Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure people experiencing homelessness can access mental health and addiction support.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department worked closely with the Department for Health and Social Care as part of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop our cross-government strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness. Our Plan includes measures to support people experiencing homelessness to access mental health and drug and alcohol support.
The Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping will continue to work across government to maintain collaboration and assure delivery of the commitments in this strategy. It will also publish progress reports every two years that monitor progress on the implementation of measures set out in this strategy, including our national cross-government targets.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North 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 the adequacy of Yellow Card reporting for capturing cases of Topical Steroid Withdrawal.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.
In 2021, the MHRA published a Public Assessment Report (PAR), reviewing the available evidence for topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) reactions, which can be found at the following link:
To inform this report, a comprehensive review of the available evidence was undertaken. This included an assessment of data from Yellow Card reports to identify suspected spontaneous cases of TSW reactions associated with topical corticosteroids on the Yellow Card database, as well as information from the published literature and other medicines regulators. The review considered whether regulatory action was required to minimise the risk of these events.
The PAR resulted in two Drug Safety Updates in 2021 and 2024 which aimed to raise awareness on the risk of TSW reactions and introduce new labelling. Both updates are available, respectively, at the following two links:
The MHRA uses the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) to code suspected adverse drug reactions reported by patients and healthcare professionals via the Yellow Card scheme. MedDRA is an international, clinically validated medical terminology used by regulatory authorities and the biopharmaceutical industry throughout the entire regulatory process, from pre-marketing to post-marketing safety monitoring. MedDRA is updated twice annually, and new terms can be proposed by any MedDRA users. Following the publication of the PAR, the term “Topical steroid withdrawal reaction” was added to MedDRA as a lower level term in version 24.1 and made available to users of the Yellow Card website in February 2022 as part of routine updates. This helps to ensure that more reports pertaining to TSW reactions are appropriately captured. The MHRA continues to closely monitor Yellow Card reports submitted for suspected TSW reactions.
The MHRA continues to engage with the British Association of Dermatologist who have also released a statement, which is available at the following link:
https://cdn.bad.org.uk/uploads/2024/02/22095550/Topical-Steroid-Withdrawal-Joint-Statement.pdf
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research or analysis is being carried out to understand the factors contributing to the increasing demand for mental health services, including factors other than overdiagnosis and diagnostic practices.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research into mental health via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Through the NIHR, the Department is investigating a wide range of factors that contribute to the increase in mental health prevalence across England, including social, environmental, demographic, and biological factors. The Department also funds several population surveys that measure the national prevalence of mental health disorders.
The Department recently launched an independent review led by Professor Peter Fonagy into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism. This review will examine the evidence on rising demand for mental health, autism, and ADHD services so people receive the right support at the right time and in the right place. The review will produce a short report setting out conclusions and recommendations for responding to the rising need, both within the Government and across the health system and wider public services.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with technology companies used by his Department on the automated processing of emails that contain personal health information.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not process personal health information. This type of information is handled by NHS England and other authorised health bodies.
We work closely with NHS England to ensure that any technology used across the health system meets the legal and ethical standards required for safeguarding personal health data. This includes data protection, information governance, and the safeguards required for handling health data. These checks ensure that any system we bring into use aligns with the rules that protect people’s privacy.
When personal data is processed as part of specific programmes, it is handled by approved delivery partners under strict governance arrangements. These partners act only on behalf of the Department and in line with data protection law and contractual controls.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 22 January 2026 to Question 106495, what assessment has been made of the reasons for the 25% reduction in the numbers of those aged 75 and over self referring for bowel cancer screening between 2023 and 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
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 merits of Local Authorities commissioning gambling harms prevention; and of their capacity to do so.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In April 2025, the statutory gambling levy came into effect to fund the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harm across Great Britain. In its first year, the levy has raised nearly £120 million, with 30% allocated to gambling harms prevention activity.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is responsible for the implementation and oversight of the gambling levy, remains confident that levy commissioners are best placed to make decisions on the future of their work programmes regarding the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harms.
As prevention commissioners, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) in England and the Scottish and Welsh administrations continue to work collaboratively on the development of their respective work programmes, drawing on expertise from across the system. OHID will employ a ‘test and learn’ approach as they transition to the new levy system, to better-understand what interventions are most effective in preventing gambling harms at a local, regional, and national level.
Local authorities are well placed to play a central role in preventing gambling‑related harms across local communities. An OHID-led stocktake of local authority activity in this space indicated that whilst some activity is already underway, there is appetite within local authorities to do more.
OHID are developing a fund for all upper-tier local authorities across England, which will aim to strengthen local capacity to tackle gambling‑related harm by facilitating improved understanding of local need and supporting the development of effective local and regional networks. This will be delivered alongside the Gambling Harms Prevention: Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise grant fund which launched in January to fund voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations to deliver prevention activity across England until March 2028. Further information on the Gambling Harms Prevention: Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise grant fund is avaiable at the following link:
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where responsibility for national leadership and accountability for obesity and weight management services will sit following the abolition of NHS England; and what steps he is taking to prevent regional variation in access to those services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to ensure continuity of specialist weight management services, including workforce capacity and multidisciplinary provision, during the transition following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 diagnostic services for cancer in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.
The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.
Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.
The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Road Safety Strategy, published on 7 January, what steps they will take to secure the linkage of police-recorded collision data and healthcare data between the Department for Transport, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care; and what the timescale is for that work.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The DfT, together with NHS England, and DHSC are piloting the secure linkage of police collision and healthcare data to better understand the causes and impacts of road traffic incidents. Using the Pre-hospital Research and Audit Network (PRANA) framework, this initiative will enhance analysis of injury severity, collision outcomes, and NHS burden. This work started in 2025 and the department has published an initial feasibility study which can be found on the government website with further updates expected over the next year.