theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to extend the eligibility criteria for the covid-19 vaccine to include people with asthma. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness (hospitalisations and deaths) arising from COVID-19. Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.

The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed.

On 13 November 2024, JCVI published advice on who should be offered vaccination in autumn 2025. On 26 June 2025, the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice that in autumn 2025, a COVID-19 vaccination should be offered to the following groups:

The Government has no plans to change eligibility for autumn 2025. It has accepted the JCVI advice for this campaign in full. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Claire Hazelgrove:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) manufacturers on the effectiveness of the packaging and labelling of SSRIs in warning patients of (a) the associated risks, (b) suicidal thoughts as a side effect of their use and (c) withdrawal symptoms. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) packaging and labelling produced by marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) reflects what is known about the safety of these medicines for patients on all associated risks or side effects, including suicidal thoughts and withdrawal symptoms.

The product information can be updated based on new safety data or to address concerns. The MHRA wrote to the MAHs of SSRIs to inform them of an independent expert working group (EWG) review into how the risk of suicidal behaviour and sexual dysfunction where symptoms continue are communicated in patient leaflets. Updates to the statutory patient information leaflets (PILs) for antidepressants were agreed for the risk of “post-SSRI sexual dysfunction” for some of the 28 antidepressants involved in the review. The EWG recommended that proposed updates to the PILs on the risk of suicidal behaviour should be tested by a group of patients with a range of mental health conditions and the MHRA is currently exploring the most appropriate way to take this advice forward

In addition to this work, a review into how the risk of withdrawal symptoms is communicated in the SSRI and other antidepressants patient leaflets will be started by the MHRA later in the year and all affected MAHs will be informed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) couples and (b) families are able to use the same email when signing up for the NHS app. \p Ashley Dalton: Instead of sharing an email, the NHS App supports proxy access through linked profiles, enabling parents or carers to manage health services for children or dependents through properly configured access. The registered email address and multi-factor authentication is used for security-sensitive activities, such as resetting an NHS login password or recovering an account, so should be kept private, ensuring an individual’s data is protected and secured in compliance with the requirements of Article 5.1(f), the ‘integrity and confidentiality’ principle, of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

Using and sharing the same email address for multiple users may increase the risk of exposing sensitive health information inadvertently to others, limit controls to protect individuals against coercive behaviour, and increase the risk of cyberattacks including brute force attacks and fraudulent access.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) recruitment, (b) retention and (c) training of specialist healthcare professionals for Parkinson’s care in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual NHS employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure that they have the staff that they need to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, this Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals. To support this ambition, the Government will introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention, including in Surrey Heath, by tackling the issues that matter to staff.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan will ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, including in Surrey Heath, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 15 of the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether support to purchase wearables will be provided to patients outside areas where health need and deprivation are highest. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will ensure fair and equitable access by making wearables available for patients that need them.

We are exploring how wearable technology can best support prevention, early intervention, and the management of long-term conditions, while reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes across the country.

The type of wearable technology provided will depend on the specific health need being addressed. The focus will be on deploying the most relevant and effective technology to support individual care pathways and improve patient outcomes.

Any future decisions about wider support for the purchase or provision of wearables will be subject to evaluation findings, value-for-money assessments, and future spending review decisions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of cancer diagnosis targets in (a) Surrey Heath constituency and (b) Surrey. \p Ashley Dalton: The National Health Service’s operational planning guidance for 2025/26 outlines the priorities for tackling cancer across England, including in Surrey. The aim of this is to reduce wait times for elective care. For 2025/26, systems across the NHS are expected to aim for the success measure of 80% of patients with suspected cancer either receiving a diagnosis or having cancer ruled out within 28 days of an urgent referral.

The following table shows the diagnostic performance of the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for August 2025:

Trust

Diagnostic performance

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

72.2%

Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

85.6%
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Jessica Toale:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS provision of medical equipment for families with disabled children. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, and responsibility for providing disabled children’s equipment would typically fall to the National Health Service and local authorities.

We expect ICBs to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022 NICE published guidance on Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng213/chapter/Recommendations-on-service-organisation-integration-and-commissioning

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that education, health, and social care services must work together to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In May 2023, NHS England issued statutory guidance setting out the requirement for ICBs to have an executive lead for SEND, who will lead on supporting the chief executive and the board to ensure the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of children and young people with SEND.

Local authorities are responsible for providing social care services for disabled children which can include specialist equipment. The guidance on supporting disabled children and their carers is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849a7b67cba25f610c7db3f/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_2023_-_statutory_guidance.pdf
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Ms Polly Billington:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase early diagnosis for blood cancer. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer, including blood cancers, as early and fast as possible.

To increase early diagnosis of blood cancer, the NHS has implemented non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type such as blood cancer. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It 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 driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to decrease the level of the impact of medicine shortages on patients. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and we are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. In August, the Government published a policy paper, ‘Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines’, which outlines the steps the Department and NHS England are taking to enhance resilience in our supply chains. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver these actions.

While we cannot always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Johanna Baxter:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister is responsible for vulnerable groups and pandemics. \p Ashley Dalton: As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, responsibility for health inequalities and vulnerable groups as well as pandemic preparedness falls within my Ministerial portfolio.
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Connor Naismith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support people with epilepsy to monitor seizures. \p Ashley Dalton: At a national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, such as the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit, the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the Neurology Transformation Programme.

The RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit signposts readers to the Epilepsy Self-Monitoring app developed by SUDEP Action, which is a digital tool designed to help patients understand their own personal risk of seizures, and to track and manage this risk.

In our recently published 10-Year Health Plan, we set out our plans to expand the use of wearable technologies and biosensors which will be able to provide ‘real-time data’ and help patients track and monitor their health, including people with epilepsy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Children and Young People’s Continuing Care framework in meeting the needs of eligible (a) children and (b) families. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care, published by the then Department of Health, now the Department of Health and Social Care, in January 2016, is intended to support good practice locally, providing guidance for integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities on the process for assessing, deciding, and agreeing packages of care for children and young people.

ICBs are responsible for the provision and commissioning of services to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England collects Children and Young People’s Continuing Care activity data as part of the All-age Continuing Care Patient Level Dataset, which launched on 1 April 2025, and which is committed to supporting ICBs in implementing the National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish statistics for the time for blood cancer to be diagnosed. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England has recently started publishing information on Faster Diagnosis Standard Activity and Performance by End Reason and Suspected Tumour. This data includes suspected haematological malignancies excluding acute leukaemia. A table showing the percentage of suspected haematological malignancies excluding acute leukaemia that are either diagnosed or that have cancer ruled out within the standard diagnosis time is attached.

Additional Document (pdf, 68.3KB)
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Munira Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to encourage research into migraines and migraine treatment. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) into a range of conditions, including chronic migraine. The NIHR promotes participation in research through the Be Part of Research service, which features chronic migraine research studies seeking participants. Further information on the NIHR’s Be Part of Research service is available at the following link:

https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/

The NIHR also invites proposals for new research into the causes and treatment of conditions through its website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor coronavirus levels in winter 2025-26. \p Ashley Dalton: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to monitor COVID-19 through a variety of indicators and surveillance systems. Positive and negative laboratory tests, primarily taken in secondary health care settings, are reported through laboratory surveillance systems, and a sample of these positive tests are sequenced to monitor COVID-19 variants.

In primary care, the Royal College of General Practitioners’ surveillance centre reports on the testing of those attending sentinel general practices with respiratory symptoms. In addition, selected National Health Service trusts report on the number of COVID-19 admissions, and all NHS trusts report on intensive care unit and high-dependency unit COVID-19 cases. Local health protection teams will report on outbreaks of respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, in settings such as care homes, schools, and places of detention.

These data are analysed and published by the UKHSA in weekly official statistics in the National Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Report, which summarises information from the disease surveillance systems that are used to monitor seasonal influenza, COVID-19, and other seasonal respiratory illnesses. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2025-to-2026-season
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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59607 on Infant Foods, when he plans to respond to the recommendations of the Competition and Markets Authority's report entitled Infant formula and follow-on formula market study, published on 14 February 2025. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government remains committed to giving every child the best start in life. Whilst breastfeeding has significant health benefits, we recognise that for those families that cannot or choose not to breastfeed, it is vital that they have access to infant formula that is affordable and high quality. Infant formula regulations ensure that all infant formula is suitable for meeting the nutritional needs of babies, regardless of the price or brand.

The Government welcomes the Competition and Markets Authority’s market study into the United Kingdom’s infant formula and follow-on formula market. We have been working closely with the devolved administrations to consider its recommendations. We will respond in due course.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help increase awareness of irritable bowel syndrome. \p Ashley Dalton: We recognise the significant impact that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can have on a person’s quality of life. We want a society where every person, including those with one or more long-term conditions, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care.

To support early diagnosis and effective management of IBS, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg61

To raise awareness of IBS among general practitioners and other primary care staff, the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced an e-learning module on the IBS pathway. The course covers the investigation of patients who present with lower gastrointestinal symptoms that are likely to be IBS, the red flags to look out for, how to make a confident diagnosis in primary care, and how to manage patients in line with NICE guidance.
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Stuart Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role of the NHS in social care delivery. \p Stephen Kinnock: Social care delivery is part of our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service that shifts care from hospitals to communities, with more personalised, proactive and joined-up health and care services that help people stay independent for as long as possible. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will work towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and integrate health into the social fabric of places. This join-up is 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.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Jerome Mayhew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new dentists have been given one-off welcome payments in (a) Broadland and (b) Norfolk in the last 12 months. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

We do not hold Golden Hello data at constituency level, but as of 22 September 2025, in England there were 97 dentists in post with a further eight dentists who have been recruited but are yet to start in post under this scheme. A further 224 posts are currently being advertised. Golden Hello data on regional allocations and posts filled will be published in due course.
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Mr Calvin Bailey:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to publish a children’s health workforce plan. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. Ensuring that there is a robust children’s health workforce will be an essential component to delivering on this ambition.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service, including the children’s health workforce. It will be more empowered, more flexible and more fulfilled. 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, including children, when they need it. There are no plans to publish a separate children’s health workforce plan.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Anneliese Dodds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to work towards a national standard for a bereavement care pathway. \p Karin Smyth: Wider bereavement support is commissioned locally, in accordance with the needs of the local population. NHS England has developed guidance to support integrated care boards with their duty to commission palliative care services within integrated care systems. This statutory guidance states that commissioners should ensure that there is sufficient access to bereavement services.

Experts from the bereavement sector, such as the National Bereavement Alliance, have also published the Bereavement Support Service Standards which can be found on their website. These standards are voluntary and can be used by services as part of a regular review of their service design and their provision of bereavement services.

All trusts in England are signed up to the National Bereavement Care Pathway for pregnancy or baby loss, which aims to ensure that all bereaved parents are offered equal, high quality, individualised, safe, and sensitive care. The pathway covers a range of baby loss circumstances, including miscarriage, stillbirth, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, neonatal death, and sudden infant death syndrome.

For bereavement support after suicide, NHS England has commissioned Support After Suicide to help systems develop bereavement support services, including developing core standards.
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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the potential merits of a national public awareness campaign on the health impacts of air pollution and (b) the capacity of his Department to implement such a campaign. \p Ashley Dalton: Earlier this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), supported by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), published a report and recommendations following a comprehensive Air Quality Information System review to explore ways of improving the provision of air quality information to the public.

The review made recommendations for the development of a communications strategy to raise public awareness of air pollution, including the actions that the Government and other public bodies are taking, and the actions that individuals can take to protect their health and reduce their personal contributions to poor air quality.

The Department for Health and Social Care is working closely with DEFRA and UKHSA to address the recommendations from the review to help make air quality part of everyday conversations.
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Ms Stella Creasy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the NHS Counter Fraud Authority has made on its investigations into providers of NHS-funded cataract care. \p Karin Smyth: Independent providers play an important role supporting the National Health Service to deliver eyecare services, ensuring patients receive the treatment and care they need. However, we were clear in the 10-Year Health Plan that we will neither tolerate ‘gaming’ the national payment tariff to cherry pick the simplest, most profitable cases, nor any quality shortcomings.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority operates as an independent body conducting data analysis to prevent fraud and other economic crime within the NHS, with all suspicions of fraud and investigations managed with the utmost confidentiality. Any updates on cases will be reported at the appropriate time.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

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Fabian Hamilton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 74995 on Covid: Vaccination, for what reason (a) spousal household contacts aged under 75 years of immunosuppressed individuals and (b) other household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals are not eligible for the NHS covid-19 autumn booster programme during the autumn and winter of 2025/26. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, involving hospitalisation and/or death, arising from COVID-19.

The JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024 noted that in the era of high population immunity to COVID-19, and with all cases due to highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants, any protection offered by the vaccine against the transmission of infection from one person to another was expected to be extremely limited. On this basis, the JCVI did not advise offering vaccination to any household contacts. The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024, with both the advice and the Government’s response available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-accepts-advice-on-2024-autumn-covid-vaccine-programme

Household contacts were therefore not offered vaccination in the autumn 2024 campaign. On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme covering vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026. In line with its advice for the autumn 2024 campaign, the JCVI did not advise COVID-19 vaccination for household contacts. This advice is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-in-2025-and-spring-2026-jcvi-advice/jcvi-statement-on-covid-19-vaccination-in-2025-and-spring-2026#:~:text=the%20JCVI%20webpage.-,Advice%20on%20vaccination%20in%20spring%202025,care%20home%20for%20older%20adults(opens in a new tab)

The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the spring and autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Government is considering the advice for spring 2026 carefully, and will respond in due course.
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Mr Toby Perkins:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including targets to reduce the diagnosis time for myeloma in the National Cancer Plan for England. \p Ashley Dalton: Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, 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 cancers 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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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the state of repair of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. \p Karin Smyth: As part of the management of their estate, National Health Service trusts regularly assess the physical condition of their estate. NHS England’s annual Estates Returns Information Collection collects data from trusts on the quality of their estate annually, including the projected cost of bringing all the buildings on each NHS site into acceptable condition, recorded as backlog maintenance. The latest published data on backlog maintenance, for 2024/25, is available at the following link:

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

Hospitals in the New Hospital Programme, including the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, continue to receive support for maintenance and repairs. In addition to operational capital, the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust has been provided with £3.3 million from the 2025/26 Estates Safety Fund for works at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
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Mr Calvin Bailey:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Play well toolkit on children's health. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever, which includes ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.

We know that play is a vital part of childhood and health play services help build social-skills, support children’s wellbeing and improve outcomes. To ensure that children’s right to play is supported in healthcare settings, NHS England and Starlight, a national charity for children’s play in healthcare, co-published the Play Well Toolkit. NHS England encourages the use of this toolkit by managers of health play services across a wide range of healthcare environments accessed by children and young people. The Toolkit includes a checklist to support the auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_115

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve diagnosis times for people with postural tachycardia syndrome in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Ashley Dalton: It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities to meet the care and support needs of people diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Patients living in the Surrey Heath constituency would be covered by either the NHS Frimley ICB or the Surrey Heartlands ICB. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services to meet the healthcare needs of their local populations and, in doing so, we expect them to work with clinicians, service users, and patient groups to develop services and care pathways that meet their patients’ needs.

We are investing in additional capacity to deliver appointments to help bring waiting lists and waiting times down, including in Surrey Heath. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the specific productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard, that 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment, by March 2029.

Additionally, the shifts outlined in our 10-Year Health Plan will free up hospital-based consultants’ time by shifting care from hospitals to communities, utilising digital technology to reduce administrative burdens, and promoting prevention to reduce the onset and severity of conditions that lead to hospital admissions. This includes expanding community-based services, employing artificial intelligence for productivity, developing integrated neighbourhood health teams, and investing in digital tools and data. These shifts will allow specialists to focus on more complex cases of PoTS, including in Surrey Heath, enabling earlier identification and management, and improved patient outcomes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_116

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) morale and (b) support for NHS staff in winter months in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Karin Smyth: The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is a top priority, and not just over the winter months. All NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out Staff Treatment hubs to ensure staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health. To further support this ambition, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_117
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_117

Alistair Strathern:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all brain tumour patients are routinely informed of opportunities to take part in (a) research and (b) clinical trials. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain tumours have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department is ensuring that patients, including those with brain tumours, are informed about research opportunities relevant to them through 'Be Part of Research', a free service provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) that allows people in the UK to search for research studies and register their interest.

In addition, the Department funds research and research infrastructure across England through the NIHR which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including on brain tumours.

The Government is also supporting the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The Bill will make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_118
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_118

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase funding for sexual health services in Surrey. \p Ashley Dalton: Upper tier local authorities in England, including Surrey, are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access to most sexual health services (SHSs) funded through the public health grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we increased funding through the PHG to £3.884 billion, providing local authorities with an average 6.1% cash increase and a 3.4% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.

From 2026/27, we will bring together over £4 billion of public health funding for local government by consolidating service-specific grants into the PHG. Individual local authorities are well-placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations.

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and is developing a new HIV Action Plan in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners, which we aim to publish this year. The Action Plan will have a key objective to support the system to work better together in the delivery of SRH services.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_119
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_119

Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS leaders on NHS workforce deployment from areas with staff surpluses to those with acute staffing deficits. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce that is ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_120
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_120

Patrick Hurley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that patients taking weight loss medication have equitable access to community-based (a) weight management and (b) lifestyle support services. \p Ashley Dalton: Both the license and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (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. NHS England has, however, also made a central wraparound service available that ICBs can use, known as Healthier You: Behavioural Support for Obesity Prescribing, for patients to be referred into, with a procurement underway for a longer-term offer. This central service focuses on nutrition, physical activity, and psychological support.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_121

Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that all pregnant women are routinely offered the whooping cough vaccine between 20 and 32 weeks of pregnancy. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is working with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to encourage high uptake of all immunisations, including in underserved communities and in groups with historically lower vaccination rates.

Significant efforts have been made to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination to protect babies against whooping cough, also known as pertussis. These include targeted campaigns using social media, digital screen graphics, and community outreach. The National Health Service actively promotes vaccination for pregnant women to protect their newborns, and efforts are underway to enhance the recording and monitoring of vaccinations, ensuring accurate data collection to assess the programme’s effectiveness.

Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from April 2025 to June 2025 was 71.2%, which was 11.6 percentage points higher than the period from April 2024 to June 2024.

However, there is more to do to stabilise and improve uptake, and that is why we have set out actions to improve uptake in our 10-Year Health Plan for England. Putting our plans into action, we have recently launched a campaign to promote awareness and confidence in vaccination, including for pregnant women, which will run throughout the year. To improve accessibility, community pharmacies in areas of high deprivation and low uptake are now also commissioned to offer some vaccinations, making it more convenient for individuals to get vaccinated.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_122
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_122

Luke Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allocate capital funding for maternity and neonatal services. \p Karin Smyth: We recognise that repairing and rebuilding our healthcare estate is a vital part of the Government's ambition to create a National Health Service that is fit for the future. As a first step towards improving our maternity and neonatal estate, we are investing £131 million through the 2025-26 Estates Safety Fund to address critical safety risks on the maternity estate, enabling better care for mothers and their newborns. The funded works will deliver vital safety improvements, enhance patient and staff environments, and support NHS productivity by reducing disruptions across NHS clinical services.

In addition, the Government is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital in 2025-26, enabling systems to allocate funding to maternity and neonatal services where this is a local priority.
wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_123
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-20)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-20 conversation_123

David Simmonds:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has provided for brain tumour research in each year since 2018. \p Ashley Dalton: Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is one of NIHR’s largest areas of spend at over £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority. These investments are pivotal towards efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment and outcomes.

The following table shows the amount of new funding provided for brain tumour research per financial year:

Financial year

Total Awards Provided

2018/2019

£1m

2019/2020

£0.4m

2020/2021

£3.6m

2021/2022

£7.3m

2022/2023

£0.4m

2023/2024

£0.4m

2024/2025

£1.6m

Grand Total

£15.04m