theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Lizzi Collinge:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of driving tests in (a) Kendal and (b) Heysham; and what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for practical driving tests in these areas. \p Lilian Greenwood: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is aware that car practical driving test waiting times remain high and understands the impact this is having on learner drivers.

DVSA is continuing to recruit as many driving examiners (DE) as possible, including at Kendal, Heysham and Barrow in Furness. From a previous recruitment campaign, two potential new DEs, following successful completion of training, will be joining Kendal and Barrow in Furness in late autumn.

Currently DEs from Kendal and Heysham are being deployed to Barrow in Furness to meet testing demand. As part of its current recruitment campaign, DVSA has advertised for DEs for Barrow in Furness. This will enable DVSA to meet local demand in Barrow in Furness and increase test availability in Kendal and Heysham.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many employees in her Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year. \p Mike Kane: Organograms for Senior Civil Servant roles provides information on the number of civil servants earning over £100,000 and in other bandings. This data is published by departments on a quarterly basis, the latest information for the Department for Transport can be found here: Organogram of Staff Roles & Salaries - data.gov.uk
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many employees in his Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year. \p Al Carns: As at 31 March 2025, of the 57,501 Civil Servants in the Ministry of Defence (MOD), a total of 401 individuals, representing 0.7 per cent, earn over £100,000.

The below table shows the number of MOD Civil Servants earning above £100,000 and £160,000 as at 31 March 2025.

Total number of MOD Civil Servants on full/reduced pay

Gross Earnings > £100K and <= £166k

Gross Earnings over £166k (not included in over £100K figure)

57,501

384

17

Source: Analysis Civilian - Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) data

Gross salary is adjusted for Full Time Equivalent (FTE). Gross salary is calculated as per Cabinet Office ACSES guidance. This excludes allowances associated with short-term circumstances or duties (e.g. deputising allowances, reimbursements and overtime), salary sacrifices and non-consolidated performance related pay during the year.

The population for these figures includes all MOD civil servants on full or reduced pay as at 31-Mar-2025. Civil Servants on other pay arrangements and people that left during the year are excluded.

Statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including regional, diversity and earnings data is published by the Cabinet Office on gov.uk at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral statement of 17 July 2025 on Ukraine, Official Report, col 475, whether the two star military officer who will deploy to Kyiv to lead the Multinational Force Ukraine headquarters will be a (a) British Army, (b) Royal Navy, (c) Royal Air Force officer. \p Luke Pollard: Under current plans, the two star military commander in Kyiv will be an Army officer. Further details will be announced in the usual way in due course.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral statement of 17 July 2025 on Ukraine, Official Report, col 475, whether the two-star military officer who will deploy to Kyiv to lead the Multinational Force Ukraine headquarters has been selected. \p Luke Pollard: Yes, the two-star military officer to lead the Multinational Force Ukraine headquarters in Kyiv has now been selected. For security reasons we are not publishing further details about this role at this time.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence,with reference to his oral statement of 17 July 2025 on Ukraine, Official Report, col 475, what (a) British Army, (b) Royal Navy, (c) Royal Air Force and (d) other units are being held readiness to deploy as part of the Multinational Force Ukraine. \p Luke Pollard: Defence holds forces from across the single Services at readiness for a broad range of contingencies and operations, including the Multinational Force Ukraine. Further information will be published in due course in the usual way.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the cost to the public purse of bringing pensions for Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 in line with the standard British Army pension. \p Al Carns: The Government remains committed to supporting Gurkhas and their families during and after their service with the British Army, as demonstrated by the increase in funding via the Gurkha Welfare Trust, including a £24 million uplift to the medical and healthcare Grant-in-Aid already in place and an extension in principle to that Grant in Aid beyond 2029. We continue to hold discussions with the Government of Nepal and Gurkha Veteran representatives about what more could be done to meet the welfare needs of Gurkhas Veterans and their families, in both the UK and in Nepal. I have met with the Nepali Ambassador H.E. Chandra Ghimire for a productive discussion, reflecting a shared commitment to strengthening cooperation and addressing key concerns between Nepal and the UK.

The Government view is that the Gurkha Pension Scheme is a fair scheme, and we are committed to providing Gurkha Veterans with a fair pension. The Gurkha Pension Scheme is different, but these differences are objectively and reasonably justified and reflect the circumstances of their service. One of the key differences is that those on the 1948 Gurkha Pension Scheme were paid an immediate pension after 15 years’ service, compared to after 22 years from the Armed Forces Pension.

The lawfulness of the Gurkha Pension Scheme has been challenged in a number of judicial reviews since 2003, and the arrangements have been upheld as lawful by the Court of Appeal twice, and by the European Court of Human Rights.

An estimate of the kind described has not been undertaken. However, it is the policy of His Majesty’s Government that improvements to public sector pensions in payment cannot be retrospectively applied. In this context, given that the Gurkha Pension Scheme is a closed scheme, this means that improvements to the pension terms cannot be made, because there are no active members to whom they could apply prospectively.
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Alex Ballinger:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many meetings the Minister for Defence Procurement attended on (a) operation RUBIFIC and (b) the Afghan Response Route between August 2023 and 4 July 2024. \p Luke Pollard: When the Taleban seized control in 2021, many thousands of people who served and supported our British Armed Forces were left in Afghanistan.

The UK made a commitment to honour the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us, there was cross party support for this at the time.

In February 2022, under the previous Government a spreadsheet with names of individual applicants for ARAP – the resettlement scheme for Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan – was emailed outside of official Government systems.

This was mistakenly thought to contain the names of a small number of applicants, but in fact the email contained personal information linked to c18,700 applicants of ARAP and its predecessor scheme, the Ex-Gratia Scheme (EGS). The data related to applications made on or before 7 January 2022.

A very small section of this spreadsheet appeared online on 14 August 2023, which is when the Government first became aware that the MOD's ARAP case working spreadsheet had been mistakenly included with the original email.

The previous Government decided to seek an injunction concerning the breach on 25 August 2023. The High Court granted a super injunction as a result. The previous Government also set up a new secret resettlement route to bring those affected to the UK. Former Ministers started work on this in Autumn 2023 and it was up and running by April 2024.

This Secretary of State then commissioned an independent Policy Review from ex Deputy chief of Defence Intelligence Paul Rimmer. This began earlier this year and concluded and was presented to Ministers in June. The review examined the overall policy context in spring 2025, three years since the data incident and concluded that it appears “highly unlikely” that merely being on the dataset would be grounds for targeting.

As the Defence Secretary outlined in his oral statement dated 15 July 2025, the Rimmer review was a very significant element in the Government’s decision to change policy to close the ARR, though not the sole element. This was not a decision taken lightly. We have now made the matter public so it can be subject to full Parliamentary scrutiny. The policy decisions we have now taken, in contrast to maintaining the policies and schemes we inherited from the previous Government, will result in an estimated £1.2 billion reduction in costs to the taxpayer.

The previous Minister for Defence Procurement was invited to attend seven meetings on OP RUBIFIC and the Afghan Response Route (ARR) between August 2023 and 4 July 2024. Four of these meetings scheduled on 24 August 2023 and three on 25 August 2023. Due to its sensitive nature, there may have been discussions on these topics that were not recorded.
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Siân Berry:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme reviews were outstanding as of 5 July 2024; how many remain outstanding; what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog; and what the average time is for processing a review. \p Luke Pollard: On 1 July 2025, I announced the closure of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme to new applicants via Written Ministerial Statement (Hansard Link: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-07-01/hcws763). Four years on from the scheme’s launch and with over 95% of first-time applications now found ineligible, the time was right. Closing the scheme will also allow the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to process all outstanding applications and focus on supporting those already in the pipeline to restart their lives in the UK as soon as possible.

Two Reviews exist in the ARAP scheme, the Review that follows an ARAP ineligible decision and the Review that follows the rejection or partial rejection of an Additional Family Members application.

On 1 July 2024, 1,514 ARAP Reviews remained outstanding, and 387 AFM Reviews remained outstanding. The current number of outstanding applications is, as of 17 July 2025, is 1,033 ARAP Reviews and 280 AFM Reviews. The mean average time for all ARAP and AFM reviews, closed with a decision made, as 17 July 2025, is 194 days for ARAP reviews and 297 days for AFM reviews.

This Government inherited a large proportion of these cases from the previous administration, and I am determined that every outstanding case will be addressed as soon as possible. From the autumn, I will be introducing new key performance indicators for the ARAP caseload. This will help people understand where they stand in the process - and when they should receive a decision. To help support this work the MOD is also recruiting additional caseworkers to ensure cases are processed as swiftly as possible.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 69 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made on implementing the Pan-Defence Skills Framework. \p Al Carns: Defence is transforming how it identifies, develops, manages, values and retains talent. At the heart of this is the Pan Defence Skills Framework (PDSF), a fundamental shift in how we understand our skills landscape, creating a standardised approach that helps identify pressures and gaps while providing our military and civilian personnel with clearer career pathways.

The Ministry of Defence has made strong progress in implementing the PDSF. Programme governance has been established and a delivery roadmap for skills authoring has been set, linked to skills areas. Around 700 core skills have already been authored and assured quad-service, and are being prepared for roll-out for onboarding. We are on track to identify and continue developing the remaining skills identified across Defence in the autumn.

Work continues to ensure that the PDSF reflects evolving concepts, ambitions and delivery activities and to put the enabling technology in place to allow Services to onboard from October 2025. This includes technical integration to support the application that will link skills data back into a Master Systems of Record, enabling future use in areas such as performance management and workforce planning.

PDSF has enabled a new Skills-Based supplement pay trial, for a cohort of Engineers who received payment in July 2025. The Skills Based Supplement trial will test and inform a new flexible and targeted approach to remuneration that aligns with Defence's transition to a skills-based organisation.

This trial provides 3,200 engineering service personnel with payments of up to £2,700, which will help Defence evaluate wider implementation of skills-based rewards to enhance retention in highly demanded skills across the Armed Forces.

Looking ahead, further phases will expand the framework to cover additional skills, onboarding of Arms-Length Bodies, and refine the underpinning technology. This will ensure Defence has the agility to align skills with future workforce demands evolving technology and the challenges of a rapidly changing security environment.

This is a skills-based Defence revolution that will tackle recruitment challenges and transform Defence to build a more agile fighting force aligned with the Strategic Defence Review.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of staff in his Department did not meet the minimum office attendance target in the latest period for which data is available; and what sanctions his Department issues to staff who do not meet this target. \p Al Carns: The number of staff who did not meet the minimum office attendance target is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Local leadership is actively managing engagement and compliance on office attendance/ working remotely and has reported that compliance with the 60 percent attendance target is being met or exceeded where impediments such as restrictions on car parking and desk space are not prevalent; this has been done in line with, and supported by, HR policy, guidance, and management communications.

Non-compliance of the 60 percent attendance target is managed by local leadership through Performance Management measures or Misconduct and Discipline procedures.

MOD Main Building (MOD’s HQ) is routinely published in Civil Service HQ occupancy data on GOV.UK.  Main Building total occupancy for June 2025 was 87%.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date. \p Al Carns: The number of workdays spent working remotely is not recorded centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Local leadership is actively managing engagement and compliance on office attendance/ working remotely and has reported that compliance with the 60 percent attendance target is being met or exceeded where impediments such as restrictions on car parking and desk space are not prevalent; this has been done in line with, and supported by, HR policy, guidance, and management communications.

MOD Main Building (MOD’s HQ) is routinely published in Civil Service HQ occupancy data on GOV.UK.  Main Building total occupancy for June 2025 was 87%.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 15 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress his Department has made on tackling (a) structural, (b) behavioural and (c) leadership barriers to the creation of a more (i) representative and (ii) meritocratic workforce. \p Al Carns: Raising our Standards has been established by Defence to address structural, behavioural, and leadership barriers. This work is key to operational delivery, recruitment, retention and driving forward an inclusive and safe culture. Raising our Standards has planned initiatives under five pillars: communications and influencing behaviour change, data and analytics, 100% action when tackling unacceptable behaviours, streamlined education and training, and developing world-class leaders.

In response to recommendation 15 of the Strategic Defence Review regarding independent oversight of implementation, Raising our Standards is working to implement a refreshed External Challenge Panel by October 2025.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 25 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, whether any senior appointments who have not completed at least one international posting will be required to do so. \p Al Carns: With our through-life career management, we can ensure our people have a broad profile to meet the wide and varied demands Defence requires.

All of our senior appointments are selected using the joint assured model to ensure Defence has the right people in the roles at the right time. This method ensures that we are always able to select the very best individual for the role.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 65 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what steps he is taking to better publicise specialist roles available in the Reserves. \p Al Carns: All three Services promote specialist Reserve roles through their respective recruitment websites, multi-channel engagement, social media campaigns and unit attraction activities. In addition, all roles are advertised on the Service for Experienced, Re-joiner and Volunteer Engagements (SERVE) website for opportunities within Defence.

Publicity and recruitment activity will depend on the specific skills being sought. Some Reserve personnel, such as pilots and meteorologists, may be recruited directly during Service Leaver events for the skills they acquired during Regular service. Direct recruitment of specialist Reservists in areas such as medicine and healthcare may occur directly using specialist recruiters and we have also recently developed a route to Service for civilians with catering skills. Earlier this year, the first ab initio Reservist entered the Engineering specialism, which until recently was only open to ex-Regular personnel. We will increasingly look to publicise specialist Reservist roles for lateral entry as new routes open and will adapt to employ civilians with other specialist skills as demand requires.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with the leadership of the Royal Air Forces Association on its charitable work. \p Al Carns: The Royal Air Force (RAF) enjoys a long-standing and collaborative relationship with the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) recognising the critical role the organisation plays in supporting the RAF community, including Serving Personnel, veterans, and their families.

RAFA provides a wide range of welfare and community services, including mental health support, financial assistance, and social engagement opportunities. The RAF works closely with RAFA to ensure these services are accessible and effective, fostering a shared commitment to the well-being of the RAF family. The RAF actively engages with RAFA through a variety of activities and initiatives at all levels and takes advantage of every opportunity that arises to work with the charity.

Furthermore, the RAF regularly engages in formal settings with RAF charities, including RAFA, such as the biannual Deputy Chief of the Air Staff’s Charity Forum, the Charitable Stakeholders meeting, workshops, research symposiums and events. There has been a recent focus on developing a RAF Charities Charter and working closely with the RAF Families Federation, parented by RAFA, to provide a critical confidential channel for personnel and families who are committed to improving the quality of life for the RAF family, at home and overseas.

This close partnership ensures that the RAF and RAFA work in unison to address the needs of the RAF community, both past and present. The RAF remains hugely grateful for RAFA’s unwavering support and looks forward to continuing this vital collaboration in the years to come.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of staff in his Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours. \p Al Carns: Within the MOD, there are three types of flexible working arrangements: Informal, and Formal Flexible Working, and the Flexible Working Hours (FWH) Scheme. The number of staff with Informal Flexible Working arrangements and on the FWH scheme is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

As at 31 August 2025, 69.7% of staff work full time, and 30.3% of staff have flexible or part time working arrangements as detailed in the table below. Please note this data is for the Core Workforce only and includes MOD Main, Defence Equipment and Support and the Submarine Delivery Agency.

Work Schedule Grouping

Total

Percent

Full Time

34,536

69.7

Part Time

5,116

10.3

Compressed

4,467

9.0

Shift Work

5,236

10.6

Term Time

187

0.4

Grand Total

49,542

100.0
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support veterans transitioning to civilian employment in the North East. \p Al Carns: All Service Leavers receive support in their transition to civilian employment, retirement or into education, including those located in the North East. This support is specifically designed to provide expert advice and access to the right resources and opportunities.

Support specifically aimed at helping veterans into civilian employment is provided by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP). This includes tailored advice and guidance from career experts, support with CV writing, employment fairs, access to a job vacancy portal, recruitment open days, dedicated Employer Relationship Managers and training courses to upskill and qualify Service Leavers for their future careers across the United Kingdom.

For those more than two years post-service and looking to take the next step in their career, Op ASCEND connects veterans and their families with employers, supporting them into roles in strategic sectors. Op ASCEND has successfully engaged over 420 employers and has supported 4,600 veterans and family members since its commencement in 2024. CTP and Op ASCEND make up the spine of continuous employment support provided by the Ministry of Defence for Service leavers and veterans. Armed Forces Champions are also based across the UK’s JobCentre Plus network to help support members of the Armed Forces community into work.

The most recent statistics from the CTP (Jan-July 2025) reveal that over 88% of Service Leavers were in employment six months post discharge.
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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral statement of 17 July 2025 on Ukraine, Official Report, col 475, whether (a) the UK, (b) France, (c) another country will provide the three star military officer to command the multi-national command headquarters for the Multinational Force Ukraine. \p Luke Pollard: It is currently planned that France and the UK will jointly provide the three star commanders. This will be reviewed once the detail of any ceasefire is known.
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Johanna Baxter:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support Ukraine in preventing Russian armed forces from carrying out drone attacks against civilians. \p Luke Pollard: Supporting Ukraine to counter air attacks, including with drones, by Russian armed forces is a top priority for the UK. Working in partnership with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence the UK has provided a range of air defence/counter drone capabilities to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to help defend their frontline and civilians from Russian attacks in the air.

This includes over 5,000 Lightweight Multi-Role Missiles, 350 ASRAAM air defence missiles, 15 GRAVEHAWK air defence systems, as well as drone interceptors.

In addition, the UK and Germany have partnered to invest more than 170 million Euros worth of funding to provide critical air defence ammunition to Ukraine over the coming months.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the introduction of car parking charges on (a) access to outdoor walking spaces and (b) public health. \p Ashley Dalton: Car parking charges for publicly-owned car parks are primarily a matter for local authorities. Local actions can encourage sustainable travel choices and reduce car dependency, potentially enhancing air quality and promoting active lifestyles, and local authorities are responsible for assessing the impacts of their policies.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing, and has committed to creating nine new national river walks and three new national forests in England, expanding access to the great outdoors.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of neurology departments in NHS hospitals. \p Ashley Dalton: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long term conditions, including neurological conditions. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local need and priorities and to improve outcomes. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications and clinical access policies which ICBs are expected to apply.

The neurology workstream with NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is supporting neurology departments across England to tackle variations in the way services are delivered across the National Health Service, through data-driven insights and sharing best practice between trusts and systems. This includes direct, focused support for challenged services.

GIRFT and the national specialised commissioning transformation programme are working closely to develop guidance to support trusts and systems to improve care pathways and to meet the national specialised neurology service specification, which sets out the core requirements of specialised neurology providers.
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Mr Angus MacDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the calorie labelling system in restaurants on people with other specified feeding and eating disorder. \p Ashley Dalton: Legislation requiring large businesses in England, with 250 or more employees, to display calorie information on non-prepacked food and soft drinks came into force in 2022.

The Department continues to evaluate the impact of the Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) Regulations and have commissioned studies through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which includes an evaluation to understand the impact of the rules, including on people living with eating disorders.

We will publish a post-implementation review within five years of implementation which will consider the effectiveness and impact of the policy, including on people living with eating disorders.
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Charlotte Nichols:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local Combating Drugs Partnerships in raising awareness of (a) synthetic opioids and (b) how to respond when witnessing an opioid overdose; and what plans he has to roll out best practice on that issue. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued planning guidance for local areas to help them respond to incidents caused by potent synthetic opioids. The guidance enables local partners to rapidly understand the scale of the synthetic opioid threat and assess the risk, communicate the threat, and take actions to mitigate it.

The Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDP) are vital in leading the local response to synthetic opioids and developing preparedness plans to manage the risk in their area, utilising the local guidance issued by the Department. In addition to a tabletop exercise conducted with a range of relevant local partners, a sample of CDP preparedness plans have been analysed by the Government, and the Home Office has published a report which includes a series of recommendations to help local areas maintain their emergency preparation and response.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol services according to local need and it is for local authorities to decide on the amount of funding to dedicate to public education on the risks of synthetic opioids and how to respond to an opioid overdose. DHSC has made clear that local authorities can allocate funding to support campaigns and events to improve understanding and reduce harm. In addition, in response to increasing use and the serious harms associated with synthetic opioids, the Department is planning a public health awareness campaign which will launch in the coming months. This campaign will raise awareness of new patterns of drug use and their associated risks.

To ensure that vulnerable at-risk groups, including the homeless and those who are socially isolated, are aware of the dangers these drugs pose, regular drug alerts and communications are circulated by DHSC to commissioners and providers of drug treatment services, and there is ongoing engagement with local drug systems across England that are responsible for ensuring relevant professionals within their areas are adequately informed. It is their responsibility to circulate information with wider local stakeholders, such as the homelessness sector.

DHSC also includes advice on how to respond when witnessing an opioid overdose in its naloxone guidance and on the Government’s drugs information website, Talk to FRANK.
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Jas Athwal:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) assessment he has made and (b) research his Department has commissioned on the potential impact of Parkinson’s Disease on the (i) NHS, (ii) social care and (iii) the economy in (A) 2025 and (B) the future. \p Ashley Dalton: There are a number of initiatives at the national level supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease, including the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.

NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients. This focuses on providing access equitably across the country, care as close to home as possible, and early intervention to prevent illness and deterioration in patients with long-term neurological conditions. A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model, which will include components on delivering acute neurology services, improving health equity in neurology and improving community neurology services.

We have set up a United Kingdom-wide Neuro Forum, facilitating formal, biannual meetings across the Department, NHS England, devolved governments and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learnings across the system and discuss challenges, best practice examples and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease.

The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into Parkinson’s disease to support prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is investing £6 million in two Dementia & Neurodegeneration Policy Research Units to increase evidence and inform policymaking in the Department and its arms-length bodies, including for Parkinson’s disease. This includes research exploring the impact of place, ethnicity and socio-demographic characteristics on health service utilisation by people with Parkinson’s and how health and social care services can best support people living alone with Parkinson’s.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including Parkinson’s disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether targets to improve early diagnosis of myeloma will form part of the national cancer plan. \p Ashley Dalton: It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers such as myeloma, as well as other unstageable cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, in order to improve outcomes.

To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancer earlier and treating it faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
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Bobby Dean:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research is being commissioned by the NHS into potential treatments for long covid. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, have jointly invested over £57 million into long COVID research with the aim of improving diagnosis and our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and clinical care.

The NIHR has awarded funding to a number of projects and programmes investigating treatments for long COVID. These have included clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants and anti-inflammatory medicines. The Rehabilitation Exercise and psycholoGical support After COVID-19 InfectioN (REGAIN) trial, funded by NIHR, provided the first high-quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for long COVID. The NIHR has also provided £1.1 million in funding towards the Listen trial, which found that participants who received the Listen self-management tool intervention had greater capacity for daily activities, improved mental health, reduced fatigue impact and increased self-efficacy. However, there is more work to be done to find the most promising treatments and interventions, and we are actively exploring next steps for long COVID research.

Together with MRC, we have created a new funding opportunity for a development award focussed on evaluating repurposed pharmaceutical inventions for post-acute infection syndromes and associated conditions, including long COVID. We are also planning a showcase event, hosted by NIHR and MRC, for the research of post-acute infection conditions, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID, later this year to stimulate further research in this field.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business and Trade on the potential impact of UK-US trade agreements on the price the NHS pays for medicines from American suppliers. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Department for Business and Trade to assess the potential impact of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal on the life sciences and pharmaceutical sector. The Government is clear that we will only ever sign trade agreements that align with the UK’s national interests and the price the NHS pays for medicines will never be on the table for any trade agreement.
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Bobby Dean:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the guidance it has issued to healthcare professionals on how to (a) identity different clinical subtypes of long covid and (b) provide appropriate treatment pathways for those diagnosed. \p Ashley Dalton: While no specific assessment has been made, there is targeted advice for healthcare professionals to manage long COVID. Patients should be managed according to current clinical guidance such as that published and updated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). This is available at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG188

NICE is responsible for keeping its published guidelines up to date and under active surveillance to ensure that they reflect developments in the evidence base and its recommendations on new medicines.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning specialist services that meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding. In the commissioning of services, commissioners should take account of NICE guidance and other best practice.

NHS England has published commissioning guidance for post-COVID (long COVID) services, which sets out the commissioning, service requirements and oversight of post-COVID services by ICBs in England for adults and children and young people. It outlines the elements that post-COVID services should include and the principles of care for long COVID. The commissioning guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/commissioning-guidance-for-post-covid-services-for-adults-children-and-young-people/.
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Bobby Dean:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to establish a national database of long covid patients. \p Ashley Dalton: Aggregated historical data remains accessible via the long COVID dashboard on the NHS National Data Platform (Foundry). This dashboard continues to support commissioners and service providers by enabling the monitoring of service activity, evaluation of equity in access and healthcare utilisation, and benchmarking of performance across services.
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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 help ensure that people prescribed weight loss medication also adopt lifestyle changes. \p Ashley Dalton: Weight loss medications (semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide) are licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as clinically and cost-effective treatment options on the NHS for obesity. Both the license and NICE guidance for these medicines specify that they should be prescribed alongside a reduced calorie diet and physical activity. NICE guidance also states that healthcare professionals should arrange information, support, and counselling on additional diet, physical activity, and behavioural strategies when these medicines are prescribed.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning health services within their area in line with local population need and taking account of relevant guidance. This includes services to support lifestyle changes alongside the prescription of these medicines. NHS England have however also made a central wraparound service available which ICBs can use to support primary care prescription of these medicines. This central service focuses on nutrition, physical activity and psychological support.

Private prescribers do not have to follow NHS or NICE guidance. However, they are expected to take account of appropriate professional guidance. This includes guidance from the General Medical Council which encourages the prescription of medicines in accordance with the terms of their license unless the prescriber concludes that they should go outside of the licence for medical reasons.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to advance sexual and reproductive health in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire. \p Ashley Dalton: Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services to meet local demand, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need.

These services are commissioned through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we have increased the PHG funding to £3.884 billion. This represents a significant turning point for local health services and marks the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending between 2016 and 2024.

The Government remains committed to ensuring the public receive high quality sexual and reproductive health services across the country, including in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. For example, as part of our commitment to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030, we are developing a new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish by the end of the year. We will also continue to work with NHS England on how to take forward the Women's Health Strategy, by aligning it to the Government's Missions and the 10-Year Health Plan.