Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of restrictions on television and online advertising of products high in fat, salt and sugar on levels of marketing through outdoor and brand-based advertising; and if he will consider extending restrictions to cover such advertising.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever. We are already delivering the biggest public health reforms in a generation, including implementing restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink before 9:00pm on television and at all times online from 5 January 2026.
Last year, the Government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework for local government, giving local authorities stronger, clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate. This will stop the relentless targeting of children and young people by the fast-food industry.
We also welcome the work by the metropolitan mayors to support the action to ban junk food marketing across public transport networks and public spaces that are controlled locally.
An impact assessment on the advertising restrictions was published on the GOV.UK website, which considered the impact of the restrictions on brand advertising and alternative media, including outdoor advertising, from the perspective of actions that advertisers of products that are high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) may take to mitigate the loss of revenue from the restrictions on television and online. The impact assessment made an assumption that approximately £14 million of lost revenue may be mitigated if HFSS advertisers took these actions.
We continue to review evidence of the impacts on children of advertising for less healthy food and drink products and will consider if and where further action is needed.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to digitise communications with NHS patients; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on vulnerable people in South Suffolk constituency who previously received communications by letter.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is taking steps to digitise communications with National Health Service patients through the NHS App. The app already allows patients to book, move and cancel their appointments, and communicate with their health team, as well as order repeat prescriptions.
Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services. Digital inclusion is a key priority for the NHS as it will support the shift from ‘analogue to digital’. It is one of the five national NHS England Health Inequalities Strategic Priorities, and they published a Digital Healthcare Framework which has guided the Integrated Care Board’s approach.
The NHS Digital Inclusion Framework ensures that considerations are made across all populations, including people who are vulnerable. Integrated care boards are responsible for local impact assessments, including engaging with affected populations, and ensuring no one is disadvantaged by digitisation plans. No assessment will be made on the impact of this on the population in South Suffolk by the Department.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 (i) support, and (ii) access to treatments, for people with (a) Multiple System Atrophy, and (b) Parkinson’s.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the national level, there are several initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), including the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with Parkinson’s and MSA. NICE has also published guidelines on Parkinson’s disease, namely NG71, covering the diagnosis and management in people aged 18 years old and over.
Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs across all rare conditions such as MSA. In February 2025, we published the fourth England action plan reporting on progress.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding per capita her Department provided for NHS dentistry in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards. The dental ringfenced budget is set net of patient charge revenue. It is the total spend for dental, with less expected revenue from patients, and includes primary, secondary, and community dentistry.
In 2024/25, the National Health Service dental ringfenced budget was £3.97 billion, and the population of England was assumed to be 62.1 million as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita was £63.93.
In 2025/26, the NHS dental ringfenced budget increased to £4.13 billion. The population of England is assumed to be 63.8 million, as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita is £64.78.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 access to information about the contribution of good eye care is readily available.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS.UK website sets out the importance of regular sight tests whilst also providing information about entitlement to free National Health Service sight tests. The Department also looks for opportunities to promote the importance of NHS sight tests, such as through National Eye Health Week.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the requirement to obtain a medical exemption certificate before being eligible to claim free prescriptions on people with chronic illnesses.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment.
The exemption certificate provides the patient with evidence to demonstrate to dispensers that they are entitled to have the National Health Service cover the cost of their prescriptions. The exemption certificate requirement also allows for the verification of claims for exemption, and for fraud to be identified and pursued.
It is straightforward to apply for a medical exemption certificate; the patient should ask their doctor for form FP92A. The form includes guidance on how to complete it and who can authorise it. A healthcare professional (HCP), e.g. a hospital doctor or general practitioner (GP), or at the GP’s discretion a member of the GP’s practice who can access medical records, must authorise the application to confirm the patient has the qualifying condition. If a patient is unable to complete the form themselves then a relative or HCP can complete it on their behalf and insert their name in the signature box.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 help ensure that the views of (a) patients and (b) the public continue to be heard when the responsibilities of Healthwatch are moved to Integrated Care Boards.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has accepted the recommendation of the Dash review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, to abolish Local Healthwatch.
In future, integrated care boards will be responsible for seeking patient, user and wider community input for health along with their existing duties of patient involvement, and local authorities for social care, where it can feed directly into overall strategic planning and be more closely aligned with the commissioning and provision of care.
The Dash review recommends that the strategic functions of Healthwatch England are transferred into a new patient experience directorate of the Department.
The abolition of Healthwatch England and the transfer of its functions and the changes to Local Healthwatch will require primary legislation. Timing of this is subject to the will of parliament and will happen when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to enable specialist medical equipment to reach disabled people in the community following the liquidation of NRS Healthcare.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community equipment, such as wheelchairs, hoists, and other specialist medical equipment, forms an important part of many people’s health and care support package. Such equipment can be critical in supporting better care outcomes, can enable people to remain in or return to their homes as the primary setting for care, and can avoid unnecessary stays in hospital or care homes.
Local authorities have statutory duties under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 to arrange for the provision of disability aids and community equipment to meet the assessed needs of individuals in their area. While some local authorities provide these services themselves, many have contracts with external suppliers, such as NRS Healthcare. The Department does not have a statutory role in the provision of community equipment.
However, as part of NRS Healthcare’s liquidation process, the Government made available short-term funding to the Official Receiver to cover the essential operating costs of NRS Healthcare and its affiliated companies. This funding ensured that trading was able to continue for a limited time, minimising disruption by providing crucial time for local authorities to put alternative supply in place. The Department continues to monitor the situation in affected local authorities through Partners in Care and Health, a Department funded programme run in partnership with the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding per capita her Department provided for NHS dentistry in the last financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards. The dental ringfenced budget is set net of patient charge revenue. It is the total spend for dental, with less expected revenue from patients, and includes primary, secondary, and community dentistry.
In 2024/25, the National Health Service dental ringfenced budget was £3.97 billion, and the population of England was assumed to be 62.1 million as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita was £63.93.
In 2025/26, the NHS dental ringfenced budget increased to £4.13 billion. The population of England is assumed to be 63.8 million, as per published NHS Technical Guidance. Therefore, the spend per capita is £64.78.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 potential impact of the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board’s decision to end the Minor Eye Care Service and Community Urgent Eyecare Service on (a) hospital ophthalmology waiting times, (b) the ability of GPs and pharmacists to manage urgent eye conditions and (c) patient outcomes, including the risk of avoidable sight loss.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning decisions and for ensuring that those decisions are supported by a clear evidence base, appropriate engagement, and the necessary impact assessments.