025/26, we provided funding of £3.884 billion to local authorities for their public health duty, through the Public Health Grant. This is an average 6.1% cash increase, or 3.4% real terms increase, compared to 2024/25.
NHS England is responsible for commissioning further specified public health services, including national immunisation and screening programmes. The 10-Year Health Plan signaled innovative approaches in these public health services, including a transformed NHS app that will be linked with screening programmes allowing individuals to receive reminders and book appointments online for breast, cervical and bowel cancer screening. Working with integrated care boards, commissioning of these services should also take account of local needs, including the different urban and rural characteristics of communities.
The 10-Year Health Plan also announced that, from 2026, we will set the expectation that every single or upper tier local authority participates in an external public health peer review exercise, on a five-year cycle, with the results directly informing local plans. These will support local government to improve public health services, including those in rural areas, through sharing innovations and adopting best practices.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people initially coded with (a) pre‑diabetes and (b) type 2 diabetes who were later found to have early or established type 1 diabetes in the most recent period for which data is available; and what steps his Department is taking with NHS England to help improve diagnostic accuracy in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not collected centrally on the numbers or proportions of people initially coded with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes who were later found to have type 1 diabetes. The change of patient diagnosis would be reflected by a change of diagnosis code in clinical systems. However, the way that data extraction works for national audits means that it is not possible to track these types of changes.
Published data on diabetes registrations by GP practice can be found in the quarterly National Diabetes Audit (NDA) data release. This also contains data on care process and treatment target attainment as well as the number of new diagnoses by calendar year.
The latest quarterly report is available at the following link:
The NDA supports improvements in diagnosis by assessing whether people with diabetes are receiving the recommended diagnostic checks and to identify variations and shortfalls in care delivery against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
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 gambling harm prevention campaigns reach rural and remote communities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The introduction of the new statutory levy on gambling operators, which came into effect in April 2025, guarantees sustainable funding for the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harms which is entirely independent of the influence of the gambling industry.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), as the gambling harms prevention commissioner in England under the levy, acknowledges the role that public health and awareness-raising campaigns can play in preventing health harms, including harms associated with gambling.
OHID is working at pace to develop its gambling harms prevention programme, working closely with the gambling harms prevention commissioners in Scotland and Wales. OHID is considering the role of prevention campaigns in the future prevention programme at a national and Great Britain-wide level and will consider the reach of such activity across specific populations such as rural and remote communities. Further details will be confirmed before the end of this financial year.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will include a target in a future Rare Disease Action Plan on proportionate access to multi-indication medicines for (a) rare and (b) ultra-rare disease patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs is a priority under the UK Rare Diseases Framework. The 2025 England Rare Diseases Action Plan was published in February 2025 and reports on progress against existing actions under this priority. This included reviewing the effectiveness of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, and the Innovative Medicines Fund, which are key access initiatives aimed at facilitating earlier availability of innovative treatments. Our review specifically assessed how effective these pathways are in supporting timely access to therapies for individuals living with rare diseases.
As set out in the Life Sciences Sector plan, we will be introducing a new and proportionate approach to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisals and NHS indication-specific based pricing agreements for medicines with large numbers of indications, strong long-term outcome data, and low affordability risk. This will support treatments for rare diseases. There are currently no plans to introduce an access target, as it is essential to review the available evidence on a case-by-case basis. However, the Government remains committed to improving access to medicines for rare and ultra-rare diseases.
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the availability of treatment for those with Friedreich’s Ataxia.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs across all rare conditions. In February, we published the fourth England action plan reporting on progress.
Following extensive consultation, NHS England has revised the national service specification for specialised neurology, which now includes an annex providing greater clarity for neurology sub-specialties. This includes the categories of both movement disorders and neurogenetics into which Friedreich’s Ataxia falls. Every specialised National Health Service neurology centre could and should see patients with Friedreich’s Ataxia.
Although Skyclarys (omaveloxolone) is now licensed for those aged 16 years old and over, following an update from the company, Biogen, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has had to terminate its appraisal of this medicine as the company has withdrawn its evidence submission. NICE will review its decision if the company decides to make a new submission. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/TA1061
To avoid the possibility of creating a way to circumvent the appraisal process, NHS England is unable to fund medicines where companies have not engaged with NICE.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) women and (b) men eligible for NHS health checks have had those checks in the last year, broken down by parliamentary constituency in the East of England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on NHS Health Checks broken down by sex or by parliamentary constituencies. Local authorities, who are responsible for commissioning the NHS Health Check, may hold this information locally.
The NHS Health Check should be offered once every five years to eligible people, which means if everyone expected was offered a check and completed one, we would expect 20% of the total eligible population to receive a check each year.
The following table shows the proportion of the total five-year eligible population who had an NHS Health Check in each local authority in the East of England in 2024-2025:
Area | Percentage of the total five-year eligible population who received an NHS Health Check in the year 2024/25 |
England | 9.0 |
East of England | 9.4 |
Cambridgeshire | 13.2 |
Luton | 11.9 |
Essex | 11.4 |
Norfolk | 11.0 |
Southend-on-Sea | 10.5 |
Thurrock | 8.8 |
Peterborough | 7.8 |
Hertfordshire | 7.2 |
Suffolk | 6.0 |
Central Bedfordshire | 5.4 |
Bedford | 5.3 |
To improve access to the programme we are piloting an online NHS Health Check so that people can undertake a check at a time and place convenient to them.