theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the UK Health Security Agency's news story entitled Nearly 400 antibiotic-resistant infections each week in 2024, published on 13 November 2025, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the higher rates of antibiotic-resistant infections in more deprived communities. \p Ashley Dalton: Actions taken to tackle higher rates of resistant infections in more deprived communities include a health inequalities outcome within the latest United Kingdom antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-year-action-plan-for-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029/confronting-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029

Commitments under this outcome aim to improve data reporting on health inequalities in AMR and antibiotic use, publish a toolkit of resources that supports organisations to develop interventions, and implement and evaluate interventions to address inequalities in AMR.

NHS England encourages regions and integrated care boards to focus on building trust to increase the uptake of vaccinations. They work with community and faith leaders particularly in areas of high deprivation, using a make every contact count approach.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Phil Brickell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate (a) supply and (b) distribution of the flu vaccine this winter. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England is in regular contact with the vaccine manufacturers to discuss the available supply and can confirm that stock is still available for community pharmacies and general practices to order. Sufficient volumes of flu vaccine have been delivered to be able to vaccinate all eligible groups of people.

Initial orders are placed well before the start of the campaign, but supplies continue to be available throughout the season to be ordered as required. Manufacturers have confirmed that they have flu vaccine available and in stock, should sites want to order additional stock.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that general practitioners receive (a) training on (i) early symptoms and (ii) risk factors of mouth cancer and (b) update National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines to allow direct referral to secondary care. \p Ashley Dalton: We know that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for patients with mouth cancer. That is why we are investing an additional £889 million in general practices (GPs), bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This will help to ensure we have a well-trained and well-equipped primary care service that can take the time to provide quality care to patients around the country, including those with mouth cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for making decisions on whether its guidance should be updated in the light of new evidence.

NICE guidelines represent best practice and healthcare professionals are expected to take them fully into account in making decisions on the care and treatment of individual patients. NICE currently has no plans to update the guideline that covers the assessment and management of mouth cancer. It will be reviewed if there is new evidence that is likely to change the recommendations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Chris Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to deliver (a) workforce and (b) training requirements to support an expansion of fresh-freezing facilities for brain cancer tissue in the NHS. \p Ashley Dalton: There are currently no plans by the Department to expand fresh-freezing facilities for brain cancer tissue. Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues.

Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh tissue samples and for the snap-freezing of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.

In the new year the Department will publish the National Cancer Plan. The plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as research and innovation. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experiences and outcomes for all patient groups, including those with brain cancer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Anneliese Dodds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability of powdered milk in relation to Healthy Start vouchers. \p Ashley Dalton: The funding for Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, and milk. It can also be put towards the cost of infant formula.

The Healthy Start scheme is kept under review and in April 2026 the value of the weekly payments will increase by 10%.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Anna Sabine:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make weight loss medications available to people living with obesity who are unable to afford them privately and who fall below the weight threshold required for NHS prescription as a result of using the medication. \p Ashley Dalton: Our 10-Year Health Plan highlights the risk that these medicines will be accessed by those who can pay over those with the highest clinical need. The plan makes a commitment to expand access on the National Health Service through innovative industry partnerships, delivering weight loss services and treatments to patients. Continuing to make these medicines more widely available on the NHS will help reduce inequalities in access.

NHS access is being prioritised for those with the highest clinical need first. NHS England has worked with clinical experts, integrated care boards, patient and public representatives, healthcare professionals, charities, and royal colleges on its prioritisation approach, which is set out in its interim commissioning guidance and available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/interim-commissioning-guidance-implementation-of-the-nice-technology-appraisal-ta1026-and-the-nice-funding-variation-for-tirzepatide-mounjaro-for-the-management-of-obesity/

We do not currently have plans to make these medicines available to those who have fallen below the weight threshold required for NHS prescription as a result of using the medication privately. For patients prescribed these medicines by the NHS, they will continue to receive these medicines for as long as clinically appropriate.

For those not currently eligible for weight loss medications, there are a variety of weight management services provided by the NHS and local government. These range from multi-component behavioural programmes to specialist services for those living with severe obesity and associated co-morbidities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve diagnosis for people with chronic throat issues. \p Ashley Dalton: General practitioners (GPs) are usually the first point of contact for patients with persistent throat symptoms. They are expected to carry out an initial assessment, rule out common causes, and identify any “red flag” symptoms that require urgent referral to specialists.

We expect GPs to have regard to guidance published by the National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) and others when diagnosing or referring patients with persistent throat problems, as these set out evidence-based standards and best practice for assessment and referral. Relevant advice appears in guideline NG84, titled Acute sore throat antimicrobial prescribing, and guideline NG12, titled Suspected cancer referral criteria, as well as Clinical Knowledge Summaries for related conditions. NICE recommendations do not override the individual responsibility of health professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of each patient, in consultation with the patient or their carer.

Healthcare professionals are expected to maintain their clinical knowledge as part of their continuing professional development. NICE guidance underpins this by providing evidence-based recommendations and structured learning resources that help them maintain up-to-date knowledge and improve the quality of patient care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities his Department provides in its premises. \p Karin Smyth: The Department’s premises have 187 single sex cubicles, 62 urinals, and 11 non-gendered universal toilets which are individual self-contained lockable toilet rooms which contain a toilet, a washbasin, and hand-drying facilities. This is in addition to 34 wheelchair accessible toilets.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to review NHS communications to ensure that language on (a) pregnancy and (b) breast feeding reflects biological sexes. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to working with NHS England to ensure health communications are as clear as possible and appropriately reflect sex as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. This includes communications about pregnancy and breast feeding.

In April, in its judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v. The Scottish Ministers, the Supreme Court announced that it had reached a unanimous decision that the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’, and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex. We welcome the clarity this brings.

We recognise that there will be occasions when National Health Service providers want to specifically acknowledge patients with differing characteristics, including the transgender community. This may mean that trusts and providers decide to use additive language, for example “women and trans men”, to ensure health communications reach the largest audience.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Carla Lockhart:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of decriminalising abortion on (a) levels of public confidence in the protection of unborn children and (b) societal attitudes towards the value of life. \p Karin Smyth: No assessment has been made. It is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows hon. Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to face-to-face appointments for people with Parkinson’s in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: No estimate has been made of the number of people with Parkinson's disease who have access to a Parkinson’s nurse in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. The Department does not hold data on how many hospitals have staff who are members of the Parkinson’s UK Excellence Network.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities to meet the care and support needs of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Patients living in the Surrey Heath constituency would be covered by either the NHS Frimley ICB or the NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services to meet the healthcare needs of their local populations and, in doing so, we expect them to have regard to best practice guidance, such as that published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

This Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

The new NHS App will end the 8am rush by providing more flexibility in the way that people contact their general practitioner (GP), enabling better GP appointment booking as long as GPs make appointments available in the App. It will also help people to get care quicker without seeing their GP, for example improved self-care by going to a pharmacy or by self-referring into a specialist pathway or by providing remote consultations with specialists.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has (a) implemented a domestic abuse policy for staff and (b) trained line managers to effectively respond to staff who are experiencing domestic abuse. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has committed to raising awareness of domestic abuse and providing guidance and support for employees and managers.

The Department’s 2021 Domestic Abuse Charter commits to providing a safe, supportive workplace for staff affected by domestic abuse. It outlines practical support measures, guidance for managers, and a clear process for responding to disclosures, with the aim of breaking down taboos and ensuring staff wellbeing.

The Department’s intranet provides a dedicated domestic abuse support page that includes the employee guide. The guide is designed to help all staff understand what domestic abuse is and what help is available, and contains a list of external organisations available for advice and support. Staff can also contact the Department’s Domestic Abuse Support Network via email for confidential advice and resources, or follow signposting to the Employee Assistance Programme, offering 24/7 confidential emotional and wellbeing support. The Department is also a member of the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse which supports organisations to take action on domestic abuse.

The Department provides guidance for managers to effectively support employees who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse. This guidance covers supporting affected colleagues, managing perpetrators, and ensuring a safe, supportive workplace. Further guidance and support for managers is available through Human Resources (HR). In 2022 and 2024, the Department provided training for HR and the Domestic Abuse Support Network members who provide support to managers and employees.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allow trade union representatives to access NHS buildings on strike days. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has no current plans to introduce new provisions regarding trade union access to National Health Service premises on strike days. Under existing legislation, including the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and the Employment Rights Act 1996, lawful picketing and trade union activity are permitted, provided they comply with statutory requirements and do not disrupt services or compromise safety.

Responsibility for managing access to NHS buildings during industrial action rests with individual NHS employers. They are best placed to assess local circumstances and ensure arrangements align with operational needs and legal obligations, including the Code of Practice on Picketing.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in his Department since 2017. \p Karin Smyth: The information is not held centrally by the Department and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that planned service upgrades to breast cancer screening capacity are delivered on time. \p Ashley Dalton: Since 2023, ten new mobile breast screening units and nine new static breast screening units have been provided, alongside 37 wider upgrades covering hardware, software and live remote access for existing units.

Breast screening services are commissioned regionally, against a national service specification. Local breast screening providers are responsible for managing their equipment replacement plans and planning for service delivery to ensure they have sufficient capacity to delivery timely breast screening to their eligible population. Alongside the estate and equipment investment, comprehensive data is being collected via a workforce survey for breast screening services to support workforce planning at a local, regional and national level.

Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it easier for people to access cancer screening, diagnostic and treatment in patients’ local areas, backed by the latest technology to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with non-UK nationality worked in the NHS by nationality in each of the last 25 years. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes data on the nationality of the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) workforce in England.

Data on the nationality of NHS staff includes a time-series from September 2009 until the latest quarter, with the most recent quarterly data being from June 2025. In the time series, data from September 2009 until September 2015 was recorded yearly, in September of each year. From September 2015 the data was recorded quarterly.

The most recent published data can be found in the file titled ‘HCHS staff in NHS Trusts and core orgs June 2025 - Staff in Post summary tables’, available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics/june-2025

Data on the nationality of NHS staff is not available prior to September 2009.

It is important to note that because recording of NHS nationality data has improved over time, comparisons of nationality in the NHS over time should be made only with caution.
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Bobby Dean:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve (a) transparency and (b) reporting on corridor care incidents in NHS trusts. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is determined to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so patients can be treated with dignity.  We are therefore doing everything we can as fast as we can to consign the delivery of care in temporary escalation spaces to the history books.

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care this winter, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding. This includes a commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care for the first time.

We have started collecting data on the prevalence of corridor care and we will look to publish it once data quality improves.
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Patrick Hurley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require all publicly accessible defibrillators to be registered on the Circuit network. \p Ashley Dalton: According to the British Heart Foundation, there are now over 110,000 registered defibrillators in the United Kingdom, which is an increase of 30,000 since September 2023.

The Government does not currently have plans to bring forward such legislative proposals. Local communities obtaining automated external defibrillators do so on a voluntary basis and introducing legal requirements could disincentive this voluntary action.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on (a) the cost to the public purse of providing NHS services to non-UK nationals and (b) what proportion of this cost the NHS Health surcharge covers. \p Karin Smyth: National Health Service care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad, if they are not subject to immigration controls. As free at the point of use access to the NHS is based upon ordinary residence and not nationality, we do not collect or hold information on the nationality of people accessing NHS services.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is one of the NHS migrant cost recovery methods and is designed to recover NHS costs attributable to migrants requiring a visa longer than six months. In 2024/25, the IHS generated £2.6 billion in income for the NHS in the UK.

For those who are not covered by the IHS or ordinarily resident in the UK, their healthcare costs are covered in one of two ways. The first is through reciprocal healthcare agreements that the UK has with other countries, where costs are recovered from those countries. The second is where individuals are directly charged by NHS trusts providing care. The Department publishes data on this income in its annual reports and accounts.

The current IHS fee of £1,035 came into force in February 2024. It was calculated as the value of the healthcare budget for 2023/24 that an “average” IHS payer accounts for and reflects the Department’s most recent analysis of the cost of providing NHS services to IHS payers. The full methodology can be found in Annex A of The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2024, a copy of which is attached.

Additional document 1 (pdf, 396.3KB)
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide to help support hospitals to provide adequate levels of car parking for visitors in the next 12 months. \p Karin Smyth: No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges. Hospitals in England are permitted to charge users for car parking, but those charges must be reasonable and in line with local charges. The revenue from hospital car parking is used to maintain car park facilities and any surplus income is put back into the National Health Service. The following table shows the income from car parking from patients and visitors as well as staff in 2023/24 and 2022/23:

Income from car parking - patients and visitors

Income from car parking - staff

2023/24

£172,332,199

£70,510,110

2022/23

£145,873,556

£46,653,234

Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/summary-page-and-dataset-for-eric-2024-25

In 2025/26, the Department is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital, enabling local NHS organisations to allocate funding to local priorities, which could include hospital car parking.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints there have been relating to NHS staff in each of the last ten years. \p Karin Smyth: Data on complaints made by, or on behalf of, patients about National Health Services provided by NHS trusts, general practices, and/or dental practices is collected and published annually. It is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/data-on-written-complaints-in-the-nhs

The data includes categorisation into broad ‘subject of complaint’ areas, a range of which may involve complaints including elements relating to members of NHS staff.

Independent bodies regulating health and care professionals across the United Kingdom, such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the General Medical Council, or the Health and Care Professions Council, also publish data relating to the fitness to practice investigations they undertake. These will cover professionals who are registered, not all of whom will be working in the NHS in England. These can be accessed via the relevant body’s website.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to support South Central Ambulance Service to meet target waiting times. \p Karin Smyth: We acknowledge that urgent and emergency care performance has not consistently met expectations in recent years, and we are taking serious steps to address this.

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. We are also tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, supporting ambulances to be released more quickly and get back on the road to treat patients.

This commitment is supported by significant investment in upgrading hundreds of ambulances and expanding the capacity of urgent and emergency care services, enhancing both the speed and quality of care for patients in greatest need.

The latest National Health Service performance figures, from October 2025, for South Central Ambulance Service which covers Slough, show that Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than in October 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he is taking to support parents who have to leave work following a child’s diagnosis of cancer. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including children and young people with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The National Institute for Health and Care Research, funded by the Department, funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including cancer clinical trials.

The Department is committed to improving outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer. NHS England has published service specifications that set out the service standards required of all providers of children and young people’s cancer services. The requirements include ensuring that every patient has access to specialist care and reducing physical, emotional, and psychological morbidity arising from treatment for childhood cancer. The specifications are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-b/b05/

On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, 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 for England.
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Mrs Elsie Blundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that industry follows Commercial Food and Drink Voluntary Industry Guidelines on health claims. \p Ashley Dalton: Voluntary guidelines published in August 2025 require commercial baby food and drink businesses for children under 36 months to restrict implied nutrition and health claims on labels. These claims can lead to parents overestimating the healthiness of the product. Businesses are expected to comply by February 2027.

We will monitor progress after that time, to ensure businesses have the maximum time available to make these changes.

The Government will consider additional or alternative measures if businesses fail to implement these guidelines.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure an adequate number of places are available for foundation year doctors moving onto speciality training posts. \p Karin Smyth: As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across the Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also sets out that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.

NHS England has also taken steps to tackle competition for speciality training places this year by changing General Medical Council registration requirements and limiting the number of applications that can be submitted by individuals.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the total value of unpaid invoices to Category F patients. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold or collect the information requested. Guidance on identifying category F patients is available in the Guidance for Charging Overseas Visitors in England for Providers of NHS services, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-cost-recovery-overseas-visitors/charging-overseas-visitors-in-england-guidance-for-providers-of-nhs-services
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Josh Babarinde:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans there are to widen pay bands for Level 3 Staff in the NHS. \p Karin Smyth: Any changes to the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay structure, including for Band 3 staff, will be for the NHS Staff Council to ratify or agree to as part of any future discussions. The NHS Staff Council is a partnership body made up of trade unions and employers and has overall responsibility for the AfC pay system and the terms and conditions of service.

The Government accepted the NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendations for 2025/26 in full, which included a recommendation to provide the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to make improvements to the AfC pay structure.

The Department intends to deliver this mandate as soon as possible, to make the changes in time for 2026/27. Once the mandate is confirmed, the Department will work closely with the NHS Staff Council to agree the changes to the pay structure. This may or may not include changes to Band 3 pay, depending on NHS Staff Council views.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overseas visitor managers are employed by the NHS. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold the data requested. NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England, which are available at the following link:

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

The data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The level of detail available in the data is not enough to be able to identify staff who are locally in roles described as ‘Overseas Visitor Managers’ or similar.
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UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_99

Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve women's heart health. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and we are delivering our commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected.

In 2023, 31% of those who died prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD) were women. We are committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress towards this ambition, we will publish a new CVD modern service framework in 2026. Officials and NHS England are working closely to deliver the framework and are engaging widely throughout its development.

The NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s CVD prevention programme, aims to detect people at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease in those aged between 40 and 74 years old. The programme prevents approximately 500 heart attacks or strokes annually and every year, approximately 770,000 women complete an NHS Health Check.

Work to improve access to the NHS Health Check programme is ongoing, including the development of a NHS Health Check Online service, which will allow women to undertake their health check at home, at a time and place convenient to them.
wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_100
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_100

Josh Fenton-Glynn:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust facilities there are in each region of England; and what proportion of those contracts are due to expire before 2030. \p Karin Smyth: From 2029, the leases on 308 NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings will begin to expire. The Department has initiated a national programme, Securing the Future, to manage these lease expiries through a structured, phased approach, and has determine which buildings should be retained to meet future health requirements.

Securing the Future will be led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a Department owned company that manages the LIFT estate. A business case is being developed to determine how best to secure the required estate after LIFT contract expiry, and this will assess the financial impact of different commercial approaches.

The Securing the Future programme will be informed by CHP’s expertise in managing Public Private Partnership assets. The business case will ensure that commercial arrangements to manage LIFT expiry are robust, and that any wider lessons from managing private finance initiatives are taken on board.

The number of NHS LIFT buildings in each region of England and the percentage of those contracts due to expire before the end of the 2029/30 financial year are as follows:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_101

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Food Standards Agency has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years. \p Ashley Dalton: The following table show how much the Food Standards Agency spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years:

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

Expenditure on translation and interpretation services

£8,000

£5,000

£4,000

Nil

Nil

Data in the table relates to the Food Standards Agency’s Westminster budget. Expenditure in Wales and Northern Ireland, funded by the respective devolved administrations, has been excluded. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_102

Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS is taking to improve preventative measures for pulmonary fibrosis. \p Ashley Dalton: The causes of pulmonary fibrosis can be uncertain. However, measures exist to prevent the industrial exposure related causes of pulmonary fibrosis such as The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Smoking can also cause pulmonary fibrosis. To support current smokers to quit, an additional £70 million will be provided in 2025/26 to support local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_103

Anna Dixon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the shingles vaccine is offered by the NHS to people who turned 65 on or after 1 September 2023 but not those who were born between 1955 and 1958 unless they have a severely weakened immune system. \p Ashley Dalton: From September 2023, the routine shingles vaccination programme changed from the one-dose Zostavax vaccine to the two-dose Shingrix vaccine, to better protect individuals from the effects of shingles, provide better clinical outcomes, and reduce pressures on the health system. The programme was also expanded, and as a result, almost one million more people became eligible for the shingles vaccination.

The expansion to individuals aged 60 years old is being rolled out in phases to maximise cost-effectiveness and population benefit, ensure consistent messaging to maximise coverage, and take account of National Health Service capacity, all while being consistent with the approach taken by all four nations in the United Kingdom. During the first phase, which commenced in September 2023, those who reach the ages of 65 or 70 years old will be called in for vaccination on or after their 65th or 70th birthday. During the second phase, from September 2028, individuals will be called in for vaccination on or after their 60th or 65th birthday. From 1 September 2033 onwards, vaccination will be routinely offered to those turning 60 years of age on or after their 60th birthday.

At this point in the year, the majority of individuals born in 1955 will have turned 70 years old and therefore will now be eligible for their vaccination. Those who have not yet turned 70 years old but were already 65 years old or over before 1 September 2023 will become eligible when they turn 70 years old.

As of September 2025, all severely immunosuppressed individuals aged 18 years old and over became eligible for shingles vaccination. This is because individuals who are severely immunosuppressed are most at risk of serious illness and complications from shingles, and so it is particularly important that they are protected against this disease.

This is a relatively newly expanded programme, and anyone unsure if they are eligible for the shingles vaccination should check online, on the NHS.UK website, or should speak to their general practitioner.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_104

Mike Martin:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking support patients with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a pathway of care and treatment from diagnosis of FND. \p Ashley Dalton: In August, NHS England updated the Specialised Neurology Service Specification, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-neurology-services-adults/

The updated service specification includes specific reference to functional neurological disorder (FND). It states that all specialised neurology centres must include access to treatment services for FND. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.

In October 2025, the National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury, with the reference code NG252. This guidance includes FND within its scope.

There are also a number of other national-level initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with neurological conditions, including FND, such as the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the Neurology Transformation Programme, which aim to improve care for people by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.

There are a number of policies outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan which should have a positive impact on care for patients with FND. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of technology will all support people to manage FND closer to home.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_105

Sir Oliver Dowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase access to continuous glucose monitors for people with diabetes. \p Ashley Dalton: There are currently over 200,000 people living with diabetes in England who benefit from real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)

In order to help integrated care boards (ICBs) improve access to CGM to eligible people, data is now collected as part of the National Diabetes Audit. NHS England routinely publishes this data in the NDA Core Quarterly dashboard in 2025/26, which provides the data insights ICBs require, including data on CGM uptake, variation, and health inequalities. Further information on this is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-diabetes-audit
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_106

Catherine West:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support those living with type 1 and 2 diabetes with the (a) cost of living and (b) the long term impact of those conditions in Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: To improve the provision of services for the treatment of type 1 and 2 diabetes in the Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency, the North Central London Integrated Care System has commissioned a long-term conditions service. This supports the identification of individuals with diabetes and at high risk of a worsening condition, personalised care planning, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Community-based support includes diabetes specialist nurses, virtual clinics, and education for patients with diabetes who are starting GLP-1 medications or insulin therapy.

In north central London, the National Diabetes Prevention Programme is delivered by Living Well Taking Control. The programme offers a structured nine-month behavioural intervention designed to support individuals with diabetes in adopting healthier eating habits, increasing physical activity, achieving weight reduction, and sustaining long-term lifestyle changes. Those needing insulin and other medicines to manage diabetes are also entitled to free prescriptions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-21)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-21 conversation_107

Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take legislative steps to ensure that food outlets must display their Food Standards Agency food hygiene rating. \p Ashley Dalton: The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Introducing a statutory scheme in England would require primary legislation as well as the securing of a suitable legislative vehicle and parliamentary time. Ministers will consider the options in due course supported by the FSA.