theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the NHS to contribute to the provisions for Multi Agency Child Protection Teams in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. \p Ashley Dalton: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced in Parliament on 17 December, will protect children at risk of abuse, by stopping vulnerable children from falling through the cracks in services. The bill will place a duty on local safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams (MACPTs), aimed at strengthening the multi-agency child protection response to all types of harm. These teams will have a minimum membership, nominated by safeguarding partners, of a social worker, a police officer, a registered health practitioner, and a person with experience of education.

MACPTs have been embedded in 10 local areas through the Families First for Children Pathfinders programme. Based on the learning from these pathfinders, the teams are being rolled out nationally through the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme, launched in April 2025. The FFP programme guide enables flexibility in the composition of MACPTs, which are designed according to local need.

NHS England is supporting and learning from the nine integrated care boards (ICBs) currently working with the Families First for Children Pathfinders programme, which includes MACPTs. The national safeguarding leads are collaborating with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care to profile how ICBs might implement MACPTs alongside local statutory partners, using Section 75 collaborative funding arrangements in order to optimise the Spending Review budget for the national rollout of the Families First Partnership programme and MACPTs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Mike Reader:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consultation his Department has had on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's Future Homes Standards work in relation to wellbeing and health standards in homes. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government plans to legislate for the Future Homes Standard this autumn. This legislation will aim to ensure that all new homes are warm, comfortable, and maintain high indoor air quality. This work is being led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as the standards are finalised and implemented, to ensure that evidence on health impacts can be taken into account.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Alison Bennett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to provide psychological support for patients with (a) sickle cell and (b) other non-malignant conditions considering stem cell transplants. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England stipulates in the blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) service specification that BMT services, which include stem cell transplants, should ensure that there is a full range of psychological support, as well as support staff including social workers, physiotherapy, pharmacy, and radiology support for stem cell transplant recipients. BMT service providers are also expected to be accredited by the Joint Accreditation Committee of the International Society for Cellular Therapy and the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, known jointly as JACIE, and the requirement for psychology support staff is also reflected in the eighth edition of the JACIE standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Alison Hume:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the National Institute for Health and Care Research Delivery Network’s new national funding model on reducing the variation in regional funding. \p Ashley Dalton: In 2026/27, the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Research Delivery Network will adopt a new national funding model. Historically, each Regional Research Delivery Network has a different model for how delivery organisations receive their funding, agreed through regional governance arrangements. This has led to geographic variation and inconsistency. The ambition for April 2026 is to remove variation in how regional funding is awarded. This will be achieved via a nationally agreed, consistent funding distribution model across England, where funding is allocated in a more transparent, fair, and predictable system that supports the Government’s aims and the needs of the whole health and care system, including underserved areas and settings.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Alison Bennett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the rollout of whole genome sequencing services is (a) efficient and (b) consistent between regions. \p Ashley Dalton: Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is provided through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) and is delivered by a national network of seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs). The NHS GLHs deliver testing as directed by the National Genomic Test Directory, including both whole genome sequencing (WGS) and non-WGS testing, and sets out the eligibility criteria for patients to access testing.

NHS England, supported by a Genomics Clinical Reference Group and expert Test Evaluation Working Groups, review the test directory to keep pace with scientific and technological advances, while delivering value for money for the NHS. A robust and evidence-based process and policy is in place to ensure that genomic testing continues to be available for all patients for whom it would be of clinical benefit. As part of the NHS GMS testing strategy, there is increasing use of cutting edge, high throughput comprehensive sequencing technologies to ensure efficiency.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of mental health services in (a) Bournemouth and (b) Dorset. \p Stephen Kinnock: The NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning National Health Service mental health services to meet the needs of its local populations in Bournemouth and Dorset.

At national level, we will fulfil our commitments to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of the Parliament to help cut waiting times and to expand mental health support teams to cover all schools in England by 2029/30. We will also expand NHS Talking Therapies and individual placement and support schemes, so more people can access the support they need.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. We are transforming mental health services into 24 hours a day, seven days a week neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and increasing access to evidence based digital interventions. People will get better access to mental health support and advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week directly through the NHS App, including through self-referral for talking therapies, without needing a general practice appointment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Danny Beales:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of NHS England’s decision not to commission abiraterone acetate plus prednisone/prednisolone for men with high risk non metastatic prostate cancer on health equity for Black men. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England develops an Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment (EHIA) for policy propositions included in its Policy Work Programme. The EHIA for abiraterone acetate plus prednisone for hormone sensitive non-metastatic prostate cancer noted that incidence rates for prostate cancer are higher in the black ethnic group, compared with the white ethnic group, in males in England. Commissioning decisions for abiraterone acetate plus prednisone/prednisolone apply equally to all individuals with high risk non metastatic prostate cancer regardless of race or ethnicity.

Incidence rates for prostate cancer are higher in the black ethnic group, compared with the white ethnic group, in males in England. To address this inequality, the Government has invested £16 million in the £42 million United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, led by Prostate Cancer UK, which aims to identify new ways of detecting prostate cancer at an earlier stage, including in men without symptoms. The trial will ensure that at least 10% of participants are Black men, reflecting their higher risk and the importance of ensuring new tests are effective across all groups.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of a Royal College of Care Workers to support rural care staff in West Dorset constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department has no current plans to introduce a Royal College of Care. The Government is committed to transforming adult social care to create a National Care Service and to improving the lives of people drawing on care, unpaid carers, and the social care workforce. We have also launched an independent commission into adult social care, chaired by Baroness Casey, as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission's Terms of Reference are sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to define its remit to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future.
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficiency and (b) productivity of the MHRA. \p Karin Smyth: The Department and its ministers regularly hold assurance meetings with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess its efficiency and productivity. Under the Government, the MHRA has cleared all backlogs, and statutory performance targets are now being met.

As part of the MHRA’s ongoing commitment to greater transparency in service delivery, the agency began publishing monthly performance data externally on clinical trials and medicines licenses in April 2023 and extended this to reflect reporting of performance against all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from March 2025. This enhanced reporting provides detailed insights into progress against KPIs and processing times. It enables stakeholders, customers, and partners to plan with greater certainty by offering clear visibility into the performance of key functions, including licensing and clinical trials applications, inspections, batch release, and safety signals. These improvements support more informed engagement and planning across the sector.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the MHRA will build on this to develop a more pro-innovation approach to regulation, while maintaining safety, ensuring that the United Kingdom remains one of the best places in the world to develop and launch new products, with an international reputation for safety and quality.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether planned updates to hospital food standards will include a requirement to prioritise British sourcing. \p Karin Smyth: All National Health Service trusts are expected to follow NHS England’s guidance, National standards for healthcare food and drink, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-standards-for-healthcare-food-and-drink/

The guidance promotes the use of healthier, seasonal, and locally sourced food that can cut emissions and the wider environmental impact related to agriculture, transport, storage, and waste across the supply chain and on the NHS estate, while also supporting the local economy.
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Dr Rupa Huq:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on the roll-out of Fracture Liaison Services. \p Karin Smyth: Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which are well-placed to make decisions according to local need. Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.
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Dr Neil Hudson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure all Integrated Care Boards have Fracture Liaison Services. \p Karin Smyth: Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which are well-placed to make decisions according to local need. Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Liz Saville Roberts:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the devolved Administrations on the (a) need and (b) potential ability for the UK to create radionuclides for use in healthcare. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has not made a specific assessment. The Department regularly engages with suppliers, specialist clinicians, the British Nuclear Medicine Society, and the UK Radiopharmacy Group to support the continued supply of medical radioisotopes for National Health Services. There are six trusted research reactors which play a critical role in global radiopharmaceutical production, none of which are in the United Kingdom. The Department continues to work with the NHS and other parts of the Government, and the devolved administrations, to better understand future needs for medical radioisotopes.

From an NHS perspective, as part of making available new treatments and interventions, consideration is given to a range of factors, including demand and supply. The NHS has got processes in place to escalate and manage business continuity, including medicines supply.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) stillbirths and (b) neonatal deaths were recorded in maternity units serving Wiltshire in each of the last five years. \p Karin Smyth: The maternity units serving Wiltshire are provided by the Great Western Hospitals Trust, the Royal United Hospitals Bath Trust, and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.

Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK’s perinatal mortality surveillance data provides the figures for stillbirths and neonatal deaths for these trusts, in each of the last five years that the data was available. This data is available at the following link:

https://timms.le.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk-perinatal-mortality/data-viewer/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

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Iqbal Mohamed:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered providing (a) funding and (b) other support to NHS Trusts to participate in early access programmes for (i) Givinostat for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and (ii) other medicines. \p Karin Smyth: The Department understands the importance of rapid patient access to new medicines for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and has worked with NHS England to consider the issues raised by the givinostat early access programme. The first National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committee meeting for givinostat took place on 10 July 2025, with a provisional date for a decision in September. If the manufacturer, Italfarmaco, can offer a cost-effective price to enable a positive NICE recommendation, NHS England is ready to work with the company to explore immediate funding options for the treatment.

Although medicines administered via company-sponsored early access programmes (EAPs) are licensed, EAPs do not share common clinical, data, or regulatory standards, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust, and that can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources.

It would not be appropriate for the Government or NHS England to issue any form of national direction around the participation in these early access programmes as it would both pre-empt and undermine the role of NICE, whose very purpose is to advise the National Health Service on whether or not particular treatments should be made routinely available on the NHS.

The Government does, however, support patients getting early access to new, innovative medicines through established routes such as the Early Access to Medicines Scheme.
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made and estimate of the total cost of providing personalised coaching to each member of NHS staff. \p Karin Smyth: No estimate has been made. As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will introduce new ‘skills escalators’ for staff. These will give staff a trajectory for clear career progression, with increasing autonomy.

By 2035, every single member of National Health Service staff will have their own personalised career coaching and development plan, to help them acquire new skills and practice at the top of their professional capability.

Further details on this will be set out in our 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year.
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 12 of his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, whether it remains his policy to abolish NHS England. \p Karin Smyth: Yes, as announced on 13 March, NHS England will be brought into the Department to form a new joint centre. The necessary work to formally abolish NHS England is underway.

NHS England will continue to undertake its statutory functions, working with the new executive during the transition, until parliamentary time allows for the necessary legislative changes to be made.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to build the new Women and Children's Hospital at Treliske on the local community. \p Karin Smyth: The new Women and Children's Hospital scheme at the Royal Cornwall Hospital is in Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme (NHP), as set out in the Plan for Implementation, and is due to commence construction between 2027 and 2028. An equality impact assessment was carried out for the review of the NHP, which included assessing the extent to which service users might be impacted by these delivery proposals, with specific reference to the impact that these might have on relevant protected characteristics. This was laid in the House Library and published on 20 January 2025, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-equality-impact-assessment
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of the bodies that will be abolished as part of the NHS 10 Year Plan. \p Karin Smyth: The following organisations will be closed or their functions transferred as part of the 10-Year Health Plan:
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for ambulances in the Lancashire Ambulance Service area. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes monthly official statistics for ambulance service performance. Lancashire is served by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS). The following table shows the most recent average response times for the NWAS, in hours, minutes, and seconds, broken down by category:

Category name

Performance in June 2025

Category 1 average

00:07:15

Category 2 average

00:25:39

Category 3 average

01:42:46

Category 4 average

01:56:14

Source: Ambulance Management Information dataset, available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-management-information/
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his target date is for 92% of patients to begin elective treatment within 18 weeks. \p Karin Smyth: As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to delivering the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) midwives, (b) obstetricians and (c) maternity support workers were employed in NHS Trusts serving Wiltshire as of the most recent date for which data is available. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This covers staff working for hospital trusts and in integrated care in England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. Data is collected by the employing body and as such we have supplied information for the three main acute hospital trusts which would cover the Wiltshire region.

The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent midwives, obstetricians and gynaecologist, as data is not held for obstetricians alone, and maternity support workers employed by NHS trusts and core organisations within the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, as of April 2025:

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

Midwifes

152

186

100

Obstetricians and gynaecologists of all grades

40

36

25

Obstetricians and gynaecologists - consultants

17

16

10

Maternity support workers

51

58

26

Source: NHS workforce statistics, available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Maternity support staff have been defined as all support staff that work in a ‘maternity services’ and ‘neonatal nursing’ care setting. This includes nursing associates, nursing assistant practitioners, nursery nurses, nursing assistants/auxiliaries, healthcare assistants, and support workers.
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Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, (b) the NHS, (c) Cabinet colleagues and (d) other stakeholders on indication-specific pricing of medications used in the treatment of more than one form of cancer. \p Karin Smyth: My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has not held any meetings specifically on the topic of indication-specific pricing of medications used in the treatment of more than one form of cancer.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of Federated Data Platform development work is carried out by UK‑based engineers; and whether data processing beyond AWS input processes is off‑shored. \p Karin Smyth: All NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) development work is carried out by United Kingdom based engineers, therefore there is no offshoring. This is documented in the contract, Information Governance Framework, and Memorandum of Understanding. It is a contractual requirement that personal data stored in the FDP and National Health Service Privacy Enhancing Technology cannot be accessed by its provider’s personnel or contractors based outside the UK. These measures collectively ensure that NHS data remains under UK jurisdiction and that all processing of patient information will be within the UK only. This is a contractual requirement, and one of the key principles of the Federated Data Platform Information Governance Framework. Data cannot be accessed or processed by non-UK Government entities.

Information on how data is protected, who can access it, and under what conditions, is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/overarching-data-protection-impact-assessment-dpia-for-the-federated-data-platform-fdp/#18-in-which-country-territory-will-personal-data-be-stored-or-processed
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has stress‑tested the portability of (a) data schemas, (b) application programming interfaces and (c) dashboards for use on other vendor platforms. \p Karin Smyth: NHS Federated Data Platform products are built using open-source technologies, for instance Python and Spark. End-user products can also be built using open market frameworks, for instance React, interfacing to the platform Application Programming Interfaces. The NHS Federated Data Platform has extensive integration capabilities. The platform has active integrations using alternative visualisation tools, for instance PowerBI. The NHS Federated Data Platform Data Schemas are published to GitHub.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what contingency plans he has to maintain pharmaceutical cold chain logistics in instances of loss of load events that exceed 12 hours. \p Karin Smyth: The Department works across the health and care landscape to monitor, manage, and where possible, mitigate risks to medical supply chains.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has engaged with industry on disaster recovery plans in the event of disruption to energy supplies, including the impact on cold chain, and is confident that full line wholesalers have the necessary resilience to weather short to medium term failures of energy infrastructure and to ensure the continued integrity of medicines across all temperature limits.

Under the MHRA’s Rules and Guidance for Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, wholesalers are expected to have a full, demonstrable understanding of their equipment, its limitations, and its ability to operate in extreme conditions.
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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve NHS 111 response times. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to continuing to improve NHS 111 to ensure patients can access the right care the first time, only visiting accident and emergency when necessary.

The latest published data shows that May 2025 saw the lowest average NHS 111 call answer time since records began in April 2021, 4 seconds faster than in April 2025, and 58 seconds faster than in May 2024. The average NHS 111 call answer time in the year to date is 46 seconds, compared to 157 seconds in the same period in 2024.

Whilst NHS 111 response times have improved, we recognise there is more to do. On 6 June 2025, we published our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, which includes the commitment to publish and implement the recommendations from the NHS 111 review to make the service quicker and simpler to navigate.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement the recommendations in Breast Cancer Now’s Setting the bar too high report in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) the country. \p Karin Smyth: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. NICE has processes in place to review its methods to ensure that they keep pace with best practice and are suitable for the evaluation of emerging new medicines.

NICE concluded a comprehensive review of the methods and processes it uses for health technology evaluations in January 2022, and introduced a number of changes that make its methods fairer, faster, and more consistent.

NICE’s board considered a review of the severity modifier at its public meeting on 25 September 2024, in light of its implementation to date, and concluded that it is operating as intended, so no change to the modifier is needed at the time.

NICE has no immediate plans to make further changes to its methods in response to the Breast Cancer Now report’s recommendations, but is monitoring the impact of the changes made following the methods review, and has committed to considering modular updates to its methods and processes in the future. NICE has also commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to periodically review NHS AI models to ensure continued alignment with (a) data protection and (b) clinical safety standards. \p Karin Smyth: There are strict safeguards in place throughout the National Health Service to protect data. All providers of services which handle patient data must protect that data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and every health organisation is required to appoint a Caldicott Guardian to advise on the protection of people’s health and care data, and to ensure that it is used properly. This includes where artificial intelligence (AI) is used in relation to patient records.

The Information Commissioners Office has developed detailed AI guidance which provides an overarching view of data protection, including the need for Data Protection Impact Assessments and to ensure compliance with UK GDPR. They have also produced an AI toolkit to support organisations auditing compliance of their AI-based technologies. NHS bodies are expected to make use of this guidance and toolkit.

The NHS has published two clinical risk management standards relating to clinical safety, with the codes DCB0129 and DCB0160, both of which are applicable to AI. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, manufacturers of health IT systems and health organisations that deploy and use these systems must have regard to these standards. In line with current Data Coordination Board practice, each standard comprises of: a specification, which defines the requirements and conformance criteria to be met by the user of the standard, and with the user responsible for how these requirements are met; and implementation guidance, which provides an interpretation of the requirements and, where appropriate, defines possible approaches to achieving them.
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Mr Toby Perkins:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many newly qualified nurses have been recruited to each NHS Trust in the last four years; and how many have been recruited from overseas. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold information on the number of newly qualified nurses recruited by each National Health Service trust, and where they were trained.

The table attached shows the number of joiners to the nursing and health visitors staff group at a band five level, by NHS trust, for each of the past four financial years. It is not possible to accurately identify a member of staff who is newly qualified, but in the attached table we have given the number of staff joining the NHS in band five roles, which is the pay grade at which nurses begin their employment, although this will include some nurses who have left NHS employment for a period of time and returned into band five roles, including those returning from unpaid career breaks. The Electronic Staff Record System, the Human Resources system for the NHS from which this information is drawn, also includes the self-declared nationality of staff, and whilst this may not equate to where they were trained, it allows new joiners to be split by United Kingdom and non-UK nationalities.

Additional Document (xlsx, 46.5KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_208

Valerie Vaz:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether physician (a) associates and (b) assistants are permitted to (i) discuss (A) Do Not Resuscitate and (B) Respect forms with patients at (1) NHS trusts and (2) GP surgeries and (ii) initiate conversations on end of life. \p Karin Smyth: We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. With regard to palliative care and end of life care, this must include the opportunity for individuals to discuss their wishes and preferences so that these can be taken fully into account in the provision of their future care. This is also known as advance care planning (ACP). ACP is a voluntary process of person-centred discussion between an individual and their care providers about their preferences and priorities for their future care. ReSPECT is one tool that can be used to support wider ACP conversations. NHS England has published Universal Principles for ACP, which facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. Further information on the Universal Principles for ACP is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) decision policies are determined locally by organisations providing National Health Service care. The Resuscitation Council UK, British Medical Association, and the Royal College of Nursing have jointly produced guidance on decisions about CPR. It states that the overall clinical responsibility for decisions about CPR, including Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation decisions, rests with the most senior clinician responsible for the person’s care, as defined explicitly by local policy.

The Government commissioned Professor Gillian Leng CBE to lead an independent review of the physician and anaesthesia associate professions. The review considered the safety of the roles and their contribution to multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

The review has now concluded and will be published shortly. The conclusions of the review will inform the workforce plan to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as future Government policy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_209

Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NICE on the impact of their severity modifier on people with secondary breast cancer in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) the UK. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has regular discussions with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), including on the impact of the severity modifier on people with secondary breast cancer.

NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended. This showed that the proportion of positive cancer recommendations is higher, at 84.8%, than with the end-of-life modifier it replaced, at 75%, and the proportion of positive recommendations for advanced cancer treatments is also higher, at 81.1% compared to 69%.

Since the introduction of the severity modifier, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed. These treatments are now available to eligible National Health Service patients.

NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future method reviews.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_210

Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS has made an assessment of the level of the resilience of digital health records systems to prolonged power outages during electricity system stress events. \p Karin Smyth: In the event of a disruption, the National Health Service maintains business continuity and emergency preparedness arrangements, including fallback systems, and protocols to mitigate the impact on health and patient care.

The NHS has long standing measures in place to manage disruption which would be caused by a power outage. Electronic patient record systems usually have a back-up power source, and paper patient records and handwritten notes may also be used as a contingency.

All NHS-funded organisations must meet the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the NHS Act 2006, and the Health and Care Act 2022. These requirements are also supported by the NHS Standard Contract, the NHS Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPPR) Framework, NHS Core Standards for EPRR, and the NHS England Business Continuity Management Toolkit.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_211

Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the transition of (a) grant and (b) contract funding from NHS England to his Department; and whether he plans to continue existing levels of such funding for organisations led by (i) disabled people and (ii) patient-led charities. \p Karin Smyth: Work is progressing at pace to develop the design and operating model for the new integrated organisation, and to plan for the smooth transfer of people, functions, and responsibilities.

Grants and contracts still held by NHS England at the point of transition will also legally transfer, or novate, to the Department. The ongoing need for these third-party arrangements will be assessed against policy objectives and funding availability, in line with our standard processes. Whilst this transformation takes place, we will ensure that we continue to comprehensively evaluate impacts, and will work collaboratively to put plans in place to prevent disruption to live funding streams.

The Department publishes figures for NHS England’s annual expenditure on the purchase of healthcare from the voluntary and not for profit sectors in its Annual report and Accounts, and the figure for 2023/24 was £1.84 billion. Further information is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6761518bd20fc50099e18fab/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-2024-print-ready.pdf

For NHS England to identify just the registered and UK-registered charitable organisations it has grants and contracts with would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_212

Josh Babarinde:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve access to reproductive health in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex. \p Karin Smyth: Improving access to reproductive health services in Eastbourne and East Sussex is a matter for local determination.

The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception advice, through the Public Health Grant. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the blend of service access that best suits their population.

In addition, under the GP Contract, contraceptive services are an essential service that practices must provide, or arrange for the provision of, to their patients. Practices are paid for providing essential services via the global sum, which is a capitated payment based on practice patient list size, weighted to account for estimated patient workload and unavoidable costs.

Contraception is also available direct from pharmacies, both prescribed and over the counter, as well as online and through other health care services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_213

Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the requirement upon Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to make savings of £99 million this year on the delivery of health services in Oxfordshire. \p Karin Smyth: Like many other trusts, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust overspent against their own plan in 2024/25, despite receiving significant additional support to deliver that plan. We can no longer accept overspends as standard. It is critical that all National Health Service organisations maximise every penny available to them and deliver the plans that they agree to. All efficiency savings will be used by organisations such as the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to reinvest in services and deliver on their plans.

All systems have agreed breakeven financial plans for 2025/26, requiring £11 billion of efficiencies and other savings, or 7.1% of total allocation. While ambitious, NHS England has provided detailed efficiency and productivity support during 2025/26 planning and will continue to do so through a new finance improvement programme to ensure efficiency and financial plans are met without adversely impacting service delivery or patient care.

As of the second month, the trust reports that it is on track to deliver the efficiencies set out in their plan for 2025/26.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_214

Phil Brickell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS Ambulance Trusts on the potential merits of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances directly from them. \p Karin Smyth: No such discussions have been held. Information on decommissioned National Health Service ambulances is not held. Decisions on how to appropriately decommission ambulances is taken at a local level by ambulance trusts.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-07-15 conversation_215

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the support available to ambulance staff who attend traumatic callouts in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Karin Smyth: The mental health of all National Health Service staff is taken seriously, including ambulance staff as responders to emergency incidents. Ambulance trusts and the Association of Ambulance Trust Chief Executives have worked closely with NHS England to ensure there is a good range of health and wellbeing support for staff. This includes an ambulance sector specific suicide prevention pathway to provide immediate support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for staff experiencing suicidal ideation. At a national level, ambulance trust employees have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support, alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.