Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of skilled professional workforce required to meet the long-term demand of the social care sector; and what steps he is taking to meet that target.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Demand for long‑term care is projected to rise markedly over the next decade, driven by growth in the older population. Current projections from Skills for Care, and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics suggest that this would require workforce growth of approximately 2% to 3% per year to broadly keep pace with demand.
Recent data from Skills for Care shows a 3.2% increase in filled posts in domiciliary care and a 1.4% increase in residential care between March 2025 and February 2026.
The Department’s immediate priority is to support the adult social care sector to meet current demand by improving recruitment, retention, and workforce stability. While responsibility for workforce planning and delivery sits primarily with local authorities and providers, the Department is taking action to support the sector and improve its sustainability.
This includes introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to improve pay, and terms and conditions, delivering a national recruitment campaign to promote care as a career, working with the Department for Work and Pensions to support domestic recruitment, and continuing to monitor workforce capacity through Skills for Care data, the Capacity Tracker, and intelligence from sector partners.
The Department of Health and Social Care is also taking action to professionalise and upskill the workforce, which is essential for both short-term capacity and long-term sustainability. This includes implementing the Care Workforce Pathway as the first universal career structure for adult social care, investing a further £10 million this financial year through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme to fund training and qualifications including the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate, providing £2.3 million to support newly qualified social workers through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, and piloting a fund to enable adult social care nurses to prescribe medications and support care workers to take on healthcare activities.
Together, these measures aim to improve retention through clearer progression, better recognition of skills, and increased opportunities for development, while supporting the sector to meet rising and increasingly complex demand.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what level of skilled professional workforce the Department estimates is needed to meet the current demand of the social care sector and what steps is it taking to meet this target.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Demand for long‑term care is projected to rise markedly over the next decade, driven by growth in the older population. Current projections from Skills for Care, and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics suggest that this would require workforce growth of approximately 2% to 3% per year to broadly keep pace with demand.
Recent data from Skills for Care shows a 3.2% increase in filled posts in domiciliary care and a 1.4% increase in residential care between March 2025 and February 2026.
The Department’s immediate priority is to support the adult social care sector to meet current demand by improving recruitment, retention, and workforce stability. While responsibility for workforce planning and delivery sits primarily with local authorities and providers, the Department is taking action to support the sector and improve its sustainability.
This includes introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to improve pay, and terms and conditions, delivering a national recruitment campaign to promote care as a career, working with the Department for Work and Pensions to support domestic recruitment, and continuing to monitor workforce capacity through Skills for Care data, the Capacity Tracker, and intelligence from sector partners.
The Department of Health and Social Care is also taking action to professionalise and upskill the workforce, which is essential for both short-term capacity and long-term sustainability. This includes implementing the Care Workforce Pathway as the first universal career structure for adult social care, investing a further £10 million this financial year through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme to fund training and qualifications including the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate, providing £2.3 million to support newly qualified social workers through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, and piloting a fund to enable adult social care nurses to prescribe medications and support care workers to take on healthcare activities.
Together, these measures aim to improve retention through clearer progression, better recognition of skills, and increased opportunities for development, while supporting the sector to meet rising and increasingly complex demand.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what level of skilled professional workforce the Department estimates is needed to meet the current demand of the social care sector and what steps is it taking to meet this target.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Demand for long‑term care is projected to rise markedly over the next decade, driven by growth in the older population. Current projections from Skills for Care, and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics suggest that this would require workforce growth of approximately 2% to 3% per year to broadly keep pace with demand.
Recent data from Skills for Care shows a 3.2% increase in filled posts in domiciliary care and a 1.4% increase in residential care between March 2025 and February 2026.
The Department’s immediate priority is to support the adult social care sector to meet current demand by improving recruitment, retention, and workforce stability. While responsibility for workforce planning and delivery sits primarily with local authorities and providers, the Department is taking action to support the sector and improve its sustainability.
This includes introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to improve pay, and terms and conditions, delivering a national recruitment campaign to promote care as a career, working with the Department for Work and Pensions to support domestic recruitment, and continuing to monitor workforce capacity through Skills for Care data, the Capacity Tracker, and intelligence from sector partners.
The Department of Health and Social Care is also taking action to professionalise and upskill the workforce, which is essential for both short-term capacity and long-term sustainability. This includes implementing the Care Workforce Pathway as the first universal career structure for adult social care, investing a further £10 million this financial year through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme to fund training and qualifications including the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate, providing £2.3 million to support newly qualified social workers through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, and piloting a fund to enable adult social care nurses to prescribe medications and support care workers to take on healthcare activities.
Together, these measures aim to improve retention through clearer progression, better recognition of skills, and increased opportunities for development, while supporting the sector to meet rising and increasingly complex demand.
Asked by: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department continues to support Recommendation 6.1 of the Williams Review on removing the General Medical Council’s right of appeal under section 40A of the Medical Act 1983.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All of the proposals relating to the findings of the Williams Review and the Mann Review contained within the Reforming the General Medical Council legislative framework consultation, published 24 March 2026, are currently open for public consultation. We welcome stakeholder views on the consultation and responses will be carefully considered to help inform future policy decisions.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
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 findings and recommendations of the JCVI’s review of meningococcal B vaccination policy for adolescents and young adults.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an expert scientific advisory committee that advises the Government on eligibility for vaccination and immunisation programmes. The JCVI has been consulted on the immediate vaccine response to the outbreak and clinical effectiveness of potential future outbreak response vaccination strategies.
The JCVI holds three committee meetings a year, usually on the first Wednesday of February, June and October. The draft minutes of each meeting will be published within six weeks of the meeting. In some circumstances, when the frequency of meetings is increased, it may not be possible to upload meeting minutes within six weeks.
On 17 March, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, also announced to the House of Commons that the JCVI has been asked to re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines to assess, for example, an expanded offer to older children and/or young adults. The JCVI will provide updated advice to the Department this summer around whether, and to what extent, a vaccine programme for older children and/or young adults would be clinically effective as well as an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of such a vaccination programme.
Asked by: Johanna Baxter (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department has plans to strengthen national policy recognition of migraine as a serious neurological condition.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that migraine is a serious and often debilitating neurological condition, with a wide range of symptoms that go far beyond a headache. Migraine attacks can be a whole-body experience that can make it very difficult to function normally.
At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with migraine such as the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit. NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme also developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including for those with migraine.
The GIRFT programme for Neurology published a National Speciality Report, which makes several recommendations in relation to improving recognition and diagnosis of migraine. Additionally, the RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit set out key priorities for improving care for patients with migraine, which includes correct identification and diagnosis of headache disorders.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline, Headaches in over 12s: diagnosis and management, sets out best practice for healthcare professionals in the care, treatment, and support of people who suffer from headaches, including migraine. It aims to improve the recognition and management of headaches and migraine.
In August 2025, NHS England updated its service specification for specialised adult neurology services. It outlines a number of minimum service requirements for key specialties, including complex headache services.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps they are taking to increase the amount of UK made steel used in procurement contracts overseen by their Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government Commercial Function (GCF), based in the Cabinet Office, published its strategy document for 2026 to 2029 on 7 April 2026, which is available at the following link:
Driving economic growth is a key pillar of this strategy, in line with Government policy, capitalising on the industrial strategy targets to create jobs in the United Kingdom, and a key part of the strategy is market shaping and making use of the collective buying power of the Government to drive UK economic growth and resilience.
One of the first steps will be for the GCF to work with the commercial directors across the Government in four pilot sectors, namely shipbuilding, steel, artificial intelligence, and energy infrastructure, to identify key data requirements, and to pilot underpinning market shaping assessments for each. The Cabinet Office will be publishing a Procurement Policy Notice specifically on UK steel transparency later this year.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) what steps his Department is taking to deliver a national roll out of Fracture Liaison Services in England; (b) if he will publish a timetable for achieving full coverage; and (c) what assessment he has made of the impact of Fracture Liaison Services on reducing preventable hip fractures and associated mortality.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030. Integrated care boards (ICBs) remain well-placed to make decisions according to local need. The renewed Women’s Health Strategy sets an expectation that ICBs prioritise community-based models when commissioning new fracture prevention services.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of Fracture Liaison Services on reducing preventable hip fractures and associated mortality. There is a broad evidence base for the benefits of Fracture Liaison Services. For example, there is evidence that they can reduce the risk of refracture by up to 40%, depending on the fracture type and population considered, with further information available at the following link:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4767862/
Greater prevention would contribute to avoiding debilitating further consequences, including pain, loss of independence, and increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Where available, evidence on the potential impacts will be taken into consideration in future policy development.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Policy paper: Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, published on 11 November 2025, what progress has he made in establishing a Health Data Research Service.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health Data Research Service (HDRS) will deliver a single point of access to health data from multiple sources which will bring new treatments and cures to patients by safely enabling the use of patient data to super-charge research.
Over the past year a Department led team, with support from the Office for Life Science and NHS England colleagues, has been working to set up the service.
HDRS is being established as a Government Company, and Dr Melanie Ivarsson has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Baroness Nicola Blackwood as Chair. Work is now underway to incorporate and develop the service to ensure it is up and running as quickly as possible to deliver benefits for patients and researchers.
We are committed to the service being operational by December 2026, with new capabilities being progressively rolled out.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Integrated Care Boards on policies on liothyronine, including requiring Exceptional/Individual Funding Requests and applying bans on new patients; and if he will issue guidance to prevent restrictions where NHS England guidance supports its use in some patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not held any discussions with integrated care boards regarding their policies on liothyronine. NHS England regional teams have distributed the Items that should not be prescribed in primary care policy guidance to local healthcare systems. These systems are responsible for ensuring that prescribing practices follow the guidance provided.