Department of Health and Social Care

We have not made a formal assessment of the adequacy of the powers and performance of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in inspecting supported accommodation for people with autism.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, a provider must register with the CQC if they provide a regulated activity. More specifically, supported living providers need to register with the CQC if they carry out the regulated activity of ‘personal care’. The CQC’s guidance Housing with Care provides further information on regulated activities and how they apply in the context of supported living services. A copy of the CQC’s guidance is attached.

The Government is tackling poor quality supported housing to ensure that residents get the care and support they need and is committed to the reforms set out in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (the Act). The Act was enacted to address gaps in regulation and set standards for the support provided to prevent exploitation in the sector, ensuring that all providers deliver safe housing and necessary support services.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government consulted on proposals for implementing the measures set out in the Act between February and May 2025. These include the introduction of new National Supported Housing Standards for all supported housing settings, enforced through a licensing regime, and a proposal to link the payment of higher rates of Housing Benefit to licensing in England. We are working to issue the Government response to the consultation as soon as possible.

The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. This includes improving health outcomes with specific focus on high-priority cohorts, including people with frailty. Whilst frailty and musculoskeletal overlap, we recognise that many people with conditions affecting their joints, bones, and muscles across their life course are not frail.

It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, and this could include musculoskeletal services.

We know there are areas where we need to go further. Delivering a Neighbourhood Health Service will be an incremental process as local understanding develops and national reforms progress.

Prescribing decisions are made by the responsible clinician, who is accountable for ensuring that prescribing is clinically appropriate and consistent with national and local guidance. NHS England’s guidance on prescribing gluten-free (GF) foods sets out a national framework for primary care, and integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning arrangements in their areas and for supporting general practices to prescribe in line with that framework, taking account of local population needs.

The national position in England remains that gluten free bread and mixes can be prescribed on the National Health Service for eligible people diagnosed with Coeliac disease. However, ICBs can restrict or end the prescribing of GF food. There are no plans to change the current arrangements or to introduce additional financial support, such as vouchers, for GF food.

Prescribing decisions are made by the responsible clinician, who is accountable for ensuring that prescribing is clinically appropriate and consistent with national and local guidance. NHS England’s guidance on prescribing gluten-free (GF) foods sets out a national framework for primary care, and integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning arrangements in their areas and for supporting general practices to prescribe in line with that framework, taking account of local population needs.

The national position in England remains that gluten free bread and mixes can be prescribed on the National Health Service for eligible people diagnosed with Coeliac disease. However, ICBs can restrict or end the prescribing of GF food. There are no plans to change the current arrangements or to introduce additional financial support, such as vouchers, for GF food.

NHS England continues to work with eating disorder services and local commissioners to improve access to assessment and treatment for people with a suspected eating disorder, including those presenting with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Lessons from previous pilots commissioned to improve access to support and develop training on ARFID has contributed to this work.

Community children and young people’s eating disorder services across England provide assessment and treatment for eating disorders, including ARFID, and local areas are able to commission training and adapt care pathways to ensure services meet the needs of patients with this condition.

In January 2026, NHS England also updated guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, including ARFID, that seeks to strengthen early identification and intervention of eating disorders, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist community eating disorder services as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.

Whilst the guidance focuses on improving community pathways for children and young people, the national specialised adult service model continues to provide access to highly specialist inpatient treatment for adults with complex eating disorders, through the Specialised Adult Eating Disorder Units network. These units deliver multidisciplinary care that typically includes psychiatric assessment and treatment, psychological therapies, medical monitoring, dietetic support and structured rehabilitation, and can provide inpatient care for adults with severe and enduring eating disorders where required.

Integrated care boards are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds clinical, public health, and social care research and works in partnership with the National Health Service, universities, local government, other research funders, patients, and the public, and the NIHR also funds global health research.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including mast cell activation syndrome. 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 patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic

NHS England Specialised Commissioning has published a Service Specification for Specialist Allergy Services, which covers the responsibilities of specialised commissioned providers with regard to patients with mastocytosis and related disorders. This includes the expectation for specialist allergy services to be provided by multidisciplinary teams, led by physicians with evidence of training and/or experience in the practice of allergy or immunology. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/specialist-allergy-services-adults-service-specification-v2.9.pdf

The management of service users with mastocytosis is provided by specialised allergy/immunology, dermatology, and haematology services. The lead clinician will vary at different centres, but specialist allergy input should be readily available.

NHS England has been working on reducing waste and its associated carbon since publication of the NHS Clinical Waste Strategy in 2023.

NHS England’s Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) is a mandatory annual data collection for all National Health Service trusts in England that captures waste metrics in waste type tonnages and not specific items of waste. ERIC figures to 2025 show a reduction of 41,000 tonnes of carbon.

The latest reporting year, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, which covers the period during which the Design for Life Roadmap was launched, in October 2024, saw a reduction of 10,000 tonnes of carbon from waste.

To supplement this work, since publication of the roadmap, the Department has conducted a series of pilots across a range of different medical products and equipment, with most demonstrating waste savings, in carbon terms, from switching to reusable alternatives. The full report can be found on the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare’s website, who were our partner on these pilots, at the following link:

https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/activity/reusable-medtech-in-the-nhs-pioneering-sustainable-healthcare/.

The Department is building on this work with a dedicated Priority Adoption Working Group, which includes clinical and procurement professionals, to identify the products with the strongest case for safe, immediate transitions to reusables across the NHS, to drive further waste, and cost, savings at scale. NHS England is supporting this work, alongside its own initiatives to reduce the overuse of products and waste. For example, through the Five years of a greener NHS: progress and forward look, the NHS has committed to reduce single-use glove and gown use by 25% by 2030, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/five-years-greener-nhs-progress-forward-look/

NHS England has been working on reducing waste and its associated carbon since publication of the NHS Clinical Waste Strategy in 2023.

NHS England’s Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) is a mandatory annual data collection for all National Health Service trusts in England that captures waste metrics in waste type tonnages and not specific items of waste. ERIC figures to 2025 show a reduction of 41,000 tonnes of carbon.

The latest reporting year, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, which covers the period during which the Design for Life Roadmap was launched, in October 2024, saw a reduction of 10,000 tonnes of carbon from waste.

To supplement this work, since publication of the roadmap, the Department has conducted a series of pilots across a range of different medical products and equipment, with most demonstrating waste savings, in carbon terms, from switching to reusable alternatives. The full report can be found on the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare’s website, who were our partner on these pilots, at the following link:

https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/activity/reusable-medtech-in-the-nhs-pioneering-sustainable-healthcare/.

The Department is building on this work with a dedicated Priority Adoption Working Group, which includes clinical and procurement professionals, to identify the products with the strongest case for safe, immediate transitions to reusables across the NHS, to drive further waste, and cost, savings at scale. NHS England is supporting this work, alongside its own initiatives to reduce the overuse of products and waste. For example, through the Five years of a greener NHS: progress and forward look, the NHS has committed to reduce single-use glove and gown use by 25% by 2030, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/five-years-greener-nhs-progress-forward-look/

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions on a wide range of matters, including with other departments.

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is most often understood as a characteristic of, or observed in, some autistic people, but professional consensus on its status is still required. PDA is not a recognised and ‘stand-alone’ diagnosis within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or the International Classification of Disease.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessment services for autistic people, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

The NICE guideline Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: recognition, referral and diagnosis, recommends that as part of autism assessments healthcare workers should consider PDA and carry out appropriate referrals.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that makes recommendations on whether all new medicines and significant licence extensions for existing medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. In the last three years, NICE has recommended five new drugs for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, including upadacitinib, risankizumab, mirikizumab, etrasimod, and guselkumab. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

The Government is committed to continuing to improve National Health Services, including NHS 111 to ensure patients can access the right care first time, only visiting accident and emergency when necessary.

The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan is backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding, including £250 million of capital investment for the continued expansion of co-located urgent treatment centres and same-day emergency care. This provides additional capacity for minor urgent health problems, ensuring that resources are targeted appropriately and that emergency care remains available for the most acutely unwell patients.

The plan also commits to reviewing NHS 111 services and incorporating the recommendations from the review, to make the service more effective, quicker and simpler to navigate.

We are also expanding urgent care in primary, community, and mental health settings, increasing vaccination uptake, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable. Integrated care boards and trust winter plans have been stress-tested to ensure resilience, reducing pressure on accident and emergency.

The Department has not made a formal assessment of the impact of parking fines on care workers providing in‑home services.

Parking policy is devolved to local authorities, which already have the discretion to offer exemptions or dedicated permit schemes for health and social care workers where appropriate. At present, local authorities remain best placed to determine appropriate support and parking arrangements, taking account of local conditions and existing pressures.

We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care. The Fair Pay Agreement will bring together employers, worker representatives, and other to negotiate play and terms and conditions for the sector. This is intended to improve pay, support recruitment, and retention.

Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Godalming and Ash and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Surrey, which includes Godalming and Ash, can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E10000030/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

Patients are triaged upon initial entry to accident and emergency departments, after which their condition and any deterioration is monitored through observation at clinically appropriate intervals. How this happens and how often is down to local clinical decision making and governance.

There is a national target that patients receive an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival in accident and emergency. This assessment considers patient acuity, ensuring those most unwell and at greatest risk are identified and prioritised, so that clinical oversight can be adjusted accordingly and to ensure the sickest patients are seen first.

On 9 February 2026 NHS England published guidance on the Model Emergency Department, which is intended to set out a consistent national framework by defining the core principles and pathways of high‑performing emergency departments. The guidance recognises that there is variation in how emergency departments operate across National Health Service trusts, reflecting differences in local populations, clinical judgement, and governance arrangements.

The Model Emergency Department does not remove local decision‑making, but provides a shared national model, including extended emergency medicine ambulatory care, to support greater consistency, faster decision‑making across urgent and emergency care pathways, and stronger whole‑system responsibility for performance. This approach is intended to improve patient experience and patient flow, with lower waiting times and reduced overcrowding.

Patients are triaged upon initial entry to accident and emergency departments, after which their condition and any deterioration is monitored through observation at clinically appropriate intervals. How this happens and how often is down to local clinical decision making and governance.

There is a national target that patients receive an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival in accident and emergency. This assessment considers patient acuity, ensuring those most unwell and at greatest risk are identified and prioritised, so that clinical oversight can be adjusted accordingly and to ensure the sickest patients are seen first.

On 9 February 2026 NHS England published guidance on the Model Emergency Department, which is intended to set out a consistent national framework by defining the core principles and pathways of high‑performing emergency departments. The guidance recognises that there is variation in how emergency departments operate across National Health Service trusts, reflecting differences in local populations, clinical judgement, and governance arrangements.

The Model Emergency Department does not remove local decision‑making, but provides a shared national model, including extended emergency medicine ambulatory care, to support greater consistency, faster decision‑making across urgent and emergency care pathways, and stronger whole‑system responsibility for performance. This approach is intended to improve patient experience and patient flow, with lower waiting times and reduced overcrowding.

As set out in the 2025/26 Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, the National Health Service is focussing on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance during winter, including:

- improving hospital flow, with a focus on reducing the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours and making progress towards eliminating corridor care;

- reducing ambulance handovers to a maximum of 45 minutes, ensuring patients are transferred more quickly into hospital care;

- agreeing local pathway profiles to support discharge capacity planning and eliminate internal discharge delays of more than 48 hours in all settings;

- reducing the average length of stay for patients requiring an overnight emergency admission by at least 0.4 days returning closer to pre-pandemic levels;

- expanding access to urgent care in primary, community, and mental health settings - including increasing the number of people supported by Urgent Community Response teams and treated in virtual wards; and

- improving vaccination uptake among frontline staff, aiming to raise coverage in 2025/26 by at least 5% towards the pre-pandemic 2018/19 level.

We started planning earlier and have taken more action than in previous years to prepare for winter pressures. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the NHS over winter months, providing additional support to services across the country as needed.

NHS England publishes data on general and acute bed (G&A) occupancy and capacity. Between October and December 2025, the average G&A bed occupancy rate at the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust was 94.8%, compared to 93% nationally.

The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce.

The Government also acknowledges the importance of ensuring healthcare professionals are adequately trained and educated on women’s health conditions, including endometriosis, and we have taken action to address this.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment to encourage a better understanding of common women’s health problems among all doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom. The content for this assessment includes several topics relating to women’s health including endometriosis.

Women's health is included the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) curriculum for trainee general practitioners (GPs), including gynaecology, sexual health, and breast health. The curriculum also covers the healthcare needs of women across all diseases seen in primary care as it is important women are treated holistically. This ensures that all future GPs receive education on women’s health.

The RCGP has also published a Women’s Health Library which brings together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health from the RCGP, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare. This resource is continually updated to ensure GPs and other primary healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date advice to provide the best care for their patients.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has developed a women’s and reproductive health topic suite, and updated guidelines on endometriosis in 2024 to make firmer recommendations for healthcare professionals on referral and investigations for women with suspected diagnosis. These clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to provide care for women with endometriosis.

Generally, employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce.

The Government also acknowledges the importance of ensuring healthcare professionals are adequately trained and educated on women’s health conditions, including endometriosis, and we have taken action to address this.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment to encourage a better understanding of common women’s health problems among all doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom. The content for this assessment includes several topics relating to women’s health including endometriosis.

Women's health is included the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) curriculum for trainee general practitioners (GPs), including gynaecology, sexual health, and breast health. The curriculum also covers the healthcare needs of women across all diseases seen in primary care as it is important women are treated holistically. This ensures that all future GPs receive education on women’s health.

The RCGP has also published a Women’s Health Library which brings together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health from the RCGP, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare. This resource is continually updated to ensure GPs and other primary healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date advice to provide the best care for their patients.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has developed a women’s and reproductive health topic suite, and updated guidelines on endometriosis in 2024 to make firmer recommendations for healthcare professionals on referral and investigations for women with suspected diagnosis. These clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to provide care for women with endometriosis.

Generally, employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce.

The Government also acknowledges the importance of ensuring healthcare professionals are adequately trained and educated on women’s health conditions, including endometriosis, and we have taken action to address this.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment to encourage a better understanding of common women’s health problems among all doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom. The content for this assessment includes several topics relating to women’s health including endometriosis.

Women's health is included the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) curriculum for trainee general practitioners (GPs), including gynaecology, sexual health, and breast health. The curriculum also covers the healthcare needs of women across all diseases seen in primary care as it is important women are treated holistically. This ensures that all future GPs receive education on women’s health.

The RCGP has also published a Women’s Health Library which brings together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health from the RCGP, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare. This resource is continually updated to ensure GPs and other primary healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date advice to provide the best care for their patients.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has developed a women’s and reproductive health topic suite, and updated guidelines on endometriosis in 2024 to make firmer recommendations for healthcare professionals on referral and investigations for women with suspected diagnosis. These clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to provide care for women with endometriosis.

Generally, employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

The Government will soon publish a renewed Women’s Health Strategy that will set out how the Government is taking further steps to improve women’s health, including reproductive health, as we deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.

The standard of undergraduate medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), the independent regulator of the medical profession, which set the outcomes and standards expected at undergraduate level. Medical schools are responsible for their curricula. The delivery of these undergraduate curricula must meet the standards set by the GMC, who then monitor and check to make sure that these standards are maintained.

The curriculum for specialty training is set by individual Royal Colleges and faculties. The GMC approves curricula and assessment systems for each training programme. Curricula emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is responsible for publishing the postgraduate curriculum for general practitioners (GPs) and ensuring it remains up to date. The RCGP curriculum covers endometriosis as part of its gynaecology and breast health module.

GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. The RCGP has worked with partners, including Endometriosis UK, to develop educational resources relating to endometriosis to support GPs and other healthcare professionals to deliver the best possible care for women, based on the latest evidence.

The NHS Learning Hub originally had five training modules on close relative marriage and genetic risk. Three of these modules were retired in October 2025. The remaining two modules were subsequently updated and can be found online on the NHS Learning Hub, which is available at the following link:

https://learninghub.nhs.uk/Catalogue/close-relative-marriage

The guidance on submitting data on consanguinity and pregnancy to the Maternity Services Dataset can be found on the NHS England Digital website, which is at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-sets/maternity-services-data-set/guidance/msds-consanguinity-data-quality-guidance

There are currently no plans to place a copy of the training modules on close relative marriage and genetic risk or a copy of the guidance on submitting data on consanguinity and pregnancy to the Commons Library as these are publicly available.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning National Health Services for their local populations and for deciding which treatments are routinely offered, based on clinical evidence, local need, and available resources. Decisions about individual services are taken locally, and the Department does not routinely intervene in these commissioning decisions.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore innovation and policy prioritisation in respiratory health, including the cross‑Government alignment that may be required.

The Department and NHS England regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders on issues relating to medical education and training.

NHS England made the decision in 2025 to discontinue central funding of the salary support component of the Training Interface Group (TIG) programme, and to target financial resources more effectively to address regional workforce priorities.

Regions or provider organisations that wish to continue developing these skills are still able to recruit, fund, and train staff using the curriculum set by the Joint Committee on Surgical Training.

NHS England is also working to understand where they can enhance and support smaller, highly specialised areas of practice. NHS England specialised commissioning teams will feed into this work, which will consider how TIG programmes could be best supported in the future.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Rushcliffe on 20 November 2025 to Question 89688.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs). The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Bootham Park Hospital site is a Grade I listed heritage asset and therefore requires significant ongoing management. The costs associated with maintaining the buildings and grounds have been £5.5 million since 2018, which covers maintenance, security, and insurance across the site, as well as the upkeep of areas that remain operational, including the chapel used by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the work required to maintain safe public access through parts of the site. NHS Property Services continues to progress plans to sell the site, which would bring these ongoing holding costs to an end.

NHS England does not nationally commission chiropractic care as it is a complementary and alternative medicine. Integrated care boards can make independent decisions on which health professionals they employ and may commission a limited amount of such treatment.

There are currently no plans to review the categorisation of chiropractic care as a complementary and alternative medicine. Where musculoskeletal treatment is required, referrals will be made to physiotherapists where appropriate.

While there are no specific plans to introduce a separate regrading policy similar to those in Scotland or Wales at this time, we are considering how best to support appropriate career progression for specialty doctors in England, including through ongoing conversations with the British Medical Association.

The specialist grade was introduced in England in 2021 as part of reforms to improve career progression opportunities for Specialty, Associate Specialist, and Specialist (SAS) doctors. Employers are able to create specialist posts where there is a service need, and individuals, including speciality doctors, should be able to apply for these roles through open, competitive recruitment.

As set out in the National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan, the Department is committed to supporting the continued expansion of the specialist grade where appropriate, to ensure SAS doctors have clear and fair pathways for progression.

NHS England is not able to provide the level of recurrent funding identified at this point to support the next Clinical Priorities Advisory Group prioritisation meeting. This would risk disclosing commercially confidential information.

NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prioritisation meetings are held annually and are aligned to NHS England's annual financial planning cycle.

The next prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026, where policies that are ready and require investment decisions will be considered. It is expected that up to 20 such policies will be considered at that meeting. CPAG also meets monthly to consider clinical policies and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral, enabling progress to be made outside of the annual prioritisation round.

There are currently no plans to hold an additional prioritisation meeting this year beyond the meeting scheduled for spring 2026.

Gloucester is served by the South-Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT). In the year 2023/24, average Category 2 response times were 42 minutes and 50 seconds. In the year 2024/25, average Category 2 response times worsened, to 45 minutes and 25 seconds.

However, the most recent National Health Service performance figures for SWASFT show that the year-to-date, from April 2025 to February 2026, the average Category 2 response time has been 34 minutes and 50 seconds, showing considerable improvement this financial year.

The number of health visitors working in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England is published monthly by NHS England as part of their NHS Workforce Statistics Collection. The data can be found in the link below within the file: NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations - data tables, December 2025, at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics/december-2025

Within this Excel file, the relevant information can be found in Tab 6, titled Nurses and Health Visitors, Midwives and Support to Doctors, Nurses and Midwives by Staff Group, Care Setting and Level – Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and Headcount.

The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and other core NHS organisations and will therefore exclude staff directly employed by primary care, general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers.

Local authorities have been responsible for commissioning health visiting services since 2015. These services may be commissioned from NHS trusts as well as other providers. The Department does not hold staffing information for non-NHS providers.

The table attached shows the overview and breakdown of National Health Service spending on non-NHS providers from 2022/23 to 2024/25. The table is taken from the House of Commons Research Briefing on NHS funding and expenditure, using data from the Department’s Care Annual Reports and Accounts, with further information available at the following link:

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00724/SN00724.pdf#

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning local National Health Services and contracting with providers, including in Surrey. Information is not routinely collected by the Department on the number of services outsourced to private providers in Surrey.

The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. This includes work in maternity and neonatal services to introduce a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, a Graduate Guarantee that has already delivered 700 additional roles for newly qualified midwives, and funded speciality training for neonatal nurses to have the additional skills they need to care for critically ill babies. In addition, the Department’s upcoming workforce plan will make sure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

Baroness Amos’ interim report details insights gathered so far in the national independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care. Evidence is still being collected and analysed, and a coherent single set of national recommendations will be published in June. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will chair a new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce that will address the interim insights and final recommendations of the investigation, forming them into a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.

Currently, a patient is added to an official waiting list when an Advice and Guidance request is converted into a referral. This will remain the case through part of 2026/27. From October 2026, expanded Advice and Guidance will be routed through a new Elective Single Point of Access (SPoA), in line with the Medium Term Planning Framework. From this point, while a patient will still be added onto a waiting list at the point of the referral being accepted, their waiting time will be calculated from the date the Advice and Guidance request or referral was received by the SpoA.

While advice is being sought and acted on in primary care, the general practitioner remains responsible for the patient’s overall clinical care and risk. The specialist is responsible for the quality and appropriateness of the advice they give, not for ongoing management or follow‑up unless they formally take the patient on. Specialist also have clinical responsibility from the point an Advice and Guidance request is converted into a referral or if the specialist initiates investigations or treatment directly.

Currently, a patient is added to an official waiting list when an Advice and Guidance request is converted into a referral. This will remain the case through part of 2026/27. From October 2026, expanded Advice and Guidance will be routed through a new Elective Single Point of Access (SPoA), in line with the Medium Term Planning Framework. From this point, while a patient will still be added onto a waiting list at the point of the referral being accepted, their waiting time will be calculated from the date the Advice and Guidance request or referral was received by the SpoA.

While advice is being sought and acted on in primary care, the general practitioner remains responsible for the patient’s overall clinical care and risk. The specialist is responsible for the quality and appropriateness of the advice they give, not for ongoing management or follow‑up unless they formally take the patient on. Specialist also have clinical responsibility from the point an Advice and Guidance request is converted into a referral or if the specialist initiates investigations or treatment directly.

The table attached sets out the spend categories for the specified services commissioned by NHS England and the integrated care boards, formerly the clinical commissioning groups, using audited figures between 2015/16 to 2024/25.

Information for 2025/26 is unvalidated and not quality assured. In-year data is not routinely reported on with the breakdown of spend used this answer and would be subject to material change between plan and outturn as a result.

75% of NHS England commissioned social services are within the community services line.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.