theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

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David Chadwick:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what funding is available from his Department to support (a) Welsh companies making redundancies, (b) Welsh employees at risk of redundancy and (c) Welsh companies in retaining employees. \p Justin Madders: The Government aims to respond to any job losses from company distress cases swiftly and coherently, to reduce the local impact and support people back to work.

Through the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS), part of the Insolvency Service, employers can access funding for redundancies, if required. For employers who are considering making 20 or more employees redundant at any one site, the RPS also notify the appropriate government departments and agencies, in confidence. This includes Jobcentre Plus and other service providers in their local area who will reach out with offers of assistance during the notification/consultation period.

The Department for Work and Pensions locally deploy the Rapid Response Service to provide support to people affected by redundancy, regardless of whether they are receiving benefits. The aim is to help people into new employment as quickly as possible. The service supports people during their notice period and up to 13 weeks after they leave work.

Additionally, the Welsh Government directly delivers services supporting redundant workers. ReAct Plus is a grant programme, offering tailored support to those trying to re-enter the labour market by removing barriers and providing grant support for vocational training, travel costs and care (including childcare) related to training.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to offer apprenticeships. \p Janet Daby: Apprenticeships can support small and medium sized employers (SMEs) to improve their skills base, boost productivity and develop a pipeline of future talent.

To support non-levy paying employers, usually SMEs, to offer apprenticeships, the government pays the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21 years-old, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 years-old who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. For all other apprentices, employers who do not pay the levy are required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs.

Employers of all sizes can also benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18 years-old, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 years-old who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care. This is in recognition of the additional support that younger apprentices may require when entering employment. Employers can choose how they spend these payments.

Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week (£50,270 a year).

Employers that need help with employing an apprentice, including accessing funding, can access the employer support GOV.UK page, which is available here: https://help.employersupport.apprenticeships.gov.uk/hc/en-gb.

The apprenticeship ambassador network is a group of employers and former and current apprentices. Around 35%of the employers are SMEs. Their remit is to inspire greater numbers of employers and individuals to connect with apprenticeships.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools' expenditure was on staff in each of the last three years. \p Catherine McKinnell: Overall core revenue funding for schools totals almost £61.6 billion for the 2024/25 financial year. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26. Each school has autonomy to allocate their budgets, including for their staff, to best meet the needs of their pupils to ensure they have the best opportunities in life.

The latest three years of published data for schools’ spending relates to the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. Our estimates in the table below for the proportions of expenditure for teachers and support staff have been compiled by combining published expenditure data sets from academies, which budget by academic year, and local authority maintained schools, which budget by financial year. We have not included cash expenditure data as combining financial and academic year data on school expenditure for different types of schools is less robust for estimating expenditure amounts than it is for estimating proportions. The pattern of expenditure in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 was affected by COVID-19.

Financial year

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Proportions of expenditure in 2020/21

Teachers: 50.6% Support staff: 33.0%

Teachers: 59.1% Support staff: 23.8%

Proportions of expenditure in 2021/22

Teachers: 49.0% Support staff: 32.8%

Teachers: 57.4% Support staff: 23.8%

Proportions of expenditure in 2022/23

Teachers: 48.1% Support staff: 33.1%

Teachers: 55.7% Support staff: 24.0%

Further data on schools’ expenditure in the years following the 2022/23 financial year will be published in due course.
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Matt Bishop:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the University of Manchester's blog entitled Addressing the UK’s heritage skills crisis: why we must act now, published on 23 January 2025, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including (a) heritage skills and (b) the Sloyd method in the national curriculum. \p Catherine McKinnell: The national curriculum focuses on the key knowledge that must be taught to children aged 5 to 16 years-old in maintained schools. The national curriculum provides a broad framework which ensures schools have flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The Review seeks to deliver a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive.

The Review Group has now published a well-evidenced, clear interim report, which sets out its interim findings and confirms the key areas for further work. This highlights the successes of the current system, making clear that the most trusted and valued aspects of our system will remain, whilst setting a positive vision for the future. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.

The government will consider any changes it wishes to make to curriculum, assessment and qualifications whilst the Review is conducted, and will respond to the final recommendations in autumn 2025.
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Alberto Costa:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with Ofqual on the timing of the first teaching of the British Sign Language GCSE. \p Catherine McKinnell: The development of a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE is an important step toward fostering greater recognition of BSL as a language, and the government is committed to developing a qualification that benefits both students and the wider deaf community.

The department published subject content in December 2023, and Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, is in the process of finalising the assessment arrangements. We have worked closely with Ofqual throughout this process, as we do during the development of any new GCSE. Our focus is on ensuring that the BSL GCSE is of the highest quality. It is important that the assessment is fair, rigorous, and reflective of BSL as a language, so that the qualification meets the required standards and serves the needs of both students and the deaf community.
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John Whitby:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of informal and disguised employment in the beauty sector on the number of apprenticeship places available in hairdressing and beauty. \p Janet Daby: Apprenticeships are jobs with training, and it is for employers in the hair and beauty sector to decide how they use apprenticeships to meet their skills needs.

The sector has developed several apprenticeship standards, including the level 2 hairdressing professional standard. To support smaller employers to access apprenticeships, the government pays the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care.

Employers can benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care. Employers can choose how they spend these payments. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, where they earn less than £50,270 a year.
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the potential cost to the public purse was of funding from her Department to Suffolk County Council to help pay for Tribunal fees for each year between 2019-2023. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department does not fund local authorities to cover the costs associated with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) first-tier tribunal hearings. Local authorities fund their legal costs from their operational budgets.
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Mr Will Forster:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ukrainian students will be eligible for home fee status from the 2025-26 academic year. \p Janet Daby: In the 2022/23 academic year, the Student Support Regulations were amended so that persons granted leave under one of the Ukraine schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine family scheme and Ukraine extension scheme) would qualify for student support and home fee status in England without requiring them to meet the three-year ordinary residence requirement.

Following the recent launch of the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPES), the regulations have been further updated from the 2024/25 academic year, so that those who have been granted leave under UPES will also qualify for student finance and home fee status in line with those granted leave under one of the other Ukraine schemes.

This ensures that Ukrainians who have been affected by the war in Ukraine can access support on the same basis as those within other protection-based categories, such as refugees.
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Imran Hussain:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to extend universal free school meals to all children in (a) Bradford East constituency and (b) other areas of high child poverty. \p Stephen Morgan: The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child. The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty, which has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low income family. That is why the government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a ministerial taskforce has been set up to begin work on the Child Poverty Strategy.

Under current programmes, disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as 16 to 18 year-old students in further education, are entitled to receive free meals on the basis of low income. 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils are registered to receive free school meals (FSM) and a further 90,000 are registered to receive further education free meals. In addition, all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England's state-funded schools are entitled to universal infant free school meals, which benefits around 1.3 million pupils.

Additionally, the government is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, to set children up for the day and ensure they are ready to learn, while supporting parents and carers to work.

As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under review.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund permanent. \p Janet Daby: An announcement on funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be made as soon as possible. All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to tackle low levels of dental attendance in Thurrock. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. 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 NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, this is Mid and South Essex ICB.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for mental health treatment. \p Stephen Kinnock: Too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need and we know that waits for mental health services are lengthy. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an extra 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services to cut waiting times and ensure people can access treatment and support earlier.

We will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. We are also rolling out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

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Yuan Yang:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of shortages of ADHD medication. \p Karin Smyth: As a result of intensive work, some issues with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines have resolved. All strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, atomoxetine oral solution and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.

However, whilst supply of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets has improved, issues persist. We are continuing to work to resolve these remaining issues by engaging with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to assess the challenges faced and their actions to address them. We are also directing suppliers to secure additional stocks, expedite deliveries where possible, and review plans to build further capacity to support continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. The Department is also working with new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to improve supply and resiliency for the United Kingdom market.

We are supporting an ADHD taskforce established by NHS England to examine ADHD service provision. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education and justice, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we plan to combine modelling for future growth forecasts, which will be shared with industry to improve demand forecasting for ADHD medicines.

The Department has worked with NHS specialists to develop advice on prescribing alternative ADHD medications. We expect that ADHD service providers should follow this guidance and offer rapid responses for urgent advice, especially for high-risk patients. To aid decision-making at the point of prescribing and dispensing of ADHD medicines, we continue to update a list of available ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website.
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Sir Alec Shelbrooke:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to Dienogest for people with endometriosis. \p Karin Smyth: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service in England on best practice. In its guideline on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis, last updated in November 2024, NICE recommends that hormonal treatment such as Dienogest should be offered to women with suspected, confirmed or recurrent endometriosis.

It is the clinician’s responsibility to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual, in consultation with them and their families and carers or guardian. Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and ensure that they take account of NICE guidelines, as well as the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards.
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John Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) his Department and (b) each of its arm’s length bodies has spent on external communications through (i) Crown Commercial Service agreement RM6125 and (ii) other agreements since 5 July 2024; and which firms have received funding. \p Karin Smyth: The following table shows the Department's spend through CCS agreements RM6125 (lots 1 and 2) and RM6123 since 5 July 2024:

Agreement

Contractor

Spend

RM6125 (Lot 1: end to end campaign solutions)

Mullen Lowe

£3,929,499.92

RM6123 (Media services)

Manning Gottlieb OMD

£15,232,110.00

RM6125 (Lot 2: Media strategy and planning)

Wavemaker

£212,763.00

Source: Department of Health and Social Care

Information on spend by arm’s length bodies is not held centrally. The spend outlined above includes advertising, creative development and production, and media planning. Investment is set as part of the campaign planning process based on the audiences and objectives. This spend includes campaigns such as adult social care recruitment, childhood immunisations, smoking and mental health.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential correlation between areas with higher levels of deprivation and trends in the level of cancer diagnosis. \p Ashley Dalton: Making improvements across different cancer types is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. We recognize that there are challenges for several different populations, particularly for people living in the most deprived areas of the country.

We are directly targeting activity at areas that we know will make a difference. This includes awareness campaigns such as the NHS Help Us, Help You campaign, to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and encourage people to get checked.

We know that some cancers disproportionately impact those living in deprived areas, notably lung cancer. The Lung Cancer Screening Programme is a national screening programme, targeted at those aged between 55 and 74 years old with a history of smoking. It is designed to identify cancers at an earlier stage and has led to over 3,000 more lung cancers being diagnosed at such a stage. Furthermore, NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach informs action to reduce healthcare inequalities, including for early cancer diagnosis.

The NHS England Cancer Programme commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. Rather than a single audit, NHS England commissions ten audits, by tumour type.

We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

Finally, the recently announced Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis.
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Sorcha Eastwood:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's recommendation of relugolix-estradiol-norethisterone for routine NHS use to treat endometriosis will extend to Northern Ireland. \p Karin Smyth: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England. NICE published final draft guidance on 13 March 2025 that recommends relugolix-estadiol-norethisterone as an option for treating symptoms of endometriosis in adults of reproductive age who have had medical or surgical treatment for endometriosis. NICE currently expects to publish final guidance in April 2025. Health is a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines in Northern Ireland are a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/national-institute-health-and-care-excellence-nice
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Johanna Baxter:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to take steps to streamline approvals processes for the (a) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and (ii) National Institute for Health and Care Research. \p Karin Smyth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continues to optimise its performance in delivering efficient and predictable services which meet stakeholders’ expectations, for the benefit of patients and public health and the Life Sciences. The Agency has been working in close collaboration with health system partners and industry to ensure that robust, appropriate and prompt decisions are made. In March 2024, the MHRA published new guidance in how medicines will be assessed to improve the robustness and rapid decisions, which it can be seen, has a significantly positive effect.

The Agency has an ongoing system for review of licencing pathways and has recently launch the consultation for Personalised Immunotherapies for Cancer which can be used to drive discussion forward as to how to enable fast patient benefit of new and novel technologies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) continues to work collaboratively across Government and with key stakeholders to ensure it has optimal systems and processes to support the delivery of impactful and timely research for patient and public benefit. For example, the NIHR has recently launched a new single awards management system for the NIHR underpinned by optimised processes which will streamline operations, enable data sharing and reduce duplicate information requests.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to consult with patient organisations on gastroenterology reform in the Elective Care Reform Programme; and how he plans to include patients in decision-making. \p Karin Smyth: We have prioritised cutting waiting lists and getting back to the standard that at least 92% of people should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. We have delivered an extra 2.5 million operations, scans, and appointments between July and December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023; this means that last month we hit our committment seven months early.

We recently published the Elective Reform Plan which sets out the reform and productivity efforts needed to return to the 18-week standard. One of the major commitments in the plan is to enhance clinically led pathways to shift care from hospital to community, including gastroenterology pathways.

Specifically, the plan commits to pathway reform starting in five areas, with gastroenterology being one. The commitment is to develop an integrated pathway across primary, community and secondary care for common gastroenterology conditions. We will also drive the rapid adoption of remote monitoring in appropriate gastroenterology pathways, which reduces consultant-led outpatient appointments by over 50%. Work is underway, including with the Royal Colleges, and further information will be forthcoming as plans are developed.

The plan also reinforces the Government’s commitment to work with patients, carers and their representatives to publish the standards patients should expect to experience while they wait for care, including for those waiting for gastroenterology services. We will continue to work with patients and carers to build on this work and establish a gold standard for experience.
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Zöe Franklin:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) help tackle shortages of epilepsy medication and (b) ensure patients have consistent access to their prescribed treatment. \p Karin Smyth: The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, most issues, including with carbamazepine, lamotrigine and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.

We are currently aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets from one manufacturer. This supply issue is expected to resolve by the end of May 2025. We are also aware of a shortage of phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets from one manufacturer with the resupply date to be confirmed. In both cases, alternative suppliers are in stock with sufficient supply to support patients. These issues have been communicated to the National Health Service.
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Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times in (a) the South West of England and (b) Gloucestershire. \p Karin Smyth: Ambulance services in Gloucestershire and the South West are provided by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, with responsibility for commissioning the services a matter for the local NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Specific local actions needed to reduce ambulance waiting times should be undertaken and agreed locally by National Health Service organisations in the best interests of the local population and patients.

At a national level, the Government and NHS England are committed to improving ambulance response times. The NHS 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance sets national priorities, which include improving accident and emergency waiting times and ambulance response times compared to 2024/25.
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Abtisam Mohamed:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Royal College of Physicians on the administrative error in the 2023 Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK part two examinations. \p Karin Smyth: We recognise that this will be a concerning time for those doctors affected. We have asked the UK Statutory Education Bodies, which is NHS England in the case of England, to work with the Royal College of Physicians and the General Medical Council to ensure this issue is rectified as a matter of urgency.
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Ann Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the supply of Creon. \p Karin Smyth: The Department is in regular discussion with the supplier of Creon on the latest stock availability and the actions that are being taken to mitigate the supply issue that is affecting the whole of the United Kingdom. Through these discussions we have managed to secure additional volumes of Creon for 2025 for the UK. We continue to work with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) to understand what more can be done to add further resilience to the market. The Department has also worked with specialist importers who have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the remaining gap in the market.

In the longer term, the Department has had interest from non-UK suppliers of PERT wishing to bring their products to the UK and, along with colleagues in the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, we are working with these potential suppliers; if authorised these products could further diversify and strengthen the market.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS appointments were lost due to strike action between July to November (a) 2023 and (b) 2024. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes data on the number of rescheduled appointments due to industrial action, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/

We are pleased that a deal was agreed in summer 2024 between the Government and the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee bringing an end to its prolonged strike action. The Government can now work with resident doctors to get on with its mission of fixing the health service for patients, including tackling waiting lists.

As set out in the Plan for Change, we have committed to return to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029. We have already supported this with additional investment in the Autumn Budget 2024, which has enabled us to deliver an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule.
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Catherine Atkinson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of NHS England's revision of the Accessible Information Standard on compliance among NHS organisations. \p Stephen Kinnock: National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

NHS England has been undertaking a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. One of the aims of the review was to strengthen assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of NHS and social care services to measure their performance against the AIS and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation. The AIS self-assessment framework is designed to enable enhancements around assurance and allows organisations, commissioners, and the Care Quality Commission to judge performance and compliance.

A revised AIS will be published in due course, and in the meantime, NHS England continues to work to support implementation 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 NHS are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_61

Sarah Bool:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) prevent Integrated Care Boards from deprioritising ADHD assessments due to funding limits and (b) ensure that patients’ rights are upheld if funding limits are reached. \p Stephen Kinnock: Local integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning service provision in their local area, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.

Patients will continue to have the right to choose their provider as set out in legislation. The proposed NHS Payment Scheme does not and cannot change this.

The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. Further information on the choices available for patients can be found on the NHS Choice framework available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework

The consultation on the proposed NHS Payment Scheme closed on 28 February 2025. The outcome of the consultation will be published shortly once all responses received have been fully considered and any decisions made about the final Payment Scheme.

NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in summer 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_62

Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues on improving support for unpaid carers. \p Stephen Kinnock: Supporting unpaid carers is a cross-Government issue which requires cross-Government support. I recently met with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets in the Department for Business and Trade and the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability in the Department for Work and Pensions to look at how we can work together more closely to support unpaid carers.

The Government has already taken steps to support unpaid carers. From April 2025, we are increasing the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 a week to £196. This means carers can earn up to £10,000 a year whilst still retaining Carer's Allowance; this is approximately an additional £2,000 a year.

The Government recognises the challenges facing the adult social care system. That is why the Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.

The commission will start a national conversation about what working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support.

The Government is also committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_63

Andrew Cooper:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national water fluoridation strategy. \p Stephen Kinnock: Water fluoridation is an effective population measure that reduces tooth decay. It should be used to complement other effective methods of increasing fluoride use, as set out in the statement by the UK Chief Medical Officers, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-fluoridation-statement-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers/statement-on-water-fluoridation-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers.

On 7 March 2025, we confirmed plans, following public consultation, to expand provision of water fluoridation in the north east of England. The outcome report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/community-water-fluoridation-expansion-in-the-north-east-of-england

There are no current plans for a national water fluoridation strategy. Any decisions on the future expansion of water fluoridation will be based on oral health needs, funding, and will be subject to public consultation.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_64

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited through the dental recruitment incentive scheme in Lincolnshire. \p Stephen Kinnock: The application process for the dental recruitment incentive scheme is in progress and remains open until the end of March 2025. The Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board continues to work with dental practices whose applications for funding have been successful and has provided funding locally for seven posts in addition to the four places available through the incentive scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists across England 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 (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_65

Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of hours pharmacies were open in (a) 2015 and (b) 2024. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Department does not hold opening hours data for pharmacies in 2015. Data for opening hours from 2022 is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_66

Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of assessment times for (a) ADHD, (b) autism and (c) Tourette's syndrome in Devon. \p Stephen Kinnock: It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and Tourette’s syndrome, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance where available.

Devon ICB advises it is working with local partners as part of One Devon to implement an integrated neurodiversity assessment pathway to reduce the complexity for families and schools seeking assessment. One Devon is also conducting work focused on autism waiting times recovery.

Nationally, NHS England has published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which will make recommendations about how to address the challenges faced by those affected by ADHD.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_67

Stuart Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mental health support for residents in rural areas. \p Stephen Kinnock: People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health and that people can be confident of accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.

Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also introduce access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out “Young Futures hubs” in every community.

In addition, people of all ages who are in crisis or who are concerned about a family or loved one can now call 111, select the mental health option, and speak to a trained mental health professional. National Health Service staff can guide callers with next steps such as organising face-to-face community support or facilitating access to alternative services, like crisis cafés or safe havens, which provide a place for people to stay as an alternative to accident and emergency or a hospital admission. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICB) to commission care to meet the needs of their local population.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-19 conversation_68

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the targets for the additional 700,000 urgent dental appointments are met in areas with high vacancies in NHS dental services. \p Stephen Kinnock: We will deliver 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments per year, with integrated care boards (ICBs) asked to start making extra appointments available from April 2025.

Appointments will be available across the country. Patients will be able to access these additional appointments either through NHS 111, or via helplines set up by their ICB where these arrangements are in place.

The methodology used to determine how to allocate the 700,000 appointments across ICBs has considered factors including unmet need, population size and projected contract delivery at an ICB level in 2024/25. Details can be found in the letter sent to ICBs on 21 February 2025 and Annex A, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/arrangements-for-nhs-urgent-primary-dental-care-during-2025-26-and-confirmation-of-the-closure-of-the-new-patient-premium-scheme/#annex-a-distribution-of-700k-additional-appointments

ICBs will be responsible for ensuring these appointments are commissioned in line with local population need, to support improved access to urgent dental care for those most in need. We will monitor delivery monthly to identify where ICBs need further support to deliver against their allocated share of the 700,000 additional appointments.

Areas which are struggling to recruit and retain National Health Service dentists can make use of the Golden Hello scheme which is aimed to encourage dentists to work in areas where they are needed most.