theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the accessibility of health services for (a) blind and (b) partially sighted people in North Cornwall constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, including blind and partially sighted people.

Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to ensure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments. This includes rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, and their reasonable adjustment needs, in health records to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including blind and partially sighted people. NHS England has been undertaking a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. A revised AIS will be published in due course. In the meantime, the current AIS remains in force and therefore there should not be a gap in provision for people using services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Rachel Gilmour:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the discharge process on patients in cross-county areas. \p Stephen Kinnock: Enabling people to be discharged from hospital more quickly and with the right support contributes to speedier recovery and better outcomes. In some instances, this may mean discharging a patient outside of their local area so that they can receive the most appropriate short-term care after discharge. Some hospitals have excellent relationships and processes for cross-county discharges, although we know that in other instances these can cause delays whilst the care transfer hub determine responsibility for funding post discharge care.

The Hospital Discharge and Community Support Guidance sets out that integrated care boards and local authorities should agree local arrangements to ensure that any decisions about the joint funding of care can be made swiftly. These arrangements should follow the ‘Who Pays?’ guidance for services funded by the National Health Service, and reference ‘ordinary residence’ rules for services funded by local authorities, so that there is no adverse effect on timely discharge. Both sets of guidance are available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hospital-discharge-and-community-support-guidance/hospital-discharge-and-community-support-guidance

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/who-pays-determining-which-nhs-commissioner-is-responsible-for-commissioning-healthcare-services-and-making-payments-to-providers/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to implement the supervised tooth-brushing scheme for children in Wiltshire; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the scheme is available in Chippenham. \p Stephen Kinnock: On 7 March 2025, we confirmed plans to implement targeted supervised toothbrushing programme to reach up to 600,000 children between three and five years old in the most deprived areas of England. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/supervised-toothbrushing-for-children-to-prevent-tooth-decay

£11 million of additional funding for 2025/26 has been allocated to eligible local authorities, including Wiltshire Council, through the Public Health Grant. Full details are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-grants-to-local-authorities-2025-to-2026/public-health-ring-fenced-grant-financial-year-2025-to-2026-local-authority-circular

Implementation will be led locally to ensure this targeted investment best meets local needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) social care providers and (b) local authorities on ensuring (i) choice, (ii) control and (ii) flexibility in the provision of care as enshrined in the Care Act 2014. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are committed to working in partnership with social care professionals and providers, local authorities, and crucially the people who draw on care and support, to give people more choice and control over their care.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes encouraging a wide range of service provision to ensure that people have a choice of appropriate services.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing local authorities' delivery of their adult social care duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments undertaken by CQC identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for improvement, helping us to target support where it is most needed. If CQC identifies a local authority has failed or is failing to discharge its duties under the Care Act to an acceptable standard, my rt. Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has powers to intervene.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Alison Griffiths:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve sustainable funding for community pharmacies to (a) support people with lung conditions and (b) reduce hospital admissions. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have concluded the most recent consultation on funding for 2024/25 and 2025/26 with the community pharmacy sector. This deal represents a funding increase of over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26 and will support community pharmacies in continuing to provide clinical services.

This includes the New Medicine Service, which focuses on treatments for long-term conditions, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Pharmacists provide advice on side effects and address issues or questions that patients who are prescribed a new medicine may have. In addition, patients moved from secondary to primary care continue to be supported by the Discharge Medicines Service providing advice on medication changes. Interventions of this type seek to improve medication adherence and patient outcomes as well as to reduce pressure on the wider National Health Service. Community pharmacies are further funded to support patients with asthma through the Pharmacy Quality Scheme, providing additional support to patients aged between five and 15 years old using a spacer and patients using short-acting bronchodilators.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Jack Abbott:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the accessibility of the NHS for autistic people. \p Stephen Kinnock: Under the Health and Care Act 2022, from 1 July 2022, Care Quality Commission-registered providers are required to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. This will help to ensure that staff have the right knowledge and skills to provide safe and informed care. To support providers to meet the statutory training requirement, we have been rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism to the health and adult social care workforce. Over two million people have now completed the e-learning module, which is the first part of the training.

To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to make sure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments for people. This includes the development of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information, including if a person is autistic, and their reasonable adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

In June 2024, NHS England published a Health and Care Passport guidance and template which aims to support personalised care to autistic people including when they go into hospital or access any health or care services.

Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment or sensory loss. NHS England has been undertaking a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. A revised AIS will be published in due course. In the meantime, the current AIS remains in force and therefore there should not be a gap in provision for people using services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to review Shared Care arrangements to ensure they are delivering effective outcomes for patients. \p Stephen Kinnock: There are currently no plans to review shared care agreements.

General practices (GPs) are independent contractors that provide National Health Services. Shared care agreements between a GP and a specialist are voluntary and are not part of the GP Contract. The General Medical Council is clear that a GP cannot be mandated to enter into a shared care agreement, and there is guidance in place to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities.

On initiating a treatment, the specialist clinician must follow General Medical Council guidance, that if continuation of the treatment is dependent on shared care, then an agreement with the GP must be in place before the treatment is started.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which GP practices in the Huntingdon constituency have (a) a GMS contract, (b) a PMS contract and (c) an APMS contract. \p Stephen Kinnock: There are 12 practices in the Huntingdon constituency, all of which hold General Medical Services contracts.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 43400, from what year is the national average death rate for each age group taken. \p Stephen Kinnock: The death rates used by the Office for National Statistics to calculate the standardised mortality ratio for those aged under 65 years old are for the years 1996 to 2000 combined.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Jack Abbott:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the protection of autistic people in pandemics. \p Stephen Kinnock: Ensuring that the United Kingdom is prepared for a future pandemic is a top priority for the Government, and we are embedding lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in our approach to pandemic preparedness. We aim to have flexible, adaptable, and scalable capabilities that can respond to any infectious disease or other threat, rather than relying on plans for specific threats. The strategic approach to pandemic preparedness recognises the disproportionate impacts that pandemics can have on particular people and groups.

The Government’s response to module one of the COVID-19 inquiry sets out the changes we have made to risk planning and data management to help ensure that we reduce potential unequal impacts on particular groups or individuals and targeting support where it can be of best help in civil emergency planning and management. The response is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report

The Department commissioned independent research by the Policy Innovation Research Unit into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic people and their families, which was published in May 2021 and is available at the following link:

https://piru.ac.uk/research/completed-projects/covid-19-impact-on-autistic-people-in-the-uk.html

More broadly, we are taking steps to improve the accessibility of services and information for autistic people. To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to make sure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments for people. This includes the development of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, including if a person is autistic, and their reasonable adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of patients' (a) blindness and (b) partial sightedness on levels of attendance at (i) GP and (ii) hospital appointments. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department has made no formal assessment of the impact of visual impairment on levels of attendance. However, we are aware of the challenges that visual impairments can present when accessing healthcare services.

Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people, including blind and partially sighted people, are not disadvantaged. To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to ensure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments. This includes the development of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, and their reasonable adjustment needs, in health records to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers have been expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS). The standard details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including blind and partially sighted people. NHS England has been undertaking a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. A revised AIS will be published in due course. In the meantime, the current AIS remains in force and therefore there should not be a gap in provision for people using services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 42329 on General Practitioners: Finance, what the average salary was within the earnings data used in the staff market forces factor element of the Carr-Hill formula for (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) nationally. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Market Forces Factor used in the Carr-Hill formula is the difference in relative earnings due to geographical location alone, after removing the modelled impact on earnings differences across the country due to differences in the industry, occupation and age of employees. The value for Cambridgeshire after removing the impact of these factors is £15.94 per hour. A national figure was not produced as only the relative impact of geographical locations across the country is required for the Market Forces Factor. The research report did not include unadjusted earnings figures.
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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities to improve ocular health in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Prevention, early detection, and access to timely treatment are all key to maintaining good eye health. Free National Health Service sight tests are available for children, those aged 60 years old and over, individuals on low incomes, and those at increased risk of certain eye diseases, including glaucoma. Free NHS sight tests are also being rolled out for children and young people attending special educational settings across England. Diabetic Retinopathy screening is also offered to individuals aged 12 years old or over with diabetes.

NHS England has been testing how integrating primary and secondary eye care services, through IT connectivity and the development of a single point of access, could improve the referral, triage and management of patients with eye care needs and reduce the time from diagnosis to treatment. The North East London Integrated Care System, which includes Romford, have a number of measures in place to improve eye health including a single point of access to improve referrals into secondary care and minor eye care services in the community.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Leigh Ingham:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the benefits of regulating private-owned retirement residential services. \p Stephen Kinnock: In November 2024, the Government published the independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce report, originally commissioned prior to the July 2024 General Election. The Taskforce undertook an assessment of public and private specialised and supported older people’s housing, with a particular focus on the private market for those on middle incomes, and explored options for the provision of greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. The full report and recommendations alongside two pieces of research undertaken for the Taskforce are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-older-peoples-housing-taskforce-report

The Government is currently considering the recommendations set out in the report and remain fully committed to providing homeowners with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes by quickly implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the recruitment of dentists in (a) Chippenham and (b) Wiltshire; and how many dentists he plans to recruit in those areas by 31 December 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Chippenham and Wiltshire, this is Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB.

ICBs have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 10 March 2025, in England, 45 dentists have commenced in post and a further 36 dentists have been recruited but are yet to start in post.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to (a) primary and (b) specialist healthcare services for disabled people whose activity is significantly limited in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, including disabled people.

Under the Equality Act 2010, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services.

To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to ensure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments. This includes rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, and their reasonable adjustment needs, in health records to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

For primary care services in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, NHS Mid and South Essex has launched the ‘MSE (Mid and South Essex) Expand programme’ to improve access to general practice services across the area. Up to £3 million of capital funding is available in 2025/26 to enhance general practice premises, with a focus on accessibility and increased capacity. The programme aims to deliver at least 26 additional treatment and consultation rooms, one per primary care network, enabling an estimated 990 extra appointments per day, or a 3.7% increase. This supports increasing care delivered closer to home and reducing health inequalities.

For specialist services, a new community diagnostic centre (CDC) is due to open in Thurrock in August 2025, the first of its kind in mid and south Essex. The CDC will improve access to key diagnostic services locally, reducing the need for hospital travel. The new centre is fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant and accessible for disabled people.
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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities to improve the ocular health of children with visual impairments in England. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise the importance of supporting people with sight loss to maintain or improve their visual function so they can live independently in the community. It is important that individuals with visual impairments continue to have regular sight tests to monitor any further changes to their vision.

Free National Health Service sight tests are available for many individuals, including children, who are registered as sight-impaired or severely sight-impaired, or who have been diagnosed with glaucoma. Further information on sight test eligibility can be found at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/opticians/free-nhs-eye-tests-and-optical-vouchers/

Low vision services can also be provided to help individuals with sight loss to live independently, and can include access to low vision aids such as magnifiers. Low vision services can be provided within the hospital eye service or in the community.

The Department supports the publication by the Royal National Institute of Blind People of an eye care support pathway, which aims to improve the support available at every stage of an individual’s sight loss journey, including helping them to understand their condition.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 43400 on GP Practice lists, what the national average death rate is for each age group for all wards in Huntingdon constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: The standardised mortality ratio for those aged under 65 years old was calculated by the Office for National Statistics as a special exercise. The death rates for each age group were not provided.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were registered at each GP surgery in Huntingdon constituency in each of the last five years. \p Stephen Kinnock: A table showing the number of patients that were registered at each general practice surgery in the Huntingdon constituency in each of the last five years is attached. This information can also be found at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/general-and-personal-medical-services/31-march-2025

PQ46969 - Table (docx, 20.7KB)
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 44058 on General Practitioners: Pay, how regularly the New Earnings Survey is published by the Office for National Statistics. \p Stephen Kinnock: The New Earnings Survey has now been replaced with the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which is carried out annually. It provides information about the levels, distribution, and make-up of earnings and paid hours worked for employees in all industries and occupations.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices there (a) are (b) were in 2019 in Wiltshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of February 2025, there were 45 main practices and 28 branch practices in Wiltshire. This compares to 47 main practices and 27 branch practices in December 2019.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Leigh Ingham:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of appeals against decisions on NHS Continuing Healthcare funding by integrated care boards were upheld in favour of the applicant in the last 12 months. \p Stephen Kinnock: If an individual disagrees with the outcome of an NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) assessment, they may apply to the integrated care board (ICB) for a Local Resolution procedure. Where it has not been possible to resolve the matter through the Local Resolution procedure, the individual may apply to NHS England for an Independent Review of the decision.

We have interpreted ‘appeals against decisions’ as a request for Local Resolution or Independent Review of CHC eligibility decision requests, and ‘were upheld in favour of the applicant’ to mean the number of these found eligible. The following table, provided by NHS England, shows the number of Local Resolution requests to review a CHC eligibility decision completed by ICBs, and the number and percentage of those found eligible, from Quarter four of 2023/24 to Quarter three of 2024/25, for England:

Number of Local Resolution requests completed by ICBs

Number found eligible

Percentage eligible

2,453

376

15%

In addition, the following table show the number of Independent Review requests to review a CHC eligibility decision carried out by NHS England, and the number and percentage found eligible, from Quarter four of 2023/24 to Quarter three of 2024/25, for England:

Number of Independent Review Panels carried out by NHS England

Number found eligible

Percentage eligible

476

116

24%
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that all households with at least one disabled resident have adequate access to (a) adapted housing, (b) support services and (c) local authority assistance in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise how important the right housing arrangements are in supporting people to live independently, and the need to support people to live behind their own front door wherever possible.

In England, we fund the locally administered Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) which helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes, through practical changes like installing stair lifts or level access showers - to make them safe and suitable for their needs. We have provided an additional £172 million across this and the last financial year to uplift the DFG, which could provide around 15,600 home adaptations to give older and disabled people more independence in their homes. The total allocations for Basildon and Thurrock in 2025/26 are £1,785,144 and £1,636,074 respectively.

Funding for local authorities in England for housing-related local support services is through the wider Local Government Finance Settlement and it is for local authorities to determine which services they wish to fund, as they best understand local priorities and circumstances.

More widely, to enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant. The additional funding available to Thurrock Council in 2025/26 means that they will see an increase to their core spending power of up to 6.9% in cash terms.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce CAHMS waiting times in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: We know children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need and that waits for mental health services are too long across England. We are determined to change that.

Nationally, the Government is providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 Early Support Hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and roll out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.

In addition, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services in England to ease pressure on busy mental health services.

Responsibility for onward commissioning of mental health services sits with integrated care boards (ICB). It is the role of local ICB decision-makers to consider the implications of mental health services, specific to each geography and including the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and local authorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average number of patients per GP is in (a) Wiltshire (b) England. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full time equivalent doctors in general practice (GP) per 10,000 registered patients was:

GPs employed through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme are not included as they are employed by primary care networks (PCNs), rather than directly by practices. PCNs’ work may occur across county borders, so it is not possible to say how many PCN employed staff work in Wiltshire.
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Mohammad Yasin:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the Continuing Healthcare Assessment for dementia patients. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department has no plans at this time to review the NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) assessment in relation to individuals with dementia.

Eligibility for CHC is not determined by age, diagnosis, condition, or financial means, as it is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the totality of an individual’s needs. This ensures a person-centred approach to CHC, where the individual is placed at the centre of the assessment and care-planning process. We continue to work with our partners, including NHS England, who are responsible for oversight of CHC delivery, external organisations, and people with lived experience, to seek feedback on CHC policy and implementation.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle instances of inequitable access to pharmacies across geographic areas. \p Stephen Kinnock: Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system, and the Government recognises the integral role they play within our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.

Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide NHS funded services. Most pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list, and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can open and start providing services.

Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies, and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes, and fund the contract from the ICBs’ budgets.

The Pharmacy Access Scheme helps protect access to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies and higher health needs, so that no area is left without access to local, physical NHS pharmaceutical services.

In general, despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, patient access to pharmacies remains good and continues to be better in the most deprived areas when compared with the least deprived.

We have now concluded the consultation on funding for 2024/25 and 2025/26, and have agreed with Community Pharmacy England to increase the community pharmacy contractual framework to £3.073 billion. This deal represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This shows a commitment to rebuilding the sector.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Wera Hobhouse:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether consideration has been given to the importance of (a) gardening and (b) nature-based therapies in improving (i) physical, (ii) social and (iii) mental health in the development of a neighbourhood health service. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are committed to moving towards a Neighbourhood Heath Service, with more care delivered in local communities to spot problems earlier, supporting people to stay healthier and maintain their independence for longer. There will be a focus on shifting the way services are delivered to put the needs of people and places at the heart of the health and care system.

We recognise the value of social prescribing for addressing the wider determinants of health that can impact on an individual’s wellbeing. Green social prescribing is the practice of supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities, and can include gardening and nature-based therapies. We know that it can help people from a range of backgrounds to connect with nature to improve their physical, social, and mental health. We remain committed to the development of social prescribing through our ambition to focus on a preventative approach to health inequalities and to deliver support closer to home, in our communities.

The full vision for the health care system will be set out in 10-Year Health Plan. However, Neighbourhood Health Guidelines were published alongside the 2025/26 NHS Operational Planning Guidance and the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, to help integrated care boards, local authorities, and health and care providers to continue to progress neighbourhood health in 2025/26.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help shorten waiting times for dementia diagnoses. \p Stephen Kinnock: A timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well and remain independent for as long as possible.

We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. The Government is also committed to transforming diagnostic services, including the detection and diagnosis of dementia, and will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scanners.

The Dementia Care Pathway: Full Implementation Guidance, commissioned by NHS England, outlines the dementia care pathway and the associated benchmarks to support improvements in the delivery and quality of care and support. It showcases good-practice examples of services that have successfully reduced their waiting times. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/nccmh/dementia/nccmh-dementia-care-pathway-full-implementation-guidance.pdf

To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, NHS England has developed a dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers of memory services with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, whether he has carried out an impact assessment of reducing the proportion of NHS spending on mental health. \p Stephen Kinnock: For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services.

No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of welfare reforms on (a) unpaid carers and (b) their access to (i) respite and (ii) support services. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is committed to supporting unpaid carers, who provide invaluable support to elderly or disabled people.

In the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, we announced a broad package of reforms to the health and disability benefit and support system, including changes to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). For those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including for linked entitlements such as Carer’s Allowance, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.

The Government will consider the impacts on benefits for unpaid carers as part of its wider consideration of responses to the consultation as it develops its detailed proposals for change. Through the Green Paper we are consulting on the support needed for those who may lose any entitlements as a result of receiving PIP daily living and what this support could look like. The Department for Work and Pensions will also work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and others on how the health and eligible care needs of those who would lose entitlement to PIP could be met outside the benefits system.

Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services.

The Better Care Fund includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including short breaks and respite services for carers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) service delivery and (b) patient care standards are maintained in community pharmacies following the dissolution of NHS England. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government recognises that pharmacies are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the NHS, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.

All services delivered within a community pharmacy are delivered under the supervision of a pharmacist who are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). The GPhC is the independent regulator of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and registered pharmacy premises in Great Britain, and will remain unaffected by any changes to NHS England. GPhC sets standards for the education and training of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff, inspects pharmacies to ensure standards are met and acts if there are concerns about a registered pharmacy or pharmacy professional.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Chris Hinchliff:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of mental health support for (a) fathers and (b) partners impacted by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby provided by (i) maternal mental health services, (ii) improving access to psychological support services and (iii) community mental health services. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise that experiencing baby loss can be devastating and we are committed to ensuring that all families receive safe, personalised, equitable and compassionate care.

Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services offer mental health assessments and signposting to support as required for partners of women accessing services. This contributes to helping to care for the 5-10% of fathers who experience mental health difficulties during the perinatal period.

To date, we have not undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of mental health support for fathers and partners impacted by baby loss provided by Maternal Mental Health Services.

Mental health services within the National Health Service can support adults who are experiencing mental health problems because of baby loss. The Government has chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies. These offer well-governed, evidence-based, and effective psychological therapy services for common mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress reactions. These services are available in every integrated care system through self-referral.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-28)

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Valerie Vaz:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) impact, (b) economic and (c) equalities assessments for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill before 8 May 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government expects to publish the impact assessment and equalities impact assessment before Members consider the Bill on Report.