theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support people with long covid; and what steps he is taking to increase awareness of the impacts of long covid. \p Ashley Dalton: Across England, services within the National Health Service are available to support people with post-COVID syndrome, often described as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation.

NHS England has recently completed a long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) stocktake, aimed to provide a national overview of service delivery in commissioning these services. It included assessing access, activity and outcomes. The findings confirmed significant variation in care delivery across England and a lack of comprehensive activity data.

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

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

Information on long COVID is widely available from the NHS and the Government in a variety of formats. Detailed information for people of all ages and background on symptoms and the healthcare support that is available for long COVID remains available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/

Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council, has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The NIHR specifically has invested £42.7 million towards research for long COVID. The projects funded aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease, and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care. Further information on the research into long COVID commissioned through the NIHR is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/covid-19/long-COVID
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with an early prostate cancer diagnosis can quickly access (a) treatment and (b) care. \p Ashley Dalton: Improving access to treatment and care are key priorities for the Government for all cancer types, including prostate cancer.

To achieve this, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, during our first year in Government as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment. Additionally, we will spend £70 million on new radiotherapy machines, to ensure the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as improving access to treatment and care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Jon Trickett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has seconded no staff from Hakluyt since July 2024.
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Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the The Getting It Right First Time programme. \p Karin Smyth: The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve treatment and care by reviewing health services in England.

The GIRFT team is working with systems and regions to help the National Health Service embed best practice in elective care, to reduce waiting times, improve patient outcomes and, ultimately, to support delivery of the commitment to return to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of all patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral-to-treatment, by March 2029.

Surgical hubs are part of the GIRFT High Volume Low Complexity programme and mainly focus on driving improvement in six high volume specialties. With GIRFT support, there are currently 114 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of March 2025. These surgical hubs help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, improving outcomes for patients and reducing pressures on hospitals. GIRFT’s role also includes delivering an accreditation scheme for surgical hubs. To date, 44 surgical hubs have been accredited for clinical and operational excellence.

Within the Elective Reform Plan, the Government has committed to providing quicker access for patients to common surgical hub procedures by opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025 and ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years, so more operations can be carried out.

Through the GIRFT Further Faster programme, a cohort of 20 trusts, and their integrated care systems (ICS), chosen in areas of the greatest economic inactivity, are being given support to improve and streamline pathways for patients and spread good practice in areas with high levels of economic inactivity. All 20 trusts are working to deliver ‘High Flow Theatre’ lists and super clinics, not only to deliver rapid impact, but also to build into ‘business as usual’ pathways.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to encourage Integrated Care Boards to commission Referral Management Systems to reduce the significant time taken by primary care in chasing secondary care referrals and appointments. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to cutting waiting times for secondary care appointments, which in turn should minimise the time that general practitioners spend chasing referrals. As a first step, we have seen the waiting list reduce by over 190,000 and have provided 2.5 million extra appointments since July 2024.

The Government is also committed to optimising referrals through more effective models of triage which allow patients with the most urgent health needs to be prioritised and can be used to redirect referrals to an alternative service better suited to the patient’s needs (including in primary or community services where that is best for the patient). Referral management systems are one model of triage. The Elective Reform Plan (ERP), published in January 2025, commits to developing an implementation toolkit for triage services, by March 2026, and to working with integrated care boards to put in place clinical triage standard operating procedures for high-volume specialties.

The NHS Electronic Referral System (e-RS) is a national digital platform for referring patients from primary care into elective secondary care service. The ERP commits to improving e-RS throughout 2025/26 and beyond, to enhance information sharing between primary and secondary care and will help referrers in general practice know sooner what care their patient will receive and where, including whether their referral has been accepted in hospital.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many yellow card reports on covid-19 vaccines there were in 2024. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet the applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses the available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, which includes amending the product information.

All COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom have been authorised by the MHRA after meeting the MHRA’s standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness. As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continuously monitored, and benefits and possible risks remain under review. The MHRA has received a total of 6,912 spontaneous suspected side effects to COVID-19 vaccines in 2024 from over 15 million doses estimated to have been administered across the UK.

When considering the above spontaneous data, it is important to be aware that a reported reaction does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the vaccine, medicine, or device, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have been. The fact that the symptoms reported to the Yellow Card scheme occur after the use of a vaccine, medicine, or device does not in itself mean that they are proven to have been caused by it. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, and such events can also be coincidental.

It is also important to note that the number of reports received via the Yellow Card scheme does not directly equate to the number of people who suffered adverse reactions, and therefore they cannot be used to determine the incidence of a reaction or compare the safety profile of different vaccines, medicines, or devices. Adverse drug reactions and device incident reporting rates are influenced by the seriousness of the adverse reactions, their ease of recognition, and the extent of use of a particular medicine or device, and may also be stimulated by promotion and publicity. Reporting tends to be highest for newly introduced medicines during the first one to two years on the market, and then falls over time.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide for Community Diagnostic Centres in the 2025-26 financial year; and if he will take steps to improve access to these centres in each region. \p Karin Smyth: The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing community diagnostic centres (CDCs), as well as building up to five new ones in 25/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours a day, seven days a week, delivering more same-day tests and consultations, an expanded range of tests, with direct referral from primary and community care, new consulting rooms and at least 10 straight-to-test pathways by March 2026.

NHS England will work with local NHS systems to identify the most appropriate locations for investments, including new CDCs, and expansions of existing CDCs. A key factor they will consider is that new CDCs are positioned in a location which addresses local need and will address health inequalities.

The 2025/25 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care across 2025/26 more broadly.

This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics including CDCs. This includes funding to enable the completion of 2024/25 schemes; as well as to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.

As detailed in the 2025/26 capital guidance, published on 30 January 2025, NHS England has also provided systems with their operational capital envelopes. These allocations are managed locally, with systems prioritising investments in line with their clinical and operational needs.

Future capital investment beyond 2025-26 will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Jon Trickett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of his Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has seconded no individuals from the aforementioned institutions since July 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Luke Myer:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent NHS clinical staff from experiencing (a) verbal and (b) physical abuse at work. \p Karin Smyth: The Government takes a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of abusive behaviour. All National Health Service staff, including those in clinical roles, should be able to care for patients without fear of verbal or physical abuse.

Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff and put in place many measures to do this including appropriate security, training and emotional support.

To support them, NHS England is leading work on violence prevention and reduction to provide better training and support for employers and their staff. In December 2024, NHS England published a refreshed Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard. The standard sets out guidance for trusts to help them identify risks, training requirements and crucially, what support must be made available to those staff affected.
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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 27118 on NHS England: Pay, whether the annual salary of the Finance Director of NHS East of England is within the maximum exception zone for the salary band. \p Karin Smyth: The Finance Director of NHS East of England is remunerated within the maximum exception zone salary band.
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Jas Athwal:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of paramedics in England. \p Karin Smyth: In November 2024, there were 20,243 full time equivalent paramedics employed across the 10 National Health Service ambulance services in England, representing 1,518 or 8.1% more than a year ago and 4,131 or 25.6% more than five years ago.

In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade. We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of cannabis-related mental health admissions on NHS finances. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of protecting the title of nurse in law. \p Karin Smyth: The Government recognises that the protection in law of certain professional titles is important for public safety. Protecting a title provides assurance to the public that someone using that title is competent and safe to practise

Although ‘registered nurse’ is a protected title, ‘nurse’ is currently not a protected title. The Government is aware of the concerns which this generates, along with the complications associated with protecting the nurse title, given that it is used in multiple professions; for example, registered nurses, dental nurses, school nurses and veterinary nurses.

The Government will continue to work with the professional regulators, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council, as it considers its priorities for professional regulation and will set out its position shortly.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of UK-trained doctors that have emigrated because of high competition ratios in the last three years; and if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the number of those doctors that have emigrated because of high competition ratios. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold the specific data requested. Data from the General Medical Council in 2022 showed that approximately 7% of doctors in England did not hold a licence to practice five years after they completed the foundation programme in 2016. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/workforce-report-2022---full-report_pdf-94540077.pdf

Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. However, the Government is also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the National Health Service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce legal requirements for practitioners of non-surgical aesthetic treatments. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to taking action to address longstanding concerns about the safety of the cosmetics sector and is exploring options for further regulation in this area. We will set out the details of our approach in due course.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the increase of international medical graduates coming to the UK for work on the employment rate of British medical graduates. \p Karin Smyth: There is no obligation on employers to prioritise British nationals before foreign nationals for medical posts in the National Health Service. Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. However, the Government is also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS.

In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 27118 on NHS England: Pay, which posts within NHS East of England are remunerated at the ESM 1 salary band. \p Karin Smyth: Of the 14 roles in the ESM 1 band in NHS East of England, those that are currently filled are:
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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support women diagnosed with endometriosis in (a) Leicester and (b) the United Kingdom. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care received by those suffering from gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.

Women in Leicester experiencing symptoms of endometriosis should go to their general practitioner (GP) for an initial consultation. GPs across Leicester can refer women with suspected endometriosis to a local women’s health hub where available. There are three women’s health hubs in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, which are North-West Leicestershire Women’s Health Hub, Rutland Women’s Health Hub and The Willows Women’s Health Hub. GPs can also refer women to the endometriosis pathway, provided by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. There are also a range of local support groups available to patients in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Health is a devolved matter. In England, we have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres. Women’s health hubs also have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists. Clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat conditions. In November 2024 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published updated recommendations on the diagnosis, management and treatment of endometriosis. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng73
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Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what performance improvement targets he has sought from the MHRA on bringing down the licensing backlog of generic and biosimilar medicine applications. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) focus has been to ensure all applications received through all routes are processed on time. The MHRA has now embedded improvements in processing licencing applications into standard working practice. Milestones for licencing clearance during 2024 were achieved in line with the business plan commitment to remove backlogs, including generics and biosimilars by the end of March 2025.

During 2024, the MHRA has been working through a high number of applications to return to working to statutory timelines. From 1 September 2024, all applications submitted, regardless of application pathway, are being completed within statutory timelines. The Agency’s original background of national marketing authorisation applications has been eliminated, with decisions made for over 1,680 licence applications in 2024.

The MHRA has been working in close collaboration with health system partners and industry to ensure that robust, appropriate and prompt decisions are made. The MHRA is on track to clear all statutory backlog activities by the end of March 2025.
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Bobby Dean:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the qualifying criteria for (a) Ozempic and (b) Wegovy. \p Karin Smyth: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE evaluates medicines in accordance with their marketing authorisations, including any criteria set out in the summary of product characteristics, granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The National Health Service in England is legally required to fund medicines and treatments recommended by NICE under its technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies programmes. NICE develops its recommendations in line with its established methods and processes which include a careful consideration of the evidence and engagement with stakeholders.

NICE has published guidance that recommends the medicine semaglutide subject to specified clinical criteria for use in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, for which it is marketed as Ozempic, and for use in weight management, including weight loss and weight maintenance, alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity in adults, for which it is marketed as Wegovy. NICE is currently planning a review of its guidance on the use of semaglutide in the treatment of weight loss and, subject to licensing, developing recommendations on its use for preventing major cardiovascular events in people with cardiovascular disease and living with overweight or obesity.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the annual cost of cannabis-related health conditions to the NHS. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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Mr Louie French:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to treatment tariffs on the ability of Community Diagnostic Centres to provide care. \p Karin Smyth: As set out in the Plan for Change, we will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments between July and November 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endoscopy.

The consultation on proposals for the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme closed on 28 February 2025. NHS England is currently reviewing the feedback received, including the aligned payment and incentive mechanism for community diagnostic centres (CDCs). NHS England will confirm decisions about the final scheme as soon as possible.

Diagnostic activity continues to be undertaken in non-CDC settings, as well as in CDCs. As set out in the consultation, NHS England has proposed that the same payment approach is used for all diagnostic activity to ensure that the payment system is not a barrier to delivery.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of deaths caused by weight-loss drugs in each of the last five years. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from their independent advisory committee, the Commission on Human Medicines, where appropriate to inform regulatory decisions.

Patient safety is our top priority, and no medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. Our role is to continually monitor the safety of medicines during their use, including GLP-1 receptor agonists (RAs). We have robust, safety monitoring and surveillance systems in place for all healthcare products.  When a safety issue is confirmed, we always act promptly to inform patients and healthcare professionals and take appropriate steps to mitigate any identified risk. New medicines, such as GLP-1 RAs, are more intensively monitored to ensure that any new safety issues are identified promptly.

It is important to note that a reaction reported to the Yellow Card scheme does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the medicine, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, or the events could be coincidental.

Based on the current evidence, the benefits of GLP-1 RAs outweigh the potential risks when used for the licensed indications. The decision to start, continue or stop treatments should be made jointly by patients and their doctor, based on full consideration of the benefits and risks. We strongly encourage patients and healthcare professionals to continue reporting suspected side effects to GLP-1 RAs through our Yellow Card scheme.

The following table shows the number of Yellow Card reports received for each GLP1 RA with a fatal outcome up to and including 31 January 2025, along with the number of these which were reported with an indication relating to weight management:

GLP1 RA

Number of reports with a fatal outcome (of which include an indication relating to weight management)

Semaglutide

29 (4)

Liraglutide

35 (8)

Tirzepatide

18 (10)

Source: MHRA database

As the use of the GLP-1 RAs increases, so have the number of Yellow Card reports associated with these medicines. Yellow Card reporting rates can be influenced by many factors including the seriousness of the adverse drug reactions, their ease of recognition and the extent of use of a particular product. Reporting can also be stimulated by publicity and awareness about a product.
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Preet Kaur Gill:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the role of (a) generic, (b) biosimilar and (c) off-patent medicines in addressing medicine shortages. \p Karin Smyth: The resilience of United Kingdom supply chains is a key priority, and the Department is committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. The Department recognises the important role all off patent medicines, including generic and biosimilar medicines, together with branded medicines play in ensuring patients across the UK market have access to the medicines they need and at a price that also ensures value for money.

It is important to note that, like branded medicines, generic and biosimilar medicines can also face issues with supply. While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of serious shortage protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.
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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 27118 on NHS England: Pay, whether the annual salary of the Chief Operating Officer of NHS East of England is within the maximum exception zone for the salary band. \p Karin Smyth: The Chief Operating Officer of NHS East of England is remunerated within the maximum exception zone salary band.
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Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2024 to Question 404 on Watford Hospital: Construction, whether he plans to visit West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust before 4 July 2025. \p Karin Smyth: Ministers regularly consider visits across the country to see the impact of their policy areas. Any plans to visit specific locations will be notified to the relevant Members of Parliament in advance.
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Daisy Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 December 2024 to Question 20389 on NHS: Workplace Pensions, how many full time equivalent staff NHSBSA have allocated to administer the remedy implementation for those retirees who will be asked to make a choice about whether to revert to legacy benefits. \p Karin Smyth: The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has allocated 112 working-time equivalent staff to administer the public service pensions remedy (‘McCloud’) immediate choice for retired members of the NHS Pension Scheme. This number is flexible and, as the work progresses, the NHSBSA will increase staff numbers to enable remedy implementation to proceed as quickly as possible.
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Brian Mathew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to further research into rare diseases. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department funds rare disease research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). 17 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres support research into rare diseases and the NIHR is working in partnership with the Medical Research Council to co-fund a UK Rare Disease Research Platform which brings together research teams across the United Kingdom with patients, stakeholders and technologies to deliver rare disease research with greater impact.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_385

Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered raising the alcohol-free threshold from 0.05% ABV to 0.5% ABV. \p Ashley Dalton: Under our Health Mission, the government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives.

While the Government has not made a specific assessment of changing the alcohol-free threshold, the Department will continue to work across Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms, including exploring the potential opportunities presented by alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_386
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_386

Mrs Sharon Hodgson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support older children with arthritis as they transition to adult health and care services. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department has not yet considered the recommendations of the report published by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death on 13 February 2025, Joint Care? A review of the quality of care provided to children and young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

NHS England Specialised Commissioning has a Clinical Reference Group for specialised paediatric rheumatology, which has produced a service specification for these services. This service specification names juvenile idiopathic arthritis as one of the conditions that should be managed by a specialist paediatric rheumatology team. The service specification also sets out that specialised paediatric rheumatology teams will provide transitional care to facilitate transfer and ongoing care in adult rheumatology. Transitional care planning will involve paediatric rheumatology teams, adult rheumatology teams and local hospitals under a shared care arrangement. Specialised paediatric rheumatology services are expected to be commissioned in line with this service specification.

In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to delivering a service model for people aged between zero and 25 years old to improve young people’s experience and health outcomes. To aid implementation of this model, the Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme collaborated with key partners to develop national guidance on how the National Health Service can better support young people transfer into adolescent and adult services. The guidance is due to be published shortly and will be hosted on the NHS England website.

The policy aligns with existing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and outlines the principles and steps of a service model for people aged between zero and 25 years old, along with best practice examples from across the country.

NICE’s published guidance on the transition from children’s to adult services for young people includes recommendations on transition planning, support before and after transfer and the development of transition infrastructure. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng43
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_387
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_387

Mrs Sharon Hodgson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take through the 10-year health plan to support children and young people with arthritis. \p Ashley Dalton: The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving arthritis care for children and young people in all parts of the country.

More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support children, young people, and their families to manage their long-term conditions, including arthritis, closer to home.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_388
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_388

Olly Glover:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of excess diesel emissions from vehicles using defeat devices on (a) the prevalence of respiratory diseases and (b) public health. \p Ashley Dalton: Diesel vehicles significantly impact air pollution in the United Kingdom, primarily through emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) and particulate matter. Poor air quality is one of the largest environmental risks to public health in the UK, and epidemiological studies have shown that long-term exposure to air pollution, over years or lifetimes, reduces life expectancy, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Short-term exposure, over hours or days, to elevated levels of air pollution can also cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality.

The Department for Transport is responsible for setting and enforcing standards for NOx emissions from diesel vehicles. The Market Surveillance Unit within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is undertaking a programme looking at possible non-compliant diesel emissions in Euro 5 and Euro 6A/B/C diesel cars and vans where there is reason to believe that they contain a prohibited defeat device. The programme is designed to ensure any non-compliance found is fixed as soon as reasonably possible, working together with manufacturers to achieve real-world impacts on air quality. There is no current assessment of the potential health impacts specifically related to the use of defeat devices in diesel vehicles.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_389
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_389

Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2025 to Question 32470 on Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment, for what reason his Department has not published the full details of the funding allocation for replacing older radiotherapy machines. \p Ashley Dalton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 32470 on 5 March 2025.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_390
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_390

Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help patients with a (a) history and (b) risk of addiction; and if he will take steps to identify that risk before addictive medication is prescribed. \p Ashley Dalton: The government is committed to supporting those most vulnerable to experiencing harms from drugs and alcohol, and ensure they are supported to live healthier lives for longer. We are committed to ensuring that anyone with an illicit drug or alcohol dependency can access the help and support they need through evidence-based and high-quality treatment and recovery services.

The Department funds local authorities to deliver drug and alcohol treatment services through the Public Health Grant (PHG). In addition to the PHG, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.

When prescribing medication, clinicians are expected to work with patients to make decisions about their care and treatment as part of shared decision-making, including discussing risks, benefits, and possible consequences of different options through information-sharing.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_391
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_391

Luke Myer:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the role of social media platforms in facilitating (a) paid-to-party and (b) yachting modelling schemes; and what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to prevent the recruitment of young women for exploitative purposes through such schemes. \p Feryal Clark: The Government continually assesses online service providers’ duties to tackle harmful content and activity on their services, including content relating to sexual exploitation. Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms need to assess the risk of their services being used to facilitate several kinds of priority illegal harms. These include sexual exploitation. Where there is a risk, platforms need to take steps to mitigate it. Ofcom is the regulator for this regime. It sets out steps that providers can take in codes of practice. This includes steps relating to the design and operation of their services, as well as content moderation steps.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_392
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_392

Mark Sewards:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the timelines for grant disbursement to ensure that AI startups have the cash flow they need to grow. \p Feryal Clark: The Government is committed to building an AI sector that can scale and win globally The AI Action Plan sets out how we will support the growth ambitions of businesses across the AI sector.

Innovate UK awards the majority of DSIT’s business-facing R&D grants. Between 2022 and 2025 Innovate UK have achieved a 37.6% improvement on the time taken between grant competition close and grant offer letter approval. The point from which funding competitions close to applicants being notified of a funding decision has reduced from more than 62 days, to around 46 days on average, with Innovate UK continuing to explore how it can deliver further improvements.
wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_393
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-17)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-17 conversation_393

Mike Martin:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with BT on the speed of the Digital Voice rollout; and what steps he is taking to ensure (a) elderly people, (b) vulnerable people and (c) people reliant on medical alarm systems are given support. \p Chris Bryant: This is an issue the Government takes very seriously. The Government is determined to ensure that any risks arising from the industry-led migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated, for all customers across the UK.

I chaired two roundtables with communication providers on this issue in September and November 2024, which included BT. Major communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024, and the Government secured further commitments to protect vulnerable customers during the PSTN migration in November 2024. DSIT officials regularly meet, with signatories of the PSTN charters, including BT, to monitor how they are meeting the safeguards. This includes discussions on the speed of the rollout.

The Department has acknowledged that customers who may be considered vulnerable in the context of the digital switchover may require additional support. A definition of vulnerable customers was published in November 2024. It includes those who are telecare and other social or medical alarm users. Any customer, including the elderly, can also self-identify as requiring additional support.