Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, March 2025Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, March 2025Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, March 2025Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, February 2025Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, February 2025Jul. 30 2025
Source Page: DHSC: spending over £500, February 2025Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the national cancer plan will include steps to integrate exercise, nutrition and well-being support into prehabilitation and rehabilitation programmes for all cancer patients, as recommended in The White Rose Cancer Report, published by Yorkshire Cancer Research on 18 June; and what plans they have to adopt the ROSE model to ensure equity in research funding and implementation across the country.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and the National Health Service recognise the importance of physical activity for the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, including cancer.
The National Cancer Plan, due to be published later this year, will set out how experiences and outcomes can be improved for people at every stage of the cancer pathway, including prehabilitation and rehabilitation. The Department acknowledges that more can be done to support people living with and beyond cancer.
The NHS Cancer Programme, through local Cancer Alliances, is working to ensure physical activity is fully integrated across the whole cancer pathway, which includes opportunities within rehabilitation for people who have undergone treatment.
NHS England has highlighted the positive impact of efficient prehabilitation and rehabilitation on cancer outcomes and the potential to lead to cost savings. The ‘PRosPer’ Cancer Prehabilitation and Rehabilitation learning programme, launched in partnership between NHS England and Macmillan Cancer support, aims to support allied health professionals and the wider healthcare workforce in developing their skills in providing personalised care, prehabilitation, and rehabilitation in the cancer pathway.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments, and to supporting equity of research funding and implementation cross the country.
The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports the principles outlined in the ROSE model, by funding research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.
The NIHR has made research inclusion a condition of its funding. Applicants to domestic research programmes are required to demonstrate how inclusion is being built into all stages of the research lifecycle and are also required to provide details of how their research contributes towards the NIHR’s mission to reduce health and care inequalities.
The NIHR’s Applied Research Collaborations are regional partnerships which generate high-quality research and evaluation, and work with the system to support the scaling and adoption of effective interventions and models of care nationally, particularly in areas of high disease burden and service demand.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their planned advertising restrictions on less healthy food on reducing the calorie intake of children (1) in total per year, and (2) per child per year.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has set a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever and will take action to address the childhood obesity crisis. This requires a range of policies, which is why we have set out decisive action in the 10-Year Health Plan. As part of this, we are committed to implementing the advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online. These restrictions are expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year in the United Kingdom and deliver approximately £2 billion in health benefits. The restrictions are expected to reduce childhood obesity by 20,000 cases. The restrictions specifically target categories of products that have been identified as of most concern in relation to childhood obesity. However, we also recognise that the restrictions will have an impact on businesses, and we have therefore made sure that the restrictions are proportionate and strike the right balance between health benefits and impact on businesses, for example ensuring that brand advertising which does not identify less healthy food or drink products is not in the scope of the policy.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that the Government would build “250 to 300 new neighbourhood health centres” (HC Deb col 449), and further to the statement on page 32 of the NHS's 10 Year Plan for England: fit for the future that a neighbourhood would consist of 50,000 people, how they will ensure that all 57 million people in England will be covered by a neighbourhood health centre.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The geography of neighbourhoods should be determined locally by integrated care boards in partnership with their strategic partners, particularly local authorities. The Government aims to establish a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community as we shift from hospital to community. Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in areas with the greatest need, for instance where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including coastal towns and communities with higher deprivation levels. Wherever possible, we will maximise value for money by repurposing poorly used, existing National Health Service and public sector estates. The Department is also currently writing a business case on Public Private Partnerships for Neighbourhood Health Centres for review as part of the Autumn Budget.
The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a Neighbourhood Health Centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary. The Neighbourhood Health Service will mean millions of patients are treated and cared for closer to home by new teams of professionals. We have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme to support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works. This programme will inform future strategy and policy development, and outcome metrics will be rigorously monitored.
To support neighbourhood health, we will introduce two new contracts, with roll-out beginning next year, one of which will create neighbourhood providers that deliver enhanced services for groups with similar needs over a footprint of approximately 50,000 people. In many areas, existing groups of general practices will be well placed to take on these contracts.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential cost savings to the NHS and social care system of implementing automatic stop smoking support at NHS touchpoints; and how will that inform future funding decisions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no specific assessment has been made of the potential cost savings from stop smoking support in all National Health Services, we know that supporting more people to stop smoking reduces preventable illness and therefore pressure on health and social care services.
An evaluation of a pilot opt-out model in Manchester showed the gross financial return was £2.12, and the public value return was £30.49, per £1 invested. NHS England has also made a tool that estimates the potential cost savings associated with the reduced demand on front line services available for maternity services.
As of the end of 2024/25, 93% of NHS in-patient services and 97% of maternity services had a tobacco dependence treatment offer.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we remain committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate smoking cessation interventions into routine care. As part of their allocations for 2025/26, integrated care boards have access to funding to support the provision of tobacco dependency treatment for smokers. Funding for future years is subject to final decisions following the recent Spending Review.