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: 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: 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: 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.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 potential health impacts for consumers since fruit and nut bars were included in the location restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products from October 2022.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever.
Restrictions on the promotion by location of ‘less healthy’ food and drink products in stores and their equivalent places online have been in place since 2022. These restrictions apply to categories of products that impact most on childhood obesity, which were chosen following public consultation. Only fruit and nut bars that are high in saturated fat, salt, or sugar are in scope of the restrictions. The products that are in and out of scope of the restrictions are set out in the Schedule to the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 and we have published guidance to support industry on complying with the restrictions.
We published a detailed impact assessment on the costs to industry and the benefits of this policy on the GOV.UK website. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the restrictions and will publish a Post Implementation Review within five years of the restrictions taking legal effect.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 potential impact of including fruit and nut bars under the restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products on economic growth.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever.
Restrictions on the promotion by location of ‘less healthy’ food and drink products in stores and their equivalent places online have been in place since 2022. These restrictions apply to categories of products that impact most on childhood obesity, which were chosen following public consultation. Only fruit and nut bars that are high in saturated fat, salt, or sugar are in scope of the restrictions. The products that are in and out of scope of the restrictions are set out in the Schedule to the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 and we have published guidance to support industry on complying with the restrictions.
We published a detailed impact assessment on the costs to industry and the benefits of this policy on the GOV.UK website. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the restrictions and will publish a Post Implementation Review within five years of the restrictions taking legal effect.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has engaged formally with the General Medical Council about the interaction between mandatory pre-referral Advice and Guidance requirements and the professional duty of GPs under General Medical Council guidance to refer patients to specialist care when it is in their best interests to do so; and whether a joint risk assessment or patient safety review has been carried out to ensure GPs are not placed in conflict between their contractual and professional obligations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In early 2026, we concluded the consultation on the changes to the GP Contract for 2026/27. As part of this process, we expanded the consultation to engage with a wider set of primary care stakeholders, these were the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner’s Committee England, the Royal College of General Practitioners, National Voices, the Institute of General Practice Management, Healthwatch England, the NHS Confederation, and the National Association of Primary Care.
The Department has not engaged formally with the General Medical Council (GMC) regarding the interaction between the 2026/27 contractual changes and the professional duties set out in GMC guidance. No formal joint risk assessment or joint patient safety review has been undertaken. However, the Department and NHS England considered the potential risks, benefits, and wider impact of the policy changes as part of standard policy-development processes.
The 2026/27 GP Contract embeds the current Advice and Guidance (A&G) enhanced service funding into core practice funding. The contract does not mandate the use of A&G in all circumstances. Instead, practices are expected to use A&G prior to or in place of a planned care referral, where clinically appropriate, and to follow locally agreed referral pathways. This reflects longstanding planned‑care referral practice and does not alter existing legal or professional accountability frameworks for general practitioners (GPs).
GPs, and other primary care referrers, remain professionally accountable for making appropriate clinical decisions, including referring patients to specialist care when it is in the patient’s best interests. The use of A&G does not override those responsibilities or place GPs in conflict between contractual and professional obligations. NHS England continues to support clinicians through guidance, pathway design, and local governance arrangements to ensure A&G is used safely, proportionately, and in a way that preserves clear clinical accountability.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken a risk assessment for changes to the GP contract regarding Advice and Guidance due to be implemented from 1 April 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not undertaken a formal risk assessment for the changes made to the GP Contract regarding Advice and Guidance (A&G) due to be implemented from 1 April 2026. However, in developing this policy, the Department and NHS England have carefully considered the potential risks, benefits, and wider impact as part of the standard policy-development process.
As part of the 2026/27 GP Contract, we are embedding the current A&G enhanced service funding within core practice funding. Practices will be required to use A&G prior to or in place of a planned care referral where clinically appropriate and to follow locally agreed referral pathways.
Between April 2025 and December 2025, A&G has avoided 1.3 million patients being unnecessarily added to hospital waiting lists by providing them with expert advice in their community.