Department of Health and Social Care

Live participation in Exercise PEGASUS has now concluded, although a fourth phase, centred around recovery, is planned to be exercised in 2026. A published post-exercise report will include learning and findings from this and all preceding phases and this will be delivered in due course following detailed evaluation. The United Kingdom uses a Lead Government Department model to cover all phases of emergency planning, response, recovery, and risk assessment. Ministers within the Department, as the Lead Government Department for a pandemic response, will continue to actively consider the implementation of the findings from Exercise PEGASUS.

Live participation in Exercise PEGASUS has now concluded, although a fourth phase, centred around recovery, is planned to be exercised in 2026. A published post-exercise report will include learning and findings from this and all preceding phases and this will be delivered in due course following detailed evaluation. The United Kingdom uses a Lead Government Department model to cover all phases of emergency planning, response, recovery, and risk assessment. Ministers within the Department, as the Lead Government Department for a pandemic response, will continue to actively consider the implementation of the findings from Exercise PEGASUS.

The Government will publish an impact assessment of its plan to bring NHS England into the Department alongside the primary legislation to enact this reform. We do not expect the integration to have an impact on the capacity of integrated care boards (ICBs) to safeguard children, as the existing safeguarding functions of ICBs will be retained.

To ensure ICBs maintain effective safeguarding functions throughout the reform, NHS England has shared best practice on safeguarding with ICBs earlier this year. In November 2025, NHS England also published a strategic commissioning framework for ICBs with a focus on collaboration with local government and wider system partners.

Safeguarding partners, including health, have a legal duty to work together to safeguard and promote children’s welfare, including through the proposed Multi Agency Child Protection Teams. There is no intention to change this duty through the ICB reform.

The National Health Service recognises that people with chronic conditions, including Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), require personalised, coordinated care. EDS comprises 13 rare inherited connective-tissue disorders affecting multiple body systems. Hypermobile EDS (hEDS) is the most common sub-type and, along with HSD, is frequently associated with chronic, high-impact musculoskeletal pain. Patients may be managed across primary care, community services, and secondary care services, and diagnosis and management of the most complex cases is supported by the nationally commissioned diagnostic centres in London and Sheffield.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Rheumatology report published in July 2021 highlighted that non-inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions, such as hypermobility-related chronic pain, benefit most from multidisciplinary, personalised pain-management strategies delivered in primary and community care, rather than routine referral to rheumatology. The GIRFT Chronic Pain workstream, introduced in 2025, is reviewing service delivery across all care settings to improve access, equity, and outcomes for patients with persistent pain.

These initiatives align with wider NHS and Government plans to improve care for people with chronic illnesses by promoting integrated, proactive, and person-centred management, including multidisciplinary support in primary care networks, enhanced specialist input where needed, and better access to evidence-based interventions. For people with hEDS and HSD, this means earlier recognition, holistic management of chronic pain, and coordinated pathways that reduce unnecessary specialist referrals while ensuring complex cases are referred to appropriate tertiary services.

The Government will establish an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. It will connect patients with clinicians across the country through secure, online appointments accessed through the NHS App.

Before NHS Online goes live, the National Health Service will learn from existing research on patient experience of online care over the last five years and build it into the programme as it develops, with a commitment to patient partnership in design and delivery. Inclusive service design is a key priority to ensure people continue to have greater access, choice, and control over their care.

Digital health tools will be part of a wider offering that includes traditional face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services. Digital inclusion is a key priority for the NHS as it will support the shift from ‘analogue to digital’. It is one of the five national NHS England Health Inequalities Strategic Priorities, and they published a Digital Healthcare Framework which has guided the integrated care boards’ approach.

To improve digital awareness and access, the NHS App team are working with through the National Health Literacy Partnership to provide an NHS App support offer to public libraries in England.

The Government will establish an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. It will connect patients with clinicians across the country through secure, online appointments accessed through the NHS App.

Before NHS Online goes live, the National Health Service will learn from existing research on patient experience of online care over the last five years and build it into the programme as it develops, with a commitment to patient partnership in design and delivery. Inclusive service design is a key priority to ensure people continue to have greater access, choice, and control over their care.

Digital health tools will be part of a wider offering that includes traditional face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services. Digital inclusion is a key priority for the NHS as it will support the shift from ‘analogue to digital’. It is one of the five national NHS England Health Inequalities Strategic Priorities, and they published a Digital Healthcare Framework which has guided the integrated care boards’ approach.

To improve digital awareness and access, the NHS App team are working with through the National Health Literacy Partnership to provide an NHS App support offer to public libraries in England.

The Government will establish an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. It will connect patients with clinicians across the country through secure, online appointments accessed through the NHS App.

Before NHS Online goes live, the National Health Service will learn from existing research on patient experience of online care over the last five years and build it into the programme as it develops, with a commitment to patient partnership in design and delivery. Inclusive service design is a key priority to ensure people continue to have greater access, choice, and control over their care.

Digital health tools will be part of a wider offering that includes traditional face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services. Digital inclusion is a key priority for the NHS as it will support the shift from ‘analogue to digital’. It is one of the five national NHS England Health Inequalities Strategic Priorities, and they published a Digital Healthcare Framework which has guided the integrated care boards’ approach.

To improve digital awareness and access, the NHS App team are working with through the National Health Literacy Partnership to provide an NHS App support offer to public libraries in England.

The 10-Year Health Plan for England committed to launching a large-scale study, led by Genomics England, to sequence 150,000 adult genomes and assess how genomics can support routine preventive care. Work is now underway to design the study, develop scientific and clinical methodologies, and establish governance in line with major programme standards. Genomics England has commissioned a structured literature review and launched the Genomics, Healthcare and You engagement programme to understand the diverse public and professional perspectives on pre-emptive, preventative population healthcare, while building trust and transparency. This engagement will run through 2025/26, with interim findings shaping study design and recruitment strategies which will be developed in 2026/27. Subject to ethics approval, the recruitment and sequencing of participants is expected to begin from 2027.

At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.

Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.

We have also launched wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 areas across England, including North East Lincolnshire. The NNHIP is supporting systems across the country in driving innovation and integration at a local level to improve the care they provide to their communities.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities such as Lincolnshire.

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.

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.

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:

Source: NHS England

Notes:

1. The table includes CDCs operating from temporary capacity while the permanent CDC build is completed.
2. For 2025/26, the numbers include CDC sites which are anticipated to be fully operational by the end of March 2026 based on current delivery plans.

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.

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.

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.

NHS England monitors the payment of invoices made within 30 days, to confirm compliance with the Better Payment Practice Code, which sets a target of 95%. In the 2024/25 financial year, 97% of invoices were paid within 30 days, with a slight reduction to 94% in the 2025/26 financial year for the six-month period to 30 September 2025, the latest period for which figures are available.

NHS England published data every quarter on vacancies in National Health Service trusts. However, the data is not granular enough to identify rates for learning disability nurses.

The Department delivers research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and is committed to furthering our investment and driving scientific advancements in research into the causes and treatment of brain tumours. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, the NIHR invested £11.8 million, and UK Research and Innovation invested £46.8 million in this area.

During the same period, the NIHR’s wider investments of approximately £37.5 million in research infrastructure and the research workforce have enabled the delivery of an additional 261 brain tumour research studies, allowing over 11,400 more people to participate in brain tumour research. NIHR infrastructure provides world-class research expertise, specialist facilities, a research delivery workforce, and support services to enable and deliver research across the National Health Service and wider health and care system.

In September 2024 the NIHR launched a package of support to deliver a step-change in brain cancer research by establishing a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium to bring together researchers from different disciplines to drive scientific advancements in how to prevent, detect, manage, and treat brain tumours. We will announce funding decisions this year, including a dedicated funding call for research into care, support, and rehabilitation for people living with brain tumours, as well as the Allied Health Professionals Brain Tumour Research Fellowship programme, a partnership with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission.

These funding calls mark an innovative collaboration between charities, research funders, and the Government to listen and consult with the brain tumour community to increase and accelerate research into brain tumours. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain tumours.

To improve clinical trial access for brain tumour patients, the 10-Year Health Plan outlines how the Department will fast-track clinical trial set-up time to 150 days by March 2026. We are building capacity to deliver clinical trials through 21 new Commercial Research Delivery Centres across the United Kingdom, and we also support the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. Once implemented, this bill will make it easier for brain tumour patients to be recruited to clinical trials.

Additionally, the National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, including access to genetic testing to support treatment.

NHS England publishes monthly NHS Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce Statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and core organisations but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice, or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent learning disability nurses in hospital trusts and core organisations across England as of 30 September for each of the years 2022 to 2025:

The Government is committed to addressing longstanding concerns around the safety of the cosmetics sector. On 7 August we announced our plans to introduce further regulation in this space.

In the first instance, the Government will prioritise the introduction of legal restrictions to ensure that cosmetic procedures that are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public, such as the liquid Brazilian butt lift, are classed as Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities. The new restrictions will mean that these procedures will only be permitted to be performed by suitably qualified regulated healthcare professionals, working for providers who are registered with the CQC. We are working with stakeholders to develop our plans in this space and intend to consult on proposals for restrictions around the performance of the highest risk procedures in spring 2026.

The Government has also committed to legislating to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022. Under this scheme, which will be operated by local authorities, practitioners will be required to obtain a licence to perform specified cosmetic procedures, and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed. We are taking forward work to determine which procedures will be included within the local authority licensing scheme and what requirements will have to be met in order to be granted a licence. The proposals will be developed through further stakeholder engagement and public consultation before being taken forward through secondary legislation and the requisite parliamentary processes.

Further details of the Government’s commitments are available in the Government’s response to the 2023 consultation on the GOV.UK website.

The Government is committed to addressing longstanding concerns around the safety of the cosmetics sector. On 7 August we announced our plans to introduce further regulation in this space.

In the first instance, the Government will prioritise the introduction of legal restrictions to ensure that cosmetic procedures that are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public, such as the liquid Brazilian butt lift, are classed as Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities. The new restrictions will mean that these procedures will only be permitted to be performed by suitably qualified regulated healthcare professionals, working for providers who are registered with the CQC. We are working with stakeholders to develop our plans in this space and intend to consult on proposals for restrictions around the performance of the highest risk procedures in spring 2026.

The Government has also committed to legislating to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022. Under this scheme, which will be operated by local authorities, practitioners will be required to obtain a licence to perform specified cosmetic procedures, and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed. We are taking forward work to determine which procedures will be included within the local authority licensing scheme and what requirements will have to be met in order to be granted a licence. The proposals will be developed through further stakeholder engagement and public consultation before being taken forward through secondary legislation and the requisite parliamentary processes.

Further details of the Government’s commitments are available in the Government’s response to the 2023 consultation on the GOV.UK website.

The Government is committed to addressing longstanding concerns around the safety of the cosmetics sector. On 7 August we announced our plans to introduce further regulation in this space.

In the first instance, the Government will prioritise the introduction of legal restrictions to ensure that cosmetic procedures that are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public, such as the liquid Brazilian butt lift, are classed as Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities. The new restrictions will mean that these procedures will only be permitted to be performed by suitably qualified regulated healthcare professionals, working for providers who are registered with the CQC. We are working with stakeholders to develop our plans in this space and intend to consult on proposals for restrictions around the performance of the highest risk procedures in spring 2026.

The Government has also committed to legislating to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022. Under this scheme, which will be operated by local authorities, practitioners will be required to obtain a licence to perform specified cosmetic procedures, and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed. We are taking forward work to determine which procedures will be included within the local authority licensing scheme and what requirements will have to be met in order to be granted a licence. The proposals will be developed through further stakeholder engagement and public consultation before being taken forward through secondary legislation and the requisite parliamentary processes.

Further details of the Government’s commitments are available in the Government’s response to the 2023 consultation on the GOV.UK website.

The Government remains committed to the 2% National Health Service productivity growth target, as set out in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement. This ambition is central to ensuring that the NHS can sustainably meet rising demand.

Recent data indicates good progress. NHS England’s latest estimates show productivity growth of 2.4% between April to July 2025, building on a 2.7% increase in 2024/25. While challenges remain, such as industrial action, these figures, which focus on the acute sector where data quality is strongest, suggest the NHS is on track to meet its productivity commitments.

Following the publication of the Leng Review recommendations on 16 July 2025, NHS England has updated the eligibility criteria for the preceptorship in primary care for physician assistants (PAs), which are still legally known as physician associates.

In line with the recommendation that newly qualified PAs should gain at least two years of experience in secondary care, the scheme is only open to qualified PAs already employed in primary care, as of 16 July 2025, who have not undertaken a PA preceptorship.

NHS England has published a frequently asked questions document, a copy of which is attached, to provide further information and guidance on the implementation of The Leng Review. This confirms that the scheme will be honoured and continue for those employers and PAs currently participating in the programme this financial year.

The Department is establishing Young Futures Hubs to bring together services that improve access to opportunities and support for children and young people in community settings, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

Since 2024/25, 24 Early Support Hubs received top-up funding of £8 million to expand their early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health and to take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services.

The evaluation of the Early Support Hubs project will make a significant contribution to the design and implementation of Young Futures Hubs, ensuring that services continue to evolve to meet the needs of young people.

Young Futures Hubs will provide early wellbeing support and ensure there is no wrong front door for children and young people, including those aged 18 to 25 years old, seeking mental health help. Hubs will direct individuals to National Health Service mental health services where more specialist support is required.

The hubs will be designed in partnership with local areas, drawing on local understanding of need and the landscape of existing services. The Government aims to establish 50 hubs over the next four years in the places where they will have the greatest impact. The first eight Young Futures Hubs will launch by the end of this financial year, supported by £2 million of investment.

Also, we will accelerate the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029.

The Department is establishing Young Futures Hubs to bring together services that improve access to opportunities and support for children and young people in community settings, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.

Since 2024/25, 24 Early Support Hubs received top-up funding of £8 million to expand their early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health and to take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services.

The evaluation of the Early Support Hubs project will make a significant contribution to the design and implementation of Young Futures Hubs, ensuring that services continue to evolve to meet the needs of young people.

Young Futures Hubs will provide early wellbeing support and ensure there is no wrong front door for children and young people, including those aged 18 to 25 years old, seeking mental health help. Hubs will direct individuals to National Health Service mental health services where more specialist support is required.

The hubs will be designed in partnership with local areas, drawing on local understanding of need and the landscape of existing services. The Government aims to establish 50 hubs over the next four years in the places where they will have the greatest impact. The first eight Young Futures Hubs will launch by the end of this financial year, supported by £2 million of investment.

Also, we will accelerate the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029.

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.

The Department has made no assessment of the impact of National Health Service staff undertaking additional work in private hospitals on NHS workforce capacity.

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.

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.

We do not hold specific data on the impact of recent divestments on local economies, including in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire, specifically.

We know this has been a challenging time for the life sciences sector, with commercial uncertainty and global competition driving recent divestment decisions. To address this, the Government has agreed a landmark trade deal with the United States which makes the United Kingdom the only country in the world to secure a zero percent tariff on pharmaceutical exports to the US, and preferential terms for medical technology exports. The Government is further securing the confidence of the pharmaceutical industry by committing to invest approximately 25% more in innovative, safe, and effective treatments, which will be the first major increase in over two decades.

We will continue to work with industry to deliver our Life Sciences Sector Plan, improve the commercial environment, and bring the benefits of a growing life sciences sector to local economies across the country.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Whilst there are currently no plans to develop a dental health research strategy, the NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dental research. 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.

The Department, through the NIHR, funds clinical academic training for doctors and dentists through the Integrated Academic Training Programme. This includes Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACFs) at the pre-doctoral level and Clinical Lectureships (CLs) at the post-doctoral level. Over the last five years, 91 ACFs and 24 CLs were recruited in dentistry.

The Department also funds the NIHR Oral Health Research Incubator, which is a researcher-led initiative aimed at building dental research capacity at the national level.

Ongoing research at Newcastle University is investigating the roles and skill utilisation of professionals in dental practice.

In addition, investments in NIHR infrastructure support the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research that is funded by the NIHR’s research programmes, other public funders of research, charities, and the life sciences industry. For example, through the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre’s Oral and Dental Medicine research theme.

No organisations hold a statutory responsibility specifically to monitor or evaluate the rates of the successful adoption and spread of health innovation in the National Health Service. However, the NHS Business Services Authority, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences, publishes the Innovation Scorecard every six months. This is of significant use to the NHS and has been published since January 2013.

The Innovation Scorecard reports on the use of medicines and medicine groupings in the NHS in England, which have been positively appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It reveals what NICE-recommended treatments are available at a local level within trusts and integrated care boards, as well as at national and NHS England region levels. Data limitations mean it cannot be used for performance management, but it does allow the NHS to identify variation, which, through discussion, can be explained, challenged, or acted upon.

Several organisations organise additional detailed evaluations for specific groups of health innovations. For example, the Health Innovation Network (HIN) oversees numerous national programmes which monitor the uptake and spread of selected health innovations. This helps them, and NHS England, determine how best to improve the uptake of these innovations.

Regionally, HINs also undertake monitoring and evaluation for selected innovations that they support. Integrated care boards and providers may also choose to conduct their own evaluations, using local data to understand whether innovations deliver expected improvements in outcomes or efficiency.

The information requested is not held centrally. All deaths of children and young people under the care of Tier 4 inpatient children and young people’s mental health services are routinely reported to the Department via NHS England. Such deaths are also notified to the Care Quality Commission and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.

Since 2019, there have been a total of 23 deaths of young people aged under 18 years old in contact with Tier 4 services, including those on home leave, or who had absconded. We are unable to provide the information broken down by year, as the annual data held by NHS England includes a small patient count of fewer than five cases which could lead to the identification of individuals.

All providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission of the deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The following table shows the number of deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act notified to the Care Quality Commission in the last five years:

Source: the Care Quality Commission

Notes:

1. this data does not include deaths in mental health inpatient settings where the patient was not detained under the Mental Health Act; and
2. data for 2025 is up to 2 December 2025.

This data is counts of notifications to the Care Quality Commission under Regulation 17 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, Notification of death or unauthorised absence of a service user who is detained or liable to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

From a medicines perspective, additives in medicines, termed excipients, are required to comply with the standards laid down in pharmacopeial monographs and can only be included in medicinal products at levels that are considered to be safe.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is aware of general concerns in relation to the presence of asbestos in talcum powder. However, pharmaceutical grade talc has strict controls on the presence of asbestos. The British Pharmacopeia monograph for Purified Talc states that “Talc derived from deposits that are known to contain associated asbestos is not suitable for pharmaceutical use”. Furthermore, testing is required to confirm the absence of asbestos.

NHS Supply Chain procurement activities require suppliers to comply with United Kingdom regulatory requirements such as the United Kingdom Accreditation Service or international equivalent accreditation for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 and ISO 13485, to ensure that products procured under NHS Supply Chain frameworks and used within the National Health Service in England are subject to rigorous safety assessments.

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.

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:

• driving positive behavioural change;
• exploring new commercial incentives to provide circular medtech, including value-based procurement;
• creating new standards to enable innovative products and services;
• planning the decontamination and recycling infrastructure of the future; and
• establishing new collaborations to accelerate the emergence of transformative science.

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.

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:

• driving positive behavioural change;
• exploring new commercial incentives to provide circular medtech, including value-based procurement;
• creating new standards to enable innovative products and services;
• planning the decontamination and recycling infrastructure of the future; and
• establishing new collaborations to accelerate the emergence of transformative science.

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.

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:

• driving positive behavioural change;
• exploring new commercial incentives to provide circular medtech, including value-based procurement;
• creating new standards to enable innovative products and services;
• planning the decontamination and recycling infrastructure of the future; and
• establishing new collaborations to accelerate the emergence of transformative science.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

We welcome the Chief Medical Officer’s report on the health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure National Health Service estate in England and we are carefully considering the findings and recommendations.

The Department is committed to working with partners to reduce health inequalities for prisoners and is a signatory of the National Partnership Agreement which supports commissioning and delivery of appropriate service in prisons. We recognise that there is more we need to do to address health issues for this cohort. In addition, NHS England is updating all 19 health and justice service specifications by March 2026, which should provide opportunities to improve healthcare in prisons.

With specific regard to improving access to effective drug treatment and support services across the criminal justice pathway, including upon release from custody, the Department works closely with national partners and with local authorities to improve continuity of care between prison and community drug and alcohol treatment systems. To support this the Department has published a continuity of care self-assessment toolkit and shares actionable data and good practice with drug and alcohol partnerships on a regular basis. The toolkit is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/continuity-of-care-from-prison-to-community-self-assessment-tool

We welcome the Chief Medical Officer’s report on the health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure National Health Service estate in England and we are carefully considering the findings and recommendations.

The Department is committed to working with partners to reduce health inequalities for prisoners and is a signatory of the National Partnership Agreement which supports commissioning and delivery of appropriate service in prisons. We recognise that there is more we need to do to address health issues for this cohort. In addition, NHS England is updating all 19 health and justice service specifications by March 2026, which should provide opportunities to improve healthcare in prisons.

With specific regard to improving access to effective drug treatment and support services across the criminal justice pathway, including upon release from custody, the Department works closely with national partners and with local authorities to improve continuity of care between prison and community drug and alcohol treatment systems. To support this the Department has published a continuity of care self-assessment toolkit and shares actionable data and good practice with drug and alcohol partnerships on a regular basis. The toolkit is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/continuity-of-care-from-prison-to-community-self-assessment-tool