theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that deafblind people can access appropriate social care in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) the rest of England. \p Stephen Kinnock: Under the Care Act 2014 and Care and Support (Assessment) Regulations 2014, local authorities are responsible for ensuring people with complex disabilities, including deafblind people, access the right care and support. Under the Equality Act (2010), local authorities must also make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including their duties relating to the access and provision of care and support for people with complex disabilities. Support for people with complex disabilities will form part of the CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care. In that context, the CQC will, for example, report on how the local authorities work with deafblind people when there is something important to highlight, such as something being done well, innovative practice, or an area for improvement. The CQC is assessing all 153 local authorities in England. So far, the CQC has published over twenty assessments, including an assessment for Hertfordshire County Council, which is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/Hertfordshire1

By identifying local authorities’ strengths and areas for improvement, CQC assessments facilitate the sharing of good practice and help us to target support where it is most needed. These steps will help to ensure that people with complex disabilities, including deafblind people, do not face barriers to accessing appropriate care.
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Naushabah Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure constituents are financially supported when requesting a letter from their GP. \p Stephen Kinnock: There are some medical evidence letters, certificates or reports that general practices (GPs) may charge for, and others that they must not charge patients for. The legislation that sets this out is The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023, which form the basis of the GP contract with the NHS. There is no statutory limit to the level of such fees as this is outside of core NHS work.

The Professional Fees Committee of the British Medical Association suggests guideline fees for such services to help doctors set their own professional fees. We are continuing to work across Government to cut red tape and improve ways of working, including work to improve the patient experience, such as removing the need to request unnecessary medical evidence where possible.
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Mrs Sharon Hodgson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of controls on stocking (a) palliative care medicines and (b) controlled drugs on the (i) adequacy of access to medication for patients in care homes and (ii) levels of wastage. \p Stephen Kinnock: Under the Enhanced health in care homes framework, every care home must be aligned to a primary care network (PCN) and must have established protocols between the PCN, the care home, and system partners, such as local general practices and pharmacies, for information sharing, shared care planning, use of shared care records, and clear clinical governance.

Pharmacies are expected to maintain a reasonable stock holding to meet their legal obligations to dispense all prescriptions, including to patients in care homes, with reasonable promptness, recognising that it is not feasible for a pharmacy to maintain stock of every medicine. The Pharmacy Quality Scheme rewards community pharmacy contractors that deliver quality criteria, one of which is the Palliative and End of Life Care scheme. Participating pharmacy contractors must declare if they intend to routinely stock 16 critical end of life medicines, including controlled drugs such as morphine and midazolam and/or parenteral haloperidol, and must have an action plan in place to support local access. This enables palliative medicines to be quickly sourced when prescribed.

Most care homes with nursing can hold stocks of controlled drugs and will not require a licence to access medicines containing controlled drugs for patients who need them. This is because care homes run by public authorities or charities are exempt from the need for a Home Office controlled drug licence. Care homes without nursing cannot store controlled drugs unless they are prescribed for individual residents.

The Government seeks to have a coordinated approach to prevent wastage as much as possible, to improve inefficiencies and reduce costs for the taxpayer. PCNs are required to ensure that Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) for high-risk cohorts, such as care home patients, are implemented. SMRs are an evidence based comprehensive review of a person’s medication, their views, concerns, and safety. The use of SMRs can reduce harmful polypharmacy and medicine wastage.
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Marsha De Cordova:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 32209 on Health and Care Act 2022, when he expects the Accessible Information Standard to (a) be published and (b) become mandatory. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England is working to support implementation of the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the National Health Service are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using these services. The revised standards are expected to be published in summer 2025. In the meantime, the current AIS remains in force and public health and adult social care providers will continue to have due regard for it.

As part of new arrangements that will make information standards mandatory, following the commencement of regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, we intend to introduce mandatory information standards in a staged process. The Department and NHS England are considering what will be the first standards to be adopted under this process.

To ensure a frictionless transition from the existing information standards system to the new process for mandatory information standards, information standards made under the existing system will continue to have effect until they have been revoked, have expired, or have met the new procedural requirements and therefore become mandatory.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the GP-to-patient ratio is in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of 31 March 2025, the median number of full time equivalent doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency was 4.5.
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that pathfinder sites in the NHS Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme are able to provide services without interruption from December 2025 onwards. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Pathfinder programme will conclude in December 2025. NHS England is working with system leaders and stakeholders, using learning from the Pathfinder to design independent prescribing in future community pharmacy clinical services.

NHS England aims to publish a commissioning framework for systems to integrate independent prescribing into community pharmacy post-pathfinder. Any national funding for a prescribing service in community pharmacy will be considered as part of the Spending Review for 2026/27 to 2028/29.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average funding is allocated per pharmacy in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the 2025–26 contractual framework. \p Stephen Kinnock: In 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework will be increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

The majority of this funding is linked to activity, so each pharmacy’s share of the funding depends on how many prescriptions it dispenses, and the volume of NHS clinical services it delivers. Therefore, we cannot forecast how much pharmacies in Buckingham and Bletchley will earn from delivering NHS services in 2025/26.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) review and (b) improve NHS App accessibility for (i) people with visual impairment and (ii) other people. \p Stephen Kinnock: We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experiences for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services.

We conduct user research on an ongoing basis with users from diverse backgrounds to ensure our service works for everyone. This includes patients with a range of access needs and diverse groups, for instance ethnic minority groups, those with visual impairments, neurodiversity, and physical impairments. We have recruited users who are blind or partially sighted in community-based research, research with local National Health Service teams, and in remote research, either one to one or in groups. We use the findings of user research to plan and prioritise new work to improve accessibility.

Centrally built services, such as the NHS App and NHS website, are designed to meet international accessibility standards. We are modernising the mobile patient experience within the NHS App, ensuring information is clearly structured and easy to find and understand.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency have received funding for estate upgrades. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Buckingham and Bletchley constituency falls into the areas of two integrated care boards (ICBs). No practices in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) ICB, part of the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, will be receiving money from the national Utilisation and Modernisation Funding, but we understand the ICB is supporting three practices in the constituency with potential premises improvements using S106 funding.

All general practices (GPs) in the BLMK area were given the opportunity to apply for funding under the national Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. No applications were received from practices in Bletchley within the deadline.

In the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and West Berkshire ICB area, within the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, there are two GPs which have benefited from significant recent estates funding, those being:
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what resources have been provided to Baroness Casey to support (a) the independent commission into adult social care and (b) associated costs. \p Stephen Kinnock: The terms of reference set out that Baroness Casey of Blackstock DBE CB will lead the commission’s work fully independently, with the Department of Health and Social Care as the lead sponsor department. All relevant Government departments will cooperate fully, be transparent, and will provide all data and analysis needed to support the commission. The commission will report on its financial expenditure in due course. The terms of reference are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-commission-into-adult-social-care-terms-of-reference/independent-commission-into-adult-social-care-terms-of-reference
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes have been recruited through the increase to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. \p Stephen Kinnock: As of 31 March 2025, the number of general practitioners (GPs) who had been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) was 26 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), and 58 in the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.

As of 28 February 2025, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) ARRS GPs was 13.5 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, and 35.3 in the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.

Funding to employ GPs through the scheme has been available since October 2024 and therefore the number of GPs recruited is from 1 October onwards.
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Suella Braverman:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that hospices receive adequate funding from local health authorities. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care services, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) 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.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area, but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

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 of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices.

In February, I met with key palliative and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, in a roundtable format with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to allocate the £102 million of funding to expand and update GP premises; and whether the Tolsey surgery in Sherston will receive funding. \p Stephen Kinnock: On Tuesday 6 May, we announced which primary care schemes are in line to receive funding from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-care-utilisation-and-modernisation-fund-2025-to-2026

The fund will deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice surgeries across England, which will improve the use of existing buildings and spaces, enabling improved productivity, with practices able to deliver an estimated eight million more patient appointments each year.

We have made sure that every single region across the country receives part of the funding, so benefits are felt nationwide. Decisions were made based on the highest priority of need and where the investment would quickly create additional clinical space, specifically to deliver more appointments. Tolsey surgery in Sherston did not meet these criteria as strongly as other schemes within the integrated care board’s area, and it has therefore not been selected for this year’s funding.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the report on economic review into community pharmacy. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS England commissioned Frontier Economics to undertake an independent economic analysis of National Health Service pharmacy funding in 2024. This work is now complete and was published on 28 March 2025 on Frontier Economics’ website.
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Sir Julian Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to provide sustainable funding for rural pharmacies. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have increased the core funding for community pharmacy to £3.1billon pounds in 2025/26 and increased the commissioning of additional services like Pharmacy First.  We have maintained the Pharmacy Access scheme that provides £19m to support pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies, including in rural areas.
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Catherine Atkinson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support community pharmacies. \p Stephen Kinnock: After years of neglect, this Government has agreed with the sector a record uplift to 3.1 billion pounds for 25/26.  Pharmacy is an important front door to NHS services in the heart their communities, we are committed to support and growing their role as we move more care into the community.  We are supporting pharmacies to operate more efficiently including enabling hub and spoke dispensing between all pharmacies later this year.
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Markus Campbell-Savours:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help support primary care staff providing mental health services in Penrith and Solway constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: General practice is funded to deploy mental health practitioners, bridging the gap between primary care and specialist mental health services, with over 1,200 employed in England as of December 2024.

Our 10-year health plan will deliver more care locally, supporting people to stay healthier including with their mental health.

We will recruit 8,500 mental health workers across children’s and adult mental health services to bring waiting times down.
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Gregor Poynton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 38284, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the individual risk to UK residents of travelling to areas where mosquito-borne diseases are endemic and (b) the risk to UK public health of local transmission of those diseases. \p Ashley Dalton: United Kingdom residents travelling to areas with mosquito-borne diseases face risks that depend on their health, the reason and length of their trip, and the precautions they take, such as vaccinations and measures to prevent bites.

The National Travel Health Network and Centre advises UK travelers to stay safe and healthy while travelling. This includes information on mosquito-borne diseases, tips for avoiding mosquito bites, and specific advice for different destinations on their website, which is available at the following link:

https://travelhealthpro.org.uk

Travelers from the UK going to areas with mosquito-borne diseases should consult a healthcare professional, like a general practitioner or pharmacist, before their trip. Currently, there is no local transmission of these diseases in the UK, and the risk to the public is low.

The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Health Effects of Climate Change report indicates that current temperatures in the UK are too low for vectors or transmission cycles to develop. The report can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/climate-change-health-effects-in-the-uk

The UKHSA monitors mosquito-borne diseases and has a national plan for invasive mosquitoes, which you can find at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-contingency-plan-for-invasive-mosquitoes
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Olivia Blake:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce regional differences in waiting times for ADHD services. \p Stephen Kinnock: I commend my honourable friend for her dedication to improving support for people with ADHD and recognise the valuable perspective she brings through her lived experience.  This government inherited a broken NHS with too many people facing long waits for assessments.

NHS England’s ADHD taskforce is looking at how support for people with ADHD can be improved and I look forward to reading their report when it is published.
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Fabian Hamilton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will update the Processed Cereal–based Foods and Baby Foods for Infants and Young Children (England) Regulations 2003. \p Ashley Dalton: Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of well-being in later life.

It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a national prostate cancer screening programme on (a) early diagnosis rates and (b) health inequalities. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is guided on screening policy by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The committee has commissioned a university to carry out a high quality review and cost effectiveness model of the evidence for a national prostate cancer screening programme. This includes targeted approaches to high risk groups and an offer to all men defined by age.

However, their previous review advised against screening because the current best test, the prostate specific antigen test, is not accurate. As a result, it can lead to some men receiving false reassurance when they do actually have prostate cancer, and others receiving unnecessary further tests when they did not have prostate cancer.

Black men are twice as likely as white men to get prostate cancer. But using an inaccurate test on this group of men might not reduce health inequalities. Instead, it risks leading to greater levels of misdiagnosis in this group. We need a better test, which is why the Government has invested £16 million in the TRANSFORM trial, to look for a better test. This trial will ensure that one in ten participants are black men.

Many prostate cancers are very slow growing and many men can live and die with prostate cancer, without ever showing any symptoms. Early diagnosis in prostate cancer can lead to unnecessary interventions and treatment that can have nasty and life altering side effects, for a cancer that would never have caused harm. That is why the UK NSC, when reviewing the evidence for a screening programme, must balance the benefits, including a reduction in mortality, against the harms. Only where the committee is confident that high quality evidence suggests a programme will do more good than harm will it be recommended.
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Mr Bayo Alaba:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce delays in patient hospital discharges in Southend East and Rochford constituency. \p Karin Smyth: As we shift from hospital to community, this government is committed to tackling delayed discharges. It is vital we support the development of local partnership working between the NHS and social care.  As part of our new approach to the £9 billion Better Care Fund for 2025 to 2026, all health and wellbeing boards have been required to set new goals for reducing discharge delays.
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Robin Swann:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to continue the Getting it Right First Time programme. \p Karin Smyth: Yes. We are committed to driving NHS reform and supporting programmes that aim to deliver better and quicker care for patients.

An excellent example is the Getting It Right First Time programme which supports trusts to streamline pathways and deliver timely elective care and operations.

This includes supporting systems to ring-fence elective capacity, optimise surgical pathways, and increase surgical hub numbers over the next three years.
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Saqib Bhatti:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make an announcement on future running costs for integrated care boards. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England has asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health and care services, and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure to achieve a 50% cost reduction in their running cost allowance. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025, where ICBs were tasked with developing plans by the end of May setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities.

In his letter to ICBs, Sir Jim Mackay committed to greater transparency and moving back to a fair shares allocation policy over time. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/

No plans for an announcement by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care have been made.
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Saqib Bhatti:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Boards will receive extra funding to meet costs adjusted for population. \p Karin Smyth: Integrated care boards (ICBs) receive funding allocations from NHS England to pay for the services they commission, and NHS England is responsible for decisions on the weighted capitation formula used to allocate resources between ICBs. This process is independent of the Government. NHS England takes advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, a group of academics and other experts.

Most funding is allocated as non-ring-fenced budgets, informed by a calculation of what would constitute a ‘fair share’ of funding, taking account of population, age, need, deprivation, and health inequalities considerations. ICB allocations for 2025/26 were published on 30 January 2025. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/

Core allocations are growing by 4.4%, which is higher than population growth, so ICBs are receiving extra funding, adjusted for the population compared to the year before.
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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help improve the career progression of (a) nurses from Agenda for Change Band Five to Band Six and (b) other nurses in the context of plans not to introduce a separate pay spine for nursing. \p Karin Smyth: Evidence submitted through the separate nurse pay spine call for evidence highlighted that career progression issues relating to the pay system do not uniquely impact nurses.

We have therefore accepted several recommendations from workstreams committed to in the 2023 Agenda for Change (AfC) pay deal, which focus on ensuring all AfC staff are in the correct pay band, as well as specific measures to improve career progression for nurses. We have also committed to providing the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to address issues with the pay structure.
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Juliet Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure there are sufficient specialist training programmes for resident doctors to continue with their training to become (a) consultants and (b) GPs in the NHS. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.

To reform the NHS and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s five long-term missions. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will publish a refreshed 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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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department's postgraduate training review will consider the level of access to training opportunities available to international medical graduates. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

To reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s five long-term missions. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.

We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.

The Medical Training Review is overseen by NHS England’s National Medical Director and the Chief Medical Officer. The review will hear about best practice, listen to concerns, including issues around training pathways and the capacity, quality, and inclusivity of training, and will explore ideas and thoughts about how postgraduate medical training could evolve for the future. An engagement exercise will run through to June this year, with findings to be reported in the summer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

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Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in the number of staff employed in (a) corporate and (b) other functions in the NHS in 2025-26. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has made no specific estimate of the change in contracted National Health Service staff, bank and agency staff, corporate functions staff, or those in other functions in NHS trusts in England over the 2025/26 financial year, beyond the position outlined in the 2025/26 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance. This guidance set out that integrated care boards and NHS trusts must:

- reduce agency expenditure, as far as possible, as part of optimising costs and productivity. As a minimum, all systems are expected to deliver a 30% reduction based on current spending, with further reductions over this Parliament;

- reduce bank use, with all systems expected to deliver a minimum 10% reduction. Bank rates should be optimised as far as possible; and

- conduct a robust review of establishment growth and reduce spend on support functions to April 2022 levels.

The Department and NHS England will continue to work with systems to develop plans that are affordable within the allocations set, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity and tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.

The Department does not hold information on the number of NHS trusts who may be planning to reduce the number of staff employed in non-corporate functions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_122

Alex Ballinger:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that (a) hospitals offer (i) gluten and (i) dairy free food that is not high in added sugars and (b) people with restricted diets have access to (A) healthy and (B) fresh food when in hospital. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England has published their Food and Drink Standards, which set out the expectations for National Health Service trusts regarding the food they provide to patients and staff. Emphasis is placed on providing healthy, nutritious food options. The standards include requirements that hospital food has:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_123

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to FOI 02629, if he will undertake a review into the difference in figures between GPs and General Dental Practitioners. \p Karin Smyth: General practitioners (GPs) use Primary Care Support England to report earnings via a Type 1 GPs certificate, and are dependent on their tax return. Dentists use a system called Compass to report their earnings through the NHS Business Services Authority. Dentists’ pensionable earnings are not dependent on their tax return, and they also complete an annual reconciliation report via the Compass system.

Since GPs and dentists report earnings in very different ways, a comparative review is not possible.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_124

Dame Caroline Dinenage:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of consulting with suppliers of community care equipment and services to make an assessment of (a) levels of provision gaps and (b) their potential impact on community care patients. \p Karin Smyth: On 30 January 2025, NHS England published the guidance Standardising community health services, specifically codifying core services, which is available the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/standardising-community-health-services/

Community health services cover a diverse range of healthcare delivery, and the guidance supports improved commissioning and delivery of community healthcare services. Codifying community health services will help to better assess demand and capacity and will help commissioners make investment choices as they design neighbourhood health provision that shifts care to community based settings.

This publication is available for designing, commissioning, and delivering community health services, including neighbourhood health. Integrated care boards and their partners should consider the core components to support demand and capacity assessment and planning with providers, and should ensure the best use of funding to meet local needs and priorities.

Equipment such as wheelchair services, orthotics, and prosthetics for both adults and children and young people are core components of community health services and are refenced in the guidance.

Local National Health Service organisations have access to a wide range of procurement routes, but the Government has put in place a range of initiatives to help NHS bodies make informed choices about the products and the route through which they are bought. These include the NHS Supply Chain, a national body which is responsible for procuring and delivering the majority of consumables, equipment, and other supplies into the NHS. The NHS Supply Chain was set up to leverage the collective buying power of the NHS, to drive savings and provide a standardised range of clinically assured quality products at the best value.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_125

Marsha De Cordova:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in reviewing (a) guidance and (b) regulations for the (i) licensing and (ii) packaging of medicines to ensure their safe use by blind and partially sighted people. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) already has provision in the current Human Medicines Regulations 2012 No 1916 legislation, to ensure the licensing and packaging of medicines are safe for use by blind and partially sighted people. These require manufacturers of medicines to include braille on their packaging of medicinal products, so that those who are partially sighted or who are blind can effectively identify the product they have been prescribed and dispensed.

They also require medicine manufacturers to provide an alternative version of the patient information leaflet (PIL), should the paper version contained in the box not be suitable in meeting the patients’ needs. These alternative versions may include braille or audio versions of the PIL. The MHRA’s best practice guidance also provides manufacturers with guidance on how to ensure they meet the requirements of the legislation.

The MHRA recognises that there is opportunity to improve patient information based upon user research, to ensure it fulfils the needs of this patient group and others. They are also committed to embedding patient voices across the regulatory pathways as part of their Patient Involvement Strategy 2021. The current strategy is also being refreshed for 2026 re-launch.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_126

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to FOI 02629, if he will undertake a review into the work of (a) Capita and (b) NHS Business Service Authority. \p Karin Smyth: Capita operates the Primary Care Support England (PCSE) service under contract to NHS England. NHS England tracks PCSE’s performance on a monthly basis against contractual performance targets. NHS England works with PCSE, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), and general practice (GP) representative bodies to rectify historical gaps in GP records. The Department, NHS England, and the NHSBSA are working together to facilitate GP updates to records at the earliest opportunity.

The NHSBSA underwent an independent review in 2023 as part of the Cabinet Office-led Public Body Review programme and was assessed as ‘a high performing arm's length body’. The review is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-business-services-authority-review-report/independent-review-of-the-nhs-business-services-authority-final-report-and-recommendations#:~:text=NHSBSA%20meets%20the%20Cabinet%20Office,brought%20into%20the%20department

As a Special Health Authority and arm’s-length body of the Department, the NHSBSA’s performance is also reviewed regularly by departmental policy teams who sponsor individual services, and a quarterly accountability meeting is held to assess the NHSBSA’s performance across all its services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_127

Tristan Osborne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) the (i) Medway Community Healthcare and (ii) other NHS providers, (b) healthcare social enterprises and (c) community interest companies with cyber-resilience. \p Karin Smyth: Last year, we provided technical support to Medway Community Healthcare to help the organisation respond to and recover from a cyber incident. In the past year we have invested £37.6 million across health and social care, building on the £338 million invested since 2017. Through our ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme, we are tackling the changing cyber risk head-on, expanding protection and services to better protect the health and care system.

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) online self-assessment tool allows organisations to measure their performance against national expectations. Guidance and regular webinars are available via the DSPT website. Further guidance and cyber alerts are published on the NHS England cyber and data security website and via the National Cyber Security Centre. Organisations can report urgent cyber security issues to the National Health Service data security helpline, which is available 24/7. We are currently reviewing our national policy on cyber security for social enterprises and community interest companies.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_128

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department’s policies of the findings of FOI 02629 on the (a) number and (b) percentage of GPs with up to date pension records. \p Karin Smyth: The Department, NHS England, and NHS Pensions (NHSP) are working together to improve the processing of general practitioners’ (GPs) pensions and to identify solutions to resolve gaps in records. A total of 21,601 missing years have been resolved in the past year, as a result of the targeted work with GPs. NHS England has also recently written directly to affected NHS Pension Scheme members to make them aware of this, and to inform GPs of what they need to do.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-08 conversation_129

James Wild:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals in England provide office space to Unison representatives; and what rental charges are paid in each case. \p Karin Smyth: The Department does not hold the information requested. Trade union representatives are entitled to time off to enable them to carry out their trade union duties or to take part in union training.

It is important that, where possible, employers make available to union representatives the facilities necessary for them to fulfil their duties, and to communicate effectively with their members. Section 25 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service (Agenda for Change) sets out that where resources permit, the facilities for recognised trade unions should include the use of dedicated office space.