Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what duties the proposed policy on banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16s would place on gyms supervising under 16 sessions to enforce possible vending machine restrictions; and what assessment he has made of (a) the level of customer intervention required to enforce such restrictions and (b) the potential risks of confrontation or conflict arising from those duties.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 (a) how gyms with existing over 18 membership policies could enforce restrictions on sales via vending machines where a parent purchases a high-caffeine energy drink for a child and (b) the potential impact of this policy on predominantly adult only facilities.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 undertake trials or pilots of restrictions on high-caffeine energy drink sales through vending machines prior to national implementation, including to improve the evidence base and inform future policy decisions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains his Department's policy to restrict the age threshold to 16 for purchasing high-caffeine energy drinks; whether he is considering increasing that threshold to 18; and what assessment he has made of the compatibility of this policy with plans to lower the voting age to 16.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
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 March 2026 to Question 115765, on NHS: Redundancy Pay, whether he will consider giving the NHS Staff Council a mandate to negotiate NHS partial retirement and statutory redundancy payments with trade unions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has received correspondence from the NHS Staff Council on this matter.
The Department considers all requests from the NHS Staff Council for a mandate to negotiate and make changes to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service on a case-by-case basis. Changes to policy are considered in light of the available evidence, analysis, and relevant legal advice.
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 provide end-of-life palliative care in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone should have access to high-quality, compassionate palliative care and end of life care, regardless of where they live.
In England, integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, including those in rural and remote areas. To support ICBs in meeting this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care has been recently extended for a further two years to run to the end of 2028, delivering high-quality policy research to help improve palliative care and end of life care, and tackle inequalities.
Through our modern service framework, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many departmental employees were on performance management plans in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Although the Department holds data on performance markings, it does not centrally record the number of employees on performance management plans and therefore cannot provide figures for 2023, 2024, or 2025. Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades, non-SCS, operate under different performance management frameworks.
SCS follow the Cabinet Office-prescribed SCS framework and should have at least quarterly performance conversations, at which ratings are provided. If an SCS receives the lowest performance rating for two consecutive quarters, a performance development plan is put in place with appropriate support. If the lowest rating continues, there is an expectation that the individual is placed on formal poor performance measures in line with the SCS framework.
Delegated grades follow the Department’s Performance Health Check policy and receive mid and end of year performance ratings, supported by monthly performance conversations. Where a delegated grade performance falls below the expected standard, managers must take early, supportive action through regular performance conversations, before deciding on whether any informal or formal action is required under the Supporting Performance Improvement policy and procedure.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
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 assessment of the potential merits of a clear NHS pathway for diagnosing and managing craniocervical instability; what measures are available to protect patients; and how patient experience will inform future policy and service development.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Craniocervical instability (CCI) is a complex presentation that can arise in the context of a range of underlying conditions. At present, there is no agreed national diagnostic definition or evidence base to support a distinct National Health Service pathway. This makes the development of a single national NHS pathway challenging. At present, clinical assessment and management are undertaken through existing recognised specialties, such as neurology, rheumatology, spinal surgery and pain services, based on the individual symptoms and needs of each patient.
The NHS has established safeguards to protect patients, including the requirement that any investigations or interventions offered within the health service must meet nationally accepted standards of clinical safety, evidence and value for money. NHS England supports clinicians through relevant professional guidance, and patients who have concerns about their care can raise these with their clinical team, local service providers, or through the NHS complaints process to ensure that issues are fully addressed.
Patient experience remains central to service development, and feedback gathered through clinical services, commissioners, and patient organisations will continue to inform work to improve care for people with complex connective‑tissue and spinal conditions. As the evidence base develops, the Department will continue to work with NHS England to consider how services for people with suspected CCI can evolve, including whether changes to pathways or models of care are warranted in the future to improve consistency, safety and patient experience.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that infant feeding advice provided in healthcare settings is independent of commercial influence.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Infant feeding is critical to a baby’s healthy growth and development. The Government is committed to giving every child the best start in life and that includes helping families to access support to feed their baby.
The Department has policy responsibility for infant formula regulations in England. Legislation covers the composition, labelling, and standards, including marketing, to ensure infant formulas provide all the nutrients a healthy baby needs for development and growth and to ensure consumers are informed correctly about their contents so that families receive clear, accurate, and non-misleading information about their use. The legislation makes clear that any infant formula used in health care settings must be provided without any form of commercial promotion. Labels or information supplied to healthcare professionals must be strictly factual and scientific, with no marketing claims.
The majority of maternity services are either accredited under or are working towards the quality standards of UNICEF-UK’s Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI). The BFI sets out quality standards for complying with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. This includes requiring maternity services to avoid commercial influence and prohibit promotion of substitutes to families.
The Department is also taking action to ensure parents and carers receive proactive information on the nutritional sufficiency of infant formula, regardless of its price. In response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations on the infant and follow-on formula market, the four governments of the United Kingdom will work with the National Health Service in England, Scotland, and Wales, the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland, and other relevant bodies to develop and test clear, impartial messaging on the nutritional sufficiency of infant formula. This will include reviewing existing channels used in healthcare settings, such as online content and supporting materials provided to parents, to ensure messaging is delivered effectively and consistently.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to update the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services to include a mandatory limit on the procurement of ultra-processed foods across the public estate, including prisons and government departments.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to engage with actors across public sector supply chains and are carefully considering possible policy options, including the potential for updating the government buying standards for food and catering services (GBSF). We will continue to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), who own the nutritional elements of the GBSF, to ensure healthier options are widely accessible in all public sector settings including prisons and government departments.