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: 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.
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 steps he is taking to ensure that Integrated Care Boards follow NHS England guidance on liothyronine.
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.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role animal blood-enriched agar plays in (a) bacterial culture, (b) antimicrobial susceptibility testing, (c) AMR surveillance and (d) the recent meningitis outbreak.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department supports the use of validated laboratory methods to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and robust surveillance, while encouraging the development and adoption of suitable alternatives where these can be used safely and effectively. These methods and alternatives include:
- bacterial culture, in which animal blood‑enriched agar is commonly used in clinical laboratories to help bacteria grow so that infections can be identified accurately. Some bacteria require enriched growth conditions, and the appearance of the growth on these media can help distinguish between different types of bacteria;
- antimicrobial susceptibility testing, where, in certain cases, blood‑enriched agar is required to test whether specific bacteria remain sensitive to particular antibiotics. This ensures that test results are reliable and supports clinicians in choosing the most effective treatment for patients;
- antimicrobial resistance surveillance, where laboratory results are generated using established culture and susceptibility testing methods, including blood‑enriched agar where clinically appropriate, contribute to national antimicrobial resistance surveillance. This information helps monitor resistance trends and informs public health policy and clinical guidance; and
- the recent meningitis outbreak, during which blood‑enriched agar was used, as a standard laboratory medium, in the identification of bacteria that can cause meningitis. It forms part of routine diagnostic and public health laboratory practice and supports the timely confirmation and investigation of cases during outbreaks. During the recent outbreak, such media formed part of the standard range of laboratory methods available to support diagnosis where clinically appropriate.
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 he has made of the potential impact of the proposed ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks from vending machines on gym users during physical activity.
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. This has been subject to a consultation which we ran for 12-weeks from 3 September to 26 November 2025.
In the consultation, we proposed using powers under the Food Safety Act 1990 to introduce the ban, to protect children’s health, and reduce health inequalities from the negative outcomes associated with high-caffeine energy drink consumption.
We considered the range of available evidence when developing the proposals. Our assessment is available in the consultation document, with further detail set out in the accompanying impact assessment. The impact assessment includes consideration of devolved governments’ policy on high-caffeine energy drinks.
The impact assessment also estimates the impact of our proposals, including on the vending sector. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
The Government is considering all consultation responses and will publish its response in due course.
Any legislation proposed following the consultation outcome would depend on ministerial decisions following the consultation, impact assessment requirements, and the necessary parliamentary scrutiny.
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, for what reason the proposed ban of the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to people under 16 years of age will be implemented using the Food Safety Act 1990.
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. This has been subject to a consultation which we ran for 12-weeks from 3 September to 26 November 2025.
In the consultation, we proposed using powers under the Food Safety Act 1990 to introduce the ban, to protect children’s health, and reduce health inequalities from the negative outcomes associated with high-caffeine energy drink consumption.
We considered the range of available evidence when developing the proposals. Our assessment is available in the consultation document, with further detail set out in the accompanying impact assessment. The impact assessment includes consideration of devolved governments’ policy on high-caffeine energy drinks.
The impact assessment also estimates the impact of our proposals, including on the vending sector. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
The Government is considering all consultation responses and will publish its response in due course.
Any legislation proposed following the consultation outcome would depend on ministerial decisions following the consultation, impact assessment requirements, and the necessary parliamentary scrutiny.
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 his Department has assessed the the Scottish Government’s report entitled Energy drinks: evidence brief, published on 30 May 2023.
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. This has been subject to a consultation which we ran for 12-weeks from 3 September to 26 November 2025.
In the consultation, we proposed using powers under the Food Safety Act 1990 to introduce the ban, to protect children’s health, and reduce health inequalities from the negative outcomes associated with high-caffeine energy drink consumption.
We considered the range of available evidence when developing the proposals. Our assessment is available in the consultation document, with further detail set out in the accompanying impact assessment. The impact assessment includes consideration of devolved governments’ policy on high-caffeine energy drinks.
The impact assessment also estimates the impact of our proposals, including on the vending sector. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
The Government is considering all consultation responses and will publish its response in due course.
Any legislation proposed following the consultation outcome would depend on ministerial decisions following the consultation, impact assessment requirements, and the necessary parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has reviewed recent evidence on the potential impact of social media on users’ mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government keeps the evidence on the relationship between social media use and mental health under close review and is committed to ensuring that children’s lives online are safe and enriching. A national consultation is currently underway to seek views on measures to improve children’s online safety across social media, gaming platforms, and artificial intelligence chatbots. The consultation forms part of the Government’s broader programme to understand how technology impacts children’s wellbeing, and what more can be done to help families strike the right balance. Insights from this consultation will help inform future policy to better protect children’s mental health and ensure that digital platforms play their part in promoting safe and healthy online experiences.
With regards to specific evidence reviews, in 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers published a review of the evidence on screen-based activities and mental health, which concluded that while there is an association between social media use and mental wellbeing, the evidence did not indicate a causal relationship and highlighted the need for more high-quality research. Since then, the Government has continued to work closely with academic experts to review emerging evidence, including studies funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
In January 2026, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published a research report titled Understanding the impact of smartphones and social media on children and young people, which found a lack of high-quality causal evidence linking children’s mental health and wellbeing and their use of social media. We will now be paying close attention to the recently announced IRL Trial, led by Professor Amy Orben, as this is the first large scale randomised controlled trial investigating how limiting access to social media might affect adolescent mental health.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, asking what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the General Practice Contract 2026–27 for England on a) patient safety and b) the long-term sustainability of general practice.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England assessed the potential impacts of the proposed changes to the GP Contract on patient safety and the long-term sustainability of general practices (GPs) for 2026/27 throughout the policy-development process.
In early 2026, we concluded the 2026/27 GP Contract consultation. This year we expanded the consultation to engage with wider stakeholders across GPs and patient voice organisations. These were the General Practitioners Committee England, the Royal College of General Practitioners, National Voices, the Institute of General Practice Management, Healthwatch England, NHS Confederation, now NHS Alliance following its merge with NHS Providers, and the National Association of Primary Care. The feedback we received from stakeholders across the system has been constructive and comprehensive, enabling us to refine proposals and address concerns while developing the final contract package.
Overall, the changes are designed to help increase capacity in GPs, support patient access, shift from treatment to prevention through changes to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and vaccinations, enable practices to prioritise clinically urgent needs, and ensure GPs remain sustainable for the future. The changes make progress on commitments in the 10-Year Health Plan as well as key commitments to bring back the family doctor and end the 8:00am scramble.
The Department and NHS England will continue to monitor the impact of the GP Contract through workforce data, patient access metrics, and patient experience data.