theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 58327 on Beer: Sales, whether his Department has received representations from (a) brewers and (b) pub companies on the potential merits of extending the Guest Beer Agreement scheme to (i) England and (ii) Wales. \p Gareth Thomas: The government notes the Scottish Pubs Code and the ‘guest beer agreement’ requirement, contained within it.

The England and Wales Pubs Code, which applies to large pub-owning businesses with 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales, covers around 8,000 pubs. The government is currently undertaking the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and the Pubs Code Adjudicator. Stakeholders including brewers and pub companies are encouraged to contribute to the review’s call for inputs which is open until 14 August.

Additionally, the government is completing an exercise to understand whether there are any barriers to market for small brewers. This exercise covers all pub models. Interested parties can contact xxx@xxx.xx.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 58327 on Beer: Sales, whether his assessment of the beer market will include consideration of (a) tied house arrangements and (b) their impact on market access for guest beers. \p Gareth Thomas: The beer market review, with specific reference to market access for small brewers, will cover all subcategories of the pub sector, including leased and tenanted pubs. It will not however consider the merits of different pub models.

The government is separately conducting a statutory review into the operation of Pubs Code and the performance of the Pubs Code Adjudicator. Interested parties can submit their views to the call for inputs until 14 August 2025. The Pubs Code applies to large pub-owning businesses with 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales, covering around 8,000 pubs.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 58327 on Beer: Sales, when he expects the assessment of the beer market to be completed; and whether the findings will be published. \p Gareth Thomas: The intention is to complete the review this summer. Ministers will then consider the report’s findings and, following discussions with those parties that have contributed to the review, whether any further steps should be taken.
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Sir Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support self-employed people in the West Midlands. \p Gareth Thomas: Last year, the Business Secretary announced a new Business Growth Service, which will make it easier for entrepreneurs and businesses across the West Midlands to get support and advice to grow, export and thrive.

The West Midlands Growth Hub is where entrepreneurs and SMEs across the West Midlands can obtain specialist advice, including on scaling up and accessing new markets.

Businesses can also access other Government programmes such as the Business Support Service, Help to Grow: Management, the UK Export Academy, International Trade Advisors, the Export Support Service and financial help via the British Business Bank.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support the creation of start-ups in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire. \p Gareth Thomas: Start-up businesses can contact the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub, which supports SMEs in South Holland and the Deepings and across Greater Lincolnshire.

For new entrepreneurs, the Hub offers a comprehensive array of resources and fully funded programmes dedicated to start-ups and SMEs looking to scale-up, accelerate business growth and access new markets in the UK and overseas.

Backed by the British Business Bank, the Start Up Loans Company (SUL) helps new and early-stage UK businesses access affordable finance and mentoring support. SMEs can also access services such as the Business Support Service, Help to Grow: Management and the UK Export Academy.
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made a recent assessment with the Secretary of State for Transport of the potential impact of public transport services in rural areas on the viability of high street businesses operating in market towns. \p Gareth Thomas: The government recognises that rural residents must often travel further to access their local high street. We know that this can affect business viability for high streets in rural areas as employee and customer accessibility is a significant barrier.

The government is providing over £650 million for local transport outside city regions in 2025-26 to ensure that transport infrastructure and connections improve in our towns, villages and rural areas as well as in our major cities. Addressing intra-regional transport, connecting rural communities to their local high street will increase the viability of high street businesses in market towns. The government is also providing over £1 billion funding to support and improve local bus services and keep fares affordable where we can and increase connectivity to high streets in rural areas.
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Esther McVey:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has updated guidance on the use of single-sex facilities in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025. \p Justin Madders: It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.

The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, has launched a public consultation on its code of practice which will close on 30th June. Ministers will consider the updated guidance once they have submitted it.

The Department is awaiting updated guidance before making any updates to its own policies.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to issue embargoed copies of the industrial strategy. \p Sarah Jones: The Industrial Strategy will be published shortly, and the department is currently finalising plans for publication.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming GP licensing; and if he will develop plans to protect GPs from costs when practices fail financially. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have committed to substantive GP contract reform within Parliament following acceptance of the 2025/26 contract by the England general practitioners committee of the British Medical Association. As part of this, we expect to consider a breadth of topics, which may include updates to the partnership model.

Practices with a General Medical Services contract are eligible for rent reimbursements, with different terms depending on the ownership or occupation arrangements for the property, as set out in the Premises Costs Directions 2024. The commissioner has discretion to provide further financial assistance if other costs rise exponentially, such as service charges, all budget-dependent.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) appeal and (b) review mechanism is available to hyperbaric oxygen therapy providers who wish to challenge the outcome of the recent NHS England commissioning process. \p Karin Smyth: Information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/the-provider-selection-regime-statutory-guidance/#reviewing-decisions-during-the-standstill-period

This describes the process for making a representation to seek a review of the decision made.
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Ruth Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Wales on the implementation of plans for cross-border healthcare. \p Ashley Dalton: My Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, regularly meets his devolved administration counterparts, both bilaterally and at Inter-Ministerial Groups on Health and Social Care. There is also significant official level engagement daily with the devolved administrations.

There are special cross-border arrangements in place for patients who live on the England-Wales border to make sure they receive healthcare without confusion or delay, and patient data can be accessed by the relevant professionals. These arrangements have been implemented and are managed by the Department, NHS England, the Welsh Government and NHS Wales.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to respite care for unpaid carers. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support they need. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers.

The Better Care Fund includes funding that can be used for carer support, including short breaks and respite services. Local areas determine how the money is best used to support carers, depending on local need and with reference to their statutory responsibilities.
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Mr Joshua Reynolds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for adolescent mental health services in Berkshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: We know children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need and that waits for mental health services are too long across England, including Berkshire. We are determined to change that as part of our shift to prevention and earlier intervention and in line with our Plan for Change.

The Department’s Spending Review settlement means that annual National Health Service day-to-day spending will increase by £29 billion in real terms, representing a £53 billion cash uplift, by 2028/29 compared to 2023/24.

In the Spending Review announcement, we have confirmed that we will fulfil the Government’s commitments to recruit an additional 8,500 additional mental health staff by the end of the Parliament and expand mental health support teams in schools in England to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of capping the cost of care homes. \p Stephen Kinnock: Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market and to commission a range of high-quality, sustainable care support services to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes encouraging a wide range of service provision to ensure that people have a choice of appropriate services.

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 fees that private care homes can 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.

The Government is supporting local authorities by making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26. This includes over £1 billion for the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF), with one of the three target areas local authorities can spend their allocations on being to improve fee rates to providers.

In a letter I sent out to Council Leaders in January 2025, I set out the expectation that in 2025/26, when commissioning services, local authorities should ensure fee levels for care and support services take account of the actual costs of care in their area, including inflationary and all other pressures, such as the rise in National Living Wage and the changes to employers National Insurance Contributions.

As part of our monitoring of the MSIF grant conditions and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department including data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/market-sustainability-and-improvement-fund-2024-to-2025-care-provider-fees/market-sustainability-and-improvement-fund-msif-provider-fee-reporting-2024-to-2025
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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to involve (a) patients, (b) families and (c) communities in changes to the mental health referral system in (i) England and (ii) South East Cornwall constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Any changes to mental health referral systems should be developed with the input of patients, families, and communities, to ensure services meet their needs.

At local level, we would expect National Health Service trusts, including those in the South East Cornwall constituency, to take the same approach in actively engaging with service users and local communities when making changes to local referral pathways.

We are also taking steps in legislation to improve how people subject to the Mental Health Act and their families or people close to them are involved in decisions about their care. The Mental Health Bill includes a new clinical checklist that requires clinicians to take certain steps when deciding a patient’s care and treatment, where they are detained under the Mental Health Act. This enables clinicians to support the patient to take part in decision making about their care, to consider their wishes and feelings, including those in an Advance Choice Document, to consult with those close to them, and to avoid making unjustified assumptions about the patient. This ensures care and treatment decisions are more patient centric.
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Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve safeguards for people with neurological conditions in care homes. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government makes clear, in statutory guidance of the Care Act 2014, that local authorities must ensure services they commission are safe, effective and of high quality. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) assesses how well local authorities are meeting their Care Act duties in relation to safeguarding and have a duty to inform my Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if it considers an authority is failing to discharge its functions.

Regulated providers also have a key role in safeguarding adults. Care homes must ensure that they have appropriate systems and processes in place to prevent, and protect people from, abuse and improper treatment. They must also have, and effectively operate, systems and processes to investigate and promptly act upon any allegation or evidence of abuse.

Where anyone alleges poor care, neglect or abuse, we expect those providing the service, local authorities and the CQC to take swift action.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the affordability of weekly care home fees. \p Stephen Kinnock: 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 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.

We have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission will deliver recommendations for the transformation of adult social care including how to best create a fair and affordable adult social care system.
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Susan Murray: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 article by the University of Manchester entitled Tackling unmet needs for social care among older people, published on 21 May 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government recognises the long-term trend of a reduction in the number of local authority funded long-term packages of adult social care, despite an ageing population. This can result in people’s care needs going unmet, placing pressure on unpaid carers, including spouses and family members, who provide essential care and support.

The article by the University of Manchester raises important implications for how adult social care is delivered by local authorities. We remain committed to ensuring that local authorities meet their duties under the Care Act 2014, including the duty to provide provision of a wide range of high-quality support services for carers, and the requirement to undertake Carer’s Assessments for those who appear to have needs and who may be eligible for support.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including their duties relating to unpaid carers. Formal assessments commenced in December 2023 and as of June 2025, the CQC has published over 40 local authority assessments. So far, the CQC has identified several emerging themes in local authorities’ delivery of adult social care, including a lack of support for unpaid carers. The CQC’s assessments of individual local authorities are available via published reports on the CQC website, at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to improve access to dental appointments in (a) Slough constituency and (b) Berkshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Slough constituency and Berkshire, this is the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.

ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB is expected to deliver 15,454 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.

ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate GP provision for new housing developments in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise the challenges that areas of significant housing and population growth can place on primary care infrastructure.

The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government to address this issue in national planning guidance and to ensure all new developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure. This is alongside work to ensure developer contributions from new housing developments can be better negotiated and used towards delivering local health services and infrastructure.

The Frimley and Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Boards are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring general practice services within the Surrey Heath Constituency, through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including general practices, in each local area. It should also take account of population growth and demographic changes.
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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on his Department’s suicide prevention strategy. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is neutral on the matter of assisted dying and the passage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The Government remains committed to tackling suicide as one the biggest killers in this country and preventing lives being lost.

The suicide prevention strategy identifies priority areas for action to reduce suicide and we will continue to explore opportunities to go further.
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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to introduce a nationwide system to ensure that people experiencing mental health crises have access to support services when they need them; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the mental health support provision for patients in South East Cornwall constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise the importance of ensuring that individuals experiencing mental health crisis can access timely, effective and appropriate support, including those in South East Cornwall. Substantial progress has been achieved in building more robust crisis care pathways across all ages and in all regions, towards ensuring that people in mental health crisis can receive the right care.

For example, the Government has committed £26 million in capital investment to support people in mental health crisis, including opening new mental health crisis centres across England, which aim to provide accessible and responsive care for individuals in mental health crisis. In addition, we are piloting several neighbourhood mental health centres which provide support to individuals in crisis without needing to book an appointment; these operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

People of all ages in England experiencing a mental health crisis can speak to a trained National Health Service professional at any time of the day via the NHS 111 service. This service gives people the chance to be listened to by a trained member of staff who can help direct them to the right place.

We will fulfil the Government’s commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health staff by the end of the Parliament.

NHS commissioners in England are responsible for ensuring that mental health services are safe, effective, sustainable and meet the needs of the population.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of average wait times for people being referred for appointments for mental health support. \p Stephen Kinnock: Long waits for mental health services are being driven by increasing demand to a system in desperate need of change. The Government is already responding by delivering new and innovative models of care in the community. As part of this, we have launched six neighbourhood adult mental health centres to bring together community, crisis and inpatient care. These operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NHS England Planning Guidance for 2025/26 makes clear that for this year, to support reform and improvements, we expect all providers to reduce the variation in children and young people accessing services and improve productivity. We are also improving data quality so we can support providers to understand demand across their areas.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit an additional 8,500 staff across children and adult mental health services.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to deliver a new National Carers Strategy in the next 12 months. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have launched 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 care and support 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.

I also chair a regular cross-Government meeting made up of ministers from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Department for Education to consider how we can provide unpaid carers with the recognition and support they deserve.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to give dental (a) hygienists and (b) therapists NHS performer numbers in workforce (i) retention and (ii) access strategies. \p Stephen Kinnock: To work under a National Health Service primary care dental services contract, a dentist must join the NHS Dental Performers List. This is not a requirement for other members of the dental team, and the Government has no plans to change this.

Amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 took effect on 26 June 2024, to allow dental hygienists and dental therapists to supply or administer specific medicines under exemptions, supporting them to work to their full scope of practice.

NHS England has issued guidance which includes information about training for those wishing to work under the exemptions. All education should be supported by a certificate as well as reflection for personal development. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/supply-and-administration-of-medicines-by-dental-hygienists-and-dental-therapists/#which-medicines-are-approved-for-supply-and-administration

This guidance also clarified that whilst dental therapists and dental hygienists do not have performer numbers, they can open and close NHS courses of treatment and provide further direct access to NHS care, where that care is within the General Dental Council’s Scope of Practice, if they are qualified, competent, and indemnified to do so.
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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what cross-Departmental research his Department has commissioned into the link between (a) debt, (b) benefit sanctions, (c) child maintenance arrears and (d) suicide risk; and what mental health interventions are in place for people in financial hardship. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise the effect that financial pressures, such as debt collection practices, benefit sanctions, and child maintenance arrears, can have on some people’s mental health and their risk of developing suicidal thoughts.

The cross-Government, cross-sector suicide prevention strategy for England includes financial difficulty as a priority area for action and sets out work Government departments are doing to address this. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions has committed both to strengthening its guidance for staff to better support customers who disclose that they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and mandating mental health awareness training for all frontline staff.

We have also worked with colleagues at HM Treasury and the Money and Pensions Service to promote the mental health Breathing Space scheme, which gives those with mental ill health facing financial difficulties space to receive debt advice, without pressure from creditors or mounting debts.

This is in addition to the mental health support available through general practitioners, NHS Talking Therapies, and NHS 111.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is planning to take to improve the delivery of joined-up care for people affected by (a) axial spondyloarthritis and (b) other musculoskeletal health conditions following the abolition of NHS England. \p Ashley Dalton: As we bring together the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to form a new joint centre, we will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, including for people with axial spondyloarthritis and other musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.

We continue to take forward the Government’s ambitious reform agenda as set out in the health mission, with more details to come when the 10-Year Health Plan is published. 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 MSK care for 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 people to manage their long-term conditions, including MSK conditions, closer to home.
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Mary Kelly Foy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) continuity of care in cancer treatment pathways, (b) assigning named points of contact and (c) back-up contacts for all patients. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government and NHS England are committed to improving continuity of care and provision of support contacts for cancer patients. All patients, including those with secondary cancers, should have access to the right expertise and support, including a Clinical Nurse Specialist or other support worker to aid their navigation through the cancer pathway. Accessing this support is in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care.

In the most recent National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, 91.2% of respondents said they had a main contact person within the team looking after them who would support them through treatment. After cancer treatment, the National Health Service provides end of treatment summaries for patients, to support people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. End of treatment summaries provide people with a route back into the system if they notice any worrying changes or need to seek help.

The Government’s National Cancer Plan, due to be published later in 2025, will aim to improve the efficiency of patient pathways as an essential part of improving cancer outcomes and experiences.
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UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_167

Jessica Toale:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme in providing support for young cancer patients' travel costs. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families in England. NHS England and the integrated care boards are currently responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service runs schemes in England to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) provides financial assistance to patients in England who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. The provision of disability benefits is also the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

On 4 February 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The work of the taskforce is ongoing, and officials are exploring opportunities for improvement across a range of areas, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer across England, including Bournemouth and the South West region.

The specific information requested is not held by the Department of Health and Social Care. Therefore, we cannot share how many children and young people with cancer receive treatment and care outside the region from Bournemouth and the South West, nor have we have not made a formal assessment of the cost of travel, the adequacy of financial support available, or the effectiveness of the NHS HTCS in providing support for young cancer patients' travel costs across specific localities in England. This information is not held centrally as it is held at individual NHS trust level.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_168
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_168

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of cervical screening services in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England’s data for 2023/24 shows that cervical screening coverage in the Surrey Heath primary care network was 71.6% in the 25 to 49 year old age group, and 76.8% in the 50 to 64 year old age group. These figures are above the England average, 67.5% and 74.9% respectively, but below the acceptable threshold of 80%.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_169
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_169

Sir Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help reduce waiting times for cancer screening and testing in Sutton Coldfield constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government understands that more needs to be done to reduce waiting times for cancer patients. 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.

We will support the National Health Service to transform diagnostic services by spending £1.65 billion on additional capacity, including new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, to support the delivery of over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests as they come online.

In bowel cancer screening services across Birmingham and Solihull, the integrated care board (ICB) has successfully implemented the age-extension so all people aged 50 years old or over are now eligible for a screening test and the service is meeting targets.

Delays in breast cancer screening in this region have caught up from the backlogs seen during the pandemic and are now in line with national requirements. The symptomatic service for breast screening is also meeting the faster diagnosis standard.

NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB is also running a cancer bus tour, stopping off at locations across Birmingham and Solihull, including two stops in the Sutton Coldfield constituency at Princess Alice Retail Park, across 18 dates throughout April, June and September 2025. Local citizens can talk to health professionals about the importance of cancer screening, learn how to check themselves for different cancers and find support to help them live the healthiest possible life.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_170
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_170

Yasmin Qureshi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish all correspondence between his Department and the Food and Drink Federation on changes to the HFSS guidance between October 2022 and June 2023. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to tackling the childhood obesity crisis and to raising the healthiest generation of children ever.  Department officials regularly engage with a range of external stakeholders on diet and obesity policies.

The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 were laid during the previous Parliament. The regulations provide for restrictions on the promotion and placement in retail stores, and their online equivalents, of certain foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt, or sugar, or that are ‘less healthy’.

The Department recently responded to a freedom of information request asking for details of any correspondence between the Department and the Food and Drink Federation relating to a change made to the implementation guidance in 2023 that accompanies these regulations. The relevant information was released pertaining to a decision to exclude the term ‘minimally processed and nutritious food' from the guidance. The information released has since been made available online. There are no plans to publish further information at present.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_171
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_171

Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take through (a) dietary guidelines, (b) public health policy and (c) food strategies to (i) promote and (ii) help improve public access to (A) whole and (B) minimally processed foods. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is promoting access to healthy food through dietary guidelines which are presented to the public through the Government’s Eatwell Guide. The terms ‘whole’ and ‘minimally processed’ are not used because they are difficult to define and could be interpreted as including foods that we are advised to eat less often and/or in small amounts, such as butter. The Eatwell Guide already advises that people should eat more fruit and vegetables, and more wholegrain or higher-fibre foods, as well as less processed meat, and less food and drink that is high in sugar, calories, saturated fat, and salt.

The Eatwell Guide principles are communicated through a variety of channels, including the NHS.UK website and Government social marketing campaigns. For example, the Better Health Healthier Families website and the Healthy Steps email programme, which aims to help families with primary aged children in England to eat well and move more.

Policies to promote and improve public access to whole and minimally processed foods include:

- the Healthy Start scheme, which supported over 361,000 people in April 2025;

- the Nursery Milk Scheme, which provides a reimbursement to childcare providers in England and Wales for a daily 1/3 pint portion of milk to children and babies; and

- the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, which provides approximately 2.2 million children in Key Stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables per day at school.

The Government has announced a new cross-Government Food Strategy. The Food Strategy aims to provide more easily accessible and affordable, safe, nutritious, healthy food to tackle diet-related ill health, helping to give children the best start in life and helping adults live longer, healthier lives.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_172
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_172

Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the capacity of local health committees to respond promptly to local clinical trial requests. \p Ashley Dalton: Clinical trial requests are responded to by the Health Research Authority (HRA). The Department routinely monitors the performance of Research Ethics Committee approval timelines delivered by the HRA to ensure these meet targets for clinical trial approvals.

Currently, 100% of HRA ethics reviews are completed by committees within the legal timeframe of 60 days. The median review time is consistently less than 40 days, and there is special provision for expedited reviews of urgent studies, such as were seen as part of regulators’ response to COVID-19, with approval being issued within days.

Additionally, the HRA and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are broadly delivering combined reviews for clinical trials within the 60-day target, and backlogs have been cleared since September 2023.

The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and delivering better patient care, to make the United Kingdom a world-leading destination for clinical research. We are working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of medicines and therapies of the future.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_173
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_173

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of meetings held by the Casey Commission. \p Stephen Kinnock: Given that the commission is independent, the Department will not publish a list of its meetings. It is for the commission to determine its approach, but we expect it will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including people with lived experience and unpaid carers, as well as building cross-party consensus.
wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_174
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-19 conversation_174

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has made an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning selective internal radiation therapy for patients with neuroendocrine tumours. \p Ashley Dalton: Radiotherapy treatment for cancer is highly individualised and decisions about cancer treatment are typically made by clinicians and multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals. They consider all aspects of a patient's health and circumstances when recommending treatment options. While certain treatments may not be advised for some patients, these decisions are based on medical assessments and what is best for the individual's overall health and well-being. For this reason, NHS England has not made an assessment on the potential impact of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) on survival outcome and quality of life for neuroendocrine tumour patients. However, the Department recognises the need to offer patients who need it the most suitable treatment, including SIRT.

NHS England commissions SIRT for chemotherapy refractory/intolerant metastatic colorectal cancer in adults in accordance with the criteria outlined at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Selective-internal-radiation-therapy-for-chemotherapy-refractory-intolerant-metastatic-colorectal-cancer.pdf