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, whether his Department has held discussions with (a) foreign migrants and (b) asylum seekers on the proposed NHS 10-Year Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In building our 10-Year Health Plan, we ran one of the biggest public engagement exercises the National Health Service has ever run, including a large number of consultation events including eight in-person deliberative events with the public and seven with staff, culminating in a national summit, these events were attended by over 3,700 people. A further 17,000 people attended partner-led workshops across over 600 events. As part of these events, we aimed to include the voices of all patients, including patients whose voices are seldom heard in policy development.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 NHS support for children and families with severe food allergies.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on schools to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions, and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. This includes allergies. The policy should also set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) encourages food businesses to complete the FSA’s allergen e-learning course and recommends that it is retaken annually to refresh knowledge and ensure that businesses are up to date on any changes which may have occurred. The FSA online training is free and offers practical advice to anyone wanting to learn more about food allergy.
NHS England has also produced the Healthy School Child e-learning programme, which available at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/healthy-school-child/
This programme is designed for healthcare professionals, including school nurses, working with children aged five to 12 years old. Module 5 of the e-learning programme includes sessions on asthma, eczema, and other allergies.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provisions his Department has put in place to monitor the quality-of-care patients receive in NHS-funded treatments at private hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Throughout its history, the National Health Service has always worked with non-NHS healthcare providers to deliver essential services to patients. The Independent Sector Partnership Agreement, signed in January 2025, extends how the NHS and independent sector can work together to deliver more non-urgent care, free at the point of use.
The safety of all NHS funded patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or in an independent sector provider (ISP), is a top priority for the Government. Private providers are commissioned and managed by integrated care boards under the terms of the NHS Standard Contract, which applies the same standards of oversight and regulation as are applied to NHS providers.
All providers of healthcare, including ISPs, are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall. Most independent sector care is rated as high quality by the Care Quality Commission, with 92% of providers rated as good or outstanding.
Independent provider licensing and oversight was established in 2014 under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to licence and regulate independent providers of NHS services. The oversight approach was originally focused on the financial oversight of independent providers but in 2023, in line with continuously improving the oversight of NHS-funded care at private providers, the Hard to Replace policy and the requirement to maintain standards of quality governance were introduced, giving NHS England powers to intervene with some providers where there was a risk to service continuity. Further details on these developments are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/licensing-and-oversight-of-independent-providers/
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the future: 10 year health plan for England, published in July 2025, when he expects David Lock KC’s review of clinical-negligence costs to (a) commence and (b) publish its findings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
David Lock KC was appointed on 30 June 2025 to provide expert advice on the rising legal costs of clinical negligence, and on how to improve patients’ experiences of claims, ahead of a review by the Department in the autumn. He has commenced work on this review and expects to be in a position to provide advice to ministers in the early autumn. No decisions have yet been made as to whether any review will be published.
Details of the outcome of the Department’s review will be announced at the earliest opportunity.
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, with reference to the Deputy Director for 10 Year Health Plan Engagement's, Change NHS website blog, entitled, Ensuring the Plan represents everyone, what discussions his Department has with (a) travelling communities and (b) their representatives.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In building our 10-Year Health Plan, we ran one of the biggest public engagement exercises the National Health Service has ever run, including a large number of consultation events including eight in-person deliberative events with the public and seven with staff, culminating in a national summit, these events were attended by over 3,700 people. A further 17,000 people attended partner-led workshops across over 600 events. As part of these events, we aimed to include the voices of all patients, including patients whose voices are seldom heard in policy development.
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, whether his Department has had discussions with sex workers on the proposed NHS 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In building our 10-Year Health Plan, we ran one of the biggest public engagement exercises the National Health Service has ever run, including a large number of consultation events including eight in-person deliberative events with the public and seven with staff, culminating in a national summit, these events were attended by over 3,700 people. A further 17,000 people attended partner-led workshops across over 600 events. As part of these events, we aimed to include the voices of all patients, including patients whose voices are seldom heard in policy development.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
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 support research into the health needs of trans young people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In line with the findings of the recent Cass Review, the Government is committed to supporting the development of research that delivers a robust, evidence-based understanding of gender dysphoria and transgender issues, especially where these issues relate to children and young people. The programme of research includes investments in research capacity to enable National Health Service clinicians to dedicate time to research and ongoing service evaluation, and a living systematic review that will provide a regularly updated review of the latest international evidence to inform policy and frontline and clinical practice. These may produce new evidence to help safeguard and improve the health of children and young people who are questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.
The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research, welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including research into the health needs of young people. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 94 of his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the future: 10 year health plan for England, published in July 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of transferring the hosting arrangement for the Patient Safety Commissioner to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the level of independence of that post.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dr Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape was published in July 2025. The review sets out a broad aim to streamline, simplify, and consolidate functions across the patient safety landscape. Dr Dash made nine recommendations which the Government has accepted in full and fed into the 10-Year Health Plan.
The review specifically recommends that the patient safety commissioner is hosted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The office of the patient safety commissioner remains accountable to the Department, as it is now.
The Patient Safety Commissioner will play an important role in holding the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to account for its work on patient safety and in ensuring that patient safety and the voice of patients remains a core priority in the agency’s work.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
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 infection diagnostics on (a) levels of inappropriate antibiotic use and (b) the policies set out in the policy paper entitled UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029, published on 8 May 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom’s 2024 to 2029 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan (NAP), published in May 2024, highlights the importance of accurate diagnostic testing to guide effective antibiotic use and tackle AMR. A core commitment of the NAP is supporting clinicians to prescribe the right antimicrobials only to those that need them. Outcome four specifically relates to strengthening antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship by improved targeting of antimicrobials and diagnostic tools.
The Government is also working to deliver outcome six of the NAP, which commits to cross-sector working to develop diagnostics as a tool to tackle AMR. The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has invested over £18 million of funding into AMR diagnostics research. The Department also funds the NIHR’s HealthTech Research Centres, which accelerate development of healthcare technologies, including diagnostics.
NHS England’s AMR Diagnostic programme is taking a multifactorial approach to improving the roll out of innovative rapid diagnostics, aligning to the 2024 to 2029 AMR NAP’s commitments. The programme aims to improve current practice, enhance the evidence base, improve engagement and training, and overcome barriers for industry to support the development of diagnostic tests. The ambition is to drive innovation in diagnostics within the system to improve antimicrobial stewardship and reduce the burden of infection and AMR. As part of this programme, NHS England is undertaking Horizon Scanning for new innovations, supporting research into point-of-care tests for key infections, and continuing to work with industry.
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, if she will take steps to review pharmacy procurement practices for generic cancer drugs in rural areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no current plans to specifically review pharmacy procurement practices for generic cancer drugs in rural areas. Pharmacies are largely private businesses which provide National Health Services, and therefore have their own buying arrangements.
The Government’s policy on generic medicines is to allow suppliers freedom of pricing for their products, relying on competition between suppliers and efficient purchasing by community pharmacies to deliver value for money for the NHS.