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, what steps he is taking to ensure an adequate supply of ADHD medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has worked closely with industry stakeholders and, following extensive collaborative efforts, previous issues have been resolved, and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, atomoxetine oral solution, guanfacine prolonged-release tablets, and methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets are now available. We are working to resolve a remaining issue for Equasym XL capsules, and anticipate that this issue to be resolved in August 2025.
We continue to support the NHS England ADHD taskforce, which brings together expertise from the National Health Service, education, and justice sectors to coordinate a system-wide response to rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) data improvement plan, we are developing future growth forecasts to support improved demand planning. These forecasts will be shared with industry to help ensure a more responsive and sustainable supply of ADHD medicines. In parallel, we are also engaging with new suppliers for ADHD medicines to increase supply capacity and resilience.
The Department also maintains and regularly updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This resource supports prescribers and dispensers in making informed decisions with patients. The list is available at the following link:
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
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 work with manufacturers of Concerta XL to (a) resolve the ongoing supply shortages and (b) prevent disruption for patients reliant on this medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department can confirm that the supply disruptions affecting various strengths of Concerta XL, generic name methylphenidate, tablets have now been fully resolved.
We continue to support the NHS England’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce, which brings together expertise from the National Health Service, education, and justice sectors to coordinate a system-wide response to rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we are developing future growth forecasts to support improved demand planning. These forecasts will be shared with industry to help ensure a more responsive and sustainable supply of ADHD medicines.
We continue to work closely with the supplier of Concerta XL tablets to help ensure a stable and increased supply for the United Kingdom’s market. To further strengthen supply chain resilience, we are also engaging with new suppliers to expand the UK supplier base for generic bioequivalents of Concerta XL. This approach will help improve the availability and reduce the risk of future shortages for patients across the UK.
The Department also maintains and regularly updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This resource supports prescribers and dispensers in making informed decisions with patients. The list is available at the following link:
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timeline is for the restoration of a (a) normal and (b) stable supply of Concerta XL; and what contingency measures his Department is putting in place until then.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department can confirm that the supply disruptions affecting various strengths of Concerta XL, generic name methylphenidate, tablets have now been fully resolved.
We continue to support the NHS England’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce, which brings together expertise from the National Health Service, education, and justice sectors to coordinate a system-wide response to rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we are developing future growth forecasts to support improved demand planning. These forecasts will be shared with industry to help ensure a more responsive and sustainable supply of ADHD medicines.
We continue to work closely with the supplier of Concerta XL tablets to help ensure a stable and increased supply for the United Kingdom’s market. To further strengthen supply chain resilience, we are also engaging with new suppliers to expand the UK supplier base for generic bioequivalents of Concerta XL. This approach will help improve the availability and reduce the risk of future shortages for patients across the UK.
The Department also maintains and regularly updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This resource supports prescribers and dispensers in making informed decisions with patients. The list is available at the following link:
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, CP 1336, published on 11 June 2025, whether he considered increasing revenue funding for end of life care as part of the Spending Review.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Spending Review, on 11 June, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a record investment in the health and social care system. Across the Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, the National Health Service in England will receive a 3% real terms growth in day-to-day spending, the equivalent to a £29 billion real terms increase in annual resource budgets.
At this stage, it is still too early to say how much funding will be allocated to palliative care and end of life care, as this will be worked through in the coming weeks.
The Government wants a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life, which is why we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.
We are also working to make sure the palliative care and end of life care sector is sustainable in the long term and are determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community through our 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the number of unfilled vacancies on school governing bodies.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
According to the National Governance Association’s 2024 survey, 25% of respondents stated that their board did not have any vacancies. 76% of respondents reported difficulty in recruiting new governors and trustees. 44% of boards had two or more vacancies.
The department has had extensive discussions about recruitment and retention with sector partners, including the National Governance Association and the Confederation of School Trusts. These discussions have informed the development of a joint department-sector resource that will support boards with sustainable governance, especially those facing recruitment and retention challenges.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the £209 million of reallocated HS2 Funding for Better Local Transport was allocated to Worcestershire for each of the seven years following the announcement.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The previous government made several unfunded commitments. This government is committed to long-term sustainable funding settlements to support local authorities in building credible delivery plans for local transport improvements.
Worcestershire County Council will receive a capital allocation of £66.9m, in addition to the £13.6m capital allocated for 2025/26 through the LTG and Integrated Transport Block. Allocations are published on gov.uk.
In addition to the £0.5m resource funding it is receiving in 2025/26, Worcestershire will also receive a share of the £104m LTG resource funding that was announced at Spending Review 2025. Individual allocations will be confirmed in due course.
All allocations beyond 2029/30 are subject to future Spending Review processes.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Local Transport Grant funding has been allocated to Worcestershire in each year of the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Spending Review 2025 confirmed a £2.3 billion investment in local transport through the Local Transport Grant (LTG) for smaller cities, towns and rural areas, outside London which do not receive City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) or Transport for City Regions (TCR) funding. Capital funding allocations for all eligible local authorities are published on gov.uk
Worcestershire County Council will receive a total LTG capital allocation of £66.9m between 2026/27 and 2029/30, consisting of £13.8m in 2026/27, £16m in 2027/28, £17.7m in 2028/29 and £19.5m in 2029/30.
In addition, Worcestershire will receive a share of the £104m LTG resource funding that was announced at Spending Review 2025. Individual allocations of resource funding will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of wastewater capacity in West Dorset for planned housing developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the importance of water and wastewater provision on new developments.
As set out in Paragraph 7 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, including the provision of homes, commercial development and supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner. Sustainable development should be pursued both through the preparation and implementation of local development plans, and the application of policies in the framework.
The government is clear that housing must come with appropriate infrastructure, including appropriate water infrastructure. We believe that strategic issues such as water capacity are best dealt with at a strategic level through the plan-making process, rather than through individual planning applications.
A key function of local development plans is to guide development to the most suitable and sustainable locations and to ensure that the associated infrastructure requirements are addressed. Effective co-operation early in the plan-making process is essential to ensuring not only that housing and infrastructure need is appropriately planned for, but that they are aligned with each other. The NPPF makes it clear that local planning authorities should collaborate with each other and with other public bodies, including infrastructure providers, to identify relevant strategic matters to be addressed, including providing for sustainable water supplies.
Water companies are under a statutory duty to provide new water and sewerage connections to residential properties, as well as planning to meet the needs of growth as part of water resource management plans, and drainage and wastewater management plans. The water resources planning guideline published by the Environment Agency and Ofwat, sets out how those companies should forecast demand for water based on existing customers and planned levels of household and non-household growth, with the number of planned developments being based on published local plans.
Relevant planning practice guidance sets out that good design and mitigation measures should be secured during development, both through site-specific and non-site-specific policies on water infrastructure. The revised NPPF published on 12 December 2024 makes clear that developments of all sizes should use sustainable drainage techniques when the development could have drainage impacts and should have appropriate maintenance arrangements in place. We continue to explore whether more needs to be done to ensure sustainable drainage technologies are taken up more widely in new development, either through planning policy or by commencing schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, and a decision on the best way forward will be made in the coming months.
Ensuring that we take a strategic spatial planning approach to the management of water, including tackling pollution and managing pressures on the water environment at a catchment, regional and national scale, is a core objective of the ongoing independent review into the regulatory system of the water sector, launched in October 2024 by the UK and Welsh Governments. The review is expected to report this summer, and we will carefully consider its findings.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation by 2030.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to supporting delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030. Steps we are taking to help deliver SDG 6 include the Enhanced Water Leadership in a Changing Climate programme. This is raising the profile of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector with a focus on national leadership, sector governance and finance. The programme also supports the generation of critical data governments need to establish effective strategies and plans. A sister programme, WASH Systems for Health, is strengthening WASH services in eight countries in Africa and South Asia. Finally, our Just Transitions programme is working to improve water resource management and climate resilience, through better planning, water governance, and increased investment in water related infrastructure.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of long-term water supply resilience in (a) the South West of England and (b) Wiltshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
South West Water recently received permission from Defra to publish and implement its Water Resources Management plan. Wessex Water and Bristol Water published their plans in 2024.
Key to achieving sustainable water resources, will be the development of a range of Strategic Resource Options, and improved water demand management. The plans covering the South West region show companies are planning to build new reservoirs, including new reservoirs at Cheddar and East Mendips. South West Water is currently building a new desalination plant in Cornwall. For Wiltshire, the most significant of these involves the development of a new reservoir in the Mendips, providing confidence in supplies well into the future.
Improved investment is allowing water companies to improve drought resilience, and they will be able to cope with a 1:500 year drought by 2040, ensuring a high level of resilience.