theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will list the project (a) title, (b) code, (c) Overseas Development Assistance value and (d) International Climate Finance value of all Blue Belt Programme expenditure in the (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23, (iii) 2023-24 and (iv) 2024-25 financial years. \p Stephen Doughty: From Financial Year (FY) 21/22 to FY 24/25, the Blue Belt Programme was funded through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's International Programme. For each of these FYs, the budget for the Programme was £8 million, of which £2 million was Overseas Development Assistance. Annual reports, which set out the main activities conducted through the programme, are available on the GOV.UK Blue Belt Programme webpage, with the 24/25 report due to be published in the summer. The Blue Belt Programme does not receive funding from International Climate Finance.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will list the (a) title (b) location and (c) value of projects funded by the Green Climate Fund as part of the International Climate Finance spend on nature and biodiversity. \p Stephen Doughty: Details, including title, location, and value, of all projects funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are available on the Fund's website: [https://www.greenclimate.fund/countries]. The GCF's Open Data Library, is also available via the website.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he plans to publish (a) the conclusions of the Independent Development Review and (b) his response. \p Stephen Doughty: The review's reports take the form of unpublished independent advice to the Foreign Secretary. The review recommendations are now being considered as part of the Foreign Secretary's wider work to reform the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. A decision on how best to communicate the independent reviews' findings will be taken in due course by the Foreign Secretary.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the policy paper entitled International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change, a white paper on international development, published in 20 November 2023. \p Stephen Doughty: The White Paper entitled International Development in a Contested World published by the previous government provided a diagnosis of global challenges, and examples of how the UK can respond to these. The Foreign Secretary's Development Review went further, considering areas of focus for the UK's development effort in a constrained resource environment, based on the UK's specific strengths and the strengths of our partners, and building on the wide-ranging development consultations conducted in 2023.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Lincoln Jopp:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the key milestones of the China Audit are. \p Catherine West: The Government is carrying out an Audit of the UK's interests with regards to China, to bring a long term and strategic approach to managing our relations. The timeline for the Audit is driven by the need for sufficient consultation, not just across government, but also business, academia, civil society, and Parliamentarians [including those sanctioned by China], to inform its analysis. The Audit's findings, which will also inform other important developments such as the forthcoming National Security Strategy and Industrial Strategy, will be shared with Parliament and other stakeholders in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the launch of the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration at Nutrition For Growth in Paris, what steps his Department is taking to integrate nutrition objectives into its policies. \p Stephen Doughty: The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) continues to integrate nutrition objectives across its international development policies and programming. This includes application of the OECD Development Assistance Committee Nutrition Policy Marker and the provision of advice and assistance to colleagues across The FCDO's network to strengthen our capability to integrate nutrition in our Official Development Assistance programmes. Progress is assessed by independent experts and published in the FCDO's annual Nutrition Accountability Report. The FCDO will publish the next iteration of the report around June 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine; and what steps his Department is taking to support international efforts to (a) investigate and (b) prosecute those responsible. \p Stephen Doughty: The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to ensure Russia is held to account for its actions resulting from the illegal invasion of Ukraine. We led international efforts by 39 International Criminal Court (ICC) State Parties in February 2022 to refer the situation to the ICC, which expedited the opening of the court's investigation into the situation in Ukraine. We have also provided over £11.3 million in funding to support Ukraine's domestic accountability efforts, including the work of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to ensure allegations of war crimes are fully and fairly investigated, by independent, effective, and robust legal mechanisms. We are also supporting work towards establishing a Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and have played an active role in discussions with Ukraine and close partners to progress this commitment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of global health crises on fragile states; and what steps he is taking to support these countries in (a) strengthening their healthcare systems and (b) mitigating the risks to stability and security. \p Stephen Doughty: The Government recognises that global health crises pose a major threat to the heath, stability, and economic prosperity of fragile states. Working in fragile states is complex and each setting has its own unique challenges, and where possible the UK works with national health systems. The UK is not prescriptive in terms of our approach to health system strengthening in fragile states, but we focus our funding and technical assistance to ensure our investments are coordinated, context-specific, integrated, adaptive and flexible as changes occur over time. A strong health system supports better mental and physical health for everyone, protects people from financial hardship due to the costs of care, and enhances resilience to threats including infectious disease outbreaks that can occur frequently in fragile states.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) accountability and (b) reporting arrangements his Department has put in place to monitor progress against the Global Nutrition Integration Compact. \p Stephen Doughty: The Global Compact on Nutrition Integration relies on existing accountability and reporting mechanisms with regards to the integration commitments of its members, notably the Global Nutrition Report's (GNR) Nutrition Accountability Framework (NAF). Accountability for nutrition integration therefore rests with each individual organisation. Compact members, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), are responsible for reporting progress against their commitments listed in the NAF, with the GNR monitoring overall progress.

In addition, FCDO reports information on nutrition integration across its programmes in the annual Nutrition Accountability Report, this is published on the GNR website.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the provision of funding for (a) science and (b) evidence-based solutions to support work on nutrition. \p Stephen Doughty: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) applies a science and evidence-based approach to ensure that our policy and programming maximise value for money and impact. This includes our work on nutrition. This approach also underpins cabinet ministerial discussions and decisions on how to allocate funding for nutrition in the context of the ongoing Spending Review. Nutrition is included in discussions on global health policy and programmes with other government departments. The FCDO will be able to share further details once the Spending Review is concluded.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to expand penalties for sanctions evasion by banning maritime services for vessels used to transport Russian crude oil without complying with the price cap. \p Stephen Doughty: With the implementation of the maritime transportation and associated services ban, the UK, along with G7 partners, banned the provision of services that facilitate the maritime transportation of Russian oil. The Oil Price Cap (OPC) exemption permits UK services to be available to third country importers and exporters only where the price paid for Russian oil is at or below the relevant price cap.

Where Russia has sought to circumvent those sanctions, we have taken robust action; since July 2024 we have sanctioned 129 shadow fleet oil tankers. We continue to step up our efforts, working closely with partners, to ensure our sanctions' effectiveness.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of UK sanctions against (a) individuals and (b) entities connected to the Russian Federation; and what steps he is taking to ensure robust enforcement of those sanctions (i) domestically and (ii) in coordination with international partners. \p Stephen Doughty: Our sanctions have deprived Russia of at least $450 billion since February 2022. The Russian economy is battling high and rising inflation. High interest rates have made Russian government borrowing extremely costly. This Government is committed to ensuring robust sanctions enforcement. To this end, with the support of Ministerial colleagues, I launched the cross-government review of sanctions at the first Small Ministerial Group on enforcement in October. The review concluded in April and Parliament will shortly be updated on the review conclusions. The UK continues to work with our international partners to share best practice on sanctions enforcement and to ensure that a joined-up approach to enforcement is adopted internationally.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his European counterparts to support state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the context of alleged attempts to undermine the Dayton Peace Accords. \p Stephen Doughty: In response to unconstitutional activities by Republika Srpska entity President Dodik, the UK, with European counterparts, is working to ensure a strong and unified international response that encourages Bosnian state institutions to act to protect Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH's) sovereignty and stability. At the UN and other multilateral fora we have coordinated backing for BiH state institutions to resolve the current political crisis. We welcome the High Representative's clear statements setting out support for the state institutions. The Foreign Secretary, the Special Envoy and I continue to engage leaders in BiH and the region in support of BiH's territorial integrity. I reiterated these messages to BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković and the High Representative of BiH when we met on 12 April, and recently convened Quint partners with my French counterpart to discuss our response to these destabilising and undermining actions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support objective 5 of the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration. \p Stephen Doughty: The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) is seeking to improve finance for nutrition, which is the focus of objective 5 of the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration, which we have developed and led by working with partners in different sectors to integrate nutrition objectives in their policies and programmes. The Coalition which will take forward the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration, provides a platform for engagement dialogue and lesson learning, between partner governments, civil society organisations and existing as well as new funding partners. This includes among others' representatives from multilateral development banks, investors, philanthropy, global health and climate funds. To date, over 80 governments and organisations have expressed their support for the Compact, representing a diverse range of stakeholder groups and sectors.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Yeovil dated 7 April 2025. \p Stephen Doughty: I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member's correspondence. I issued a response to the hon. Member on 6 May.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Olly Glover:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities on access to fertility treatment for same sex couples. \p Karin Smyth: My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not had recent discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on access to fertility treatment for same sex couples.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Paul Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the collection and reporting of age-disaggregated data on participation in cancer clinical trials, in addition to collecting participation data through NIHR. \p Ashley Dalton: The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), funded by the Department, funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including cancer clinical trials.

The NIHR Research Delivery Network collects age-disaggregated data on participation in cancer clinical trials across all age groups, for studies supported by NIHR infrastructure, and reports on this data where appropriate.

The Department is working with NHS England and other partners to develop a new data collection approach which will include the age of people participating in NIHR funded studies, including for cancer clinical trials. Once established, this could be expanded to include age data from studies supported by other funders.

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the planned national pandemic exercise in Autumn 2025. \p Ashley Dalton: In Autumn 2025, the Department and the UK Health Security Agency will conduct a national exercise to test our ability to respond to a pandemic, involving all regions and nations of the United Kingdom, and thousands of participants. Planning for the exercise is underway and consideration is being given to its design and the participation of NHS England officials.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Chris Coghlan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of producing a national strategy to help improve (a) access to and (b) the quality of eating disorder services. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England is currently refreshing guidance on children and young people's eating disorders. The refreshed guidance will highlight the importance of awareness and early recognition of eating disorders within schools, colleges, primary care, and broader children and young peoples’ mental health services.

The Government is currently developing the 10-Year Health Plan, which will consider the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including those with lived experience of eating disorders. The consultation process has provided invaluable feedback, and we are in the process of exploring how we best take this forward.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of children waiting two years for mental health treatment on the NHS. \p Stephen Kinnock: We know that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need and that waits for mental health services are too long. We are determined to change that.

Nationally, the Government is providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 Early Support Hubs, that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community.

We will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, so that mental health conditions can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We will also roll out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.

In addition, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to ease the pressure on busy mental health services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Navendu Mishra:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that social care providers recruiting (a) internationally and (b) within the UK comply with British (i) legal obligations and (ii) ethical standards towards their staff. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with regulators, local authorities, other departments, and enforcement bodies to share concerns and intelligence about illegal or unethical practices in adult social care. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority investigates reports of worker exploitation and illegal activity, such as human trafficking, modern slavery, forced labour, and other labour market offences.

The Government is delivering legislation to improve employment rights, and the Fair Work Agency in the Employment Rights Bill will bring together existing state enforcement functions which, over time, will take on enforcement of a wider range of employment rights.

We are also committed to ensuring ethical and sustainable approaches to international recruitment. All providers should be meeting the clear ethical standards laid out in the Code of Practice for International Recruitment. The Code of Practice sets stringent ethical standards for recruiters and employers to follow to ensure that people coming from overseas are treated fairly and provided with the appropriate support. Any accusations of illegal employment practices will be fully investigated by the relevant authorities. Any business found guilty of serious employment law breaches will have action taken against them by the Home Office, up to and including having their visa sponsorship licences revoked. The Department of Health and Social Care is providing up to £12.5 million to 15 regional partnerships this financial year to support them to prevent and respond to unethical international recruitment practices in the sector. This includes support for international recruits to understand their employment rights to switch employers, to remain working in the care sector when they have been impacted by their sponsor’s license being revoked.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Suella Braverman:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of GP practices that will be affected by changes to National Insurance announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance (NI) rise was implemented in April 2025.

General practices are valued independent contractors and will therefore be subject to the employers’ NI rise. Every year, we consult with the profession about what services general practice provides, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract, taking account of the cost of delivering services.

We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice to fix the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and we are pleased that the England General Practitioners’ Committee of the British Medical Association is supportive of the contract changes
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Saqib Bhatti:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include measures on reforming funding allocations for (a) palliative and (b) other end of life care services in the comprehensive spending review. \p Stephen Kinnock: We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift.

In February 2025, I met with key palliative and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format, with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the current number of hospital beds occupied by patients who are medically fit for discharge. \p Stephen Kinnock: Data collections that monitor the number of patients who are medically fit for discharge but who are not discharged are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/discharge-delays/acute-discharge-situation-report/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve (a) service delivery and (b) patient care standards in GP practices after the abolition of NHS England. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is working with the National Health Service to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access general practice (GP) services, and since October 2024, we have recruited over 1,500 more GPs through an £82 million funding boost. We will make sure the future of GPs is sustainable by training thousands more GPs, guaranteeing a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one and delivering a modern booking system.

We will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds and will work collaboratively to put plans in place to ensure continuity of care, so that there are no risks to patient safety.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing incentive schemes to encourage NHS dentists to practice in areas that are experiencing a shortage of NHS dental professionals. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.

Integrated care boards have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many HC2 certificates for full help with health care costs have been issued to people seeking asylum since 5 July 2024. \p Karin Smyth: Between 5 July 2024 and 2 May 2025, 138,238 HC2 certificates have been issued to people seeking asylum.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that glaucoma monitoring services are available to patients in (a) Horsham and (b) England. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services in their areas to meet patient needs, and this includes services to meet the needs of patients with glaucoma.

The Department worked with the eye care sector to develop a standard clinical specification for the commissioning of Community Minor and Urgent Eye Care Services, and this was published in February 2024. The specification is available at the following link:

https://locsu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1.-CUES-Service-specification-vs-1.43-Feb-2024.pdf
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of GP-to-patient ratios in the Great Yarmouth constituency as of April 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: General practitioners (GPs) have delivered an estimated 32.3 million appointments in March 2025, an increase of 6% since March 2024. In March 2025, in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board there were 643,000 GP appointments delivered.

In addition, through an £82 million funding boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), we have recruited 1,503 more GPs since 1 October 2024.

As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full-time equivalent doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients was 7.0 in Great Yarmouth constituency. GPs employed through the ARRS are not included as they are employed by primary care networks, rather than directly by practices.

There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.

The demands each patient places on their general practice are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole; not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2025 to Question 48519 on Blood: Donors, what proportion of donors of (a) African heritage, (b) Caribbean heritage, (c) mixed white and African heritage, (d) mixed backgrounds and (e) white backgrounds had their donations deferred due to low haemoglobin levels in the last twelve months. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available, 23.93% of donors with black African heritage, 18.44% of donors of Black Caribbean heritage, 13.60% of donors of mixed white and black African heritage, 11.75% of donors of mixed backgrounds, and 9.38% of donors of white background had their donations deferred due to low haemoglobin levels.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2025 to Question 48519 on Blood: Donors, what proportion of donors of (a) African heritage, (b) Caribbean heritage, (c) mixed white and African heritage, (d) mixed backgrounds and (e) white backgrounds had their donations deferred due to recent travel in the last twelve months. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available, 3.87% of donors with black African heritage, 0.67% of donors of Black Caribbean heritage, 0.86% donors of mixed white and black African heritage, 0.53% of donors of mixed backgrounds, and 0.28% of donors of white backgrounds had their donations deferred due to travel.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to update the existing regulations on (a) composition, (b) marketing and (c) labelling of commercial infant and toddler foods. \p Ashley Dalton: Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of well-being in later life.

It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review, to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that a full blood count is (a) categorised as a core diagnostic service and (b) available at all community diagnostic centres. \p Ashley Dalton: Blood tests, particularly full blood count (FBC) tests, are among the most commonly requested diagnostic investigations across primary and secondary care, and are readily available across all 27 National Health Service pathology networks. FBC tests play a vital role in detecting and monitoring a wide range of conditions, and as such, FBCs are essential to timely diagnosis and treatment planning across multiple clinical pathways.

Phlebotomy, the procedure to collect blood samples, is widely available across general practice, community health services, and secondary care phlebotomy clinics, supporting equitable access to essential blood testing.

Phlebotomy is also a core service provided by all standard and large community diagnostic centres (CDCs). CDCs are designed to deliver a range of high-volume, low-complexity diagnostic tests, including common blood tests such as FBCs, closer to patients’ homes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_49

Alex Brewer:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support patients with motor neurone disease. \p Ashley Dalton: At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with motor neurone disease (MND), including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time, for all neurology patients, including those with MND.

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 MND.

NHS England commissions the specialised elements of MND care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals and specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

Government responsibility for delivering MND research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation. Government funders are continuing to invest into MND research. For example, investing £12.5 million to support the best discovery science in MND at the UK Dementia Research Institute, £6 million of Government funding for the MND Translational Accelerator, which is seeking to speed up the development of treatments for MND, and an £8 million investment into EXPERTS-ALS, which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_50

Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of sugar additives in soft drinks on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in young people. \p Ashley Dalton: Scientific risk assessments and United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on robust independent risk assessments by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

The SACN has not carried out an assessment of the potential impact of sugar additives in soft drinks on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in young people. However, the SACN has considered the risk of sugar consumption and non-sugar sweetener (NSS) consumption on health outcomes, including the risk of type 2 diabetes.

In 2015, the SACN published its report on Carbohydrates and Health and recommended that “the consumption of sugars-sweetened beverages should be minimised in children and adults”. With respect to type 2 diabetes, the SACN noted that “a greater risk is associated with a higher intake of sugars-sweetened beverages”.

With respect to children and adolescents, the SACN noted that “consumption of sugars-sweetened beverages, as compared with non-calorically sweetened beverages, results in greater weight gain and increases in body mass index”. Energy intakes that consistently exceed requirements lead to weight gain and obesity in the long term.

On 2 April 2025, the SACN published its position statement on the World Health Organization’s guideline on NSS’. The SACN concluded that the evidence of the risk to health, including of type 2 diabetes, from consuming NSS’ is inconsistent. The SACN made a precautionary recommendation that the intake of NSS’ be minimised. With greater certainty of the impact of sugars on health, including type 2 diabetes, the SACN recommended that “swapping sugars for NSS may help reduce sugar intake from foods and drinks, and so reduce energy intake, at least in the short term. The long-term goal is to limit both sugar and NSS intake”.

The SACN made a number of research recommendations and other recommendations to the Government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_51

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure the RSV vaccine is free of charge for people over 80. \p Ashley Dalton: In line with independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes were introduced in England in September 2024 to protect infants, via maternal vaccination, and older adults at the greatest risk of harm from RSV infection. The routine RSV programme for older adults offers vaccination to those turning 75 years old on or after 1 September 2024, alongside a catch-up programme to vaccinate those aged between 75 and 79 years old on 1 September 2024. These individuals will remain eligible until the day before their 80th birthday, except for people who turn 80 years old in the first year, who have until 31 August 2025 to get vaccinated.

When advising on the introduction of the RSV programmes, the JCVI said that an extension to the initial programmes would be considered when there was more certainty about protection for patients at higher risk of severe illness from RSV, including people aged 80 years old and older, and the real-world impact of the programme for 75 to 80 year olds.

At its October 2024 main committee meeting, the JCVI agreed that it would need to formally review the evidence for a potential extension to the programme for people aged 80 years old and older, and for those in clinical risk groups. During the main committee meeting of 5 February 2025, the JCVI noted that it planned further discussions on potential advice towards extending the programme to those over 80 years of age. The minutes from JCVI meetings are publicly available online, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation.

The JCVI will continue to review the necessary scientific evidence once it is available, and the Department will consider any further JCVI advice on who should be offered an RSV vaccine in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_52

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the NHS has made on the (a) prevention and (b) treatment of breast cancer. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government and the National Health Service recognise a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the biggest risk factors of breast cancer. To address risks related to overweight and obesity across the United Kingdom, the Government has laid secondary legislation to restrict advertisements of less healthy food and drink and is taking steps to ensure the Soft Drinks Industry Levy remains effective. In England, to promote physical activity, the NHS’s Better Health Campaign signposts people to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app. The Department will continue to work across Government to understand how to reduce alcohol-related harms in England and the UK, including in relation to breast cancer.

The NHS in England has made important progress on the treatment of cancer, including breast cancer, delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week to ensure faster treatment for those who need it most. NHS England also funded an audit into primary and metastatic breast cancer to improve treatment. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed with breast cancer in an NHS setting, the audits bring together information to look at what is being done well, where it is being done well, and what needs to be done better. Findings were published on 12 September 2024 and officials in the Department and NHS England are considering next steps. Further information is available at the following links:

https://www.natcan.org.uk/audits/metastatic-breast/

https://www.natcan.org.uk/audits/primary-breast/

Finally, the National Cancer Plan for England will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including breast cancer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_53

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of the uses of different asthma inhalers. \p Ashley Dalton: To support the implementation of the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence asthma guidelines, NHS England has been engaging with health system partners to coordinate resources and implementation efforts to make sure that patients are on the appropriate treatment regimen, and are using their inhaler at the right time, with the right technique. Updates to patient facing information on asthma management and treatments in line with the updated guidelines are ongoing. For example, the recently published Quality and Outcomes Framework and guidance has been updated to reflect the updated asthma guidelines.

The over-prescribing of reliever inhalers amongst people with asthma has seen a steady fall over the past few years. The percentage of patients on the Quality and Outcomes Framework asthma register who received six or more Short Acting Beta-2 Agonist reliever inhaler prescriptions over the previous 12 months fell from 19.8% in April 2022 to 15.9% in February 2025, a percentage change of 19.8%. Further information is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mi-network-contract-des
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-07 conversation_54

Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendations outlined in the Patient Safety Commissioner's report entitled The Safety Gap, published in March 2025. \p Ashley Dalton: We welcome the Patient Safety Commissioner’s (PSC) report, The Safety Gap – Safety and Accessibility of Medicines and Medical Devices for people with sensory impairment, highlighting the experiences of people with sensory impairment or loss when accessing and using medicines and medical devices safely. Officials in the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and NHS England are considering how to take forward the report’s recommendations, and will update the PSC at the earliest opportunity.