theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals have been convicted of a crime in Mid Leicestershire constituency in the last five years. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: It is not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records: however, to identify the nationality of people convicted of specific crimes at constituency level would require the examination of individual court records. This would incur disproportionate costs. Latest numbers of foreign national offenders in prison broken down by nationality can be found in our quarterly release: Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK

Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This government has already removed 23% more FNOs from July 2024 to January 2025 compared to the same period in 2023.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report entitled Imprisonment for Public Protection Interim Member Guidance, published by The Parole Board in October 2024, if she will take steps to support prisoners serving IPP sentences to move towards release. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Parole Board published interim guidance to its Members on 12 November 2024 to help them in conducting parole reviews for prisoners serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) or Detention for Public Protection (DPP). The guidance encourages Members to conduct reviews fairly and justly, whilst maintaining a focus on ensuring that the statutory release test is met before issuing any release direction.

The Government published a refreshed IPP Action Plan on 15 November 2024, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons and the Probation Service. The Action Plan will ensure that those serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services. IPP prisoners need to engage with their sentence plans in order to reduce their risk of serious harm.

The Government also acted swiftly to commence the IPP measures in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which led to the automatic termination of licence for 1,742 cases on 1 November 2024. On that same day we also commenced the new power for the Secretary of State to re-release recalled IPP offenders executively without referral to the Parole Board, where the statutory release test is met. As of 1 February 2025, all the IPP measures in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 are in force.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had discussions with the managers at HMP Channings Wood on the maintenance of the prison estate. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Senior officials in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) are in regular contact with HMP Channing Wood about maintenance issues.

HMPPS is working with the prison to invest around £365,000 in 2024-25 to improve fire safety and living conditions at HMP Channing Wood.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers recruited since 5 July 2024 are (a) British nationals and (b) foreign nationals, broken down by country of origin. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Our latest published prison and probation workforce statistics present data up to June 2024. The link to the latest publication is: Recruitment Diversity Statistics: June 2024 - GOV.UK, data tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bcaa1d3cc0741b92314631/recruitment-diversity-statistics_jun-2024_final.ods.

We are unable to provide data for periods following June 2024 as this could pre-empt the next set of published Staff in Post data which will be released on Thursday 20 February 2025.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25772 on Prison Service: Recruitment, whether prisons are obligated to (a) advertise positions for British nationals before foreign nationals and (b) hire British residents before overseas residents. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: HM Prison and Probation Service publishes vacancies across formal UK advertising boards and welcomes applications from people wishing to work in prisons in England and Wales. The hiring process is the same for both UK and non-UK nationals. Selection is on the basis of fair and open competition, in accordance with the legal requirement set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Nationality Rules (CSNRs) govern eligibility for employment in the Civil Service on the grounds of nationality. All applicants applying to work in the Department must meet the CSNRs and other eligibility criterion published in job adverts.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the parole board report on IPP prison sentences. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Parole Board published interim guidance on 12 November 2024 to provide Parole Board panels with points to consider when undertaking parole reviews for prisoners sentenced to an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) or Detention for Public Protection (DPP) sentence. It assists panels with identifying ways of working to effectively manage such cases fairly and justly, whilst maintaining a focus on risk and the test for release and taking public protection as the over-riding priority.

On 15 November 2024, the Government published the updated IPP Action Plan, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. It will ensure that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 26918 on Prisons: Construction, what estimate he has made of the total operating capacity of prisons following the end of (a) the £2.3 billion for prison builds over the next two years, (b) 2031 and (c) 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: On 11 December 2024, the Secretary of State published the 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, alongside the Annual Statement regarding prison capacity. In the 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government has signalled plans to invest up to £2.3 billion in prison expansion in 2024-25 and 2025-26, including HMP Millsike that will deliver c.1,500 places.

Delivering c.6,500 new prison places, is only one part of our wider aim to build 14,000 prison places by 2031, with all places expected to be operational by 2032. We will also be expanding the current prison estate, adding around 6,400 prison places through houseblocks at existing sites, whilst also refurbishing residential units, facilities and ancillaries across the estate, alongside around 1,000 more Rapid Deployment Cells.

Our strategy also sets out the need to change the way that we expand the prison estate by aiming to buy new land for prison development and introduce planning legislation to build prisons faster.

The detailed information on projections for supply of new prison places can be found in the strategy and Annual Statement.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 26918 on Prisons: Construction, how many existing cells had additional beds installed to increase capacity between (a) May 1997 and May 2010 and (b) May 2010 and July 2024; how many prison places were removed in prisons that closed in the same period; and where those closed prisons were. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Data on the number of cells which had additional beds installed is not held by the Ministry of Justice for the period requested. Prison crowding data is published annually in Annex 2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK. This publication provides the percentage of prisoners held in crowded accommodation in each year in each prison since 1999. There is no earlier information on crowding available.

Available records indicate that, between May 1997 and May 2010, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 61,927 to 89,757, a net increase of 27,830 places. This is a net figure that takes into account all decreases including prison closures, and all increases including new accommodation or crowding of existing accommodation. Data on the number of places removed from prison closures during this period is not held by the Ministry of Justice.

The net change in prison operational capacity between May 2010 and April 2024 was c500 places. The requested information on prison closures between May 2010 and July 2024 has been provided in a table below:

Prison

Number of Prison Places Closed

Year

Ashwell

-214

2011

Lancaster Castle

-243

2011

Brockhill (Part of Hewell)

-170

2011

Latchmere House

-207

2011

Wellingborough

-588

2012

Camp Hill (Part of Isle of Wight)

-595

2013

Gloucester

-321

2013

Canterbury

-314

2013

Shrewsbury

-341

2013

Bullwood Hall

-228

2013

Kingston

-205

2013

Shepton Mallet

-189

2013

Northallerton

-252

2013

Reading

-320

2013

Dorchester

-291

2013

Blundeston

-526

2013

Blantyre House

-122

2015

Haslar

-197

2015

Dover

-401

2015

Holloway

-591

2016

Kennet

-342

2016

Glen Parva

-638

2017

Hewell Grange (Part of Hewell)

-224

2020

Total

-7519

Our recently announced 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy outlines a target of 14,000 new prison places by 2031, supported by £2.3 billion in funding for prison builds over the next two years.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 26915 on Crown Court: Trials, when she plans to publish the data for each court since June 2024. \p Sarah Sackman: Published data presents a range of measures including open caseload volumes, trial effectiveness rates and timeliness. The maximum amount of possible court time and the actual court time used for each Crown Court as contained in the Answer of 5 February 2025, is not currently (and never has been) published as either part of our official statistics series, or as published management information. It is recorded as part of HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) internal Management Information (MI) and used for operational delivery management and planning purposes, as described in my previous answer.

The exercise to quality assure the HMCTS internal MI from July 2024 is expected to be completed by mid Spring 2025.
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Helen Grant:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost of a (a) court and (b) tribunal hearing transcript is. \p Sarah Sackman: The cost of a court or tribunal transcript varies, depending on the length of the hearing, whether the transcript is new or a copy, and the speed of delivery requested.

HMCTS contracts with external suppliers to provide court transcripts who hold data on orders that they receive. While HMCTS does not retain data centrally on the costs of court or tribunal transcripts, supplier Management Information data for the period January to December 2024 was extracted as follows:

Total number of court and tribunal transcripts produced: 45,178

The average cost of a transcript order between January and December 2024 based on the transcripts produced: £117.00 (excl. VAT)

Court and tribunal hearings differ significantly in length (from hearings that last less than a day to trials that can last several weeks or months) and transcript costs are in proportion to the volume of audio that must be transcribed and checked on a case-by-case basis. While costs of shorter hearings may be lower, full hearings or trials can cost significantly more. Therefore, the average cost calculated above using supplier data is not reflective of the full range of court and tribunal hearings and is not a general average cost of transcripts.
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Rachel Blake:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders on insourcing court language interpretation services. \p Sarah Sackman: Regarding insourcing, the Ministry of Justice received and considered feedback from various interested parties, including external stakeholders and court users. It was determined that the service that will best suit the wide-ranging needs of users of language services continues to be a national, centralised booking and matching service. I would like to provide assurance the project considered the potential for bringing the service fully or partially in-house when assessing its options. However, these proved to be unaffordable.

The Ministry of Justice established an external stakeholder forum in 2021 with external organisations with an interest in the Department’s work, with the first meeting held on 8 June 2021. The forum comprises members from organisations representing interpreters and visual and tactile communication practitioners, as well as voluntary regulator organisations, including the National Register for Public Sector Interpreters (NRPSI). The purpose is to share information, facilitate communication and understand key issues or concerns of their members. The Department informed forum members in 2023 that it planned to continue with an outsourced model after an assessment indicated it is the best model for our needs.

With all Government contracts, we must consider what is the best value for taxpayers’ money, taking account of quality, deliverability and cost. On balance, we think outsourcing these services provides the best value for money. The decision has been made with input from a number of functional departments within the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will publish the total cost to the public purse for the provision of diversity, equality and inclusion courses for staff in her Department in 2024. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Ministry of Justice Headquarters spent £2,101 in 2024 on a course which includes the awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in a leadership training series delivered via the Cabinet Office Learning Frameworks provision.

All Ministry of Justice staff have the opportunity to complete the free, central Civil Service Expectations online training, which replaced several EDI courses in 2023
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of violent offenders had (a) paranoid schizophrenia and (b) other mental health illnesses when convicted in each of the last five years. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The information requested is not held centrally.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are serving life sentences of detention for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The data requested is not held centrally and would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of people convicted for offences related to puppy farming in the last 12 months. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders convicted for animal cruelty offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

However, data held centrally does not include information on whether defendants were convicted for offences related to puppy farming.

This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
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Manuela Perteghella:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of reported assaults on NHS staff have resulted in prosecution in the last 12 months. \p Alex Davies-Jones: Assaults can be prosecuted under a range of offences such as common assault, actual bodily harm (ABH) or grievous bodily harm (GBH). The Ministry of Justice does not, however, collate data on the profession of the victim. To do so could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

By way of example, data is collated on defendants who are prosecuted and convicted of an assault against an emergency worker. Data on those convicted of such assaults, up to 30 June 2024, can be found in the principal offence proceedings and ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, available at: Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2024. In the “Outcomes by Offences” document, select the `Overall volumes’ page, then select the offence filter. Select “8.22 Assault of an emergency worker”. The number of convictions for an assault against an emergency worker for each year can be found in the `Convicted’ row.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 23858 on NHS Business Services Authority: Workplace Pensions, whether additional resources have been allocated to help tackle the backlog in remedial pension savings statements required to be issued by the NHS Business Services Authority. \p Karin Smyth: The Department is working closely with the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to ensure that issuance of remediable pension savings statements is prioritised and that affected members do not suffer financial detriment as a consequence of these delays.

The NHSBSA is increasing service delivery capacity within the NHS Pensions team. They are taking measures such as overtime, recruiting additional staff, and upskilling and redeploying current staff within the organisation.
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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the merger of Basildon, Broomfield and Southend Hospital Trusts into the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. \p Karin Smyth: The merger of Basildon, Broomfield, and Southend Hospitals in 2020 set out to improve health outcomes for the local population and unlock the financial savings required to deliver a sustainable health economy across the mid and south Essex footprint.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is working with the system on a medium-term plan that will review the merger benefits thus far and consider further improvements that need to be made to ensure the Trust and wider system are clinically, operationally and financially sustainable. Benefits realised since the merger include efficient and effective use of hospital beds and appointments, financial savings, and improved staff retention rates.

The Department is aware that the foundation trust entered the Recovery Support Programme in April 2024. The trust is subject to mandated support including national oversight and assurance of financial improvement.
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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 27117 on Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust: Finance, what guidance his Department issues on the management steps that NHS Acute Trusts should take when they overspend their allocated budgets. \p Karin Smyth: As part of the Oversight Framework, which is currently being refreshed, NHS England closely monitors the financial performance of providers and systems, intervening and providing support where there is concern about a risk of overspending against agreed plans. Organisations with the largest financial challenges will enter NHS England's Recovery Support Programme and receive assistance from the National Intensive Support Team to strengthen financial control. Full details of the NHS Oversight Framework, Recovery Support Programme and the guidance issued to all organisations are available on NHS England's website.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff are employed in (a) clinical, (b) executive and (c) managerial positions across the NHS; and whether he has made an estimate of the number of surplus (i) managerial and (ii) executive roles. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and integrated care systems but excludes staff working for other providers such as in general practice or social care. There is also quarterly data published on staff working in central bodies such as NHS England. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), the Human Resources system for the National Health Service. Data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

These statistics show that as of November 2024, there are 736,140 full-time equivalent (FTE) professionally qualified clinical staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England. These work alongside a further 412,036 FTE patient facing support staff. There are also 26,751 FTE managers and 13,472 FTE senior managers.
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Anna Sabine:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the transition between children social care and adult social care on patients. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department works closely with the Department for Education and other partners to understand the difficulties young disabled people and their families can face when they transition into adult social care, and to identify opportunities to better support young people at this crucial stage of their life.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 23857 on NHS Business Services Authority: Workplace Pensions, if he will take steps to prevent further such errors in pension growth calculations. \p Karin Smyth: Following an investigation into the 2023/24 pensions savings calculation error, the NHS Business Services Authority has assured the Department that it understands why the error happened and has put measures in place to prevent future reoccurrence. It has reviewed its calculation processes and is implementing a software fix to its pension administration system. The software fix will ensure calculations accurately reflect the consumer price index rate to produce corrected pension savings calculations.
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Jack Rankin:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of granting Indefinite Leave to Remain to people with Health and Care Worker visas on welfare services. \p Karin Smyth: 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. Health and Care Worker visa holders may be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after five years on the visa. No estimate has been made of the potential impact on public services of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain to people with Health and Care Worker visas.

The Government remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the National Health Service. 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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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care during the debate on New Hospitals of 25 May 2023, Official Report, column 477, whether a further assessment (a) of the end date of safe operation of the seven most RAAC-affected hospitals been conducted and (b) will be required before construction of new hospitals can begin. \p Karin Smyth: Following the General Election in July 2024, the Government inherited a programme to deliver new hospitals that was unfunded beyond March 2025 and was repeatedly delayed. We now have a plan to deliver the New Hospital Programme which is realistic and affordable.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, commissioned a comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes being delivered through the New Hospital Programme, as the last report was undertaken in autumn 2022 and covered the five hospitals not at the time within the New Hospital Programme.

Part of the objectives of this report is to form an assessment of RAAC condition and other structural elements, backlog maintenance risks, as well as planned and current mitigations, and the remaining expected life of affected sites. The site-by-site report on RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace. We will expedite the delivery of schemes to replace hospitals built wholly or primarily from RAAC by focussing on the most affected buildings and services first.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Cobenfy; and whether he is taking steps to licence this medication in the UK. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has not received an application for the Market Authorisation of Cobenfy by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
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Sarah Olney:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for ambulances in the SW13 postcode in each year since 2015. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold the information requested.

NHS England publishes monthly official statistics for ambulance response times at a national level and at ambulance trust level. This information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

In addition, since April 2023, information on ambulance response times to ‘Category 2’ incidents has been provided for each integrated care board (ICB) area.

The following table shows the average Category 2 response time information available in minutes and seconds for NHS South West London ICB, which SW13 is within:

2023/24

2024/25 to date (December 2024)

32:26

35:07

Source: NHS England - https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-management-information/
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David Chadwick:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that female-only medical conditions are included in medical training and research. \p Karin Smyth: The General Medical Council (GMC) sets and enforces the standards that all doctors, Anaesthesia Associates, and Physician Associates must adhere to. The standard of training for doctors is the responsibility of the GMC, who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level. Individual medical schools set their own curricula, which must meet the standards and expected outcomes set by the GMC. The GMC has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment for the majority of doctors, including all medical students graduating from the 2024/25 academic year and onwards. Within this assessment are a number of topics relating to women’s health, including fibroids, endometriosis, and urinary incontinence. This will encourage a better understanding of common health problems for women among all doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR expects to implement its sex and gender policy in spring 2025. Implementing such a policy will ensure that research accounts for sex and gender across every stage of the research cycle, thus facilitating both an assessment of the funding into topics that impact men and women and, crucially, a greater understanding of how women might be impacted differently.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on consultancy for the new hospitals programme. \p Karin Smyth: As per the definitions set out in government guidance, the New Hospital Programme does not have any costs recorded as consultancy costs. This guidance is available at the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/consultancy-spend-controls#definitions-of-types-of-services   However, we do have costs recorded as professional services.   The New Hospital Programme has a total recorded expenditure of £266 million for professional services from April 2021 up until 30 October 2024.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure public engagement with AI implementation in the NHS. \p Karin Smyth: As part of Government’s five long-term missions, the Department has launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future. The plan will set out an agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, sickness to prevention, and analogue to digital.

In addition to launching the online platform, change.NHS.UK, there have been many events across England, which included people and staff from different backgrounds and experiences. In-depth deliberations with the public will consider their priorities and expectations on the three shifts, including their views on the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Further information on the change.NHS.UK website is available at the following link:

www.change.NHS.uk

The Department also engages with Understanding Patient Data (UPD) to ensure that we consider the patient in our policy and strategic thinking. UPD provides objective information about how patient data is used and brings the views of patients and the public to us, to ensure data is being managed and used in ways that are worthy of public trust. Further information on UPD is available at the following link:

https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/

As part of its work on AI, the NHS AI Lab and Sciencewise, within UK Research and Innovation, held a public dialogue on how the public believes decisions should be made about access to their personal health data for AI purposes. The AI Lab conducted a discovery exercise to design approaches based on insights from the public, which is now informing broader data stewardship initiatives, for example, as part of the Secure Data Environments.

In addition, NHS England has recruited patient representatives, Patient and Public Voice Partners, for the AI Advisory Committee on Responsible AI Adoption, to ensure that the committee considers the views of service users, patients, and the public in its advice to the system on the development and delivery of AI.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of available training positions for qualified graduates to become registered biomedical scientists. \p Karin Smyth: Decisions on the availability of graduate-entry trainee positions to become registered biomedical scientists are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2025 to Question 23852 on Surgery: Reform, which straight-to-test pathways are being considered for Community Diagnostic Centres. \p Karin Smyth: The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, announced that integrated care boards (ICBs) will make optimal use of the new diagnostic capacity by implementing the new standards for Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs), in particular, increasing direct referrals and rolling out at least 10 straight-to-test pathways by March 2026.

To date, NHS England has agreed three national CDC diagnostic pathways which ICBs will be expected to implement by March 2026. These are: breathlessness; children and young people’s asthma; and unscheduled bleeding on hormone replacement therapy. NHS England is working with clinicians to best determine other priority pathways in CDCs, where clinically appropriate. Implementation of these pathways will be determined by population need, and where there is a clear opportunity for improving timescales and journeys to diagnosis. As well as these three priority CDC pathways, a number of other pathway developments are underway in CDCs across the country, including: lower gastrointestinal; liver; lung; head and neck; and adult hearing loss.

The Elective Reform Plan also set out clear expectations for significant elective care reform to be delivered in at least five specialties: ear nose and throat; gastroenterology; respiratory; and urology and cardiology. Clinical pathway optimisation work, including in CDCs, will centre around these.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the prevalence in the use of off-framework agency staff by NHS providers; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of using these staff on NHS finances. \p Karin Smyth: The National Health Service is now operating at the lowest levels of off-framework on record, since a peak in month four of 2022/23, with the highest compliance on capped rates since the introduction of the Agency Rules in 2016.

The Government is committed to reducing off-framework agency use, the cost of which is at a premium above the agreed framework rates. Additionally, staff hired through off-framework agencies are not subject to the same pre-employment checks as those carried out by on-framework agencies. Off-framework use is actively monitored through NHS England’s governance mechanisms, with additional oversight applied to trusts with recurring non-compliance.

The 2025/26 NHS priorities and operational planning guidance aims to improve procurement, contract management, and work to accept operating models that meet commercial standards. The NHS Planning Guidance states that trusts should reduce their agency spend by a minimum of 30%, and the accompanying Revenue Finance and Contracting Guidance sets the ambition that agency spend should be eliminated in the coming years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on a waiting list for treatment for Tinnitus. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold information in this format. Tinnitus is a condition that can result in many different treatments, including medication, which are not all captured in the Waiting List Minimum Dataset.

As of November 2024, the waiting list for ear, nose and throat (ENT) stood at 633,270. This marked a decrease of 4,380 compared to October 2024. As of November 2024, 49.2% of pathways were within 18 weeks. Not all of the patients on the waiting list will have a “decision to treat”.

Tackling waiting lists, including in ENT, is a key part of our Health Mission, and we will deliver an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensure that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

The Elective Reform Plan, launched as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, sets out how we will get back to the NHS Constitutional Standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament, whilst also ensuring that patients have the best possible experience of care. The Elective Reform Plan also commits to reforming clinical pathways to improve efficiency in five priority specialties, one of which is ENT.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the process of issuing death certificates following the change to the responsibilities of medical examiners on 9 September 2024 does not lead to undue delays in families being able to arrange funerals. \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 (2025-02-14)

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Joe Morris:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support hospices in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East. \p Stephen Kinnock: 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 (2025-02-14)

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Danny Beales:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the level of vaccine uptake is by (a) ethnicity, (b) region and (c) socio-economic group. \p Ashley Dalton: This information is not held in the format requested. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in England in 2023/24 financial year was 21,225. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in 2024/25 financial year to date currently stands at 15,649. The latest vaccine coverage statistics are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake

Influenza and COVID-19 coverage data can also be viewed in the weekly flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports, which are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2024-to-2025-season

Childhood vaccination coverage statistics in England are available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to develop fracture liaison services nationwide. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government and NHS England support the clinical case for services which help to prevent fragility fractures and support the patients who sustain them. According to the Fracture Liaison Service Database 2022, at least 60 trusts in England had access to a Fracture Liaison Service. The Government is committed to ending the postcode lottery for access to these important preventative services, and the Department is working closely with NHS England to explore a range options to provide better quality and access, including ways to best support local systems.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Terry Jermy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness of ovarian cancer month. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, address barriers to acting on them, and encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP). Previous phases of the campaign have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website.

The Government has not made a formal assessment of the potential merits of shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the NHS’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.

GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.

All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.

The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he is having with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on improving the coordination of (a) the Local Government Finance Settlement and (b) Public Health Grant allocations. \p Ashley Dalton: Following the upcoming Spending Review, we will aim to issue multi-year public health allocations to local authorities from 2026/27, to support local planning.

The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve coordination of allocations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-14)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the 2025-26 Public Health Grant allocations will be published. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government published the 2025/26 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities on 7 February 2025. These are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-grants-to-local-authorities-2025-to-2026