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 support suppliers with extended GP online consultation hours.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) have been required to offer and promote an online consultation tool to their registered patients since 2021. The change introduced in October 2025 regarding online access explicitly requires that all modes of contacting the practice are available at least during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30. This means parity for walk-in, phone, and online access. This requirement builds on policies that have been in place for several years to encourage the shift to modern GPs.
To support suppliers, NHS England sets clear functionality and accessibility standards for digital tools used in primary care. These standards enable suppliers to develop consistent and high-quality digital solutions, including online consultation tools.
The recent online access requirement mainly impacts practices rather than suppliers, as it focuses on ensuring existing online consultation tools remain available during core hours rather than introducing new tools. NHS England provided extensive support to practices in the lead up to the introduction of these requirements and continues to do so. This includes reaching out to any practices that are struggling to help them to prepare, including providing guidance, webinars, case studies, and bringing in GPs and practice staff who are experts in service redesign and improvement in GP services.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with GPs on booking appointments online.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2025, as part of the annual contract negotiations, the Department consulted with the General Practitioners Committee England, the representative body for general practitioners (GPs). During these discussions, the General Practitioners Committee England agreed to make online booking a contractual obligation for all practices.
From 1 October 2025, all general practices have been contractually required to offer contact online with their GP during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, including to request appointments, bringing online access in line with walk-in and telephone services.
In support of practices working to meet this requirement, NHS England and integrated care boards have provided assistance where required. The Department is committed to engaging with GPs and other stakeholders to make sure these targets are both achievable and reflective of local population needs, as well as to address any barriers to delivery
We are reversing decades of plummeting patient satisfaction. Over 73% of patients now say that it is easy to contact their practice, which is up 13 percentage points since the election.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of routine blood tests in England administered in a GP surgery.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data regarding the proportion of routine blood tests administered in England in a general practice.
Local enhanced services, such as blood tests, are negotiated and agreed locally, and are commissioned by integrated care boards to fit the needs of the local population. General practices can choose whether or not they would like to participate in directly providing these services. These services can vary in scope and funding across the country.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools report safeguarding concerns during family court proceedings.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for this government, and schools and colleges play a critical role in this.
They are supported by the statutory guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE), which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
Local authorities, police, and health services share an equal statutory duty to work together, and schools and colleges must work with local safeguarding partners to protect children.
KCSIE makes clear that all staff have a responsibility to identify and respond to any safeguarding concerns and stresses the importance of effective information sharing at the right time to ensure children receive the support they need. This includes ensuring clear processes and principles are in place for sharing information not only within the school or college and with children’s social care, but with safeguarding partners and other relevant organisations.
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, following the recent announcement by NHS England that a life-extending drug for prostate cancer will shortly be available on the NHS, if he will hold discussions with the Northern Ireland Health Minister on providing that drug to patients in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - 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: 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, what steps his Department is taking to support Primary Care Networks to deliver improved access to community-based and preventative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary care networks (PCNs) build on existing primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated, and more integrated health and social care for our communities. The introduction of PCNs helps to deliver economies of scale, boost capacity, and improve access. The PCN contract, the Network Contract DES, which determines the funding PCNs receive and the services they provide, is discussed with the General Practitioners Committee (GPC) of the British Medical Association as part of annual general practice contract consultation between the Department, NHS England, and the GPC.
Community health services are an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service, working closely with primary care, social care, and other services. To support the shift to neighbourhood health, we have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits for community health services. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks. In addition, systems have been asked to increase the capacity of community health service to meet growth in demand and to work to standardise provision of core services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 support parents whose children have been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Planning for a large-scale trial across the National Health Service is underway, where hundreds of thousands of babies will be screened for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) from next year to help build the evidence base needed to support a national screening programme.
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has asked the Department to look at whether this evaluation can start sooner, and whether it can be expanded to involve all babies, rather than two thirds as currently planned and will be reporting back to the SMA community on this.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
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 regional disparities in life expectancy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking bold action to tackle the social determinants of health to build a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer. We are committed to increasing the amount of time people spend in good health and preventing premature deaths, with a vision of ensuring that all individuals, regardless of background or location, live longer, healthier lives.
We know everyday life poses greater health risks to the most disadvantaged in society, and that the current model of care works least well for those who already experience disadvantage and are far more likely to have complex needs.
To help tackle this, we will distribute National Health Service funding more equally locally, so it is better aligned with health need. We will free up funding to allow us to move resources more quickly to areas of higher health need, through our plan to remove deficit support funding, worth £2.2 billion in 2025/26, starting from financial year 2026/27.
We know that the Carr-Hill formula is considered outdated, and evidence suggests that general practitioners serving in deprived parts of England receive on average 9.8% less funding per needs adjusted patient than those in less deprived communities, despite having greater health needs and significantly higher patient-to-GP ratios. This is why we are currently reviewing the formula to ensure that resources are targeted where they are most needed.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to ensure that there is adequate funding of sexual health services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department provides funding for sexual health services through the Public Health Grant, which is allocated to local authorities in England. Sexual health is one of a number of public health services funded through the Public Health Grant, and the Department does not specify how much is spent on sexual health specifically. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning sexual health services to meet the needs of their populations.
In 2025/26 the Public Health Grant, which funds Sexual and Reproductive Health services, rose to £3.884 billion. This was a cash increase of £224 million compared to 24/25, providing local authorities with an average 6.1% cash increase.
We will continue to invest in local authorities' vital public health work, providing over £13.4 billion over the next three years through a consolidated ringfenced Public Health Grant. This will support vital local health services, including sexual health services.
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 steps is he taking to devise an alcohol strategy which reduces (a) use and (b) harmful use and (c) dependency on alcohol.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to shortening the amount of time spent in ill health and preventing premature deaths by addressing the key preventable drivers of poor health, such as alcohol.
Action to prevent harms from alcohol feature in several current strategies and plans. The National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan commits to some crucial steps to help people make healthier choices about alcohol, including making it a legal requirement for alcohol labels to display health warnings and consistent nutritional information. The Men’s Health Strategy outlines the impact alcohol can have on men’s health, and several initiatives to address this, including piloting a new brief intervention to target the rise in cardiovascular disease deaths from combined alcohol and cocaine use among older men. The upcoming National Cancer Plan will continue the work to shift from treatment to prevention, including for alcohol-related cancer risks.
To support better outcomes for people experiencing harmful drinking, the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment were published in November. All drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding is channelled through the Public Health Grant, with over £13.45 billion allocated across three years, including £3.4 billion ringfenced for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. Furthermore, in 2025/26, in addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department is providing a total of £310 million in targeted grants to improve treatment services and recovery support, including housing, employment, and inpatient detoxification.