theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Victoria Atkins:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Dover Port Health Authority on funding for the 2025-26 financial year. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra remains committed to agreeing an appropriate funding model with Dover PHA to help tackle illegal imports. Officials are working with Dover Port Health Authority to agree funding for 2025/26.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of the findings by the Taxpayers Alliance in their report entitled One in ten councils in the UK are considering reducing their bin collection services, published on 4 February 2025 on the number of councils planning to make cuts to the frequency of household rubbish collection on (a) local amenities and (b) quality of service. \p Mary Creagh: We recognise that as recycling services are expanded and improved as part of Simpler Recycling, local authorities may want to review residual waste services to ensure they are providing best value for money in line with local need. The Government’s priority is ensuring that households’ needs are met, and we expect local authorities to continue to provide services to a reasonable standard, as they do now. Building on existing and new legal duties, Defra has published guidance to ensure that local authorities consider certain factors when they review services, to ensure that reasonable standards are maintained. Councils and other waste collectors will still have the flexibility to make the best choices to suit local need. This is a sensible, pragmatic approach to the collection of materials for every household and business in England.
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Richard Tice:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on measures to achieve net zero targets in the last five years. \p Emma Hardy: While the Department for Net Zero and Energy Security leads across Government on net zero, Defra is responsible for reducing emissions from agriculture, land use (including peat), fluorinated gases and waste (including wastewater), whilst simultaneously increasing England's carbon saving potential through our forestry policies.

In Spending Review 2021 Defra received numerous funding allocations, which as well as providing direct funding for Defra's contribution to net zero they contributed towards wider departmental objectives such as tackling biodiversity loss, ensuring nature recovery and food security and providing opportunities for economic growth. These programmes include the food waste new burden (£295 million), Nature for Climate fund (£750 million) and Future Farming and Countryside Programme which includes the Environmental Land Management Schemes (£2.9 billion). Additionally, across the Spending Review period, funding was allocated to net zero research and development programme (£75 million).
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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to develop UK-specific regulations for (a) fire suppression systems, (b) ventilation and (c) emergency response procedures for battery energy storage system facilities. \p Emma Hardy: The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.

Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support low-income households with water bills. \p Emma Hardy: Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030.This will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector.

These bill rises equate to around £3 additional per month on average before inflation. This will pay to fix crumbling infrastructure, which will dramatically reduce sewage spills and lead to cleaner rivers, lakes and seas.

For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population and climate change. Whilst bills will therefore now need to rise to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and deliver cleaner waterways, we fully understand the financial pressures hardworking families are currently facing. We are pushing the sector to ensure support is available for vulnerable customers who are struggling to pay their bills.

The Government expects water companies to put robust support measures in place for customers to ensure that vulnerable customers across the country are supported and is working with industry to keep current support schemes under review to ensure that customers are sufficiently supported.

Furthermore, the Government expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to this end.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of water bills for consumers. \p Emma Hardy: Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030.This will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector.

These bill rises equate to around £3 additional per month on average before inflation. This will pay to fix crumbling infrastructure, which will dramatically reduce sewage spills and lead to cleaner rivers, lakes and seas.

For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population and climate change. Whilst bills will therefore now need to rise to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and deliver cleaner waterways, we fully understand the financial pressures hardworking families are currently facing. We are pushing the sector to ensure support is available for vulnerable customers who are struggling to pay their bills.

The Government expects water companies to put robust support measures in place for customers to ensure that vulnerable customers across the country are supported and is working with industry to keep current support schemes under review to ensure that customers are sufficiently supported.

Furthermore, the Government expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to this end.
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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of health inequalities in coastal communities. \p Ashley Dalton: The Honourable Member for Bridlington and the Wolds is right that coastal communities face unique challenges when it comes to health inequalities. Through our health mission, we are looking to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions.

The NHS also has a programme to reduce health inequalities in the most deprived 20% of the population and improve outcomes for groups that experience the worst access, experience, and outcomes within the NHS. 6 Coastal Integrated Care Boards have been launched in coastal communities and are working to reduce economic inactivity as a mechanism for reducing health inequalities.
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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve clinical pathways for people diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. \p Ashley Dalton: In England, it is the responsibility of local integrated care boards to work with clinicians, service users and patient groups, to develop services and care pathways that are convenient and meet the needs of patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

NICE has published a clinical knowledge summary on the clinical management of blackouts and syncope, that provides advice for clinicians in the UK on best practice in the assessment and diagnosis of postural tachycardia syndrome.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Research on how much of the £40 million funding for brain tumour research has been spent. \p Ashley Dalton: Between 2018/19 and 2022/23 DHSC directly invested £11.3 million in brain tumour research projects through the NIHR, plus an estimated £31.5 million in infrastructure enabling 8,500 patients to participate in wider brain cancer research.  We are committed to increasing support and last September announced new research funding opportunities, bringing the brain cancer research community together to drive a step change for patients.
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Mr Gagan Mohindra:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he plans to allocate the additional funding for the NHS announced in the Autumn Budget 2024. \p Karin Smyth: Thanks to the choices the Chancellor made at the Budget, we are investing an additional £25.7 billion in health and care.

That includes funding that has already helped us to:
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he took to raise awareness of the consultation on the proposed 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England is following standard procedure in its consultation on the NHS Payment Scheme. While the consultation’s objection thresholds apply only to commissioners and providers of National Health Service funded services, the consultation accepts responses from any interested parties and members of the general public.

On publication, all providers and commissioners affected by the proposals were sent details of the consultation, and were asked to respond.

As well as publishing the documents on NHS England’s website, the consultation was also publicly available on NHS England’s consultation hub, which is available at the following link:

https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/

An email to highlight the consultation was also sent to over 4,300 people, including those from representative bodies, charities, and other voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations, who had registered for updates about the payment system or had joined the Payment System Support FutureNHS. A reminder was also sent out a week before the consultation closed.

NHS England also promoted the consultation alongside the consultation on the NHS Standard Contract, contacting approximately 2,000 people from NHS organisations, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations, and other interested parties. Of the responses that were received regarding the consultation, 621 were from the general public, namely individuals who did not specify an organisation.
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Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to ensure a multi-year funding agreement for social care to cover the full cost of care and enable care providers to plan long term. \p Stephen Kinnock: From 2026/27, we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund councils and direct funding to where it is most needed through the first multi-year settlement in 10 years. This will provide greater long-term certainty for local authorities and will enable local government to focus on its priorities, delivering for residents and providing vital front-line services that people rely on every day.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to provide financial support for unpaid carers through the social care system. \p Stephen Kinnock: Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. Under the Care Act 2014, they are required to undertake Carer’s Assessments to support people caring for their family and friends who appear to have a need for support, and to meet their eligible needs upon request from them. For example, if eligible, this might include financial support, such as direct payments.

We have already taken action to support unpaid carers. From April 2025, we will increase the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196, the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage. This means carers can earn up to £10,000 a year whilst still retaining Carer's Allowance, which is approximately an additional £2,000 a year.

The Government also recognises the challenges facing the adult social care system. That is why the Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.

The commission will start a national conversation about what working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of waiting times for (a) appointments and (b) scans following a referral from a GP. \p Karin Smyth: The current national waiting list stands at 7.43 million, with 58.9% of those having waited less than 18 weeks and with a median waiting time of 14.4 weeks from referral. 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.

As a first step, we have delivered an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments across elective services between July and November 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, seven months ahead of schedule. The Elective Reform Plan (ERP), published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the 18-week standard, including reforms to outpatient care to reduce waiting times for appointments, increasing advice & guidance to ensure patient care takes place in the right setting, and reducing missed and less clinically valuable appointments to free up capacity for patients with greater clinical need.

As of January 2025, 1.62 million patients were waiting for a diagnostic test or scan, of which approximately 1.26 million, or 77.6% of, patients had been waiting for less than six weeks.

To further improve waiting times for scans, the ERP commits to transform and expand diagnostic services including investment in new and expanded community diagnostic centres (CDCs), expanding the number of CDCs operating 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and expanding the tests they offer. We will also develop and roll out straight to test pathways, reducing the time taken for patients to receive a test after a general practitioner referral, as well further improvements to the National Health Service’s digital capabilities.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Institute of Cancer Research's report entitled Cost-utility analysis of adding abiraterone acetate plus prednisone/prednisolone to long-term hormone therapy in newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer in England: Lifetime decision model based on STAMPEDE trial data, published on 2 June 2022. \p Karin Smyth: Abiraterone has a United Kingdom marketing authorisation for the treatment of metastatic hormone-relapsed prostate cancer before chemotherapy is indicated, and for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen. It has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use within these licensed indications. It is currently routinely funded by the National Health Service in England for its NICE-recommended indications, in line with the legal requirement.

Abiraterone does not have a UK marketing authorisation for use in the treatment of hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer. Decisions on routine NHS funding for cancer medicines outside of their licensed indications, or “off-label”, are taken by NHS England through its specialised commissioning function, taking into account the available evidence and affordability.

NHS England considered abiraterone as an off-label treatment for hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer through its clinical policy development process in 2024/25. Through this process, NHS England confirmed that there was sufficient supporting evidence to support the routine commissioning of abiraterone in this indication, and it was ranked in the highest priority level. However, NHS England could not identify the necessary recurrent funding to support commissioning of abiraterone, or any other treatments within the prioritisation round.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with devolved governments to help ensure the equal provision of NICE-approved treatments across the UK for (a) advanced and (b) complex Parkinson’s disease. \p Karin Smyth: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England. Health is a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines is a matter for the respective devolved administrations. The NICE has agreements with the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland to make its products, including guidelines, technology appraisals, and highly specialised technologies guidance, available to them, and works with organisations to help put its guidance into practice through its system implementation team.

The Government has recently relaunched the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, which is a unique initiative that aims to accelerate the time to patient care for transformative new medicines and drug-device combinations, facilitating patient access by providing a single integrated platform for sustained collaborative working between the developer, the regulator, the Health Technology Assessment bodies across the United Kingdom, the NHS, and patients.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 5 February 2025 from the Hon. Member for Henley and Thame on building a new Royal Berkshire Hospital. \p Karin Smyth: I replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 21 March 2025.
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Layla Moran:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (a) guidance and (b) training is adequate to ensure that NHS staff are compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation when working (i) at their place of work and (ii) remotely. \p Karin Smyth: The main source of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and information governance (IG) guidance and advice for health and care is the NHS England IG portal, which is available at the following link:

https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) includes IG elements to ensure that organisations meet UK GDPR standards. Accompanying DSPT guidance created for small and large health and social care organisations signposts to the IG portal, with further information for both small and large health and social care organisations available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://digital.nhs.uk/cyber-and-data-security/guidance-and-assurance/data-security-and-protection-toolkit-assessment-guides

https://digital.nhs.uk/cyber-and-data-security/guidance-and-assurance/2024-25-caf-aligned-dspt-guidance

The IG portal guidance is produced on behalf of NHS England, the Department, and key national stakeholders. It is approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the United Kingdom’s regulatory authority for data protection, and the National Data Guardian, the independent advisory body for ensuring people’s confidential data is safe.

The IG portal provides guidance on a range of topics, including when working remotely, as, for example, it includes guidance on video conferencing and frequently asked questions on accessing information when working from home, with further information on both video conferencing and the frequently asked questions available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/guidance/using-video-conferencing-and-consultation-tools/

https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/frequently-asked-questions/#covid-19-questions-for-health-and-care-organisations

To comply with the DSPT training requirements, the vast majority of health organisations use the centrally provided NHS England Data Security Awareness (DSA) course. NHS England reviews the DSA training on an annual basis to ensure that it reflects current best practice for using, sharing, and protecting information.

In addition, the Joint Cyber Unit of NHS England and the Department provides online IG training modules, including simple and engaging training for front line staff on information sharing, with further information available at the following link:

https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk/Component/Details/750310
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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to allocate funding for community-based programmes for gambling harm (a) prevention and (b) early intervention in (i) rural, (ii) hard-to-reach and (iii) other areas. \p Ashley Dalton: On 12 February 2025, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) was appointed as the lead commissioning body for the prevention of gambling-related harms in England, alongside the appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales.

OHID is progressing work on the design of the new commissioning programme, working closely with NHS England as a future treatment commissioner, and with the responsible bodies in Scotland and Wales, to ensure alignment across prevention, early intervention, and treatment, so that those in need can access the right help at the right time. Decisions on how the levy funding will be allocated will be confirmed at the earliest opportunity.
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Paul Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to measure the effectiveness of the steps his Department is taking to reduce HIV stigma. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing a new HIV Action Plan, which will include an objective on tackling stigma. The Terrence Higgins Trust, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the National AIDS Trust have been undertaking external stakeholder engagement within the community and voluntary sector to feed into the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year.

The Department is investing over £5.5 million from 2021 to 2026 to deliver the national HIV prevention programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE). HPE aims to reduce the stigma around HIV testing, through National HIV Testing Week, during which we dispatch over 20,000 HIV testing kits in England. HPE also hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024, which brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and affected individuals to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies.

The UKHSA continues to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, through the Positive Voices survey, most recently published in 2024.

Officials in the Department continue to meet with counterparts from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to share information to help end new HIV transmissions by 2030.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of misuse of prescription drugs. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has made no such assessment. We are unable to assess trends in this area because there is no universal definition of prescription only medicine misuse, and data is not routinely collected, particularly for patients using medication without a prescription, or outside recommended prescribing parameters.
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Ben Lake:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to include reform of inherited cardiac conditions in the 10-year plan for the NHS. \p Ashley Dalton: The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the 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 cardiac health 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 help people manage their long-term conditions, including cardiac disease, closer to home. Moving from sickness to prevention will help us provide treatment earlier, rather than only intervening when conditions deteriorate.

NHS England has published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. The specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf
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Gregor Poynton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Fourth Report of Session 2021–22 of the Health and Social Care Committee, The safety of maternity services in England, HC 19, published on 6 July 2021, whether he plans to implement the recommendation on the development of guidance for maternity services on (a) proactively involving fathers in those services and (b) using fatherhood to engage men in the health service. \p Karin Smyth: The Health and Social Care Select Committee's inquiry in 2021 examined evidence relating to the safety of maternity services. Its report, The Safety of Maternity Services in England, made 15 recommendations. The Government's response to the recommendations made by the inquiry is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-of-maternity-services-in-england-government-response/the-governments-response-to-the-health-and-social-care-committee-report-safety-of-maternity-services-in-england

We are not aware of a specific recommendation made by this inquiry regarding the development of guidance for maternity services on involving fathers in those services and using fatherhood to engage men in the health service. The Government response did, however, set out plans to address variations in the quality of care and outcomes, tackle poor workplace culture, consider workforce levels, implement training for delivering safe care, and address disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes.

We are determined to ensure women, and their families, receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care, and we will continue to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan, a key theme of which is listening to and working with women and families, including fathers, with compassion.

We are committed to improving men’s health in England, bringing a renewed focus on preventing adverse health outcomes and reducing health inequalities. On 28 November 2024, we announced plans for a Men’s Health Strategy at a Men’s Health Summit, held in partnership with Movember and hosted by Arsenal and the Premier League. The strategy will look at the outcomes and evidence surrounding men’s health and the action we need to take to improve the health of all men. This will include consideration of how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems. The strategy will be informed by a call for evidence to understand what is working and what more needs to be done.
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Robin Swann:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to help develop a national Sepsis Registry using (a) interoperable and (b) patient-level data. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government understands the clear need for reliable data on sepsis. Currently, the Office for National Statistics publishes data on the number of death registrations where sepsis was the underlying cause of death, and where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, in England and Wales between 2001 and 2023. However, there is a lack of accurate estimates of incidence and prevalence of sepsis cases due to inconsistency in the definitions used to describe sepsis, and differences in coding between professionals and organisations in the United Kingdom.

A sepsis registry would use retrospective data collection. The Government is, instead, focusing on improving our understanding of the current prevalence of infections and suspected sepsis, including the up-to-date burden to the National Health Service. The Department is working with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to monitor trends in infection incidence and the infection burden in secondary care, which are complex, multifactorial issues.
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Yuan Yang:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of future funding allocations to NHS eating disorder services. \p Stephen Kinnock: Funding for eating-disorder services has increased each year, from £46.7 million in 2017/18 to a planned spend of £101 million in 2024/25.

The Government is committed to ensure that those living with eating disorders are given the support they need, including by recruiting an extra 8,500 new mental health workers across child and adult mental health services to cut waiting times and ensure people can access treatment and support earlier.
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Jas Athwal:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle racial inequalities in access to healthcare. \p Ashley Dalton: We have set a Health Mission with the aim of tackling the social determinants of health, focusing on prevention, and ensuring that everyone lives longer, healthier lives. The Government recognises that racial health inequalities are linked to broader socioeconomic factors. Tackling these disparities is central to building a fairer health system where outcomes are not dictated by race or background. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they are born or their financial circumstances, can live longer, healthier lives, spending less time in poor health.

We are working to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas by addressing the social determinants of health. This includes measures to reduce socioeconomic inequalities that disproportionately affect ethnic minority communities, ensuring everyone can live longer, healthier lives.

We will also take a cross-Government approach to tackle the root causes of health inequalities. By prioritising prevention, shifting care closer to communities, and intervening earlier in life, we are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children in our nation's history.

The National Health Service’s Core20PLUS5 approach targets health inequalities by focusing on the most deprived 20% of the population, the Core20, and specific inclusion health groups and ‘PLUS’ populations, including ethnic minorities. Integrated care boards are responsible for implementing this approach, aiming to reduce inequalities in health outcomes and improve equitable access to healthcare treatments and services.
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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, if he will publish the funding allocation for the investment for replacing older radiotherapy machines. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England has written to those trusts which have been allocated funding for replacement radiotherapy machines. There remain no plans to publish full details of the funding allocation.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Susan Murray:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that British dentists are prioritized when allocating Licence in Dental Surgery examination places. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS) exam is operated by the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), and the exam is regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC). There are no restrictions to accessing the exam based on British residency status.

It is the role of the GDC to approve eligibility criteria for the exam, which is proposed by the RCSEng as its operator. The GDC is independent of the Government. The RCSEng continues to increase the capacity of the LDS exam to ensure more candidates can access a place.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_108

Damian Hinds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to payroll costs from the Autumn Budget 2024 on self funders in social care. \p Stephen Kinnock: Self-funder fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, the majority of which are in the independent sector. The Department does not have powers to set or recommend the level of self-funder fees that care homes charge. However, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_109

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 38437 on NHS: Negligence, what the tariff system used to determine payments for medical negligence by NHS Resolution is. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. There is no singular tariff system that is used to calculate compensation awards. The legal principle in English law is that the harmed individual is put back into the position they would be had the harm not occurred. Therefore, each individual claim has to be considered on its own factual circumstances.

However, there are some statutory limits in certain cases, such as fatalities, and guidelines for the awards in respect of the actual injuries suffered, namely the Judicial College Guidelines. NHSR uses these guidelines to determine the appropriate award for the injuries suffered. In respect to the consequential losses that flow from the harm suffered, such as loss of earnings or care costs, these are assessed based on individual circumstances, informed by expert evidence.

Future losses are calculated using the Ogden tables, based on the personal injury discount rate, which is set by the Lord Chancellor. Common law precedent is also used to determine if certain heads of loss are recoverable, and if so, what value is placed upon them. In certain circumstances, for example when dealing with a large group of claims, we may agree a tariff system with claimant representatives to facilitate swift and efficient resolutions for patients.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_110

Navendu Mishra:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure the accountability of care homes providing care below acceptable standards. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects, and regulates adult social care services, including care homes, to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. Inspection reports on individual providers are made publicly available.

Where concerns on quality or safety are identified, the CQC uses a range of regulatory and enforcement powers, to take action to ensure the safety of people drawing on care and support.

This includes using requirement notices to highlight areas that need improvement or placing adult social care providers into special measures to closely supervise the quality of care. In cases of significant concern, the CQC can take action that could lead to the removal of a provider’s registration or, in the most serious cases, take criminal action.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_111

Mr Louie French:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March to Question 34943 on Gambling: Health Services, what steps he is taking to ensure the new commissioning programme is in place before the end of the voluntary levy period. \p Ashley Dalton: It is a priority for the Government that in this crucial transition period, valuable support and treatment services for those experiencing gambling-related harm are protected. To minimise any disruption, operators must continue to provide financial contributions at their current levels until the levy is in force. The Government has received assurances from industry that this will be delivered.

Following the appointment of lead commissioning bodies for research, prevention, and treatment under the statutory levy, all continue to work at pace to design the future commissioning programmes, and to ensure that there is no break in the provision of services. Spending decisions will be confirmed in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_112

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to reduce instances of clinical negligence by NHS medical staff. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to advancing patient safety and creating a safety learning culture across the health system to stop harmful events from ever happening.

Our commitment is demonstrated by the ongoing implementation of key programmes under the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, to support continuous improvement in patient safety across the National Health Service. The Government has also introduced death certification reform and medical examiners, is committed to introducing professional standards for and regulating NHS managers, is reviewing the statutory duty of candour on providers, and is improving maternity safety. This includes investing almost £7.8 million in the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth programme and supporting all trusts to implement the third version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with detailed guidance to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

We are taking a fresh look at how to make the current system effective and efficient, to protect quality of care and improve patient safety. Following last year’s review by Dr Penny Dash into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the CQC is rebuilding its approach and trust in its regulation. Dr Dash is conducting a second review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The conclusions of the review will be published shortly and will inform our 10-Year Health Plan to transform the NHS and social care system.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-25 conversation_113

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve care pathways for young people with ADHD in Lincolnshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.

The Lincolnshire ICB advises that it has undertaken a clinical review of its ADHD and autism pathways to address increased demand for children and young people’s (CYP) neurodevelopment assessments. The ICB further advises that implementation of a number of the review’s recommendations has resulted in significantly reduced waiting times for CYP transitioning into adult services. The Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals Group has also invested in additional sleep support capacity as part of the post diagnostic support offer, and is developing proposals for increased specialist ADHD nursing capacity to be introduced in 2026.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Young Lives vs Cancer entitled Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund, published in February 2024. \p Ashley Dalton: The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will explore a range of issues, including patient experience alongside clinical care, to identify improvements for children and young people with cancer and their families. Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. We will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.