Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 reduce the waiting time for patients with significant levels of HLA antibodies to get a kidney transplant.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation services in the United Kingdom, including management of the NHS Organ Donor Register and the transplant waiting list.
Kidney allocation in the UK is based on a national, points-based matching system, via the UK Kidney Offering Scheme, which prioritises recipients according to factors including blood group compatibility, time on the waiting list, tissue match, age, and the presence of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) antibodies, known as sensitisation. This system was updated in 2019 with the aim of reducing long waiting times. Under this scheme, the most highly sensitised patients are placed in the highest priority category to receive donor organs, as it can be hard to find suitable organs for these patients.
Patients and clinicians can access the NHSBT’s Kidney Risk Communication Tool, which provides indicative outcomes for patients with similar characteristics after joining the transplant waiting list. The Kidney Risk Communication Tool is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.odt.nhs.uk/transplantation/tools-policies-and-guidance/risk-communication-tools/
In addition, in December 2024, the Department-led Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation (ISOU) made recommendations regarding high-resolution HLA-typing for organ donors and recipients to enable better matching and improve transplantation outcomes. Information on the ISOU is avaiable at the following link:
In addition, further details are avaiable in a report, at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 12 January 2026 to Questions 89643, what health risks his Department has identified in relation to first cousin marriage; and whether the Department intends to publish the (a) evidence and (b) analysis informing those assessments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Disease Registration Service is working with hospital trusts to continually improve the quality and completeness of data.
The Born in Bradford study provides the most definitive United Kingdom based evidence of risk of congenital anomalies. Results of this are publicly available at the following link:
https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/our-impacts/findings/?sf_paged=2
This includes a summary of health risks associated with consanguinity, specifically in Born in Bradford Evidence Briefing on Genes and health: Inheritance and Risk, available at the following link:
The Born in Bradford data indicated the risk of genetic abnormalities doubles, from 3% to 6%, in infants where parents are first cousins, similar to the increase in risk for mothers of white British origin older than 34 years old. Further information on this is available at the following link:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23830354/
Other publicly available academic research also indicates that miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal mortality are higher among consanguineous couples than non-consanguineous couples, with further information available at the following two links:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1508879/
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 ensure children receive appropriate NHS funded physical health and mental health support while they are waiting for an EHCP.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health services for children and young people are based on clinical need. Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can access National Health Services, including community services, in the usual way, within the local offer, regardless of whether they have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or are awaiting an EHCP. Any health need over and above the local offer should be accessed via an individual funding request to the integrated care board.
Regardless of whether or not a child or young person has an EHCP, a school or other institution has a legal duty under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support children with health conditions, which is outlined in statutory guidance, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3
Work is currently underway to stabilise and improve NHS mental health services, but there is much more to do. Through the 10-Year Health Plan we will accelerate the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. We will boost the capability and capacity of staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating. As part of this, we will invest £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff, which will inform future phases of the programme.
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 proportion of NHS costs provided to EHIC and GHIC holders is not recovered from the patients’ country of residence; and what steps he is taking to reduce that proportion.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service recovers the costs of treatments provided to overseas visitors through a range of routes, including Immigration Health Surcharge, direct cost recovery from chargeable patients, and reciprocal healthcare arrangements.
Under the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme, visitors, students, and certain workers from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are entitled to necessary healthcare during their temporary stay in the United Kingdom. The Global Health Insurance Card is issued by the UK to cover costs incurred abroad, so is not used to recover NHS costs.
NHS providers request an EHIC from the patient and record details of the care provided. These costs are then submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) who coordinate recovery of costs from the EEA and Switzerland in line with the rules set out in international agreements. Under these agreements, participating countries are obliged to reimburse eligible costs where a valid EHIC card has been presented for state funded medically necessary healthcare.
The vast majority of costs submitted under the EHIC scheme are successfully recovered from patients’ country of residence. However, a small number of rejections can occur for a range of reasons, including incomplete or inaccurate details being submitted by the NHS facilities. Digitisation of systems for reporting EHIC claims has helped reduced the incidence of these types of clerical errors. The NHSBSA monitors rejected claims and works closely with NHS providers to improve data quality and maximise recovery.
The Department continues to work with NHS to ensure that the NHS recovers all costs it is entitled to under our international agreements.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to review the amount of hours of training that newly qualified counsellors and psychotherapists have to complete before being eligible to work in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of individual employers to set any specific requirements for their roles and to ensure staff meet patient safety, clinical quality, and professional competence.
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 effectiveness of York Frailty Hub at preventing hospital admissions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England have not undertaken a formal assessment. However, the Government recognises the York Community Frailty Hub as a positive example of integrated frailty care in supporting safe and timely discharge and moving care into the community. As outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan, in 84% of cases, the York Community Frailty Hub has helped paramedics avoid hospital transfers by providing advice after an ambulance is dispatched, enabling patients to be safely supported in the community rather than in hospital.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
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 18 December 2025 to Question 86060 on NHS: Recruitment, what guidance has been provided to NHS bodies on the (a) length and (b) type of criminal conviction that would prevent a person from being employed in the NHS under the Widening Access Demonstrator programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions NHS Employers to issue employer guidance under the NHS Employment Check Standards, which includes the criminal record check requirements in the National Health Service in England. The standards direct employers in the NHS to use Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) guidance to understand which offences are disclosed or filtered, depending on age, sentence length, and offence type. The DBS applies statutory filtering rules to decide which convictions are shown on DBS certificates in England and Wales. DBS rules apply across all sectors for roles needing criminal record checks. Charities like Unlock and NACRO offer extra advice and guidance for individuals with criminal records and employers hiring them.
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 encourage the use of digitalised the Learning Disability Health Passport across ICBs.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published guidance in June 2024 on health and care passports, which are designed to provide health and social care professionals with essential information about people with a learning disability and other disabled people to ensure appropriate care and treatment. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/health-and-care-passports/
The guidance makes clear that the passport can be in a physical or digital form, or a combination of formats, and that embedding the passport should take account of local population needs, local digital strategies, and reasonable adjustments.
The National Health Service is working towards a digitally enabled health and social care system to allow information to flow between IT systems, care providers, and settings. However, there remains a significant digital inclusion gap for people with a disability, so digital approaches must remain inclusive and avoid excluding those experiencing digital poverty.
Local systems are therefore encouraged to make both paper and digital versions of the passport available, and to explore ways to convert paper-based passports into digital formats to support interoperability. This aligns with the principles set out in NHS England’s guidance.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating NICE’s guideline on anxiety disorders; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the guideline in reflecting patient choice of therapies.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment of the potential merits of updating the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on anxiety disorders or the adequacy of the guideline in reflecting patients’ choice of therapies.
NICE is an independent body and its guidelines are developed by experts on the basis of a thorough assessment of the evidence and through extensive engagement with interested parties. NICE is also responsible for making decisions on whether its published guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence or emerging issues not in the scope of the original guideline.
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 elements of the Adult Social Care strategy does he intend to publish this year as the first phase of the strategy.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are progressing towards a National Care Service with around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. We are already putting the core foundations of a National Care Service in place, aligned with the Government’s three objectives for adult social care:
In December 2025, the department launched a new publication 'Adult social care priorities for local authorities: 2026 to 2027', which sets out priority outcomes and expectations for local authority delivery of adult social care from 2026/27.
The Government recognises the vital importance of coproduction and is committed to working with people who draw on care and support, and those with professional experience of care to design and develop a National Care Service that is shaped by what matters most to people. But we know that meaningful, lasting reform of adult social care cannot be delivered overnight. Phase 1 of the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care will report this year, making recommendations to address immediate priorities for adult social care, laying the groundwork for long-term reform. We will consider and respond to the recommendations when Baroness Casey reports and work will then begin on implementing phase 1 recommendations, alongside ongoing reforms in the Department.