Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Young Futures Hubs will be co-located with, or work with, Family Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is delivering a network of 50 Young Futures Hubs by March 2029. This is a cross-government priority, coordinated with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care.
While local authorities will decide on precise locations based on community needs, we expect co-location to be a key consideration where it improves accessibility and strengthens local support for young people.
Eight early adopters have been announced. The early adopter phase will look at how Young Futures Hubs interact with existing services, including Family Hubs.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the Care Quality Commission’s inspection capacity in Gloucestershire; and what steps are being taken to help ensure that people in (a) South Cotswolds constituency and (b) the UK have access to up-to-date and reliable inspection information when choosing care providers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Health is a devolved matter for the rest of United Kingdom.
The Department is aware of the need for the CQC to make improvements in the number of assessments it undertakes, following Dr Penny Dash’s review of the CQC’s operational effectiveness, published in October 2025.
The CQC is being supported and held to account for making improvements, including increasing the number of provider assessments and the timely publication of assessments reports.
Assessment reports are published on the CQC’s website and accessible to the public for information when choosing care providers.
From January 2026, the CQC will prioritise inspections of services with outdated ratings and those not previously assessed, while continuing to respond to risks. These steps aim to provide timely and reliable inspection information for individuals choosing care providers, including those in the South Cotswolds.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he intends to publish the document entitled Pathways Trial for GnRHa - Guidance for CYPGS Clinicians.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A document entitled PATHWAYS TRIAL for Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Analogues (GnRHa) – Guidance for CYPGS clinicians is referenced in the published research protocol for the PATHWAYS study of puberty suppression. The Department does not hold a copy this document and would not expect to hold it, and therefore has no plans to publish it.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with industry on the expansion of manufacturing sites for glioblastoma treatment development.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 22 December 2025 by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to Question 99356.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 99357, tabled on 11 December 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 January 2026 to Question 99357.
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 assessment has been made of the merits of providing training to mental health teams to support children with lifelong speech and language difficulties.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such specific assessment has been made. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education 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.
In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can now also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is going into its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.
In partnership with NHS England, the Department for Education has extended the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs in early years settings and primary schools.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department is taking to ensure that AI systems used in A&E departments comply with NHS data governance, patient privacy and cybersecurity requirements.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is dedicated to ensuring patient privacy while leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. We have engaged patients and the public in discussions on how and why health data should be accessed for AI systems. The Department and NHS England have implemented robust data protection measures, including Data Protection Impact Assessments and adherence to UK General Data Protection Regulation, to safeguard patient data. All National Health Service trusts and providers must complete a Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) assessment to fully assure that the technologies they use are safe, effective, and that data is protected. This includes technologies used in accident and emergency departments. The DTAC evaluates products to ensure NHS standards for safety, usability, and accessibility are met, with clear evidence requirements and scoring criteria included for each area.
The accident and emergency demand forecasting tool, within the NHS England Federated Data Platform, is trained on pseudonymised data, and with only aggregate non-patient level outputs reaching the dashboard users. Regular risk reviews occur to ensure it is as low risk as possible in terms of cyber security and patient privacy and that it follows NHS data governance.
The Department and the NHS England Information Governance Team provide guidance for patients, health care professionals, and information governance professionals on the use of AI in the NHS and NHS settings such as accident and emergency departments.
The Department works closely with the NHS and its suppliers to share threat intelligence on evolving AI cyber threats.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the press release of 28 December 2025 on AI use in hospitals, how many NHS Trusts have deployed AI‑based triage or patient‑flow tools in A&E departments as of January 2026; and what criteria were used to select participating sites.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not know how many artificial intelligence (AI) based triage or patient flow tools are in accident and emergency (A&E) departments. The A&E demand forecasting tool discussed in the 28 December 2025 press release ‘Faster treatments and support for health workers as AI tackles A&E bottlenecks’ is not a triage or patient flow tool, as it analyses anonymous, aggregate data to generate a forecast of demand on A&E in terms of daily numbers of patient arrivals at A&E and admissions three weeks in advance. It serves as one additional source of information to support local decision making in managing A&E departments.
The A&E demand forecasting tool is available via the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) to all National Health Service trusts and integrated care systems in England and is currently being used across 50 organisations. The FDP provides a single, real-time view to improve patient flow, elective recovery, operational decisions, and patient care, alongside national services supporting management, planning, and performance improvements.
Individual NHS trusts are free to make their own decisions regarding the adoption and deployment of AI tools, including those that are part of the FDP. As such, the Department does not have access to specific numbers of how many trusts are utilising AI-based triage or patient-flow tools in A&E departments.
We are not currently undertaking any work to ensure interoperability between AI triage tools and existing NHS electronic patient records. Local organisations should consider the interoperability of systems, including electronic patient records systems.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled Faster treatments and support for health workers as AI tackles A&E bottlenecks, published on 28 December 2025, what steps are being taken to ensure interoperability between AI triage tools and existing NHS electronic patient record systems.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not know how many artificial intelligence (AI) based triage or patient flow tools are in accident and emergency (A&E) departments. The A&E demand forecasting tool discussed in the 28 December 2025 press release ‘Faster treatments and support for health workers as AI tackles A&E bottlenecks’ is not a triage or patient flow tool, as it analyses anonymous, aggregate data to generate a forecast of demand on A&E in terms of daily numbers of patient arrivals at A&E and admissions three weeks in advance. It serves as one additional source of information to support local decision making in managing A&E departments.
The A&E demand forecasting tool is available via the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) to all National Health Service trusts and integrated care systems in England and is currently being used across 50 organisations. The FDP provides a single, real-time view to improve patient flow, elective recovery, operational decisions, and patient care, alongside national services supporting management, planning, and performance improvements.
Individual NHS trusts are free to make their own decisions regarding the adoption and deployment of AI tools, including those that are part of the FDP. As such, the Department does not have access to specific numbers of how many trusts are utilising AI-based triage or patient-flow tools in A&E departments.
We are not currently undertaking any work to ensure interoperability between AI triage tools and existing NHS electronic patient records. Local organisations should consider the interoperability of systems, including electronic patient records systems.
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, what recent assessment he has made about the readiness of the NHS to tackle co-ordinated cyber attacks.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the past year, we have invested £37.6 million across health and social care, building on the £338 million invested since 2017. Through our ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, we are tackling the changing cyber risk head-on, expanding protection and services to better protect the health and care system.
NHS England’s Cyber Operations team provides 24/7 monitoring and expert support to National Health Service organisations who have been impacted by cyber-attacks. This includes specialist, on the ground, certified incident response services free of charge to NHS organisations who have been severely impacted by cyber incidents as well as technical and operational support to contain, investigate, and remediate incidents. Furthermore, we have developed guidance for leaders involved in cyber incidents to ensure there is a clear policy and process for how to respond across all elements of incidents.
We have a process in place to identify lessons and implement improvements following cyber incidents. Following the Synnovis cyber-attack in 2024, the Department and NHS England have made improvements to critical communications processes, added additional measures to improve resilience in the supply chain, and have set out clearer roles and responsibilities in incident management.
In 2023, a Health and Care Cyber Security Strategy was launched. Pillar 5 of the strategy focuses on exemplary response and recovery, as set out in the strategy health and care organisations should run annual cyber exercises to ensure there is a well-practiced and rapid response when incidents do occur.