theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress his Department has made in resolving Horizon Shortfall Scheme claims for sub-postmasters in North Shropshire constituency. \p Gareth Thomas: As of 30 April 2025, £507 million has been paid in redress via the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS). This includes approximately £240 million in fixed sum awards and approximately £107 million in top-ups to previously settled claimants.

DBT does not hold a constituency-level breakdown of HSS cases.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the fourth iteration of the Post Office's Banking Framework, published on 30 April 2025, what steps his Department is taking to expand access through post offices to (a) cash and (b) banking services. \p Gareth Thomas: The Government welcomes Banking Framework 4, which provides both personal and business customers with certainty about access to services provided through the post office network to the end of the decade, including vital in-person cash and banking services. As well as improving cash services for the people and businesses that need it most, Banking Framework 4 will also provide a better commercial offer for postmasters over the next five years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many applications were received by UK Export Finance in each month of the last five years; and what the value of those applications was. \p Gareth Thomas: It is not possible to provide the information requested other than at disproportionate cost.

Applications are made to UK Export Finance (UKEF) through a variety of channels, including through banks and other financial institutions, and through its network of local Export Finance Managers who are valuable contacts for exporters and businesses with export potential.

Further information about the support that UKEF provides can be found in the Annual Reports and Accounts for each year, which can be found online at: UK Export Finance annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.

Full details of the businesses supported by UKEF are available online at: UK Export Finance: business supported - GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve access to postal services in North Shropshire constituency. \p Gareth Thomas: The Government protects the sustainability of the Post Office branch network, including in North Shropshire and across the rural network, providing funding stipulating that Post Office meets its minimum access criteria ensuring 99% of the population live within three miles of their nearest Post Office, across the country. Government confirmed the network subsidy will be up to £83 million for Financial Year 25/26.

Post Office are committed to consulting on any proposed branch changes, as set out in the Principles of Community Engagement document agreed with Citizens Advice. These consultations focus on customers’ access to Post Office products following any proposed change.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, requires Royal Mail to ensure that across the UK, the premises of no fewer than 95% of users of postal services are within 5 kilometres of an access point.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of tiered lending rate structures in SME finance products offered by UK-regulated banks since 2022. \p Gareth Thomas: Tiered interest rates relate to retail deposits and personal loans, not commercial finance.

Bank of England data shows that interest rates on lending by banks to UK SMEs are as follows:

In March 2025, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 6.75%

In March 2024, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 7.49%

In March 2023, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 6.36%

In March 2022, effective interest rates for new SME loans were 3.49%

Source: Bank of England
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Sir Julian Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to prevent non-disclosure agreements from being used to conceal serious misconduct against former employees. \p Justin Madders: The Government has been clear that non-disclosure agreements should not be misused by employers to conceal misconduct in the workplace. There are already legal limitations as to what NDAs can be used for, meaning the relevant clause would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from whistleblowing, require a worker to cover up iniquity, or prevent a worker from doing anything that they may be required to do by law. We continue to look at how to make improvements to ensuring the misuse of NDAs is not used to conceal misconduct in the workplace.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate access to maternity care for people in West Dorset constituency, in the context of the closure of Yeovil’s maternity unit. \p Karin Smyth: The Government will ensure that trusts failing on maternity care are robustly supported into rapid improvement, and we will continue to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal delivery plan to ensure women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care.

Responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate NHS commissioner. The Department is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital, which have been made in response to a number of factors, including a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and temporarily not being able to meet the staffing levels required to provide safe services for babies and families. The South West NHS England regional team, integrated care board, and trust are working collectively to review the situation and develop proposals to ensure the safe future service provision of maternity services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve the recruitment and retention of care home staff. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government recognises the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth and improve the recruitment and retention of the domestic workforce.

We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do.

We are supporting the professionalisation of the adult social care workforce, including through the expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway to a further four roles, including registered manager and deputy manager roles. The Pathway sets out how people can develop a long-term career in adult social care, with the right support and training to help attract people to join and remain in the sector.

We are also continuing to fund the Adult Social Care Learning Development Support Scheme to help people build their skills and careers in care. The scheme is backed by up to £12 million this financial year and includes qualifications to enhance the quality of care more broadly, as well as opportunities to develop leadership and management skills.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that GP websites using third party contractors for online appointment booking forms uphold patient privacy and security in data sharing. \p Karin Smyth: All organisations that have access to National Health Service patient data must use the Data Security and Protection Toolkit to provide assurance that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly. The toolkit is available at the following link:

https://www.dsptoolkit.nhs.uk/

Third party organisations that use an IT system to make general practitioner appointments for patients must use a system which has been assured by NHS England, for example, through the usage of a Supplier Conformance Assessment List and clinical testing of the system before it is given permission to move to live usage. These checks help us to assure that patient data is managed within General Data Protection Regulation and that systems meet NHS security standards.

There are strong protections in law to ensure that health and care information is used in a safe, secure and legal way. The privacy and confidentiality of people’s health and care data is championed by the National Data Guardian who provides independent advice on the use of such data and holds the Caldicott Principles which provide a framework for the safe and respectful use of data. In addition, every health and care organisation is required to appoint a Caldicott Guardian from within their organisation to advise on the protection of people’s health and care data and ensure it is used properly.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to prevent the planned closure of Yeovil District Hospital’s Maternity Unit. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital that have been made in response to several factors, including a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and not being able to currently meet staffing levels required to provide safe services for babies and families.

The temporary closure is for an initial period of six months, when births and expectant mothers are being offered safe birthing at surrounding hospitals in Taunton, Dorchester and Bath. Outpatient clinics for pregnant mothers such as obstetric and midwifery antenatal clinics, scanning, antenatal screening services and home births will continue at Yeovil District Hospital as normal.

The South West NHS England regional team, NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust are working collectively to mitigate the risk of this temporary closure and ensure the wider systems work together to provide safe services in the meantime. Responsibility for the delivery, implementation and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioning body.

There are real issues in maternity care, but also outstanding examples of care. It will not be an overnight recovery, but we will be making steady improvements to ensure all women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care. The Government continues to work with the NHS as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to improve maternity and neonatal services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2025 to Question 43999 on NHS England, what evidence is being collected from these ongoing assessments. \p Karin Smyth: At this stage, it is too early to share details of the assessments. The joint programme team has been assessing resourcing, responsibilities and functions from across both organisations, whilst also mapping statutory functions.

The Government is committed to transparency to Parliament, staff and the public. When appropriate, we will update Parliament on progress with the plans for the organisational changes.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2025 to Question 43997 on NHS England: ICT, if he will publish a (a) timeline and (b) outline of the plans he intends to put in place to ensure a smooth integration of IT systems. \p Karin Smyth: Ministers and senior Department officials are working closely with the new NHS England executive team on the creation of a new centre and to ensure delivery is prioritised and protected during this period of change. The Government is committed to transparency to Parliament, staff and the public.

When appropriate, we will update Parliament on progress with the plans for the organisational changes. We will put plans in place to ensure, where appropriate, a smooth integration of internal IT systems; and the continued operation of those providing live services to the National Health Service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

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Dr Danny Chambers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that UK trained doctors have a Speciality Training Pathway available to them after foundation year two. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

Speciality training positions are advertised nationally, and the process is administered by a lead deanery on behalf of the four nations of the United Kingdom. There is no obligation on NHS providers to advertise residency positions for British nationals before foreign nationals, or to hire British residents before overseas residents. The rules and criteria for recruitment into specialty training are agreed by the Medical and Dental Recruitment and Selection committees on behalf of the four statutory education bodies of the UK and must meet standards required by the General Medical Council. Working with NHS England, we continue to keep the selection process for all applicants to medical speciality training under review.

Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. However, the Government is also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children aged between one to five years of age have been prescribed Clenil in each of the last five years. \p Karin Smyth: The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) holds patient identifiable data relating to drugs prescribed in England and dispensed within a community setting, and which are submitted to the NHSBSA for processing. The following table shows the total number of identified children in specific age bands that were prescribed Clenil Modulite for the financial years 2020/2021 to 2024/2025:

Financial year

Age band one to five years old

Age band six to 10 years old

2020/2021

84,498

149,296

2021/2022

127,765

160,142

2022/2023

138,224

171,323

2023/2024

124,551

179,865

2024/2025

105,336

172,698

Data Source: NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Please note that care should be taken when interpreting the patient counts as some patients could appear in the results for multiple time periods and age bands. For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple financial years, or at both ages five and six years old within the same year. Therefore, the patient numbers should not be combined and reported at any other levels other than as provided in the dataset.
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) tasks and (b) shifts booked from 1 June 2025 onwards with the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service have been cancelled. \p Karin Smyth: The Royal Voluntary Service provides reports on activity to NHS England. These reports do not separate out tasks and shifts. The following table provides a breakdown of activities, which could be tasks or shifts, in each month from May 2023 to February 2025, and in total for 2023/24 and 2024/25:

2023/24

2024/25

May 2023

7218

April 2024

9833

June 2023

5109

May 2024

9328

July 2023

3848

June 2024

5566

August 2023

7458

July 2024

5864

September 2023

10550

August 2024

6548

October 2023

14180

September 2024

6796

November 2023

10070

October 2024

11533

December 2023

10,534

November 2024

7453

January 2024

9749

December 2024

8757

February 2024

9246

January 2025

11155

March 2024

9063

February 2025

10736

2023/24 Total

97025

March 2025

12728

2024/25 Total

106297

In addition, the following table provides a breakdown of the total activities, which could be tasks or shifts, in each quarter since May 2023, based on data provided by Royal Voluntary Service in reports to NHS England:

Quarter

Total

May to June 2023

12327

July to September 2023

21856

October to December 2023

34784

January to March 2024

28058

April to June 2024

24727

July to September 2024

19208

October to December 2024

27743

January to March 2025

34619

NHS England does not hold information on the number of tasks and shifts booked from 1 June 2025 onwards, as the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders programme will have been cancelled.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children are on the waiting list for tonsillectomy; and how many of those have been waiting for (a) under one year, (b) two years, (c) three years, (d) four years and (e) over five years. \p Karin Smyth: The Government has committed to returning to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of all patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment for consultant-led care, including children who require a tonsillectomy. As a first step towards this, we have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments across elective services, having now delivered over three million more.

There were 11,091 cases where a child was waiting for tonsillectomy as of 11 May 2025. Of those, in 9,205 cases the child had been waiting under one year and in 1,886 cases the child had been waiting between one and two years. There were no cases where a child had been waiting more than two years.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the dates on which patients who were invited to a first appointment for NHS Children and Young People's Gender Services in April 2025 were first referred, broken down by each service. \p Karin Smyth: Data is not collected in this format. The most recent figures show that the number of children and young people on the waiting list for gender services is 6,225.
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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of registered doctors are unemployed. \p Karin Smyth: The Office for National Statistics published an analysis showing the number of unemployed people by last occupation at the time of the 2021 Census. This estimated that on the census day, there were 2,200 unemployed people whose last profession was either General Medical Practitioner or Specialist Medical Practitioner. This equates to approximately 0.7% of the registered doctors at the time. No more recent estimate is held by the Department. Further information on the 2021 Census is available at the following link:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment/datasets/characteristicsofthosenotinemploymentasofcensusday2021detailedoccupationestimates

Within weeks of coming into office, we committed to recruiting over 1,000 recently qualified general practitioners (GPs) through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme over 2024/25, as part of an initiative to address GP unemployment and secure the future pipeline of GPs. We have now recruited an extra 1,738 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help support (a) NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board and (b) local hospital trusts to (i) improve working culture and (ii) reduce stress-related illness in hospitals. \p Karin Smyth: The Government inherited a broken National Health Service with an overworked and demoralised workforce.

We hugely value all NHS staff and are committed to improving organisational culture and working conditions, so we can keep staff healthy, motivated, and retain valuable skills. That is why one of the government’s first actions was to give NHS staff an above inflation pay rise.

Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place for supporting staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level, NHS England has made available additional support, including emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has conducted an impact assessment on the updating of the Carr-Hill funding formula. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department has not conducted an impact assessment on updating the Carr-Hill formula.
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Damian Hinds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Almost million more pupils get access to mental health support, published on 16 May 2025, whether the next phase of the implementation schedule for mental health support teams in schools differs from that of the previous Government. \p Stephen Kinnock: Almost one million more young people will have access to mental health support in school this year. Previous plans to expand mental health support in schools were unfunded. By confirming this new investment, six in 10 pupils will have access to a mental health support team by March 2026. All pupils will have access to mental health support in school by 2029/30.
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Steve Race:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to align the General Practice and Community Pharmacy funding and operating frameworks. \p Stephen Kinnock: General practice and community pharmacy have separate funding and operating arrangements, reflecting the differences in the way patients use these services.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding for any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

We are also investing an additional £889 million in general practice to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26, the biggest increase in over a decade. The 7.2% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is faster than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget overall, helping to reverse the decade-long trend of general practices receiving an ever-decreasing percentage of NHS funding.

NHS England is improving digital systems to make the referral process better integrated between pharmacies and general practices, which includes further development of electronic referral systems. Most pharmacies can now also receive Pharmacy First referrals from general practitioners straight into their NHS England assured pharmacy IT systems.
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Shockat Adam:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for access to mental health services. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is delivering new and innovative models of care in the community. As part of this, we have launched six neighbourhood adult mental health centres to bring together community, crisis, and inpatient care; these are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NHS England’s Planning Guidance for 2025/26 makes clear that for this year, to support reform and improvements, we expect all providers to reduce the variation in children and young people accessing services and improve productivity

We are also improving data quality so we can support providers in understanding demand across their areas. Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting times metrics for referrals to urgent and community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication to help services target the longest waits.

Our 10-Year Health Plan will inform the future vision and delivery plan for mental health services in England. Earlier intervention remains a key focus of the plan with the aim of reducing pressure on mental health services.
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Steve Race:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote the Pharmacy First service. \p Stephen Kinnock: In February 2025, approximately 75% of general practices (GPs) in England made at least one referral into the NHS Pharmacy First Service.

There are regional differences in terms of GP engagement, NHS 111, and urgent and emergency care settings with the Pharmacy First service, with some integrated care boards (ICBs) performing better than others. To help increase the uptake, NHS England is working closely with ICBs, GP stakeholders, and the community pharmacy sector.

We continue to promote the Pharmacy First service. This includes two targeted public communication campaigns with associated media materials, coordinated communications across the healthcare system, and sharing best practices where the service is already working well. Action is also being taken to drive further engagement and referrals from GPs, with targeted engagement through regional and ICB channels and regular data to support performance management. In addition to this, funding has been provided to ICBs to recruit primary care network engagement leads who will be well placed to support practice teams to refer into the service.

NHS England is also improving digital systems to make the referral process better integrated, including further development of electronic referral systems. Most pharmacies can now also receive Pharmacy First referrals from GPs straight into their NHS England assured pharmacy IT systems.
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Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve awareness among GPs of NHS England guidance on direct access to brain imaging. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Diagnostic Imaging Data set (DID) provides data on where a test was requested via GP Direct Access (GPDA). This information is available for the following tests:

- chest X-rays;

- computed tomography chest scans;

- computed tomography abdomen and pelvis scans;

- ultrasounds for the abdomen and pelvis; and

- brain magnetic resonance imaging.

Data for computed tomography head scans is not included as part of the DID, under the current collection. Further information on the DID is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostic-imaging-dataset/

The data shows that for the five tests where data on GPDA referral information is collected, the total number of GPDA tests has increased by 23% or 695,000 tests when comparing activity in 2023/24, the latest 12 months for which data is available, and 2021/22, the financial year prior to the publication of the draft GPDA guidance in November 2022. For brain magnetic resonance imaging specifically, the number of GP Direct Access tests increased by 33% or 32,000 tests between 2021/22 and 2023/4.

Assessments of variation in the referral rates of each test were conducted prior to the publication of the guidance and are set out in the published data linked above. The data shows there is still variation in referral rates.

NHS England is undertaking an extensive programme of communications and engagement to improve awareness of the GPDA guidance, including general practice webinars, dissemination through key partner organisations, inclusion with National Health Service planning guidance, and press releases.

We know there is further to go to ensure all parts of the country are using this scheme where appropriate and we are working to see these approaches adopted on a much wider scale.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 8 April 2025, HCWS586, what proportion of the 1,500 extra GPs were employed through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. \p Stephen Kinnock: Between 1 October 2024 and 31 March 2025, 908 fully qualified, full-time equivalent general practitioners (GPs) have been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). Although more recent data is available, it is provisional and subject to revision.

Last year, the Department added GPs to the ARRS and provided an extra £82 million in funding, meaning that GPs could be recruited more quickly by primary care networks. All the 1,500 GPs referenced in the Written Ministerial Statement were recruited through the scheme.
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Sir Iain Duncan Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to move toward patient self-referral for community audiology services as a default pathway in (a) Chingford and Woodford Green constituency and (b) England. \p Stephen Kinnock: Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards. The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services. This was reiterated in the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, which specified audiology for older people including hearing aid provision as a service for which self-referral should be available.

Self-referral is not offered for community audiology in north east London, and we have no reported issues with patient access or backlogs in adult audiology services. In Chingford and Woodford Green, residents have access to several community audiology providers in Waltham Forest, such as Audiological Science, Scrivens, Specsavers and The Outside Clinic, and also audiology services at Whipps Cross Hospital.

As part of the National Health Service primary care access recovery plan in England, approximately 380,000 people per year have been able to self-refer for services such as incontinence support, community nursing, podiatry, audiology, and physiotherapy without seeing their general practitioner.
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UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_55

Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of Alzheimer's disease specialists compared to other G7 countries. \p Stephen Kinnock: The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We want all health and care staff to have received appropriate training to provide high quality care to people with dementia. Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate care for patients. The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available through Skills For Health at the following link:

https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Dementia-Core-Skills-Education-and-Training-Framework.pdf
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_56

Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has produced an impact assessment on the closure of the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service. \p Karin Smyth: Since relaunching the programme in September 2022, the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders (NHSVCR) programme has 48,078 registered volunteers who have completed their identification check, in order to be able to carry out tasks.

The NHS Volunteer recruitment portal is already available, with 70 health and care organisations advertising opportunities. As the service grows, every National Health Service or voluntary organisation in health will be able to post opportunities and recruit volunteers to support their local communities, with a full launch of the service planned later this year.

The NHSVCR programme is just one part of an ecosystem of volunteering that supports people’s health and care needs, and there are many local voluntary sector organisations that provide other forms of support. Most patients were referred into the programme by a health professional for short-term support through the NHSVCR programme. Referrers have been informed of the change in service provided so that they can source alternative support for their patients if needed. In addition, there are over 72,000 volunteers who continue to support NHS trusts directly in over 300 different volunteer roles.

The Government will continue to work with colleagues in NHS England during the closure of the programme to mitigate risks to national health volunteer resilience. The NHSVCR programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response, and was then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the important contribution of our much-valued volunteers. Whilst the NHSVCR programme is ending, volunteers are being redirected to other NHS and voluntary sector organisations to continue their volunteering and to support their local communities in similar ways.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_57

Navendu Mishra:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will review the medical exemption list for free prescriptions. \p Karin Smyth: We have no plans to review the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_58

Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is taking to increase access to innovative treatments. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) plays a vital role in delivering the Government’s Life Sciences Vision and wider Plan for Change by enabling earlier and broader patient access to innovative treatments. The agency’s ambition is to be a world-leading, innovation-enabling regulator that accelerates the availability of safe, effective products without compromising patient safety.

The MHRA supports the development and availability of innovative medicines through a range of regulatory initiatives designed to enable earlier patient access while maintaining uncompromising standards of safety. Central to this is the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), which offers a joined-up approach between the MHRA, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and National Health Service bodies including within the Devolved Administrations. ILAP provides early regulatory input through an “Innovation Passport” and a tailored roadmap to authorisation, helping promising new medicines reach patients more quickly.

Innovators can access early scientific advice and regulatory engagement to help de-risk development and support high-quality applications. By providing expert guidance at the pre-submission stage, the MHRA helps developers navigate complex regulatory pathways.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_59

Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency plans to adapt its regulatory framework for innovative medicines. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is transforming its regulatory model to better support innovative medicines while maintaining world-class standards of safety and efficacy.

The agency is developing a more agile and proportionate approach and is creating new regulatory frameworks and specific guidance in response to innovative product horizon scanning and our knowledge of the product pipeline.

For instance, the MHRA have recently consulted on regulatory guidance for individualised mRNA cancer immunotherapies, colloquially referred to as cancer vaccines. The draft MHRA guidance aims to clarify and streamline pathways for bringing these therapies through to patients, without compromising on robust safety principles. This is an important step in bringing these promising therapies closer to clinical practice.

In addition, the MHRA updated the requirements to better improve clarity and transparency on 3 April 2025 for all National Licence Submissions. In July 2025, the United Kingdom will be the first country to introduce a tailored framework for the regulation of innovative products manufactured at the point where a patient receives care, following work from the MHRA that means new medicines with very short shelf lives and highly personalised medicines can more easily be made in or near a hospital setting or ambulance and can get to the patients who need them much more quickly.

This work supports the UK’s ambition to be one of the most attractive places globally to develop, trial, and launch innovative treatments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_60

Navendu Mishra:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of Produodopa treatment for people with Parkinson’s in (a) Stockport and (b) Greater Manchester. \p Karin Smyth: The Department is not aware of a supply issue affecting Produodopa.

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within Stockport and Greater Manchester is not held centrally.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.

NICE has recommended Produodopa, also known as foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's with motor symptoms. This treatment should now be available to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care. Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and that they take account of appropriate national guidance.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_61

Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the MHRA is taking to improve (a) transparency and (b) predictability for companies seeking UK Market Authorisations. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has taken significant steps to improve transparency and predictability for companies seeking United Kingdom market authorisations. This includes clearer guidance, enhanced pre-submission scientific advice, published performance standards, and expanded use of international reliance frameworks.

The agency’s 2024/25 Business Plan gave a commitment to its focus being the optimisation of its service delivery for customers. It introduced key performance indicators (KPIs) and a corporate objective to enhance the transparency and accessibility of our performance data. The agency provides its performance data for every month and year to date performance for each KPI on its GOV.UK website. Its aim is to help applicants with decision making, based on its performance data, and to ensure greater accountability for its service delivery. The business plan is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6703f0a83b919067bb482d5a/MHRA_Business_Plan_2024_to_2025.pdf

The RegulatoryConnect portal will provide greater transparency and visibility for regulatory assessments to industry. The functionality will let industry users log in using existing MHRA submission credentials and access RegulatoryConnect, where they will be able to: use the Applications page to track the status of an application and see which stage it is at; and use the Current Granted View page to view live authorisation details, including status, key data and documents held against existing licences.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_62

James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of barriers to regular access to prescribed medication on people with epilepsy. \p Karin Smyth: There are a range of anti-seizure medications that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as effective in the treatment of epilepsy. NICE guidance outlines that clinicians should develop an individualised anti-seizure medication treatment strategy with their patient, accounting for safety considerations, and should regularly monitor and review their patient’s medications.

Medicine supply chains are complex, global and highly regulated and there are several reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and are outside of Government control. These include manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues and regulatory issues.

While we cannot always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and mitigate risks to patients. The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, most issues have been resolved.

We are currently aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets from one manufacturer. This supply issue is expected to resolve by the end of August 2025. Alternative suppliers have sufficient supply to support patients. We have issued management guidance to the National Health Service.

We are also aware of a shortage of phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets and phenobarbital 15 milligram/5 millilitre elixir from two different manufacturers. Resupply dates are yet to be confirmed for phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets, and the elixir issue is expected to resolve by late June 2025. Management guidance has been issued to the NHS for both formulations. In both cases, alternative suppliers are in stock with sufficient supply to support patients.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-02 conversation_63

Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of response times to enquiries from hon. Members from Integrated Care Boards. \p Karin Smyth: No assessment has been made. We encourage Members of Parliament to raise correspondence timelines directly with their respective integrated care boards.