Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Surrey County Council on future arrangements for gathering local patient views on (a) health and (b) social care services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local patient views will continue to be gathered through a variety of means, including local Healthwatch organisations, patient participation groups, and through national and local surveys.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, we are proposing to abolish local Healthwatch arrangements to place responsibility for obtaining feedback from local communities with integrated care boards for health, and local authorities for social care.
Implementing the abolition of local Healthwatch arrangements will require amendments to primary legislation. The timing of this is subject to the will of Parliament and will happen when parliamentary time allows.
As part of her review of patient safety, Dr Dash heard from more than 100 individuals or organisations with an interest in patient safety. The Department has also conducted several engagement events with local Healthwatch organisations and their representatives. This engagement is vital to communicate plans and to answer questions. This engagement will continue as the policy is further developed.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department is supporting senior NHS staff in West Dorset constituency who face large Annual Allowance charges due to extra hours worked during staffing shortages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual allowance limits the amount that an individual can save in their pension pot before they have to pay tax. It aims to ensure that the incentives for pension saving, which are costly to the taxpayer, are appropriately targeted across society. Tax policy, including the level of the annual allowance, is a matter for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
From 6 April 2023, the previous administration introduced reforms to the annual allowance, increasing both the standard and tapered annual allowances, allowing National Health Service staff to save more into their pensions each year before facing a tax charge.
Where NHS staff have pension savings that exceed the annual allowance, for example due to unexpected circumstances such as taking on extra hours or additional responsibilities within the NHS, they can carry forward any unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. This will increase their current year’s allowance, reducing or potentially avoiding any annual allowance tax charge that is due.
Additionally, the NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility which allows impacted members to pay charges using the value of their pension. This spreads the cost of paying a tax charge over the lifetime of the pension rather than requiring an immediate outlay. For most members, the growth in their pension benefits at retirement, even net of a charge, would still represent an excellent return on their pension contributions.
Information for trusts is available on NHS Employers website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/annual-allowance.
Information for members is available on the NHS Pensions website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/annual-allowance.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 trusts in West Dorset constituency on managing staff concerns over Annual Allowance charges.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual allowance limits the amount that an individual can save in their pension pot before they have to pay tax. It aims to ensure that the incentives for pension saving, which are costly to the taxpayer, are appropriately targeted across society. Tax policy, including the level of the annual allowance, is a matter for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
From 6 April 2023, the previous administration introduced reforms to the annual allowance, increasing both the standard and tapered annual allowances, allowing National Health Service staff to save more into their pensions each year before facing a tax charge.
Where NHS staff have pension savings that exceed the annual allowance, for example due to unexpected circumstances such as taking on extra hours or additional responsibilities within the NHS, they can carry forward any unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. This will increase their current year’s allowance, reducing or potentially avoiding any annual allowance tax charge that is due.
Additionally, the NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility which allows impacted members to pay charges using the value of their pension. This spreads the cost of paying a tax charge over the lifetime of the pension rather than requiring an immediate outlay. For most members, the growth in their pension benefits at retirement, even net of a charge, would still represent an excellent return on their pension contributions.
Information for trusts is available on NHS Employers website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/annual-allowance.
Information for members is available on the NHS Pensions website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/annual-allowance.
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 improve the discharge process for patients in Surrey who are medically fit to leave hospital.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Further information on the Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. In addition to this, we published a new policy framework on 30 January 2025 for the £9 billion Better Care Fund policy framework 2025 to 2026, which requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays. Further information on the Better Care Fund policy framework 2025 to 2026 is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-policy-framework-2025-to-2026
We are working with trusts, integrated care systems, and local authorities to share and embed best practice and to help them to use performance data more effectively to address their discharge delays. The Local Government Association has published a range of guidance documents and high impact change models to support improvements to hospital flow and discharge processes, which can be found at the following link:
Officials held a call on 18 July 2025 with the Epsom and St. Helier Trust regarding the trust’s discharge challenges and proposed actions to improve the situation.
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 plans his Department has to address multiple sclerosis in the updated Women’s Health Strategy; and whether there will be discussions on how this can inform development of the Northern Ireland Women’s Health Action Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that women can be impacted by a range of different health conditions at the same time, including those that only affect women, those that affect women differently or more severely to men, or those that affect everyone equally. This is why the renewed Women’s Health Strategy will set out how we are improving experiences and outcomes for all women as we deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.
At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), including the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.
We have set up a United Kingdom-wide Neuro Forum, facilitating formal, biannual meetings across the Department, NHS England, the devolved administrations and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learnings across the system and discuss challenges, best practice examples and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including MS.
Health policy and delivery are devolved to the administration of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As a UK Government department, the Department of Health and Social Care engages constructively and works collaboratively with the devolved administrations on areas of shared interest, including information sharing, coordination, and issues that have UK wide or cross-border implications.
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, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Energy, Security and Net Zero on the potential impact of changes to funding for the Energy Company Obligation scheme in March 2026 on cold-related health issues.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero engage regularly on policy issues of interest to both departments. We will continue working together to ensure that cold-related health impacts are considered when implementing the Fuel Poverty Strategy for England and the Warm Homes Plan, and that more health-vulnerable households get the help they need to improve their homes.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (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 18 November (HL11736), whether they plan to provide no budget to enact recommendations from the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group until after the merger of NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the important role that NHS England’s clinical policy development process plays in determining routine commissioning decisions on new specialised services, treatments, and interventions, which have not been reviewed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
We are carefully assessing NHS England’s functions as part of the process of merging NHS England with the Department. The outcome of these ongoing assessments will be made at the earliest opportunity, and we remain committed to progressing this reform at pace, subject to legislation and the will of Parliament.
Until such a time that NHS England is being abolished, Clinical Priorities Advisory Group recommendations are being enacted under the current rules and criteria.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to implement the healthy food standard policy announced as part of the 10-year health plan for England within the current Parliament; and if he will publish a timeline for these legislative or regulatory changes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - 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: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
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 merits of implementing the recommendations in the National Audit Office’s report entitled Costs of clinical negligence, published on 17 October 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the report by the National Audit Office (NAO) entitled Costs of clinical negligence. As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising legal costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent NAO report.
The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policymaking in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps, in due course.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what instructions his Department issued to NHS regional gender hubs on prescribing restrictions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2024, NHS England published its clinical policy on puberty suppressing hormones for children and young people who have gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria.
This set out that puberty supressing hormones are not available as a routine commissioning treatment option for the treatment of children and young people who have gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria.