Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost to the NHS of phasing out the use of mercury amalgam fillings in dentistry.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dental amalgam is a well-established, safe, and effective dental filling material. Current policy is to restrict and phase down the use of dental amalgam to reduce any environmental impacts. This includes regulations to ban the use of amalgam in baby teeth, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and children under 15 years old, except when deemed strictly necessary for specific medical needs. This has been in place since 2018.
The cost of the National Health Service phasing out the use of mercury amalgam fillings would vary depending on the timing of a phase out and other relevant factors, such as the price of alternative restorative materials.
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dentistry. This includes a recent systematic review of the environmental and health impacts of amalgam fillings and other restorative materials. This study has been completed, and the findings will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they have made into the research and development of appropriate alternatives for mercury amalgam fillings in dentistry.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dental amalgam is a well-established, safe, and effective dental filling material. Current policy is to restrict and phase down the use of dental amalgam to reduce any environmental impacts. This includes regulations to ban the use of amalgam in baby teeth, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and children under 15 years old, except when deemed strictly necessary for specific medical needs. This has been in place since 2018.
The cost of the National Health Service phasing out the use of mercury amalgam fillings would vary depending on the timing of a phase out and other relevant factors, such as the price of alternative restorative materials.
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dentistry. This includes a recent systematic review of the environmental and health impacts of amalgam fillings and other restorative materials. This study has been completed, and the findings will be published in due course.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help support pharmacies to increase their productivity.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has recently implemented several reforms to help pharmacy contractors to improve dispensing efficiencies and productivity. Since January 2025, pharmacies have been allowed to dispense medicines in the original manufacturers package if the quantity in the package is 10% higher or lower than the quantity ordered on prescription. This removes the need to open and split the package in a pharmacy and increases the number of orders that can be processed through automated dispensing facilities. From 1 October 2025, pharmacies can make arrangements with a pharmacy owned by a different legal entity to undertake routine assembly of medicines on their behalf. This is known as hub and spoke arrangements and enables smaller pharmacies to utilise automated dispensing hubs to free up time for the pharmacist in the spoke pharmacy to focus on patient facing tasks.
On 17 July, draft regulations were laid with the aim to modernise the rules concerning who must supervise the dispensing of medicines in pharmacies. The Government is working to make the National Patient Prescription Tracking Service available in each pharmacy to help patients track their prescriptions online through the NHS App. This will reduce the burden on busy general practitioners and pharmacy teams and will avoid patients queuing at a pharmacy only to find that their prescription is not ready. The Government has also launched a public consultation on giving pharmacists increased flexibilities to supply an alternative product against a prescription, if the prescribed item is not available.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) dentists currently accepting NHS patients, (b) NHS dental appointments offered each month and (c) patients seeking NHS dentistry in Newton Abbot constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not held on the number of National Health Service dental appointments offered each month.
As of 3 November 2025, there were nine NHS dentist practices in the Newton Abbot constituency, with two showing as ‘accepting new child patients when availability allows’ and two showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’.
This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
The data for the Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Newton Abbot constituency, shows that 29% of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2025, compared to 40% in England.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 increase the numbers of walk-in consultation services at pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community pharmacies already provide a range of walk-in consultation services, including blood pressure checks, contraception consultations, and Pharmacy First. They also provide health advice and sell over the counter medicines for minor illnesses.
The Government is committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. For example, on 29 October the Pharmacy Contraception Service was expanded so that pharmacies can supply emergency contraception free of charge, to ensure women have access to a consistent offer across England.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a multi-year averaging mechanism for pension growth calculations in the Health and Social Care Pension Scheme in Northern Ireland to mitigate the impact of delayed pay awards.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Policy in respect of Public Service Pension Schemes in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken to incentivise investment and reduce barriers in brain cancer research for the pharmaceutical and life science sector in the areas of (1) transitional research, (2) early stage research, (3) advanced novel therapeutics, (4) optimisation of existing treatments, and (5) repurposing drug trials.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering brain cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Medical Research Council (MRC) funds fundamental discovery science through to the development and testing of new diagnostics, therapeutic interventions, and preventive measures whilst the NIHR funds applied health and care research that turns discoveries into new or improved treatments, diagnostics, medical technologies, or services.
To bridge the gap between early findings and clinical practice, the NIHR supports translational research focused on patient-centred research and healthcare. NIHR Biomedical Research Centres take leading-edge cancer research from the laboratory and rapidly translate it into clinical trials. The NIHR Innovation Observatory scans for new opportunities to identify emerging interventions or those with the potential for repurposing.
In September 2024, the NIHR announced a new approach to transform the outcomes for patients and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing the lives lost to cancer. This will be done by maximising the United Kingdom’s clinical trials potential and working with the life sciences sector to make the UK a leading location for brain tumour research.
The UKRI offers a broad range of funding opportunities to support brain tumour research, including in partnership with industry. The MRC has actively engaged with brain tumour researchers to encourage applications The MRC has also identified the need for better disease models which informed a recent MRC-led funding opportunity to improve human in vitro models, and which resulted in two awards that will explore improving the use of human brain tumour tissue in research.
The Government is committed to furthering our investment and support for high-quality brain tumour research, ensuring that funding is used in the most meaningful and impactful way, and the NIHR continues to welcome further high-quality proposals from researchers to inform approaches to prevention, treatment, and care in relation to brain cancer.
The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the National Health Service will improve diagnosis and outcomes for all cancer patients in England, including for those with brain cancer.
The Government also supports the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 consistent access to post-diagnostic dementia support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under our 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
We will deliver the first ever Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
The Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia. It will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
Those with dementia will also benefit from more joined up care through co-created care plans.
We have also published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool to help simplify best practice. This is available at the following link:
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
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 dementia-specific training provided to primary care staff.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want all health and care staff to have received the appropriate training to provide high quality care to people with dementia. Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.
The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available at the following link:
https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/info-hub/dementia-2015-updated-2018/
There are a variety of resources available on the NHS England E-learning for Health platform, including a programme on dementia care, designed to enhance the training and education of the health and social care workforce
Our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
We will deliver the first ever Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
The Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
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 access to NHS dental services for (a) carers and (b) frontline care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a National Health Service dentist including for carers and front-line workers. We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments from 1 April 2025.
ICBs are also recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August 2025. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.