theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adults are assessed as having an unmet social care need in England. \p Stephen Kinnock: Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs, as set out in the Care Act 2014. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how local authorities in England are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including how local authorities assess people’s needs. Formal assessments commenced in December 2023 and as of November 2025, the CQC has published over 80 local authority assessments. Reports are available on the CQC’s website at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports

The Government is supporting the sector to help people live independent and dignified lives. The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements. We are also providing £172 million across this and the last financial year, for approximately 15,000 home adaptations, and are introducing new national standards and trusted guidance for care technologies.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

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Sir Mark Hendrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce mandatory visual display screens in (a) GP practices and (b) medical waiting rooms to ensure (i) deaf and (ii) hearing impaired patients are made aware of their appointment. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department has no plans to mandate screens in general practices. However, a revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was published on 30 June 2025, to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment, or sensory loss can access and understand information about National Health Services and receive the communication support they need to use those services. Nationally, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are required to be fully compliant with all aspects of the standard.

NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve GP appointment availability in regions with rising demand. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have invested an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, the largest increase in over a decade. Of this, £160 million has been directed to employ more GPs via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which has given additional flexibilities to recruit 2,500 new GPs into primary care networks across England. Additionally, the new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 GPs across England to deliver 8.3 million more appointments each year.

In the twelve months leading up to September 2025, our efforts have resulted in 10.6 million more appointments compared to the previous year, a clear demonstration of our commitment to enhancing access for patients and supporting the future of GPs.

The review of the GP funding formula, the Carr-Hill formula, is being conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The purpose of the review is to ensure that funding for GPs is distributed equitably and is targeted towards areas that need it most. The review will consider unavoidable costs based on geographical areas.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of NHS dentistry, particularly in areas with significant waiting lists. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist and the Government is taking action to improve this. We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most.

ICBs are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in underserved areas for three years.

The Government is also considering the outcomes of the consultation on immediate improvements to dental care and will publish a response shortly.

It is a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have up-to-date information on where they can access care. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. ICBs can review which practices in their area have not updated their profile in a 90-day period, and work with practices to ensure websites are up to date.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform by the end of this Parliament.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support social-care providers to increase workforce numbers. \p Stephen Kinnock: English local authorities have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care (ASC).

The Government recognises the scale of the reforms needed to make the ASC sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth and improve the recruitment and retention of the domestic workforce.

We are committed to transforming ASC and supporting ASC workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million funding to improve pay and conditions for the ASC workforce.

Ensuring that staff have the skills and training needed to work in social care is also essential, both to attract people to join and remain in the workforce, and for the provision of high-quality care and support. That is why we have developed the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career framework for ASC, and we are investing £12 million in learning and development through the Learning and Development Support Scheme, to enable eligible staff to complete eligible courses and qualifications.

We have also launched the 2025/26 ASC recruitment campaign, which is running throughout October and January with advertising appearing on television, social media, radio, and online, showcasing authentic moments in care careers and driving people with the right skills and values to apply for paid vacancies in the sector.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will introduce rolling three-year settlements for the health element of children's palliative care. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I am pleased to confirm the continuation of circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, for the next three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, to be distributed again via integrated care boards. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

We are also supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the average waiting time for a dementia diagnosis since 2010 in England, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) year. \p Stephen Kinnock: This information is not held centrally.

We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%. The DDR for patients aged 65 years old and over at the end of October 2025 was 66.5%. The rate is an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to 66.3% in September 2025. This is an overall increase from March 2020 due to sustained recovery efforts.

To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.

To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of community pharmacies in England relative to indices of multiple deprivation. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS Business Services Authority publishes quarterly consolidated NHS pharmaceutical lists with all community pharmacies in England. As of the end of September, there were twice as many pharmacies located in the lowest two deprivation deciles than there were in the top two.

The data is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list
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Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce variation in the approaches of commissioners in meeting the local population's needs for palliative and end of life care services. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

This further clarified in the recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium Term Planning Guidance, which makes clear the expectation that ICBs should understand current and projected service utilisation and costs, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Members to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.
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Gurinder Singh Josan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Justin Madders:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure national accountability for equitable provision of palliative care across England. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

This is further clarified in the recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and the Medium Term Planning Guidance, which makes clear the expectation that integrated care boards should understand current and projected service utilisation and costs, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
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Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of deaths in hospital. \p Stephen Kinnock: Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan sets out that community-based advice and support will help more people die in their home rather than in hospital, while community teams will work closely with care homes and paramedics to share care plans to avoid people being taken to accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. Teams can include hospice outreach staff and palliative care professionals. Additionally, rapid response teams will help symptom management, including pain.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
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Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the early identification of palliative care needs. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

The early identification of someone who has palliative and end of life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit. Further information on the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/north-west-coast-strategic-clinical-networks/our-networks/palliative-and-end-of-life-care/for-professionals/early-toolkit-for-primary-care/

NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. The universal principles for ACP are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the cost to the public purse of installing new telephone systems in GP practices in England last year; and how many (a) systems (b) handsets were installed. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department does not hold data on the cost of installing new telephone systems in general practices, nor on how many systems and handsets were installed.

As part of our ambition to end the 8:00am scramble, we want patients to contact their practice by phone, online, or by walking in, and for people to have an equitable experience across these access modes. Since 1 October 2025, practices are required to keep their online consultation tool open for the duration of core hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries, and admin requests.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to expand funding for adult hospices, in the context of the NHS Ten-Year Plan’s commitment to shift more care provision away from hospitals into community healthcare. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable integrated care boards (ICBs) to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.

The MSF will address the drivers and incentives that are required in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.  Further information about the MSF is set out in the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave on 24 November 2025.
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Danny Kruger:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will consider using the seven new offices of pan integrated care board commissioning to commission specialist paediatric palliative care, as defined in NHS England's children's palliative care service specification. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

We are also providing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support community based preventative services for elderly people in Lincolnshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service. The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a person’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.

We have launched wave one of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 areas across England, including North East Lincolnshire. The NNHIP is supporting systems across the country in driving innovation and integration at a local level, to improve the care they provide to their communities.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, and which could include services for elderly people. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities such as Lincolnshire, coastal towns, or deprived inner cities.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85520 on General Practitioners, what steps he is taking to improve access to GPs for people who are solely reliant on telephone bookings. \p Stephen Kinnock: To support patients who depend on telephone bookings, recent contractual changes require all general practices to offer online booking throughout core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30. This is designed to ease pressure on phone lines by allowing those who prefer online booking to do so at any time, reducing long phone queues for patients who wish to continue using the telephone system. By better managing demand through expanded online access, practices can free up phone lines and improve the experience for those reliant on telephone bookings.

The GP Contract is also clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person so that patients without access to telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on social care reform. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is progressing towards a National Care Service with a vision that everyone, regardless of their needs, background, or where they live, should have the opportunity to lead healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives.

We have made recent progress on key reforms, laying the foundations to turn this vision into reality, underpinned with over £4 billion of additional funding made available for adult social care by 2028. This progress has been aligned with the Government’s three objectives for adult social care, to:

- improve the quality of care by valuing and supporting our vital care workforce by legislating for a Fair Pay Agreement backed by £500 million of funding and expanding career opportunities through the Care Workforce Pathway, and investing £12 million in learning, development, and new qualifications. We're also supporting the Care Quality Commission to recover and become a confident, credible force for improvement, supported by their local authority assessments that shine a light on local authority performance;

- strengthen the join-up between health and social care services, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care, by developing neighbourhood health services and reforming the Better Care Fund. This will be underpinned by improved national data and digital infrastructure to ensure health and care staff can access real-time information to improve the safety and quality of care. For example, we have been driving the adoption of Digital Social Care Records (DSCR), with up to 89% of people drawing on care now benefiting from a DSCR; and

- enable people to have more choice and control over their care, for instance by promoting greater use of direct payments. We are also expanding care options to boost independent living at home through an additional £172 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant over two years, enabling approximately 15,600 extra home adaptations, and introducing care technology standards to help people choose the right support.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of GP appointments for the digitally excluded in areas with poor signal (a) coverage and (b) capacity. \p Stephen Kinnock: In February 2025, the General Practitioners Committee England agreed to make it a contractual obligation for all general practices (GPs) to offer access to online services throughout core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, bringing online access in line with walk-in and phone access. This change is designed to improve patient access and reduce long phone queues for those who wish to continue using the telephone booking system. By ensuring that online booking is available during all core hours, practices can better manage demand and free up phone lines for patients who rely on telephone access. This is making it easier and more convenient for patients to contact their practice at a time that suits them, offering them greater flexibility in their daily lives, benefiting those who may experience poor signal or coverage.   The GP contract is also clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, so those without digital access or in areas with poor signal are not disadvantaged

To further improve access and capacity, we have invested £1.1 billion in GPs, £160 million of which is to expand the GP workforce, with 2,500 more GPs having been recruited since October 2024, and £102 million to create more clinical space which will enable the delivery of 8.3 million extra appointments.
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Perran Moon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to allow pharmacies to independently proscribe medication. \p Stephen Kinnock: There are no legislative barriers for pharmacists who are appropriately trained to independently prescribe. The 10-Year Health Plan set out how we will transition community pharmacy from being focused largely on dispensing medicines to becoming integral to the Neighbourhood Health Service, which will include making prescribing part of the National Health Services delivered by community pharmacists.

Earlier this year, we laid legislation to modernise legislation governing the supervision of activities by a pharmacist in a pharmacy. This legislation, which will come into effect following a transition period, is intended to make greater use of the wider pharmacy workforce, such as registered pharmacy technicians, in dispensing therefore freeing up pharmacists to deliver more clinical services.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to modernise primary care estates. \p Stephen Kinnock: In May, we announced schemes which will benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund (UMF) to deliver upgrades to a thousand general practice surgeries across England this financial year. The NHS Capital Planning Guidance and capital allocations, which set operational budgets for the next four years, have recently been published and include further details on multi-year funding for the UMF.

As part of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government has committed to deliver a Neighbourhood Health Centre (NHC) in every community across the country over the course of the 10-Year Health Plan. We announced our commitment at the Autumn Budget to deliver 250 NHCs through an NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments, to expand and improve sites over the next three years, and new-build sites opening in the medium term.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.
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Patrick Spencer:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients have waited more than 21 days for a GP practice appointment in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments (GPAD), including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, although this is not a proxy for “waiting times”. There are a number of factors which can influence the timing of appointments, and it is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.

In England, in September 2024, 44.1% of appointments took place on the same day as they were booked, and 81.8% took place within two weeks of booking, 88.8% within 21 days, and 10.8% occurred after more than 21 days. NHS England does not include information on rurality in this publication.

In our newly published Medium-Term Planning Framework we have set an ambitious new target to deliver all urgent appointments on the same day, helping to ensure the patients who need urgent care will be prioritised.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure no one is denied treatment outright because of their cleft. \p Stephen Kinnock: Patients born with cleft should have care plans tailored to meet their individual needs, with support from multi-disciplinary teams where necessary. Access to dental care is an important part of this and we recognise that some groups of patients may find it difficult to access. We have asked integrated care boards to commission extra urgent dental appointments and are also committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need and improving access.
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Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the use of private high street eye care providers to treat conditions such as glaucoma to relieve pressure from the NHS. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise the vital contribution that high street eye care providers make in maintaining the nation’s eye health.

Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This could include the commissioning of community-based glaucoma services, such as glaucoma referral filtering or glaucoma monitoring schemes.

The Getting It Right First-Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
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Julia Lopez:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to secure a sustainable future for the vision rehabilitation workforce. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are progressing towards a National Care Service, and this includes expanding career opportunities through the Care Workforce Pathway, and investing £12 million in learning, development, and new qualifications. The Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate and the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care equip staff with the knowledge on how to adapt communication methods and make reasonable adjustments for individuals with vision impairments.

The qualifications cover sensory loss, communication needs, and the use of assistive technologies, where appropriate. The Care Workforce Pathway reinforces these principles across role categories, particularly within the Enhanced Care Worker role, which includes developing skills needed to support people with sensory impairments.

The Learning and Development Support Scheme enables eligible employers to access funding for these qualifications, including those mentioned above, as well as over 200 other training courses and qualifications.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the number of reported patient safety incidents as a result of prescription medicines being lost in delivery in each of the last five years. \p Stephen Kinnock: Patient safety data is routinely collected by NHS England, including a breakdown of the proportion of incidents linked to community pharmacy. However, the Department does not hold data on the number of reported patient safety incidents that are a result of prescription medicines being lost in delivery.

Community pharmacies, including online pharmacies, are required to dispense all prescriptions with reasonable promptness as part of their National Health Service terms of service, recognising that it is not feasible for a pharmacy to maintain stock of every medicine. This requirement includes prescription medicines that are delivered to patients’ homes. They are also required to report any patient safety incidents to NHS England.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

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Sir Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the neighbourhood health centres announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 will be based in the West Midlands. \p Stephen Kinnock: At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 neighbourhood health centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years, along with new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.

Stockland Green Primary Care Centre and Summerfield Primary Care Centre, located in the West Midlands, are some of the first sites that have been chosen to be upgraded as part of the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme.

Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_40

Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential for dental students in training to carry out supervised NHS dental appointments to help reduce the backlog in routine and urgent care in West Dorset. \p Stephen Kinnock: Every undergraduate dental student gains clinical experience in the course of their studies under the supervision of a qualified supervisor.

Clinical placements provide dental students with the opportunity to develop a range of skills, including clinical abilities and effective communication with both patients and colleagues. The patients receiving treatment should never be charged for the care they receive.

These placements are designed to provide students with exposure to a range of clinical environments, rather than to enhance overall National Health Service delivery.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_41

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) job security and (b) employment conditions for general practice nurses in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is up to general practices (GPs) how they distribute pay and benefits to GP nurses and to determine their own staffing arrangements.

GP contractual arrangements do not place any specific obligations on GPs with regard to GP nurse terms and conditions.

The GP workforce is developed with the support of the Frimley ICB Primary Care Training hub. The hub commissions training supported placements for trainees and adoption of primary care network learning environments, in line with the NHS People Promise and interprofessional conferences.

We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_42

Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many civil servants in his Department, beyond the Bill team, are working on the a) passage and b) preparation for the implementation of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. \p Stephen Kinnock: Bill officials are currently working to fulfil the Government’s duty to the statute book, including providing technical workability advice on the bill. No officials are working on the implementation of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life Act).

We are unable to quantify how many civil servants in the Department outside the bill team have provided input to the bill process. Officials in the bill team have sought input from the teams with relevant expertise on specific issues on an ad-hoc basis. None of these civil servants are working full-time on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_43

Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of deaths in hospital. \p Stephen Kinnock: Early identification of someone who has palliative and end of life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit. Further information on the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/north-west-coast-strategic-clinical-networks/our-networks/palliative-and-end-of-life-care/for-professionals/early-toolkit-for-primary-care/

NHS England has published universal principles for advanced care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. Further information on the universal principles for ACP is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_44

Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the palliative care workforce is able to cope with increases in demand for end of life care. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.  The 10 Year Workforce Plan 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, including in palliative care and end of life care.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_45

Justin Madders:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered plans to fully fund the specialist palliative care, advice and assessment provided by hospices. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_46

Damian Hinds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_47

Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the palliative care workforce is able to cope with growing demand for end of life care. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is committed to publishing a 10-Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10-Year Workforce Plan 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, including in palliative care and end of life care.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_48

Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to ensure integrated care boards covering the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency have the capacity to deliver palliative and end of life care closer to home. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life, including in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-02)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-02 conversation_49

Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the early identification of palliative care needs. \p Stephen Kinnock: Early identification of someone who has palliative and end of life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit. Further information on the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/north-west-coast-strategic-clinical-networks/our-networks/palliative-and-end-of-life-care/for-professionals/early-toolkit-for-primary-care/

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.