theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the entitlements to healthcare services for different categories of migrants are clearly communicated to both (a) healthcare providers and (b) the different categories of migrants. \p Karin Smyth: The Department sets the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 and publishes guidance on National Health Service charging for NHS trusts.

The Department regularly publishes advice and guidance on the health needs and entitlements of migrants for healthcare providers and patients via the Migrant Health Guide.
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Layla Moran:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of certified Auditory Verbal Therapists. \p Karin Smyth: Audiology services in the National Health Service, including provision of therapies for children with hearing loss, are locally commissioned.

In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many unauthorised (a) migrants, (b) refugees and (c) asylum seekers have accessed NHS care in the last 3 years. \p Karin Smyth: The Department and the National Health Service do not collect patient information categorised by immigration status.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding allocated to the NHS in the Autumn Budget 2024 is being used to (a) boost productivity and (b) reduce waiting times. \p Karin Smyth: My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer allocated an additional £25.7 billion to the National Health Service at the Autumn Statement over this year and the next, which includes over £2 billion for technological and digital transformation to improve productivity, and £1.8 billion to support elective recovery and activity to reduce waiting times.

The investment in technology includes the continued expansion of the use of Electronic Patient Records across all NHS trusts to improve care coordination and streamline patient management, and the continued development of the NHS App to enable better patient access to services and information. Combined with a range of other actions, including spreading clinical and operational best practice and reducing temporary staffing, we have committed to delivering a 2% growth in productivity in 2025/26.

The £1.8 billion investment will directly support elective recovery and activity in 2024/25. This funding will help the NHS to deliver two million additional operations, scans, and appointments in our first year in Government, the equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step towards ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

Elective funding beyond 2024/25 is being considered and will be announced within the upcoming Spending Review.
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Anneliese Midgley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will complete its consideration of the recommendations of the Commission on Human Medicines on the findings of the Danielsson et al on primodos. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), together with wider Government, has committed to reviewing any new scientific evidence which comes to light.

The new publication by Danielsson et al has been reviewed by the MHRA, and advice has been sought from the Government’s independent advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), who have provided their independent expert advice on our assessment of whether the findings of the latest publication justify a further review. The MHRA will consider the recommendations given by the CHM before deciding whether any further action is warranted.

The minutes of the November CHM meeting will be made publicly available through the GOV.UK website at the earliest opportunity.
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Josh Fenton-Glynn:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years. \p Karin Smyth: The Department operates 25 social media accounts in total. Of these, seven are Department-branded accounts, including two specifically focused on adult social care recruitment. The remaining 18 accounts are operated by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and are branded according to specific public health campaigns, such as Better Health, Start for Life, Couch to 5K, and FRANK. These accounts operate across various platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Strava.

In terms of social media subscriptions, the Department maintains one premium subscription on X for social listening purposes.

The following table shows the Department's social media advertising spend across platforms for the last three financial years:

Platform

2021/22 (£)

2022/23 (£)

2023/24 (£)

Meta

2,887,477

1,461,522

1,475,286

LinkedIn

790

22,459

7,739

Nextdoor

N/A

N/A

129,908

Pinterest

341,329

116,299

140,685

Snapchat

369,188

450,694

543,388

Twitter

N/A

N/A

N/A

Reddit

N/A

N/A

158,626

Total

3,598,784

2,050,974

2,455,632

Source: Department of Health and Social Care

Note: These figures include spending across Departmental and OHID accounts. Some advertisements were run from NHS England accounts but were funded by the Department/OHID. YouTube advertising spend is not included as this is categorised as online video rather than social media advertising.
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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 average cost to student midwives of (a) unpaid clinical placement hours and (b) student loan debt; and whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to student midwives. \p Karin Smyth: No such assessment has been made. Students undertaking pre-registration midwifery courses can access support from Student Finance England (SFE). This includes payment for tuition fees, a partially means-tested loan for living costs and, where applicable, other grants, such as for childcare.

The Government has announced that the maximum loans and grants for living and other costs from SFE will increase by forecast inflation, by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year, based on the RPIX inflation index.

In addition to support provided by SFE, eligible midwifery students receive a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per year via the NHS Learning Support Fund. Further financial support is also available for childcare, dual accommodation costs, and travel.

Funding arrangements are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.
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Melanie Onn:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of medical school places. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the National Health Service. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to build the transformed health service we will deliver over the next decade.
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Sally Jameson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement a national workforce strategy for social work developed in partnership with the sector. \p Stephen Kinnock: We know the challenges facing adult social care, from inconsistent standards of care to an undervalued and overstretched workforce, and that is why we are launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.
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Danny Beales:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending school-based counselling on reducing child and adolescent mental health service waiting lists. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the availability of visual rehabilitation services in Slough constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Ministers and officials in the Department of Health and Social Care meet regularly with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss a range of issues.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes supporting people with sight loss to develop practical skills and strategies to maintain independence.

Regarding an assessment of the adequacy and availability of vision rehabilitation services, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is now assessing how local authorities are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. These assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for development, facilitating the sharing of good practice, and helping us to target support where it is most needed. This means that sensory services, including vision rehabilitation, form part of the CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care. In that context, the CQC will report on sensory services when there is something important to highlight, for example, something being done well, innovative practice, or an area for improvement.
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Juliet Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many National Health Service dentist practices were there in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) Nottingham and (c) the East Midlands in (i) 1995, (ii) 2005, (iii) 2015 and (iv) 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of 4 February 2025, there are seven National Health Service practices in the Broxtowe constituency. In Nottingham, there are 110 NHS practices. In the East Midlands, there are 466 NHS practices.

This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

Comparable data is not available for any of the earlier years.
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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of trauma-informed counselling services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are committed to delivering and expansion of NHS Talking Therapies, increasing the number of sessions available, and increasing the number of people completing a course of treatment by 384,000 by 2028/29.

NHS Talking Therapies offer National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved psychological and talking therapies, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy, for adults in England with common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, including victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

In addition, NHS England has established local pathfinder projects for enhanced trauma-informed mental health support for sexual abuse victims and survivors with the most complex needs. There is now dedicated, enhanced mental health support in five of the seven commissioning regions. The final two regions are considering delivery model options.

In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice confirmed grant awards for the provision of domestic abuse and sexual violence services in 2025/26. Grant recipients provide services, including trauma-informed counselling, based on their local assessment of need.
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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are using mental health facilities in Romford constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: The number of people accessing all mental health facilities is not available for Romford, although data is available on referrals to specific services, such as Talking Therapies and secondary mental health services, for North East London Integrated Care Board (ICB).

During December 2024, there were 5,150 referrals received for Talking Therapies for the first time in the ICB, while in the same month, there were 12,175 referrals received by secondary mental health services in the same ICB.
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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that children who have witnessed domestic abuse can access age-appropriate counselling and therapeutic interventions. \p Stephen Kinnock: Improving mental health support for children and young people is a priority for the Government and the National Health Service. Since 2018, NHS England has invested significant additional funding to ensure that more children and young people, including those who may have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse, are able to access mental health support.

However, we need to do more. Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that. As part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community and recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult services to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice provides funding for vital victim and witness support services. This includes community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to the core funding the Ministry of Justice provides to Police and Crime Commissioners to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. This includes support for children and young people.

In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice confirmed grant awards for the provision of domestic abuse and sexual violence services in 2025/26. Grant recipients provide services, including trauma-informed counselling, based on their local assessment of need.
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Jas Athwal:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services available (a) Redbridge and (b) Ilford South constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including North East London ICB, which covers Redbridge and Ilford South, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.

I recently met with key palliative and end of life care, including hospice, stakeholders to discuss the long-term sustainability of palliative and end of life care, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of staffing levels in care providers in Devon. \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.

The Department continues to monitor adult social care workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool and intelligence from key sector partners.
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Julia Buckley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to shared care arrangements for adults diagnosed with ADHD. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has established to look at attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) service provision and support across sectors, and their impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors that provide services for the National Health Service. The General Medical Council has published guidance on “Good practice in proposing, prescribing, providing and managing medicines and devices content”. This includes guidance on shared care arrangements between a specialist service and the patient’s GP to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities for any condition. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/professional-standards/the-professional-standards/good-practice-in-prescribing-and-managing-medicines-and-devices/shared-care

NHS clinicians need to be content that any prescriptions, or referrals for treatment, are clinically appropriate. All shared care arrangements are voluntary, so even where agreements are in place, practices can decline shared care requests on clinical and capacity grounds.

If a shared care arrangement cannot be put in place after the treatment has been initiated, the responsibility for continued prescribing falls upon the specialist clinician; this applies to both NHS and private medical care.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor progress on reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autism in mental health hospitals. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Mental Health Bill, introduced in the House of Lords on 6 November 2024, proposes a package of measures to ensure people with a learning disability and autistic people get the support they need in the community, improving care and keeping people out of hospitals.

The Assuring Transformation data set is our primary source for people with a learning disability and autistic people who are in hospital for a mental health condition. This data is published monthly and shows the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people who are in mental health inpatient settings. We will continue to evaluate this data.

National Health Service planning guidance, published on 30 January 2025, includes a focus on improving mental health and learning disability care and contains the objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2025/26. This supports the aim to reach a position of no more than 30 adults or between 12 and 15 children aged under 18 years old for every one million population.
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Chris Ward:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of dementia training for adult social care staff on improving quality of life for (a) individuals with dementia and (b) their families. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are committed to a professional, well supported social care workforce. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, providers must provide enough suitably qualified, competent, skilled, and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service. Staff must receive the support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisals that are necessary for them to carry out their role.

The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which was commissioned and funded by the Department and developed in collaboration with the sector. It sets out the essential knowledge and skills and expected learning outcomes applicable across the health and care spectrum.

We now have a national career framework for adult social care, the Care Workforce Pathway, which is linked to several existing competency frameworks, including the dementia training standards framework.

The Department has also launched a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification which links to the outcomes in the Care Workforce Pathway. This contains the baseline knowledge required to provide quality care and will make sure that those who are starting out their careers have an informed awareness of dementia.

The Department delivers dementia research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has invested £6 million in two Dementia & Neurodegeneration Policy Research Units to increase evidence and inform policymaking in the Department and its health system partners. One of the units is undertaking a project which seeks to gather current evidence on how dementia training is best delivered to social care workers and explore stakeholder views on how this evidence could inform future policies and practice.
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Brian Mathew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve child and adolescent mental health services and (b) increase the speed of diagnosis for (i) ADHD and (ii) autism. \p Stephen Kinnock: Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that. We will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across children and adult services to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people and adults referred to an autism assessment service. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England is carrying out detailed work to develop a data improvement plan, understand the provider and commissioning landscape and capture examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services.
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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the continuation of a community eating disorders service in Stockport following the planned closure of the existing service at Oakwood House on 31 March 2025. \p Stephen Kinnock: Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) will continue to commission adult community eating disorders for the residents of Stockport and is working to agree arrangements with an alternative National Health Service provider given the planned closure of Oakwood House. The plan is for the replacement service to offer National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-compliant evidence-based services for eating disorders, in addition to a physical health pathway and medical monitoring, which is currently not delivered by Oakwood Psychology Services.

The ICB has put in place plans to manage the transition between services, including exit planning meetings with Oakwood who are continuing treatments and interventions with current patients on the caseload to handover a service with no waiting list. The ICB will be maintaining a log of all services’ users, with non- patient identifiable information, who will need to be transferred to the new provider and have the right information governance processes in place. Oakwood will continue to offer advice and support to key referrers and stakeholders about any of their patients.
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Mrs Elsie Blundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce pressures on (a) community health and (b) primary care settings within the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board. \p Stephen Kinnock: Community health services are an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service. The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing pressures on community health services, which includes reducing long waits and improving timely access to these services.

NHS Greater Manchester has invested £2 million to support Primary Care Winter Schemes for Greater Manchester, and this funding is delivering additional general practice (GP) appointments, meaning that primary care services have the capacity to be able to respond to surges in demand for primary care access.
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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for counselling services supporting survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations. Despite the challenging fiscal environment, we have chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies in the Autumn Budget, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues. This is expected to increase the number of people completing courses of treatment by 384,000 and increase the number of sessions.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when GP practices will be informed about the funding settlement details for the next financial year. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice (GP) to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service and bring back the family doctor, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade and means we are reversing the recent trend with a rising share of total NHS resources going to GPs. Details of the contract were announced on 28 February 2025.
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Peter Dowd:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support advances n CJD treatment. \p Stephen Kinnock: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease. As of yet, there is no cure. Treatment options focus on symptom control and palliative care.

The Department, via the National Institute for Health and Care Research, funds world-leading research to improve people’s health and wellbeing. The Department welcomes applications from specialist centres, and others, to explore advances in CJD treatment.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for patients to receive mental health treatment in (a) Slough and (b) Berkshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: We recognise that people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, including in Slough and Berkshire, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.
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Julia Buckley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will amend the key performance indicator for waiting times for children’s mental health services to include the length of time between referral and the start of treatment. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England is working towards implementing the clinical review of standards and as a first step have started publishing data on waits from referral to start of treatment.
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Mr James Frith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech on the NHS at the King's Fund on 12 September 2024, whether his Department has plans to move allergy services to primary care. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. The plan will set out bold ambitions to provide more care in the community, make greater use of technology, and build a more preventative health service.

We will be carefully considering input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan over the coming months. The engagement process has been launched and I would encourage parliamentarians and stakeholders to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are, including for allergies. This engagement process is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department allocated to improve community support for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2024-25. \p Stephen Kinnock: For 2024/25, NHS England allocated £124 million of transformation funding for learning disability and autism services in local integrated care board (ICB) areas. This funding includes money for local systems to reduce reliance on mental health inpatient settings.

In England, we continue to fund the locally administered Disabled Facilities Grant which helps eligible disabled people, including people with a learning disability and autistic people, on low incomes to adapt their homes to make them safe and suitable for their needs.

We have provided an in-year uplift to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) of £86 million in 2024/25. This increase will fund approximately 7,800 additional home adaptations. This is on top of the £625 million paid to local authorities in May 2024. The Government has also announced an £86 million additional investment in the DFG for 2025/26 at the Budget, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £711 million.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains his Department's policy that there should be no more than 30 adult inpatients with a learning disability and/or autism per million adult population in mental health inpatient units. \p Stephen Kinnock: Our commitment remains, as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, that there should be no more than 30 adults with a learning disability, autism or both in a mental health inpatient setting per million adults. As part of NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2025/26, integrated care boards are expected to set out plans for how they will continue to focus on making sure that people with a learning disability and autistic people are admitted into a mental health inpatient setting only for the purpose of care and treatment of a mental health condition. The aim is to achieve a further 10% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in inpatient settings by March 2026.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Peter Prinsley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to incentivise dental practitioners to work in areas with significant waiting lists. \p Stephen Kinnock: Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice and no national waiting list is in operation, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. Dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements.

We acknowledge that there are areas of the country that are experiencing recruitment and retention issues and that this can mean that patients may have difficulty accessing an NHS dentist.

We are taking steps to address the workforce challenges across the country. Integrated care boards have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

As of 10 February 2025, in England, 35 dentists have commenced in post and a further 33 dentists have been recruited but are yet to start in post. A further 249 posts are currently advertised.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Jo Platt:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increases to employers National Insurance contributions on (a) staff and (b) patients in private nursing homes. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process in 2024.

To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.

The additional funding available to Wigan in 2025/26 means that they will see an increase to their core spending power of up to 9.0% in cash terms.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, they are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support people seeking an official diagnosis of ADHD, (b) reduce wait times for an ADHD assessment and (c) continue access to the Right to Choose scheme. \p Stephen Kinnock: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, including timely access to services and support.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop a data improvement plan, understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services.

The Government is also committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) end of life and (b) other palliative care services provided by the NHS on patient quality of life; and whether the new 10-year health plan for the NHS will include measures on ensuring equal access to palliative care. \p Stephen Kinnock: As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, including those in the hospice sector.

Addressing healthcare inequity is a core focus of the 10-Year Health Plan, to ensure the National Health Service is there for anyone who needs it, whenever they need it. We have established 11 working groups to take forward policy development that will feed into the plan. This includes working groups focused on how care should be designed and delivered to improve healthcare equity, alongside ensuring that access to healthcare services is effective and responsive.

We have launched a significant public engagement process, and we would encourage all those with an interest in palliative and end of life care to take part in that process so that we can fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. This public engagement process is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Julia Buckley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure local authorities complete timely financial audits of social care providers. \p Stephen Kinnock: Adult social care services are provided through a largely outsourced market of commercial organisations and charities. Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations, and to develop and build local market capacity.

That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support options available to them, and that they can access the services that best meet their needs.

Local authorities also have a duty under the Care Act 2014 to ensure continuity of care in the event of business failure. This means that people continue to receive the care and support they need if their adult social care provider is no longer able to carry on delivering services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the higher GP-to-patient ratio in South Basildon and East Thurrock on (a) patient outcomes, (b) appointment waiting times and (c) GP workload. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of December 2024, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practice (GP) per 10,000 registered patients in Thurrock was 3.5. This is lower than the national median of 5.6.

Each GP is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.

The demands that each patient places on their GP are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole, not only the GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.

Through the Red Tape Challenge, we are determined to bulldoze bureaucracy and cut red tape, ensuring that GPs spend less time filling in forms and more time caring for patients. We recognise that it is vital for roles to be satisfying, rewarding, and sustainable so that our experienced GPs continue to contribute throughout their career.   The South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency sits within the NHS Mid and South Essex ICB. In December 2024, 529,000 appointments were delivered. 43.9% were delivered on the same day that they were booked and 81.4% were delivered within two weeks of booking. This is slightly lower than the national average, where 46% of all appointments were delivered on the same day and 82.7% were delivered within two weeks. There are several 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.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-03)

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Alison Bennett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish funding by the Better Care Fund to support unpaid carers for (a) 2023 and (b) 2024, by region; and what information his Department holds on regional variation in Better Care Fund spending. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England publishes planning data for the Better Care Fund, by region and local authority. This provides a breakdown of income, planned expenditure by different types of activity and planned performance against agreed metrics. The latest data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2023-to-2025-planning-data/

The publication includes data on planned expenditure on ‘carers services’, including by region. This expenditure will include spend on unpaid carers, but it is not possible to provide a figure for spend on unpaid carers specifically.