theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Alex Mayer:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited via the dental recruitment incentive scheme in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) the East of England. \p Stephen Kinnock: Within the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), five dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. In the East of England in total, 11 dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. ICBs continue to work with practices in their area to support recruitment to these posts.

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.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what account reform of the national contract for dentists is taking of circumstances unique to the Isle of Wight. \p Stephen Kinnock: To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.

There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.

We are continuing to work with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to deliver our shared ambition to improve access to treatments for NHS dental patients.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Isle of Wight East constituency, this is the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB. NHS England published guidance on flexible commissioning in October 2023, which advises ICBs on how they can tailor services to the needs of their population.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Mike Amesbury:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of social prescribing to treat medical conditions. \p Stephen Kinnock: No recent assessments have been made of the potential merits of social prescribing to treat medical conditions.

The Department commissions the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) to champion social prescribing and build the evidence base that will enable us to assess the benefits of the social prescribing programme.

The evidence base around nationally linked social prescribing is still evolving, and robust quantitative evidence is limited. However, a growing body of work is suggestive of positive effects in enhancing physical and mental health and wellbeing, building on existing positive local evidence.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve provision of post-natal mental health care in Lincolnshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: Significant progress across England has been made in recent years to ensure that women experiencing moderate to severe perinatal mental health problems can access specialist perinatal mental health services for up to two years after giving birth. This includes Mother and Baby Units, such as the one in Lincolnshire, maternal mental health services, and specialist perinatal mental health community teams.

Lincolnshire is one of 75 local authorities that is receiving funding to provide bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.

However, more is needed. Access to these services varies across the country and too many people with mental health issues, including mothers in the 24 months postpartum, are not getting the support or care they need. NHS England is working to ensure that services are accessible to all women who need them.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when will the allocation of GP funding for 2025-26 be published. \p Stephen Kinnock: In December 2024 we announced a proposed funding uplift for general practices (GPs) in 2025/26 of £889 million, representing a 7.2% cash growth, estimated to be an approximately 4.8% real terms growth. This is the largest uplift to GP funding since 2019 and means that we are reversing the recent trend, with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs.

We started consulting with the General Practitioners Committee in England, of the British Medical Association, on the 2025/26 GP Contract on 19 December 2024, and will consider all proposed policy changes alongside the funding uplift. The final changes will be announced in the usual way following the close of the consultation in 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) the funding provided through and (b) other aspects of general practitioner core contracts. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have announced a proposed £889 million uplift for general practices (GPs) in 2025/26, and set out the proposed areas of contract reform which will help us to deliver on our commitments. This is the largest uplift to GP funding in years, reversing the recent trend, with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs.

GPs receive funding through a range of income streams in return for providing services specified in the GP Contract. Global sum, which is the funding allocated for providing core services, makes up 50 to 60% of practice income. The global sum allocation formula, also known as the Carr-Hill formula, is designed to ensure that resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload and unavoidable practice costs.  The rest of the income is made of the Quality and Outcomes Framework, premises payments, directed enhanced services, and additional services, for instance vaccine and immunisation services.

Practices are able to provide additional services by opting in, and will receive payment for these services separately to global sum payments. As commissioners of primary care, integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning additional services locally, which are not agreed nationally and can vary in scope and funding to fit local needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Mr Paul Foster:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices. \p Stephen Kinnock: Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs). Consequently, neither the Department nor NHS England hold data centrally on which hospices have all medication supplied for free or at a discounted rate by the National Health Service or which hospices do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

There are no plans currently to make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices, because medication supply to charitable hospices is dependent on local arrangements with ICBs. Hospices are advised to reach individual agreements with their ICBs, which have a broader picture of local arrangements on medication prescribing and provision within their areas.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Peter Prinsley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help inform people of the potential risks of of undertaking (a) cosmetic or (b) elective surgery overseas. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government has engaged, and continues to engage, with partners to develop, update and promote key messages on public facing guidance. We worked closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to develop guidance for its online travel advice page. We have engaged with NHS England to update guidance on the National Health Service website, and we have liaised with the General Medical Council, the Royal College of Surgeons, and the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons about providing information online to support consumers to make safe choices about any cosmetic procedure they may choose to undergo abroad.

Government advice to anyone considering medical treatment abroad is to carefully research the treatment in question, the qualifications of the chosen clinician overseas, the regulations that apply in the country in question, and ensure appropriate aftercare both abroad and once back in the United Kingdom.

We also encourage people to review the Government’s travel advice, the relevant guidance from the NHS, and other relevant professional bodies. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice has been updated to highlight the issue and steer British nationals towards appropriate advice. This also includes advice to consider appropriate insurance cover, as a specialist policy will be required if medical treatment is planned abroad.
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Jo Platt:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the future of Long Covid clinics. \p Andrew Gwynne: Commissioning of post-COVID-19 services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards.

At a national level, NHS England is currently undertaking a stocktake, commissioned in September 2024 and due to complete at the end of this month, that will provide a more accurate, in-depth overview of the position of post-COVID-19 services throughout England.

The stocktake will inform NHS England’s strategic recommendations, with clear responsibilities and accountability across the organisation, supporting matrix working to ensure these challenges are met with improvements.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help young people with cerebral palsy. \p Andrew Gwynne: We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition such as cerebral palsy, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care, with their families and carers also supported. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions like cerebral palsy.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on care and support for children and young people with cerebral palsy, to support healthcare professionals and commissioners. The guidance recommends service providers develop clear pathways that allow patients with cerebral palsy access to multi-disciplinary teams, specialist neurology services, and regular reviews of their clinical and functional needs.  This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng62

NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions in England, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country.  The GIRFT National Speciality Report provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts, to improve patient services nationally.

In addition, the Neurology Transformation Programme has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time, for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home.  A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model.

The majority of services for people with cerebral palsy are commissioned locally by ICBs, which are best placed to make decisions according to local need. Nevertheless, at a national level, the Government is working closely with NHS England to continue to improve services for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) verbal warnings, (b) written warnings, (c) enforcement notices and (d) referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecution there have been for slaughterhouses in England not having CCTV in the last five years. \p Andrew Gwynne: Regulations for mandatory closed-circuit television (CCTV) in slaughterhouses in England came into force on 5 May 2018, with a six-month transitionary period to 5 November 2018, from when enforcement action could be taken. 100% compliance of the regulations was achieved by March 2019. There were therefore no enforcements for not having a CCTV system in place in slaughterhouses in England in the last five years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help increase public awareness on the prevention of liver cancer. \p Andrew Gwynne: NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns in England to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including liver cancer. This information can be found at sources like the NHS.UK website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce emergency admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. \p Andrew Gwynne: Respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are a clinical priority within the NHS Long Term plan and the National Health Service is investing in the provision of more and better rehabilitation services for respiratory patients. This has the objective of improving outcomes for people with COPD through early diagnosis and increased access to treatments. NHS England has established 13 Respiratory Clinical Networks across the country. These have been vital in providing clinical leadership for respiratory services and supporting services in primary care, including restoring spirometry, which is one of the tests used to diagnose COPD.

The NHS RightCare COPD pathway has been rolled out nationally and defines the optimal service for people with COPD. Furthermore, the National Respiratory Audit Programme aims to improve the quality of care, services, and clinical outcomes for patients with asthma and COPD, by collecting and providing data on a range of indicators and pulmonary rehabilitation activity.

A national programme of work is underway to support systems with improving access to pulmonary rehabilitation for the eligible population, increase the capacity of provision to reduce waiting lists, and improve the quality and consistency of rehabilitation programmes through accreditation. Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective for people with COPD, improving exercise capacity or increasing quality of life in 90% patients who complete a programme. National Respiratory Audit Programme data shows that the number of people completing pulmonary rehabilitation in 2023/24 exceeded pre-pandemic levels, an important milestone in the post pandemic service recovery objective.

NHS England is leading on the development of an approach for COPD management to support the proactive identification and management of rising risk patients in winter, to reduce demand on primary and secondary care. The approach fully aligns with a Neighbourhood Health Service model and includes the identification of rising risk patients, optimisation of care, support, and management, through remote monitoring, and a greater focus on self-management and education, as well as access to strengthened support in the community.

The plan is to test and evaluate this approach in four sites this winter, recognising that many other services in the country already implement some of the elements of the approach described, to help inform decisions on winter planning in the future. In Hull and East Yorkshire, one of the selected sites, where this service has been studied in patients following severe COPD exacerbations, patients using this service had significantly fewer emergency department attendances and hospital admissions at three-months, compared with a historical control cohort.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the reasons why NHS Trusts are not currently meeting the 62 day cancer waiting time standard. \p Andrew Gwynne: No assessment has been made of the reasons why some National Health Service trusts are not currently meeting the 31-day and 62-day cancer waiting time standards, however we know that patients are waiting too long for cancer treatment. We will get the NHS diagnosing cancer earlier, treating it faster, and we will improve patients’ experience across the system.

As we set out in our new plan for reforming elective care, we are committed to improving performance on cancer waiting times. Further details will be set out in a dedicated national cancer plan and the NHS’s annual operational planning guidance.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of requiring defibrillators to be placed in all new (a) social housing developments, (b) supermarkets and (c) other public buildings. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government is committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available from August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas of England where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.

Department ministers regularly have discussions with colleagues across Government on issues of cross-departmental interest.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Full government response to the Lord O'Shaughnessy review into commercial clinical trials, published on 8 December 2023, if he will publish an assessment of progress on implementing the review’s recommendations. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full, in order to maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient, and accessible clinical research system.

The Department will publish progress against the commitments, aiming to align with the upcoming publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.
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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to deliver a fully funded cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities which (a) takes into account the wider determinants of health and (b) includes measurable goals. \p Andrew Gwynne: Our Health Mission in England focuses on addressing the social determinants of health, with the goal of halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions.

We will work across Government and with a wide range of healthcare stakeholders to address the root causes of health inequalities. We will prioritise prevention, shift more care into the community, and intervene earlier in life to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history.

As part of the Government’s five long-term missions, and informed by the Darzi Review, the Government has launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future.

Existing initiatives to reduce inequalities in relation to health services, in England, include NHS England’s Core20PLUS5, which focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement in the poorest 20% of the population, along with other underserved population groups identified at a local level, including groups that share protected characteristics, and socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness.

Future spending will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Mr Paul Kohler:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the location of a breast cancer screening site in Merton; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using a breast cancer screening van until a suitable site has been located. \p Andrew Gwynne: NHS England has made a commitment to improving access to breast cancer screening in Merton. The South West London Breast Screening Services (SWLBSS) have been working with the London Borough of Merton to find a suitable location for an additional centre in their footprint.

Discussions are ongoing, chaired by the London Borough of Merton and attended by the SWLBSS team. A suitable site has yet to be found. Other issues, such as funding and staffing, are being discussed.

Interim measures have been considered, such as deploying a mobile screening van, along with their feasibilities. A number of screening facilities are currently available in neighbouring areas, including at St George’s and Queen Mary’s Hospitals.
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Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to set an early diagnosis target for blood cancers. \p Andrew Gwynne: We are determined to take all the necessary steps to improve early diagnosis for all cancers, including blood cancer. To accomplish this, the National Health Service 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.

The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with blood cancer and other cancers with lower survival rates. We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be, and we will provide updates in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment pathways for patients with (i) hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, (ii) Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and (iii) Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and mast cell activation syndrome. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, which include helping patients get a final diagnosis faster and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025. With over 7,000 identified rare diseases, the framework and action plans focus on shared challenges across all rare diseases.

NHS England has a website page on hEDS and this notes the passing of information on to the National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Diseases Registration Service (NCARDRS) to help scientists look for better ways to prevent and treat this condition. NHS England’s website page is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ehlers-danlos-syndromes/

Be Part of Research is a tool that can support people living with rare diseases in engaging with research. Currently on Be Part of Research there is a study recruiting those with hEDS to take part in research to help advance the understanding of diagnostic imaging in this condition. Further information is available at the following link:

https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=24730&location=&distance=

To improve awareness of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practitioners, the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its syncope toolkit. Further information is available at the following link:

https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=500

In addition, the NICE has produced a clinical knowledge summary on blackouts and syncope, last updated in November 2023, which outlines how clinicians should assess and diagnose PoTS. The NICE’s clinical knowledge summary is available at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on the potential side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government takes the safety of all vaccinations and medicinal products used in the United Kingdom extremely seriously. No medicine or vaccine is completely risk-free, but the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency continually monitors the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines through its comprehensive COVID-19 vaccine surveillance strategy, to ensure that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines continue to outweigh the risks. Following widespread use of these vaccines across the UK, the vast majority of suspected adverse reaction reports relate to injection-site reactions and generalised symptoms such as a headache or fatigue.

The Government knows, however, that there are some extremely rare circumstances where individuals have sadly experienced significant harm following COVID-19 vaccination. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and I have recently met with the families of some of those who have suffered serious adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination, to listen to their concerns and to discuss the support available.
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Liam Conlon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) promote and (b) support participation in physical activity for people with long-term health conditions. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government and the National Health Service recognise the importance of physical activity for the prevention and management of long-term health conditions. The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for adults, families, and children to move more, and signposts people, including those living with long term conditions who are ready to build movement back into their routines, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app.

Local authorities and the NHS also promote and provide services for people living with long term conditions, such as exercise on referral and social prescribing, including access to physical activity interventions, fall prevention, and walking groups.

The Department, with Sport England, has delivered support and training to equip healthcare professionals to enable patients to move more, to improve their physical and mental health. Sport England continues to support work in this area through the Physical Activity Clinical Champions programme, which is currently being piloted in local areas.

NHS England is working closely with partners nationally and locally to explore how the NHS might galvanise support to make physical activity a core part of NHS care, in order to benefit patients, NHS staff, and the wider public. By empowering clinicians and healthcare professionals with the skills and confidence to discuss and promote physical activity, and by integrating it into key clinical pathways and aligning it with Core20PLUS5 for adults, children, and young people, the NHS could help to transform patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to meet with the leadership of the Lobular Moon Shot Project to discuss funding. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Department invests £1.5 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24 reflecting its high priority.

There are no current plans to meet with the leadership of the Lobular Moon Shot Project to discuss funding. Officials meet regularly with partners to discuss research investments and priorities.

We are proud to have invested £29 million into the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NIHR Biological Research Centre in 2022, supporting their efforts to strengthen research into cancer, including lobular breast cancer. Wider investments into breast cancer research include a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, including lobular breast cancer.

NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including into lobular breast cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to fund provisions for addiction support services in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas. \p Andrew Gwynne: In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department provides funding to support drug and alcohol services. In 2024/25 a total of £3,620,918 was allocated to Lincolnshire. This included £2,090,974 for the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery grant, £576,326 for the Housing Support Grant, £624,808 for the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant, £121,398 for the Inpatient Detoxification Grant, and £207,412 for the Individual Placement and Support Grant, for employment support. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced shortly.

Drug and alcohol use is challenging in any community, including in rural areas, where ensuring easy access to treatment and support can be more of a challenge. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services, by assessing the local need for treatment and commissioning a range of services and interventions to meet that need.

The Government is providing £70 million of additional funding for local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England in 2024/25, building on existing funding made available via the Public Health Grant. The Government will also provide a further £70 million of funding for Stop Smoking Services in 2025/26. Allocations of additional funding for Stop Smoking Services are based on the number and proportion of smokers in each local authority. Lincolnshire will be allocated £1,140,181 for 2025/26.

In April, the Government will introduce a new statutory levy on gambling operators, providing up to £100 million each year to fund the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harms across Great Britain.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve patient care for (a) primary biliary cholangitis and (b) other non-genetic rare diseases. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, including non-genetic rare diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, to help patients get a final diagnosis faster, increase awareness of rare diseases amongst healthcare professionals, better coordinate care, and improve access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. All four nations of the United Kingdom have published action plans setting out how these priorities will be delivered. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish our fourth annual England action plan in 2025, which will report on progress. Actions include research to improve our understanding of the diagnostic journey and the development of innovative digital resources, making information on rare conditions easily available to healthcare professionals, including general practitioners. Continued development of educational resources through the NHS England Rare Disease Education Hub is helping to increase health care professionals’ awareness of rare conditions.
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Tristan Osborne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will be resuming the annual evidence reviews on tobacco-based products previously undertaken by Public Health England. \p Andrew Gwynne: Public Health England did not previously publish annual evidence reviews on tobacco-based products. However, Public Health England did publish a series of reports on nicotine vaping products over 10 years. They are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/e-cigarettes-and-vaping-policy-regulation-and-guidance

These reports aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. Heated tobacco products were also assessed in two of the reports. The final report in the commission was published in 2022, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update

The Department continues to monitor emerging data, and we are working closely with stakeholders and experts, including internationally, to ensure we are researching the long-term health impacts of vaping. We are exploring additional research and will set out plans in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_43

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce an alcohol strategy. \p Andrew Gwynne: Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_44

Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned timetable is for the UK National Screening Committee review of its advice on screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. \p Andrew Gwynne: The UK National Screening Committee last reviewed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2018, and recommended against a national screening programme for three reasons:

The Secretariat hopes to be able to commission a further evidence update within the next three years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_45

Rachel Gilmour:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is to introduce early diagnosis services for osteoporosis. \p Andrew Gwynne: On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament. Further information on the Elective Reform Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/

Part of the plan sets out funding to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in early diagnosis and bone health conditions such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year.

As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_46

Clive Jones:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the process for developing the new national cancer plan will include consultation with cancer (a) charities and (b) patient representative bodies. \p Andrew Gwynne: The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and the value in engaging in wide-ranging and meaningful engagement and consultation on how cancer services can meet the needs of those living with cancer. We plan to engage with a wide range of cancer partners, including charities and patient representative bodies.

We are now in discussions about what form the National Cancer Plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be, and will provide updates on this in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_47

Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce waiting times for Tier 3 weight management services in Derbyshire. \p Andrew Gwynne: Local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services to support their communities to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. These range from behavioural weight management programmes to specialist services for those living with obesity and the associated co-morbidities.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning NHS specialist weight management services and should consider local population need and the relevant guidance when commissioning these services.

The NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB commissions the Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a Tier 3 specialist weight management service. Patients are offered weight management, lifestyle, and behaviour change advice on a one-to-one and group basis for up to 12 months.

The ICB is aware that there is currently limited prescribing capacity within the service, and there is work underway to re-design the weight management service pathway within Derbyshire.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_48

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of comparative data for GPs undertaking advice and guidance with hospital specialists in different (a) geographical areas and (b) medical specialisms. \p Karin Smyth: The Elective Reform plan commits to expanding the use of Advice and Guidance to ensure two-way communication between general practitioners (GPs) and hospital specialists, and ensure more patients are seen in the right clinical setting.

Officials routinely review data on the variation in performance and delivery of interventions to reduce the waiting list. It is recognised that variation in the use of Advice and Guidance by specialty or within specialties, based on the local patient population, is to be expected. The Elective Reform Plan commits to actions to spread effective practices and address unwarranted variation, including in the uptake of Advice and Guidance, and will focus on the specialties where it demonstrates the most value to clinicians and to patients.

In order to optimise the use of Advice and Guidance for both GPs and hospital specialists, the Elective Reform plan commits to providing access to new metrics and dashboards on the Model Health System, and to providing and regularly updating resources on referral optimisation, as well as the NHS England Getting It Right First Time team’s Advice and Guidance toolkits and templates.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_49

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the potential (a) savings to the NHS, (b) impact on waiting times and (c) impact on the workload of GPs of proposals to pay GPs £20 per request for undertaking advice and guidance with hospital specialists. \p Karin Smyth: Advice and Guidance services enhance two-way communication between clinicians in primary and secondary care, with a view to ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right clinical setting. The Elective Reform Plan has committed to ensuring general practitioners will receive £20 per Advice and Guidance request, to recognise the importance of the role that they play in the delivery of this important service.

The Government has not made a standalone estimate of the potential savings to the National Health Service. This is not a new policy. Advice and Guidance has been shown to be successful in reducing demand on elective care by diverting potential referrals, where specialist advice determines that the most appropriate setting for care is in primary or community care. Approximately half of Advice and Guidance requests were diverted in 2023/24. Where advice from a specialist results in a patient being treated in a primary or community care setting instead of a referral to the waiting list, patients should be seen sooner, in a suitable setting closer to home, with the right course of action, benefiting from specialist input.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-23)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-01-23 conversation_50

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 policies of the recent advice from the British Medical Association to stop engaging with advice and guidance pathways. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to delivering on its commitment in the recently published Elective Reform Plan to increase the use of Advice and Guidance by general practitioners (GPs), where appropriate, to support them to deliver high-quality patient care. The plan commits to paying GPs £20 per Advice and Guidance request in recognition of the fact that whilst it is a clinically helpful when used in the right circumstances, it can be time consuming.

The consultation on the 2025/26 GP Contract has started with the General Practitioners Committee in England, of the British Medical Association, and a range of proposals will be considered, including Advice and Guidance arrangements. Ensuring Advice and Guidance arrangements are agreed as part of GP Contract negotiations is fundamental to ensuring that patients receive the right care, in the right clinical setting.