theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Rebecca Paul:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Policy Exchange report entitled In absentia parentis, published on 24 August 2025, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local authorities have up-to-date safeguarding policies for gender-questioning children who are children in care. \p Josh MacAlister: Local authorities and social care practitioners are required to support children in a way that meets their needs and best interests. This support will look different on an individual case basis. In considering their safeguarding policies and how best to support children questioning their gender, leaders and practitioners should be led by the guidance and regulations most relevant to their setting or role. They can also be informed by the evidence and principles set out in the Cass Review.

Further resources on support for children questioning their gender can be found via the NHS here: https://www.genderreferralservice.nhs.uk/.
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Jessica Morden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current timescales for members of the Teachers Pension Scheme, who have submitted their remedial service statement and are awaiting payment of funds owed, to be paid those funds. \p Georgia Gould: ​​As the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme administrator, Capita are processing Remediable Service Statement (RSS) choices and aim to complete payments as quickly as possible. The relevant regulations provide for a member’s RSS choice to be put into payment as soon as is reasonably practicable. As part of the implementation arrangements for payments, it was not possible to start payments until June 2025 as time was needed to allow for recruitment, training, development of instructions, and IT enhancements to be made and implemented.

​Members’ original pension benefits will continue to be paid until their choice has been implemented, at which point backdated interest will be applied to their payment.

​Payment of members’ RSS choices is a high priority, and the department is continually exploring ways to improve payment and processing times with Capita, which includes providing further funding for additional staff and automating payment and processing functions.
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Stuart Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to restore the academy conversion support grant. \p Georgia Gould: The department has no plans to restore the academy conversion support grant. Voluntary conversion is a choice for schools and trusts to make.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame dated 10 October 2025 on the handling of the transitional protection remedy by teachers’ pensions. \p Georgia Gould: I can confirm that a response to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame dated 10 October 2025 was sent on 8 December 2025.
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Marsha De Cordova:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what definition of inclusive education her Department uses. \p Georgia Gould: The department believes every child in our country deserves an education that meets their needs - one that is academically stretching, where every child feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.

We want to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting all children and young people to achieve and thrive in mainstream settings, through early identification, access to the right support at the right time, high-quality adaptive teaching and effective allocation of resources.

This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families which is why the department is holding a further period of listening and engagement, gathering information and views from parents, teachers and experts in every region of the country.

We will set out our full vision for an inclusive education system in the Schools White Paper in the new year.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures are being undertaken to recruit speech and language therapists. \p Georgia Gould: The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes extending the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs in early years settings and primary schools.

In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is now in its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire do not have a school library. \p Georgia Gould: I refer the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings to the answer of 22 October 2025 to Question 81502.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the role of early years settings is in helping to identify and support the needs of SEND children. \p Olivia Bailey: The government recognises the important role the early years sector plays in early intervention to ensure the right support is put in place for children as soon as possible

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow. It stipulates that providers must have arrangements in place to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and that all providers who are funded by the local authority to deliver early education places must have regard for the SEND code of practice.

On 7 July, we published our commitment to giving every child the best start in life. This means a stronger focus on early identification, inclusive access to early years education, and tailored family support.

We have already invested in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme, as well as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, supporting children in the early years with their speech and language.

We are looking at wider SEND reforms and interventions to give children and young people the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many building assessment certificate applications have been (a) made to the building safety regulator, (b) approved, (c) refused, and (d) yet to be determined. \p Samantha Dixon: As of 1st December 2025, the average cost of a determination for a Building Assessment Certificate was £23,084. There has been a total of 1838 Building Assessment Certificate applications to the Building Safety Regulator since it was established. Of which, (b) 166 have been approved, (c) 448 have been refused, (d) and 1224 applications have yet to be determined.

The Building Safety Regulator is continuing to work to enhance the level of appropriate BAC information and guidance that is available for applicants.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the initial funding arrangements for Essex's Combined County Authority will be put before Parliament. \p Miatta Fahnbulleh: On 4 December the Government made a Written Ministerial Statement announcing the funding for all areas on the Devolution Priority Programme, including Greater Essex.
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Llinos Medi:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the value of the Local Growth Fund for Wales was reduced from £633million to £547million. \p Miatta Fahnbulleh: The UK Government is working with the Welsh Government to develop and implement a new Local Growth Fund, which is part of a wider targeted, long-term approach to regional growth across the UK. Under this approach, funding for Wales will remain at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26. Taken alongside Wales’ four City and Regional Growth Deals, Investment Zones and Freeports, this represents a significant investment to boost growth and create jobs across Wales.
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Llinos Medi:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the financial breakdown for the Local Growth Fund, including capital and revenue split, for (a) Wales (b) Scotland (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England. \p Miatta Fahnbulleh: The UK Government is working with partners across the nations to develop and implement a new Local Growth Fund, which is part of a wider targeted, long-term approach to regional growth across the UK. Under this approach, funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will remain at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we will confirm funding and delivery arrangements for the Local Growth Fund in due course. In England, the financial breakdown, including capital and revenue split, was published on 26 November: Local Growth Fund: Place selection and allocation methodology note - GOV.UK.
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Mr Clive Betts:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to fire and rescue services who attend traumatic callouts to attempted suicides. \p Samantha Dixon: The health and wellbeing of firefighters is of the utmost importance. The government recognises the risks that firefighters face and is grateful to them for their bravery. Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) are ultimately responsible for the health and wellbeing of firefighters, and the government-issued National Framework directs that all Fire and Rescue Authorities should have a people strategy which sets out the mental and physical health and wellbeing support available to firefighters.

The health and wellbeing support provided by Fire and Rescue services is considered by the fire inspectorate (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services) in the course of their work.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 66477 and Question UIN 66431 on 16 July 2025.
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many large panel system buildings have been registered with the building safety regulator. \p Samantha Dixon: As of 30 November 2025, the Building Safety Regulator is aware of 738 registered structures containing large panel systems.
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of building assessment certificate application refusals on the lending, mortgage and insurance markets. \p Samantha Dixon: From 16 January 2024, the Building Safety Act introduced a requirement for Principal Accountable Persons to assess and manage the safety risks relating to the buildings for which they are responsible. Building safety risks are defined in the Act as being spread of fire and structural failure.

A Building Assessment Certificate (BAC) is issued by the Building Safety Regulator when it is assessed that these and other relevant legal duties are being met. A BAC application may be refused for a variety of reasons, for example where the safety case report or the residents’ engagement strategy are insufficient or incomplete. It is important to note therefore that a decision to refuse the application for a BAC does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe.

Lenders and insurers have their own, well-established, mechanisms for assessing a building’s condition, on which they base their commercial decisions.

We engage regularly with the lending and insurance industries, who have not raised BAC application refusals as a concern, but we encourage industry and individuals to bring any concerns to the attention of the Department.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, from which local authorities in Cambridgeshire he has received formal submissions for the proposed local government reorganisation. \p Alison McGovern: My Department has received submissions from all councils in the invitation area of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer on 13 October 2025 to Question HL10731 on Deputy Prime Minister: Admiralty House, when the property was vacated. \p Samantha Dixon: The former Deputy Prime Minister has vacated the property. The Government agreed the terms of vacation of Admiralty House with the former Deputy Prime Minister in the usual way.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government intends to ensure that no local authority sees a cash reduction in its core spending power as a result of upcoming funding changes during local government reorganisation. \p Alison McGovern: As set out the local government finance policy statement and response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November, we will support local authorities, including those undergoing reorganisation or in rural areas, to manage their updated funding positions through a package of transitional arrangements.

As a result of these changes, we expect the vast majority of local authorities with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement, and most other authorities will see their income increase in cash terms.

Areas undergoing reorganisation will continue to benefit from this package of transitional support following reorganisation. We will not recalculate transitional support allocated to reorganised councils following reorganisation, which will further benefit these councils. Considering the efficiencies that are possible through reorganisation, we expect that areas will be able to meet any further one-off costs associated with reorganisation over time from existing budgets.

We will publish multi-year local authority allocations, including funding for transition and year-on-year Core Spending Power changes, at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this month.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he is taking steps to allow owners of retirement properties to sublet until a new buyer is found. \p Matthew Pennycook: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 95245 on 8 December 2025 and UIN 68820 on 2 September 2025.
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Gareth Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the findings of Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, whether he will take steps to encourage private sector growth in the most deprived neighbourhoods in England. \p Miatta Fahnbulleh: Strong neighbourhoods and communities are vital to drive growth. The Pride in Place strategy sets out how we will deliver up to £5 billion funding and support over ten years to 339 neighbourhoods experiencing the highest levels of double deprivation.

Neighbourhood Boards will have a wide range of options available to them to improve local opportunities and promote growth in their communities. Furthermore, we strongly encourage the boards to build partnerships with philanthropists and businesses that are rooted in place, to help build more sustainable funding models and crowd in more capital over the long-term. This will build strong, vibrant local communities and economies, led by those who know their area best.
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Sir James Cleverly:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to paragraph 2.58 of the OBR, Economic and Fiscal Outlook, November 2025, CP1439, 26 November 2025, whether there is a government estimate of the cumulative net additions between 2024-25 to 2029-30 for England as a whole. \p Matthew Pennycook: I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 19066 on 20 December 2024
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Munira Wilson:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Budget 2025, if he will set out how the High Value Council Tax Surcharge will be collected. \p Alison McGovern: The High Value Council Tax Surcharge will be collected from April 2028. Local Authorities will collect this revenue on behalf of central government. Revenue will be used to support funding for local government services, with further detail set to be set out at the next Spending Review. The government will work closely with local government and will undertake a new burdens assessment to ensure costs to local authorities are fully funded. Further details to be consulted on next year.
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Andy Slaughter:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on the basis of what evidence was the estimate of a 20 per cent time saving for judge only trials made, including the following evidence referred to in the Leveson report (i) the quantitative analyses, (ii) the quantitative estimate of impact from the workshop with HMCTS operational staff and (iii) a summary of judicial expectations of time saving; and what is the confidence interval for the 20 per cent estimate. \p Sarah Sackman: Hearing cases without a jury negates the need for jury selection, judges explaining legal concepts to jurors, and jury deliberation. There is no denying that these add to the time it takes to hear a case.

The latest figures show offences heard by magistrates already complete more than four times faster than similar cases in the Crown Court.

In Part I of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, Sir Brian Leveson, one of the foremost judges of his generation, and his Expert Advisers have estimated a new Crown Court bench division would speed up cases by at least 20%. Sir Brian himself has indicated that he believes this was a conservative estimate and could be significantly more in practice.

Further details of the work undertaken to arrive at this assumption can be found below:

Quantitative analyses explored potential proxies for jury trial savings by drawing comparisons within the current system. Whilst there is no directly comparable proxy for judge only trials within our own systems, this provided a framework for elicitation workshops and judicial engagement.

A structured elicitation workshop with expert operational staff from HMCTS. The quantitative analysis was shared with participants, and the workshop generated a suggested estimated range of 10-30% for lower to upper end plausible time savings, with 20% given as a median value.

Engagement session with judges to understand their personal expectations of potential time-savings, intended to provide an anecdotal indication of where and how the judiciary thought time savings may or may not become apparent in a CCBD. Their views were in keeping with wider estimates.

The 20% assumption is also broadly in line with international evidence from New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research who compared quantitative data from judge only and jury trials. Whilst time savings varied by offence type, for all offences it found a 16% reduction in trial length for judge only trials, and a 29% time saving for complex and prejudicial offences.

A full Impact Assessment of the policy measures announced will be published alongside legislation as is usual.

We will continue to monitor conviction rates and sentencing outcomes as part of our ongoing assessments of the criminal justice system.
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Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on software licenses from Microsoft in the last 12 months; and what proportion this represents of his Department’s total technology spend. \p Jake Richards: In the last 12 months, the Ministry of Justice has spent £68 million on software licenses from Microsoft. This represents approximately 11% of the Department’s total technology spend.
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Sir James Cleverly:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time is for an application to enforce a Temporary Stop Notice to be heard in the Planning Court. \p Sarah Sackman: The information requested is not held centrally, we do not hold data on the average time for an application to enforce a Temporary Stop Notice to be heard in the Planning Court.
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Suella Braverman:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the clarity of escalation pathways for parents of children with complex medical needs. \p Ashley Dalton: Integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population. ICBs are expected to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022, NICE published guidance on Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs. This is available at the following link:

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

NHS England is rolling out Martha’s Rule in acute provider sites, which gives in-patients and their families or carers who are concerned about physiological deterioration the ability to initiate a rapid review of their case from someone outside of their immediate care team. When requested, this rapid review will inform whether any new or additional action needs to be taken to ensure patients receive the most appropriate care and treatment, which may include escalation.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the forthcoming HIV Action Plan will strengthen awareness of HIV risk among women. \p Ashley Dalton: The new HIV Action Plan, published on World AIDS Day on 1 December 2025, sets out how the Government will enable every level of the healthcare system to work together to engage everyone in prevention, testing, and treatment, tackle stigma, and reach our ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. This includes a focus on women, as we know from the UK Health Security Agency’s latest data that they are not benefitting equally from the progress made on HIV in recent years.

Women will benefit from all of the actions in the HIV Action Plan, including improved testing and prevention services, rapid treatment, and support for those living with HIV. We will commission a new national HIV Prevention England programme backed by a total of £4.8 million of funding from April 2026 to March 2029. This programme supports communities disproportionately affected by HIV, including women, in particular black African and heterosexual women. The current programme delivers National HIV Testing Week, aimed at improving testing and increasing awareness of HIV prevention. In Testing Week 2025, heterosexual women accounted for 30% of all testers compared with 25% in 2024. We will also fund formula milk, and related sterilising equipment, for the infants of women living with HIV, thereby removing financial pressures and reducing the risk of transmission to babies.
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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many community diagnostic centres were open at the end of (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24, (c) 2024-25, and are expected to be at the end of (d) 2025-26. \p Karin Smyth: The following table sets out the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) which had started delivering activity, namely having gone live, and which were fully operational, delivering all modalities proposed in their approved business cases, from permanent facilities, from 2022/23 to 2024/25:

Financial year end

Number of CDCs delivering CDC activity.

Fully operational (delivering all planned tests from permanent facilities and location)

2022/23

104

10

2023/24

163

54

2024/25

170

101

2025/26 (including planned numbers)

170

128 (current number based on delivery reporting November 2025)   154 (expected year end point based on latest delivery plans)

Source: NHS England

Notes:

The Elective Reform Plan sets out that the Government will deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding several existing CDCs and building up to five new CDCs. The locations of both new and expanded CDC schemes will be confirmed in due course. This is funded as part of £600 million of capital investment for diagnostics in 2025/26, which my rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out in her June 2025 statement.

The plan also commits to opening more CDCs 12 hours per day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. Upon entering office in July 2024, 63 CDCs were offering at least one diagnostic service out of hours, available to patients 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

The latest position at the end of November 2025 is that 101 CDCs are offering at least one service to this standard, an increase of 38 from July 2024. By the end of March 2026, this number is currently planned to increase to 116.
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Sadik Al-Hassan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what estimate he has made of adult COVID-19 and influenza vaccination uptake in 2024–25; and what steps his Department is taking to strengthen communication of vaccine value to the public in response to hesitancy. \p Ashley Dalton: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes annual reports on seasonal flu vaccine uptake for England. COVID-19 vaccination uptake figures are published regularly during the spring and winter campaigns, as part of the national flu and COVID-19 surveillance report, and are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/weekly-national-flu-reports

The adult groups which the vaccine is offered to includes those over 65 years of age, clinical risk groups, pregnant women, and frontline healthcare workers. Compared to the previous 2023 to 2024 season, uptake was higher in pregnant women. Comparisons cannot be made to the previous season for other adult groups, due to changes in the timing of programme implementation.

The Department works with the UKHSA and NHS England to deliver national communications supporting vaccine uptake. The UKHSA undertakes research, assessing public confidence, barriers, and motivators to vaccination uptake, and develops strategies and messaging tailored to different audiences.
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Sir John Hayes: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 Taskforce for Lung Health briefing entitled A Modern Service Framework for Respiratory campaign, published on 18 November 2025. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department is aware of the taskforce for Lung Health’s report calling for a Modern Service Framework for Respiratory Health, including the impact of respiratory conditions on mortality rates, emergency admissions, inequalities, and productivity.

Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.

The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve maternity and neonatal care for people in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire. \p Karin Smyth: Maternity and neonatal care in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency is delivered locally by Lincolnshire Local Maternity and Neonatal System. They are implementing the Continuity of Carer model of midwifery care so that women receive dedicated support from the same midwifery team throughout their pregnancy. This model will prioritise areas with higher deprivation and complex needs and aims to improve care for people in South Holland and the Deepings.

For Lincolnshire, the main provider for maternity care across the county is the United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The trust has taken several steps to improve maternity and neonatal care such as implementing the Continuity of Carer model and offering specialised services for women to receive dedicated support to meet specific needs, for example through the Perinatal Community Mental Health Team and Perinatal Trauma and Loss Care Service. Additionally, there are community initiatives, including a breastfeeding campaign, ongoing workforce development initiatives, such as career pathways for maternity support workers, and innovative neonatal staffing models.

The trust has also seen a reduction in women smoking at the time of delivery from 17.1% in 2020/21 to 8.4% in 2024/25, ahead of integrated care system targets.
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Marie Goldman:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the review of adult gender services. \p Karin Smyth: We know that adults questioning their gender face long waiting lists for a first appointment at National Health Service adult gender services.

Dr David Levy’s Review of NHS Adult Gender Dysphoria Clinics will identify areas for improvement in relation to service quality, good practice that could be shared with other clinics, and any support that should be made available to services to assist improvement.

NHS England aims to publish the Review of Adult Gender Services in due course.
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Damien Egan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of staff undertaking additional work in private hospitals on NHS workforce capacity. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has made no assessment of the impact of National Health Service staff undertaking additional work in private hospitals on NHS workforce capacity.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_228

Peter Prinsley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of plans to reform the immigration settlement system on the number of anaesthetists working in the health service. \p Karin Smyth: No assessment has been made of the potential impact of plans to reform the immigration settlement system on the number of anaesthetists working in the health service.

The Government has launched a consultation on proposals to reform the current settlement rules in favour of an “earned settlement” model, that considers factors such as contribution, integration, and conduct. The consultation, which runs until February 2026, seeks views on how these reforms should apply to different groups, including health and care workers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_229

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase research funding for bladder cancer. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years, the NIHR committed £6 million for new research and programmes into bladder cancer research projects. An example of this investment includes a £2.9 million award for ‘Combination chemotherapy versus Bacillus Calmette-Guérin for high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer a phase III multi-centre randomised controlled trial (COBRA)’. This study is researching whether gemcitabine and docetaxel delivered through intravesical therapy are typically recommended to patients who do not respond well to bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatment, a more common type of intravesical therapy that uses immunotherapy drugs to disrupt the processes that fuel bladder cancer growth.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including bladder cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_230

Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the annual figures for payments made to each of NHS Resolution's panel law firms since the current legal framework came into effect in March 2022; and, in each case, what proportion of these payments were attributable to (a) medical negligence claims and (b) other claims. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The information to the question requested is not published by NHSR on its website. NHSR does publish annual statistics, however, which are available at the following link:

https://resolution.nhs.uk/resources/annual-statistics/

The second table in the document attached also shows the total spend for NHSR on NHS legal costs.

NHSR has also responded to individual enquiries under Freedom of Information for payments made to panel law firms, which can be found on its website at the following link:

https://resolution.nhs.uk/?s=FOI+Panel+firm+costs

Additional Document (xlsx, 734.0KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_231

Helen Morgan:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) monitoring of the medicine supply chain and (b) verification of medicines. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The resilience of the United Kingdom’s supply chains is a key priority, and the Department and NHS England are committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. We are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions. However, medicine shortages are a complex and global issue and everyone in the supply chain has a role to play in addressing them, as any action will require a collaborative approach.

We proactively monitor of supply and demand where there are particular concerns or threats to supply and as part of the management of live issues.

Potential disruption can also be identified early through targeted monitoring around specific events or risks. For example, growing demand and challenges in forecasting disease rates during winter, combined with broader strains on healthcare, can put extra pressure on already stressed supply chains. For the past two winters, the Department and NHS England set up a winter monitoring group to proactively monitor, analyse, and assess demand trends for a specified subset of medicines most likely to be needed. These medicines were identified by analysing historical demand data, together with known supply constraints and clinical criticality.

While manufacturers are not mandated to put verification barcodes on products, they are able to do so. This can help identify medicines accurately, automate storage and retrieval, verify expiry dates and batch numbers, and ensure the right product reaches the right patient, including automated dispensing or specific checks of the products due to be administered on hospital wards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_232

Jack Rankin:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of DCVax-L following its trial at King’s College Hospital. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Department has made no assessment of the potential merits of DCVax-L following its trial at King’s College Hospital.

Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a Marketing Authorisation Application to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for DCVax-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA is unable to comment on applications during the process of review, but the MHRA can confirm that this application is not affected by any historical backlogs and is assessing all applications rapidly for safety, quality, and efficacy.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The NHS is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. NICE is in discussions with the manufacturer of DCVax-L, Northwest Biotherapeutics, about a potential appraisal subject to licensing.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_233

Dan Carden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms exist to support waste-reduction trials with NHS trusts. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Department and NHS England are always looking at ways of reducing waste and increasing efficiency. NHS England has had many discussions with National Health Service trusts on the reduction, elimination, and reuse of single-use polypropylene curtains, and have published best practice with regards to safe and sustainable management of healthcare waste.

In addition, the Department has published the Design for Life Roadmap, a new strategy to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (medtech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045. This means designing, procuring, and processing medtech products in a way that maximises reuse, remanufacture, and recycling, thus preserving their value for as long as possible. The document sets out a plan of 30 actions to deliver the 2045 vision, which involve:

The Design for Life Roadmap is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/design-for-life-roadmap

As part of its work, the Design for Life programme maintains a list of products where circular alternatives are already available, and, for those with the highest potential benefits, explores means to accelerate adoption across the NHS. Ward curtains are on this product list, where a dedicated group, including procurement and clinical experts, are working to explore how the adoption of reusable versions can be supported.

With regards to trials, the Design for Life programme has commissioned several pilots within NHS trusts to explore safe transitions from single-use to reusables, where the results have been published and cascaded among the NHS community. Furthermore, NHS England has developed and deployed an Innovation Portal to help document, evaluate, test, and deploy innovations in waste management across the NHS in England.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-08)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-08 conversation_234

Melanie Onn:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children referred for (a) neurodevelopmental and (b) paediatric assessment continue to receive care during transitions between (i) services and (ii) providers. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including pre-and-post diagnostic support for children with neurodevelopmental conditions, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

The 10-Year Health Plan commits to establishing a new radical approach that will ensure that, as children and young people navigate the National Health Service, they feel comfortable and confident in managing their own health and care from 16 years old where appropriate. This will include supporting young people as they move from child to adolescent and adult services, making sure that care is developmentally appropriate throughout.

A national transition framework is being developed to help local areas set up this model or to strengthen an existing one. The principles of age-appropriate services it will set out apply to young people receiving care for the first time as well as those already on a transition pathway.

While this framework focuses on the broad principles of transition, future work will focus on specific considerations and conditions. Training is also being developed for healthcare staff to develop their skills in providing the best standards of care.

In April 2023, NHS England published a framework and guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. The guidance aims to help integrated care boards and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. This includes support for them and their families/carers, while they are waiting for a diagnostic assessment and once they have received the diagnostic outcome.