Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2025 to Question 83834, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) short and (b) medium term impact of this policy on the number of nurses in training between 2026 and 2030; whether an equality impact assessment has been undertaken.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department continues to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), to support apprenticeships and skills provision. The DHSC has confirmed that it will fund the ongoing provision of level 7 apprenticeships in five professions including Specialist community public health nurse, District nurse and Advanced clinical practitioner.
The department continues to fund level 7 apprenticeships for young people under the age of 22, and those under 25 who are care leavers or have an Education, Health and Care Plan.
The government completed an equality impact assessment ahead of making its decision on the changes to level 7 apprenticeship funding.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of employer-partnership programmes on labour market participation in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions continually monitors and evaluates the impact of its programmes on labour market participation across Great Britain, including in Buckingham and Bletchley.
Employer-partnership initiatives such as the Restart Scheme, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), and Skills Bootcamps are subject to independent evaluation, which informs future policy and contractual decisions. For example, the Restart evaluation by the Learning & Work Institute and Ipsos UK, and the Skills Bootcamp evaluation by CFE Research, are publicly available on GOV.UK.
Locally, Jobcentres in Aylesbury and Milton Keynes deliver a range of employer-led programmes to help people move into sustainable employment. These include tailored support through Restart, mentoring circles with NHS and other employers, and SWAPs in sectors such as construction, logistics, retail, and health and social care.
The Department’s wider reforms will create a new service across Great Britain, enabling people to access support to find good, meaningful work and progress in employment, while working with employers to overcome recruitment barriers and meet skills needs.
Through these measures, the Department aims to improve labour market participation and ensure inclusive employment opportunities in Buckingham, Bletchley, and beyond.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of 27 March 2025, Official Report, column 447WH, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the research study led by Dr Rebecca Bromley entitled Fetal Exposure Study (FES): Understanding Clinical Teratogen Syndromes.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will give careful consideration to the findings of Dr Bromley’s study, once the research has been finalised and published. The Department recognises the importance of robust, evidence-based research in shaping policy and improving outcomes for those affected by prenatal exposure to certain medications. We remain committed to reviewing emerging evidence and will ensure that the implications of this study are fully assessed in the context of existing and future departmental policies.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
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 extend marketing restrictions for HFSS products to outdoor advertising.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Health Mission, the Government is committed to prevention and to tackling obesity by creating a fairer, healthier food environment. We are already delivering the biggest public health reforms in a generation which includes restrictions on junk food advertising on television and online, a ban on high-caffeine energy drinks for children under 16 years old, and boosting the impact of the advertising and promotion restrictions by applying the updated Nutrient Profiling Model. We are also introducing mandatory healthy food sales reporting for large food businesses and will set new targets to increase the healthiness of sales in all communities, a world first.
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, which is a particular problem in some of the most deprived areas.
We welcome the work metropolitan mayors are progressing to support action being taken at a local level to ban junk food marketing across the public transport networks and public spaces that are controlled locally.
We currently have no plans to extend the marketing restrictions on products that are high in fat, sugar, and salt to outdoor advertising, but we continue to review the evidence of the impacts on children of advertising for less healthy food and drink products and will consider where further action is needed.
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, what guidance his Department has provided to NHS dentists on monitoring patients on orthodontic waiting lists to ensure that their (a) oral health and (b) treatment priority status are kept under review.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the average waiting times for National Health Service orthodontic treatment is not held centrally.
Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry and orthodontic services, to meet the needs of the local population.
To support ICBs in their duties, NHS England has published several documents, including clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity, to ensure that resources invested by the NHS in specialist care are used in the most effective way and provide the best possible quality and quantity of care for patients. The clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/clinical-standards-for-dental-specialties-orthodontics/
The Government invests approximately £3 billion in primary care dentistry every year. Dental budgets are ringfenced and NHS England reserves the right to direct that any unused resources are used to improve dental access. Exceptionally, the unspent allocation may be returned to NHS England.
The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
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, what recent estimate she has made of average waiting times for NHS orthodontic treatment for children and young people; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the average waiting times for National Health Service orthodontic treatment is not held centrally.
Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry and orthodontic services, to meet the needs of the local population.
To support ICBs in their duties, NHS England has published several documents, including clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity, to ensure that resources invested by the NHS in specialist care are used in the most effective way and provide the best possible quality and quantity of care for patients. The clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/clinical-standards-for-dental-specialties-orthodontics/
The Government invests approximately £3 billion in primary care dentistry every year. Dental budgets are ringfenced and NHS England reserves the right to direct that any unused resources are used to improve dental access. Exceptionally, the unspent allocation may be returned to NHS England.
The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
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, how her Department plans to support integrated care boards to meet demand for NHS orthodontic services within existing budgets before April 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the average waiting times for National Health Service orthodontic treatment is not held centrally.
Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry and orthodontic services, to meet the needs of the local population.
To support ICBs in their duties, NHS England has published several documents, including clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity, to ensure that resources invested by the NHS in specialist care are used in the most effective way and provide the best possible quality and quantity of care for patients. The clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/clinical-standards-for-dental-specialties-orthodontics/
The Government invests approximately £3 billion in primary care dentistry every year. Dental budgets are ringfenced and NHS England reserves the right to direct that any unused resources are used to improve dental access. Exceptionally, the unspent allocation may be returned to NHS England.
The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department last reviewed NHS Blood and Transplant’s donor eligibility policy on the use of unlicensed injectable substances.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of blood is of the upmost importance. The Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005 mandate permanent deferral from blood donation for anyone with a history of non-prescribed intravenous or intramuscular drug use, with further information available in the Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005, at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/50/schedule/part/3/paragraph/2n3
The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, which provides expert advice to all the United Kingdom’s governments, conducted a full review of the donor selection criteria in 2017. This includes the use of unlicensed injectable substances.
The Joint United Kingdom (UK) Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services’ Professional Advisory Committee provides expert guidance to the UK blood services. Their Whole Blood and Component Donor Selection Guidelines, which includes the guidance relating to injectable tanning agents, were last updated on 18 July 2025.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evaluation commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research on support for unpaid carers funded through the Better Care Fund undertaken in 2023-24.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds independent research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). This project is funded through the NIHR Policy Research Programme.
The research undertaken in 2023/24 was a development phase, which is the preparatory stage for a larger research project, with findings available at the following link:
https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpec/assets/documents/CPEC-Briefing-Note-2-Support-for-unpaid-carers.pdf
The second phase of the evaluation is ongoing. Findings from the second phase will be made publicly available after research is completed in July 2028.
The publication of research is led by the research team and in line with NIHR commitments to the transparent and independent publication of high-quality research. The views expressed in research outputs are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 30 October (HL10679), other than the bill team, how many officials are working in (1) the Department of Health and Social Care, (2) NHS England, on evaluating or devising implementation of the policy set out in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is neutral on the principle of assisted dying and whether the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill becomes law.
Currently there is no implementation team. Bill officials are currently working to fulfil the Government’s duty to the statue book, providing technical drafting support and technical workability advice on clauses. Should the bill gain Royal Assent, some of this work could be deployed to inform an implementation programme.