theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle barriers to employers engaging with the (a) apprenticeship and (b) training system. \p Janet Daby: Our Industrial Strategy sets out the interventions we will make to help tackle barriers to employer engagement with the skills system. This includes introducing shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in priority sectors, the introduction of short courses in England, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, from April 2026, and three packages targeted at skills needed in multiple Industrial Strategy sectors (digital, engineering, and the defence sector), building on our £625 million construction skills package to train up to 60,000 extra construction workers – crucial for delivering on our pledge to build 1.5 million new homes

This investment will be underpinned by deeper employer partnerships including launching Technical Excellence Colleges to develop pipelines of skilled workers for local businesses.

The Chair of Skills England, in partnership with the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, will explore how employers, individuals and local and central government work together to address national skills needs, to support jobs of the future in the growth-driving sectors, and in particular opportunities for further business engagement and investment into the skills pipeline.
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Mr Jonathan Brash:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides funding to (a) the independent schools inspectorate and (b) cover the cost of inspections undertaken by the inspectorate. \p Stephen Morgan: The department does not provide funding to the Independent Schools Inspectorate, and does not cover the cost of inspections undertaken by the inspectorate.
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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve school attendance in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency. \p Stephen Morgan: The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to improve attendance. Central to this approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the statutory guidance here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.

In addition, the department is improving evidence on which interventions improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested in mentoring projects supporting at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas.

Regional improvement for standards and excellence teams support schools by sharing best practice across areas and empowering schools to better access support and learn from one another. This includes new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs, supporting around 550 schools in the South West each year.

Attendance is also supported by broader investments, including breakfast clubs in primary schools so that children start their day ready to learn, and Mental Health Support Teams which will provide access to specialist professionals in every school.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Universities have received emergency funding from the Government since 4 July 2024; and how much money has been provided as part of that process. \p Janet Daby: The government has not provided emergency funding to any university since 4 July 2024.

Universities are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability. If a university was at risk of failure, the department would work with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure that students are protected, recognising the significant impact university closure would have on their future. The government reserves the right to intervene to protect students’ interests, if necessary.

While the sector is autonomous, we are committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities.

To support universities in stabilising their financial positions, the OfS will continue dedicating significant resources to ensuring the sector's financial sustainability. The department has appointed Professor Edward Peck as the substantive Chair of the OfS, where he will play a key role in strengthening this commitment, while also expanding opportunities in higher education (HE).

Additionally, we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1% (in line with inflation) from the 2025/26 academic year.
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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 58204 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF), what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the provision of updated guidance local authorities on the provision of adoption support services. \p Janet Daby: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues over a range of important matters.
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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of Strategic Priorities Grant funding from journalism courses in the 2025–26 academic year on the accessibility of journalism education. \p Janet Daby: The government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). We are prioritising support for high-cost subjects that are essential to the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and for access to HE for disadvantaged groups. The removal of SPG funding for journalism courses aligns with this.

We are prioritising investment in science, engineering and technology subjects. Media studies, journalism, publishing and information services are all important and valued subjects, and the government acknowledges their importance, alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, such as history, languages, economics, mathematics and law.

Funding for all subjects, including journalism, will benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year will increase by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535.

HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for deciding which courses to offer.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Best Start Family Hubs will be located within walking distance of deprived communities. \p Janet Daby: Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and thrive is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission.

We will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education to begin the hard work needed.

We will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities, can access it. These hubs will be open to all families but will be located in disadvantaged communities where support is most needed. This ensures services are both inclusive and targeted.

The department will be providing guidance to local authorities in due course to support service delivery from April 2026.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) family hubs and (b) former Sure Start children centres are in operation in each council area. \p Janet Daby: On 25 January 2024, the government published a list of family hubs which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-family-hub-sites. 75 local authorities have received joint funding from the department and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. As of March 2025, there were 551 family hubs in these local authorities. A further 13 local authorities have received support through the department’s Family Hubs Transformation Fund. As of March 2025, there were 90 family hubs in these local authorities. The department does not routinely collect data on family hubs created by local authorities outside of these two programmes.

Data on children’s centres that are in operation is supplied by local authorities via the Get Information about Schools database. A list of children’s centres that are currently open is available to download at: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Downloads.

On 2 August 2023, the government published Family Hubs and Start for Life: section 31 grant determination letters. A link to the letters can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-section-31-grant-determination-letters. These letters set out the details of £301.75 million of funding for 75 upper-tier local authorities in England to deliver Start for Life and Family Hubs over three financial years between 2022 and 2025.
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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of hours of therapy an applicant to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund would receive using this year’s Fair Access Limit should they also require a specialist assessment costing the average amount calculated by her Department; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of this. \p Janet Daby: The number of hours of therapy available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or regional adoption agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.

Specialist assessments vary in cost, although the maximum the department can fund is £2,500 and the current average spend is slightly below this. If the maximum is used on a specialist assessment, this will clearly limit the amount of therapy which can be funded under the Fair Access Limit in the same financial year.

Outcomes measurement tool (OMT) data enables the adequacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from OMTs for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment concludes, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.
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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the provision of 30-hours of free childcare on the finances of families in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency. \p Stephen Morgan: On 7 July, the department published our ‘Best Start in life Strategy’, which sets out how we will make real change happen for families across the country.

From September 2025, eligible working parents will be able to access 30 hours of funded childcare a week, over 38 weeks of the year, from the term after their child turns nine months until they start school. This will save eligible families using all 30 hours nationally up to £7,500 on average.

According to the ‘Childcare and early years provider survey’, this would be higher (£7,900) in Bath and North East Somerset due to higher childcare fees, though these estimates are likely to be more variable due to a smaller sample size. The survey can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8919d3d0-fd4f-4adb-8ae2-08ddbed6edd3. To calculate this estimation the department has used local authority data from Bath and North East Somerset in the absence of constituency-level childcare fee data.

A recent Coram report shows the average cost to parents of a 25 hour nursery place for children under three in England has halved between 2024 and 2025.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing flexibility for term-time absences for children from families employed in the (a) agricultural and (b) tourism sectors. \p Stephen Morgan: The department has high expectations for all pupils’ attendance. Parents are legally responsible for ensuring regular attendance if their child is of compulsory school age and registered at a school.

Taking children out of school for holidays can significantly disrupt their education. Missing one week each year, combined with typical absences for illness, can add up to two full terms missed by year 11. This also disrupts teaching and impacts the wider class.

While holidays can be enriching, the school year allows ample time for breaks outside of term time. Schools do have discretion to approve leave in exceptional circumstances, but holidays generally do not qualify.

The department understands some sectors face pressures at peak times, but we are not aware of any employer that prohibits leave during every school holiday. Schools also have flexibility to plan term dates and inset days to help families manage their schedules.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of care experienced young people securing employment in the hospitality sector following the cessation of local authority support. \p Janet Daby: The department is committed to ensuring that young people leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.

The department fully recognises the potential benefits that employment in the hospitality sector offers to care leavers. 27 of the 237 organisations offering employment opportunities under our Care Leaver Covenant are from the hospitality industry. This includes Accor Hotels, Aramark, Birmingham Airport, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, PGL, Marston’s Brewery and Pubs, and Merlin Entertainments.

Further, our Care Leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister, has been established to secure cross-departmental action to improve the outcomes and experiences of care leavers, including in relation to their employment.
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Paula Barker:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with schools on the potential impact of (a) children buying vapes from their peers and (b) preventing the use of vapes in schools on levels of (i) behaviour and (ii) teacher morale. \p Stephen Morgan: The sale of vapes to under 18s is illegal, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will ban the sale of all consumer nicotine products to anyone under 18.

Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises. The ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, including vaping anywhere in school.

The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks. This includes smoking, alcohol use, and drug taking.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Education Health and Care plans were given to children aged between seven and 15-years-old that have a diagnosis of Foetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder in 2024. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department does not hold statistics on how many children with foetal valproate spectrum disorder are issued with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Information on the primary type of need for all children and young people with EHC plans is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f9f635d7-6712-4e64-172f-08ddbed4c851.
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Sir Gavin Williamson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what evidence (a) his Department and (b) the MHRA have on the numbers of people harmed by Sodium Valproate in pregnancy. \p Ashley Dalton: Everyone who has been harmed from sodium valproate has our deepest sympathies. The Department does not collect information about the numbers of people harmed by sodium valproate in pregnancy.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received 1,169 United Kingdom spontaneous suspected adverse drug reaction reports for sodium valproate related to use during pregnancy, from the initial licensing of the medicine up to 24 June 2025. The majority of reports relate to birth defects or developmental delays in the child.

These are well documented risks for women taking sodium valproate during pregnancy, and as such sodium valproate must not be prescribed to women under the age of 55 years old who are able to have children, unless two specialists independently consider and document that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment, and the patient fulfils the conditions of a Pregnancy Prevention Programme.
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Sarah Edwards:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy for all lung cancer patients to be routinely screened for ROS1 biomarkers. \p Ashley Dalton: The NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) provides genomic testing in the National Health Service. Testing is delivered by the NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs and directed by the National Genomic Test Directory. The test directory comprises of a full list of clinical indications, with over 200 cancer clinical indications for genomics testing, including ROS1 biomarker testing for non-small cell lung cancer, a common form of lung cancer.

NHS England, supported by the Genomics Clinical Reference Group and genomic test evaluation working groups, holds responsibility for reviewing the test directory on an annual basis following a robust and evidence-based process. Through this process, NHS England will continue to consider the potential costs and benefits of expanding or altering the genomic testing which it commissions, ensuring that this testing is available for all patients for whom it would be of clinical benefit.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including lung cancer patients, have access to innovative diagnostics tests. In May, NHS England announced the roll out of liquid biopsy testing which is now available for all eligible lung cancer patients, which aims to speed up diagnosis and inform better treatment options for those with lung cancer.

The 10-Year Health Plan, published 3 July, commits to further expanding the GMS and developing a new population health genomics service which will combine genomics, new diagnostics, and predictive analytics with artificial intelligence, to enable early identification and intervention for individuals with cancer. Additionally, further information on how the Department will tackle lung cancer and improve outcomes for patients will be released in the National Cancer Plan, which is due to be published later this year.
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Charlotte Nichols:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase the uptake of measles vaccines. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is working alongside its partners to increase vaccine uptake across all childhood vaccination programmes, including the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) programme.

In light of a surge in measles cases in the North West, the UK Health Security Agency and the National Health Service are working with local partners to monitor the situation, provide advice, and support local communities to be aware of action they can take to protect themselves, including getting vaccinated.

Building on the MMR coverage gains achieved in 2023/4, NHS England continues to deliver national and regional improvement plans that include activities to strengthen the routine vaccination offer and to address inequalities by supporting MMR catch up vaccination by school age vaccination services in schools and community settings. For example, summer ‘catch up’ immunisation clinics are being stood in some of the areas with the lowest MMR uptake including Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, and St Helens.

National childhood vaccination communication campaigns are planned in August and September 2025 for children returning to school. This will be a re-launch of the 2024 childhood vaccination campaign aimed at increasing the awareness of childhood vaccinations and encouraging parents to book catch-up appointments.

It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations they are entitled to, for themselves, their families, and wider society.  The MMR vaccine is highly effective, safe, and is the best way to prevent measles.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 39995 on Long Covid: Clinics, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the delivery of long covid care by integrated care boards. \p Ashley Dalton: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services for people with long COVID. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local need and priorities, and to improve outcomes.

To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to establish the Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice, to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society can be found at the following link:

https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk/

Earlier this year, NHS England completed a long COVID stocktake, aiming to provide a nationwide overview of service delivery in commissioning and contracting, assessing access, activity, and outcomes. The findings confirmed the widely recognised challenges of significant variation in care delivery across England and a lack of comprehensive activity data.

Executive NHS England board members were updated on the current provision of long COVID services, noting those challenges. Discussions considered service prioritisation and potential COVID Inquiry recommendations.
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Sir Gavin Williamson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of people affected by Valproate. \p Ashley Dalton: Everyone who has been harmed from sodium valproate has our deepest sympathies.

The National Disease Registration Service in NHS England, which collects and quality assures data about people with congenital anomalies and rare diseases across the whole of England, is assessing the feasibility and reliability of better ascertainment of foetal sodium valproate syndrome by linking data in the congenital anomaly register to primary care prescription data. Further information on the National Disease Registration Service is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs

The information requested is not held centrally.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote the benefits of breast feeding to new mothers. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and to giving every child the best start in life. We want every parent to understand the benefits of breastfeeding so that they can make informed decisions about how to feed their baby.

Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are investing £18.5 million in 2025/26 to improve infant feeding support across 75 local authorities in England. This includes promoting the benefits of breastfeeding and supporting families to achieve their infant feeding goals. The Start for Life communications programme also promotes the benefits of breastfeeding via a website, email, and public awareness campaign.

Most families will receive advice on the benefits of breastfeeding and support from midwives and health visitors. We are committed to strengthening these services and are already making progress.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people diagnosed with hypertension through the NHS Health Check programme were subsequently tested for chronic kidney disease in each of the last five years. \p Ashley Dalton: Blood pressure is one of seven risk factors for cardiovascular disease assessed in the NHS Health Check, and it is also a risk factor for chronic kidney disease. Individuals who have a high blood pressure reading during their NHS Health Check are referred to their general practice for further clinical investigation, and subsequent diagnosis of hypertension and management where appropriate.

Data is currently not collected on the number of individuals who, following their NHS Health Check, are diagnosed with hypertension and are subsequently tested for chronic kidney disease.

We are considering how to improve data collection and monitoring of the NHS Health Check following the National Audit Office report.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Food Standards Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Ashley Dalton: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has a long-established contractual flexible working offer known as Our Ways of Working (OWOW). The 2013 Civil Service Reform project, The Way We Work, required Government organisations to adopt Smarter Working by 2022, leading the FSA to introduce OWOW in 2016. In the past three years, the FSA has spent the following on equipment to enable staff to work from home:

- £54,394 in 2024/25;

- £60,794 in 2023/24; and

- £73,250 in 2022/23.

OWOW supports the Government’s Places for Growth programme by recruiting based on merit, not location. This increases opportunities in regions and nations, and has enabled the FSA to reduce the square meterage of its estate by 50%.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase (a) referral to and (b) uptake of testing for chronic kidney disease among people diagnosed with hypertension through the NHS Health Check programme. \p Ashley Dalton: Individuals who have a high blood pressure reading during their NHS Health Check are referred to their general practice for further clinical investigation, and subsequent diagnosis of hypertension and management where appropriate.

In 2024, NHS England incorporated a new indicator into the CVDPREVENT audit to monitor the measurement of kidney function, a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio test, in people with hypertension, as recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve breastfeeding support in (a) the east of England and (b) England. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and giving every child the best start in life. We know breastfeeding has significant health benefits for babies and for their mothers.

Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are investing £18.5 million in 2025/26 to improve infant feeding support across 75 local authorities in England, including Bedford, Luton, Norfolk, Peterborough, and Thurrock in the East of England. We have also extended and expanded the National Breastfeeding Helpline so that more families across the United Kingdom can access breastfeeding support 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Most families will be receiving their breastfeeding support from midwives and health visitors. We are committed to strengthening these services and are already making progress.
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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of instances of pre-term infants both (a) not receiving the maternal vaccination programme for respiratory syncytial virus and (b) not being eligible for palivizumab. \p Ashley Dalton: The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme to protect newborn infants, via maternal vaccination, was introduced in England in September 2024, in line with independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The National Health Service has also offered high-risk eligible infants a monoclonal antibody called palivizumab over the RSV season since 2010, and continues to do so. Palivizumab is typically reserved for premature infants with specific major underlying medical conditions.

The JCVI is aware that very premature babies are unlikely to benefit from maternal vaccination. In February 2023, the JCVI advised that existing infant risk groups eligible for RSV monoclonal antibody immunisation should preferentially be protected with nirsevimab over palivizumab. In October 2024, the committee supported work being taken forward for a monoclonal antibody programme to protect all very/extremely premature infants, ideally from 2025/26. We are exploring all options to ensure there is effective protection against severe RSV illness for all very premature infants.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has participated in cross-Government exercises simulating the potential impact of national blackouts on (a) health services, (b) emergency responders and (c) energy regulators used by healthcare services. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department has participated in a cross-Government exercise simulating the potential impacts of national power outages on health services and emergency responders. The Department has been working on the lessons identified from this exercise to improve the resilience of the health and social care sector against the risk of a national power outage. This includes developing response plans and participating in cross-sector exercises.

The Government, through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, works closely with industry to continually improve and maintain the resilience of energy infrastructure, networks, and assets, including those offshore.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of merging of integrated care boards on (a) Dorset and (b) other rural areas. \p Karin Smyth: No mergers involving the seven integrated care boards (ICBs) in the South West NHS England footprint have been approved.

The Dorset ICB, the Somerset ICB, and the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB are preparing to ‘cluster’ by April 2026, and this will see increased joint working across the three ICBs to achieve the running cost reductions for ICBs announced by the Department. Formal approval for the merger of ICB footprints will not be given before a comprehensive assessment of the local circumstances and rationale. Our commitment to coterminous boundaries wherever possible will be at the forefront of our decision-making.

As part of cluster preparation arrangements, every ICB will complete an Equality Impact Assessment, which will consider the footprint population and the impact of the changes to ICB working arrangements.

ICBs and regional leaders assessed potential clustering arrangements using the design criteria.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward plans for hybrid backup power systems combining (a) diesel generators, (b) battery storage and (c) hydrogen fuel cells in NHS hospitals. \p Karin Smyth: National Health Service trusts are responsible for ensuring adequate back-up power systems in line with national guidelines. This includes conducting risk assessments to determine which systems meet their specific needs. Health Technical Memorandum 06-01 provides technical guidance on the supply and distribution of electrical services.

We continue to support the NHS to increase its energy resilience, including by diversifying its power sources. Some trusts have already implemented Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and we are funding a number of the solar projects via our £100 million collaboration with Great British Energy, which also includes BESS.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's website entitled Health and wellbeing programmes, what steps he is taking to improve (a) rest areas and (b) catering facilities for NHS staff. \p Karin Smyth: The NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework highlights the importance of getting the basics right, such as providing access to good quality rest areas, food, and drink options. Through the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food, officials have had, and continue to have, discussions in relation to improving catering for National Health Service staff in NHS hospital settings. The NHS Food and Drink Standards also contains detailed information for catering managers about sourcing and serving high quality, nutritious food to patients and staff.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals and support to work healthily and flexibly.

The New Hospital Programme will mandate that staff welfare spaces must occupy at least 6% to 7% of the total net internal area footprint for schemes that are fully compliant with the new standardised designs. This 6% to 7% minimum allocation will continue to be protected and maintained through the full life cycle of the building.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many newly qualified nurses there have been in 2025. \p Karin Smyth: The Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes information on the number of United Kingdom trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England.

The latest data available, from the Nursing and Midwifery Council March 2025 Annual Data Report, shows that 29,210 nurses joined the register in England for the first time, 19,670 of which obtained their nursing qualification in the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to review pharmacy procurement practices for generic cancer drugs in rural areas. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has no current plans to specifically review pharmacy procurement practices for generic cancer drugs in rural areas. Pharmacies are largely private businesses which provide National Health Services, and therefore have their own buying arrangements.

The Government’s policy on generic medicines is to allow suppliers freedom of pricing for their products, relying on competition between suppliers and efficient purchasing by community pharmacies to deliver value for money for the NHS.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what intellectual property rights NHS England retains over (a) data models, (b) ontologies and (c) analytics solutions produced within the Federated Data Platform. \p Karin Smyth: Within the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), the National Health Service retains the Intellectual Property of the solutions it funds or develops, including all associated data models, ontologies, including the NHS Canonical data model, products, and analytical solutions.

Under the FDP-Associated Services Agreement between NHS England and Palantir, background Intellectual Property, prior to entering into the agreement, remains the property of the respective party.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential risks of cross‑contamination risk when data from multiple NHS trusts are ingested into a single cloud environment. \p Karin Smyth: In order to assess the risk and impact to data privacy, all Federated Data Platform (FDP) installations are required to complete a Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA). An overarching DPIA for the FDP was also undertaken.

Each FDP Tenant is a logically separated instance of the Foundry Platform. Each tenant has separate administrators, and independent control of all data ingress and egress. User access is controlled by a combination of Role Based Access Controls and Purpose Based Access Controls to ensure that access to data is only available to users with a documented and auditable reason for access.

All changes to the product or platform go through a careful process of development, testing, quality assurance, and change management before they are released. This helps to prevent errors and problems. The FDP has several measures in place to keep data safe. These include:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the reasons for the price differential between (a) ciclosporin and (b) other generic immunosuppressant drugs sold in UK pharmacies compared to the same drugs available overseas; and if he will take steps to review (i) NHS procurement and (ii) pricing arrangements to ensure better value for money. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has made no assessment of the reasons for the price difference between ciclosporin and other generic immunosuppressant drugs sold in United Kingdom pharmacies compared to other countries.

The UK has well established mechanisms to control the level of spend on branded medicines. The voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth and the statutory scheme for branded medicines, control the growth in sales of branded medicines, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s evaluations ensure that spend on new medicines represents a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources.

For generic medicines, the Government’s policy is freedom of pricing. Community pharmacies buy the drugs they need to dispense against NHS prescriptions and are reimbursed for these according to the prices and ‘rules’ as set out in the Drug Tariff. The reimbursement arrangements include an amount of medicines margin in 2025/26, as allowed for as part of Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework funding. The system incentivises pharmacy contractors to source items as cheaply as possible, so they individually get to keep more medicine margin. This leads to competition and downward pressure on selling prices, which in turn leads to lower reimbursement prices and lower costs to the NHS.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the national maternity and neonatal action plan. \p Karin Smyth: My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, and the establishment of a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.

The investigation will produce, by December 2025, one clear set of national recommendations to achieve high quality, safe care across maternity and neonatal services, and will ensure that women and families are listened to.

The taskforce will then develop a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. The timing for the publication of the action plan will be announced in due course.

In the meantime, work continues to implement the actions set out in NHS England’s Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also announced some immediate actions to boost accountability and safety as part of the Government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future. This includes measures to hold the system to account, a system to better identify safety concerns, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-07-16)

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Carla Lockhart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional (a) neonatal, (b) stillbirth and (c) maternal deaths have occurred since 2018 compared to the Government’s target to halve 2010 rates by 2025; and what steps he is taking to meet these targets. \p Karin Smyth: While there has been some good progress in reducing the rates of stillbirths and neonatal death, the most recent data indicates that we are not on track to meet the Maternity Safety Ambition, set under the previous administration.

We do not hold analysis on the specific ask, but we track progress against the ambition trajectory using various data sources, which are publicly available, including data from the Office for National Statistics and from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK. In 2015, the rate of neonatal death and stillbirths was 1.6 per 1,000 live births and 4.4 per 1,000 births respectively. In the period 2014 to 2016, the rate of maternal death was 9.8 per 100,000 maternities. The most recent data shows that: in 2023 the rate of neonatal death was 1.4 per 1,000 live births; in 2024 the rate of stillbirths was 3.8 per 1,000 births; and in the period between 2021 and 2023 the maternal mortality rate was 12.7 per 100,000 maternities.

We are committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive the high-quality care that they deserve. This is why my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services to understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies, and families experience unacceptable care. The Government is also establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and to be made up of a panel of experts and family, charity, and staff representatives, in order to identify the actions needed to improve care.

But action cannot wait. We are also taking steps to improve care now. We have announced a package of immediate actions to boost accountability and safety. This includes a new system to better identify safety concerns to support rapid action and developing best practice standards to reduce maternal mortality.