Department of Health and Social Care

This specific assessment has not been made. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met regularly with unions to help rebuild the relationship between the Government and National Health Service staff.

Whilst we will continue to use the Pay Review Bodies to set pay, we have listened to union concerns about the process, which is why we have committed to remitting in July this year, with an ambition to announce and implement uplifts as early as possible in 2026/27.

The table attached shows the estimated average increases to basic pay, where these were based on pay review body recommendations for members of the Hospital and Community Health Sector workforce in England, as well as the average consumer price index inflation for each year since 2010/11.

In 2011/12 and 2012/13, the pay review bodies were stood down. Between 2013/14 and 2017/18, the pay review bodies reported, but headline recommendations were determined by public sector pay policy.

As independent contractors, it is for general practice partners to determine uplifts in pay for themselves and their employees. As dental practices are similarly private businesses, it falls to them to set employee pay and conditions.

Each year, the Government sets out the funds available to the Department, and in reaching their conclusions, pay review bodies take careful account of economic and other evidence submitted by employers, the Government, unions, and others.

There have been no formal considerations for the implementation of a Sponsored Reserve model within the National Health Service. The Department of Health and Social Care, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence, is focused on growing and maintaining the Active Armed Forces reserve and works with NHS organisations to enable individuals to train and deploy when needed.

There are no current plans to make these specific assessments. The Government is committed to a credible, independent Pay Review Body (PRB) process as the right mechanism to recommend annual pay increases for most public sector staff. In her statement on the public finances on 29 July 2024, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the Government wished to continue to use the PRB process.

The role of the NHS Pay Review Body and the Dentists and Doctors Pay Review Body is to make recommendations to the Prime Minister and ministers on the annual pay award for National Health Service staff and other related matters within their remit. They act independently of the Government.

The PRBs lay out in their reports the reasoning for their recommended awards based on their terms of reference. In reaching their recommendations, the review bodies have regard to recruitment and retention and are required to take careful account of the economic and other evidence submitted by the Government, trades unions, representatives of NHS employers, and others.

The Government is not bound by PRB recommendations, and it's for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to decide how to respond to the recommendations of PRBs for the NHS in England.

There are no current plans to make these specific assessments. The Government is committed to a credible, independent Pay Review Body (PRB) process as the right mechanism to recommend annual pay increases for most public sector staff. In her statement on the public finances on 29 July 2024, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the Government wished to continue to use the PRB process.

The role of the NHS Pay Review Body and the Dentists and Doctors Pay Review Body is to make recommendations to the Prime Minister and ministers on the annual pay award for National Health Service staff and other related matters within their remit. They act independently of the Government.

The PRBs lay out in their reports the reasoning for their recommended awards based on their terms of reference. In reaching their recommendations, the review bodies have regard to recruitment and retention and are required to take careful account of the economic and other evidence submitted by the Government, trades unions, representatives of NHS employers, and others.

The Government is not bound by PRB recommendations, and it's for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to decide how to respond to the recommendations of PRBs for the NHS in England.

NHS England has asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health and care services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure, with the expectation of achieving a reduction in their running cost allowance. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts in a letter on 1 April 2025. This letter is available at the following:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/

These changes will form part of a package of measures, including the forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan, that positively impact on patient care and safety by driving quality of care, productivity, and innovation in the NHS. ICBs will continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and NHS England’s transformation team will continue to work with ICBs to develop their plans and to ensure implementation of the changes, whilst maintaining a focus on patient safety.

The Department has no plans to make such an assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has an established prioritisation process overseen by a prioritisation board, for the identification of priorities for guidance development. Anyone is able to suggest a topic through the NICE website, at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/forms/topic-suggestion

The licensed dopamine agonist medicines that are indicated for the treatment of restless leg syndrome are ropinirole, pramipexole, and rotigotine. Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by healthcare professionals and National Health Service commissioners, based on an assessment of the available evidence, taking into account national guidance and advice, such as Clinical Knowledge Summaries.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists. There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.

We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.

The Government has now published the independent review of the data, statistics, and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous administration.

The Sullivan Review sets out a number of recommendations in relation to the collection of data on sex and gender identity, many of which are already being addressed.

We have been clear that we must deliver safe and holistic care for both adults and children when it comes to gender, and that means accurately recording biological sex, not just for research and insight, but also for patient safety.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with long-term conditions, including motor neurone disease (MND) services. ICBs are allocated funding by NHS England to meet local need and priorities, and improve outcomes. The NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB oversees healthcare services in the region, including in the Fylde area. NHS England continues to set national standards, service specifications, and clinical access policies, which ICBs are expected to apply.

At the national level, there are several initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with MND, including those patients in the Fylde constituency. These initiatives include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support ICBs to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with MND.

NHS England commissions the specialised elements of MND care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. Within these specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure that patients can access a range of health professionals and specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

Government responsibility for delivering MND research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation. Government funders are continuing to invest into MND research, for example: investing £12.5 million to support the best discovery science in MND at the UK Dementia Research Institute; £6 million of Government funding for the Motor Neurone Disease Translational Accelerator, which is seeking to speed up the development of treatments for MND; and £8 million investment into EXPERTS-ALS, which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND.

The National Health Service provides a comprehensive service, available to all patients including transgender patients. This principle is established as part of the NHS Constitution and the Supreme Court ruling does not impact this commitment.

We are clear that all patients should feel comfortable and confident to access the services they need. Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by the Government, and trusts should follow the clarity the recent Supreme Court ruling in the For Women Scotland case provides.

The NHS is currently reviewing its ‘Delivering same-sex accommodation’ guidance. Ministers have been clear that this needs to be done as soon as possible and we will be working closely with the NHS to ensure we provide NHS organisations with the guidance they need.

The 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service will make it fit for the future. It will describe a shared vision for the health and care system in 2035, drawing directly from the extensive engagement we have undertaken with the public, patients and staff. We are in the final stages of working on the plan and will publish it in summer 2025.

The National Cancer Plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, research, and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, including improving diagnostic performance.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

Full roll out of non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways, designed to speed up the diagnosis of cancer, has been achieved across England. NSS pathways introduce a route to possible diagnosis for patients who display symptoms that could indicate cancer, but which do not align to specific cancers. The new non-specific pathway complements current cancer diagnostic pathways, as well as providing elements that can be applied to existing pathways.

Additionally, general practice (GP) direct access enables GPs to directly request diagnostic tests, including several imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, x-ray, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, rather than first requiring a patient be referred to a specialist in an outpatient appointment. Performing diagnostic tests at this stage ensures that patients receive test results more quickly.

The most recent data from the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 6 February 2024 to 7 March 2024, an estimated two million people, or 3.3% of the population, in private households in England and Scotland, self-reported experiencing long COVID symptoms more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. The following table shows a breakdown of this figure by age group:

While no estimate has been made specifically for Lancashire, the same dataset from the ONS estimated 270,939 people of all ages self-reporting experiencing long COVID symptoms in the North West of England region in that same time period.

The most recent data from the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 6 February 2024 to 7 March 2024, an estimated two million people, or 3.3% of the population, in private households in England and Scotland, self-reported experiencing long COVID symptoms more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. The following table shows a breakdown of this figure by age group:

While no estimate has been made specifically for Lancashire, the same dataset from the ONS estimated 270,939 people of all ages self-reporting experiencing long COVID symptoms in the North West of England region in that same time period.

The Government is committed to implementing advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online, as part of its ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.

The decision to exempt brand advertising from these restrictions was made following consultation, and was understood and agreed by Parliament during the passage of the Health and Care Bill.

The position of the Government has been consistent, and on 7 April we re-confirmed our view that brand advertising is not in scope of this policy, as the legislation only restricts adverts that could reasonably be considered to be for identifiable less healthy products.

Industry raised significant concerns in response to the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) draft implementation guidance published for consultation in February. We are aware that many brands have prepared advertising campaigns in good faith ahead of the restrictions’ current coming into force date of 1 October 2025, and remain concerned about how these adverts will be affected by the ASA’s implementation guidance.

There were several meetings between ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. These discussions culminated in setting out a resolution in our statement of 22 May. We announced that the Government will explicitly exempt ‘brand advertising’ from the advertising restrictions. This is to avoid pigeon-holing brands as less healthy, and instead encouraging brands to reformulate their products and offer healthier options.

Providing this legal clarification on the policy’s intention will provide certainty to industry and will support businesses to invest in advertising with confidence, while ensuring that we deliver on our commitment and protect children from further exposure to junk food advertising and the lifelong harms of obesity.

The Government is committed to implementing advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online, as part of its ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.

The decision to exempt brand advertising from these restrictions was made following consultation, and was understood and agreed by Parliament during the passage of the Health and Care Bill.

The position of the Government has been consistent, and on 7 April we re-confirmed our view that brand advertising is not in scope of this policy, as the legislation only restricts adverts that could reasonably be considered to be for identifiable less healthy products.

Industry raised significant concerns in response to the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) draft implementation guidance published for consultation in February. We are aware that many brands have prepared advertising campaigns in good faith ahead of the restrictions’ current coming into force date of 1 October 2025, and remain concerned about how these adverts will be affected by the ASA’s implementation guidance.

There were several meetings between ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. These discussions culminated in setting out a resolution in our statement of 22 May. We announced that the Government will explicitly exempt ‘brand advertising’ from the advertising restrictions. This is to avoid pigeon-holing brands as less healthy, and instead encouraging brands to reformulate their products and offer healthier options.

Providing this legal clarification on the policy’s intention will provide certainty to industry and will support businesses to invest in advertising with confidence, while ensuring that we deliver on our commitment and protect children from further exposure to junk food advertising and the lifelong harms of obesity.

The Government is committed to implementing advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online, as part of its ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.

The decision to exempt brand advertising from these restrictions was made following consultation, and was understood and agreed by Parliament during the passage of the Health and Care Bill.

The position of the Government has been consistent, and on 7 April we re-confirmed our view that brand advertising is not in scope of this policy, as the legislation only restricts adverts that could reasonably be considered to be for identifiable less healthy products.

Industry raised significant concerns in response to the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) draft implementation guidance published for consultation in February. We are aware that many brands have prepared advertising campaigns in good faith ahead of the restrictions’ current coming into force date of 1 October 2025, and remain concerned about how these adverts will be affected by the ASA’s implementation guidance.

There were several meetings between ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. These discussions culminated in setting out a resolution in our statement of 22 May. We announced that the Government will explicitly exempt ‘brand advertising’ from the advertising restrictions. This is to avoid pigeon-holing brands as less healthy, and instead encouraging brands to reformulate their products and offer healthier options.

Providing this legal clarification on the policy’s intention will provide certainty to industry and will support businesses to invest in advertising with confidence, while ensuring that we deliver on our commitment and protect children from further exposure to junk food advertising and the lifelong harms of obesity.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including rare and less common cancers, earlier, in order to improve outcomes, including survival rates.

We are streamlining referral routes and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres. Additionally, we are streamlining referral routes through the implementation of a non-specific symptom pathway, for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.

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

The National Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis, including GP referral for suspected cancer. The plan will also consider how we can better identify and monitor people at increased risk of developing cancer.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

To date, no assessment has been made. The Supreme Court’s ruling about the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Acy 2010 case has provided much needed confidence and clarity to service providers.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on the text for an updated statutory code of practice, which will close on 30 June 2025. We will consider any further implications following the outcome.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has developed and published many materials on the FSA website to support businesses to meet the requirements set out in food hygiene legislation. The website is available at the following link:

http://www.food.gov.uk/

We know that small and micro businesses can face additional challenges when trying to access and understand legal requirements, so there are several free tools which have been designed to guide small and micro businesses including Safer Food Better Business (SFBB), as well as Safe Catering Guidance for Northern Ireland.

The practical and easy-to-use packs will help small businesses to:

- comply with food hygiene regulations;

- show what they need do to make and store food safely including how to clean effectively;

- train staff and support them to use good hygiene practices;

- protect business's reputation; and

- improve food hygiene rating scores.

There are also additional supplementary packs for SFBB available to support sectors such as childminders, residential care homes, retailers, and businesses serving Indian and Chinese cuisines.

In addition, the FSA website has a dedicated Business Guidance section which provides information such as how to start a food business safely, starting a food business from home and selling food for delivery. It hosts free online food safety courses on allergen management and root cause analysis.

The FSA regularly runs campaigns across various social media platforms to inform food businesses of the available materials to support their compliance with hygiene requirements.

We are committed to ensuring equitably accessible, high-quality services, for any patient who requires Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. NHS England set out their assessment of service requirements in their commissioning intentions during the public consultation which took place in September 2024. The reconfiguration of services ensures service provision which meets optimal time to treatment guidelines, in which providers must be located no more than four hours, based on 200 miles radial distance, from the coast and four hours from the next nearest commissioned provider. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reviewing-hyperbaric-oxygen-services-consultation-guide/

We actively encourage individuals and organisations to register as stakeholders to ensure a full range of views are included in any service developments. Stakeholders can register their interest in services commissioned by NHS England on their website, which includes a special interest group for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. The website is available at the following link:

https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/application/crg-stakeholder-reg-april-2019/

Any individuals or organisations who sign up are kept informed when NHS England engages on potential changes to the way that these services are commissioned. NHS England also encourages stakeholders to cascade invitations to provide feedback across their networks.

NHS England consulted with a range of stakeholders in the update of the service specification in line with the published Full Methods Process which requires clinically led design, full public consultation and targeted stakeholder engagement. The methods process is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/methods-national-service-specifications/

The engagement report for this service includes the range of stakeholders who provided feedback on the specification and the service model, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-engagement-report-November-2024.pdf

Involving the relevant patient advocacy organisations, including people with lived experience of restless legs syndrome, is central to developing our policies for the National Health Service, to improve patients’ experience of services.

The consultation on our 10-Year Health Plan received over 270,000 contributions, including responses from NHS staff and patients. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.

The Department has also convened a new United Kingdom wide neuro forum, which brings together the devolved administrations, health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four UK nations. The forum will share learnings across the UK, and will discuss important neurology service transformation and workforce challenges, as well as best practice examples and potential solutions.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has not developed any guidelines on the diagnosis and/or management of restless legs syndrome, but has commissioned a Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS) on the diagnosis and clinical management of restless legs syndrome, updated in February 2025, which can be used as a source of information for healthcare professionals, and which is available at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/restless-legs-syndrome/

CKS topics are written by an expert multidisciplinary team with experience of primary care, supported by a network of specialist external reviewers.

The Department is working to develop a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve the diagnosis and detection of less survivable cancers.

As set out in the new plan for reforming elective care, the Government is committed to improving diagnostic capacity for cancer patients. Providers have been asked to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres (CDCs) and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the NHS Constitution standard for diagnostics and the cancer faster diagnosis standard, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer and to start treatment.

The 2025/26 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support National Health Service performance across secondary and emergency care across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £0.6 billion which has been provisionally allocated for interventions to increase diagnostic capacity, including expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new CDCs in 2025/26.

To expand diagnostic capacity in the non-specific symptom pathway (NSS), the NHS is rolling out rapid diagnostic centres (RDC) as part of the NSS pathway, where patients suspected of having cancer can get the right tests at the right time in as few visits as possible. RDC pathways promote the continuous improvement of cancer diagnostics.

The NHS is also expanding direct access to diagnostic scans across all general practices through the national roll out of fast track testing, helping to cut waiting times and speed up cancer diagnosis or cancer all-clear for patients, including developing and delivering at least 10 straight-to-test pathways by March 2026.

The Government is supporting NHS England to ensure that information on diagnoses and treatment, including cancer test results, are shared between services routinely and in a timely manner.

NHS England has been supporting National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in acquiring and developing the effectiveness of their electronic patient records, and support is available to bring trusts to an optimum level of digital maturity which will further reduce barriers to the sharing of information needed to treat patients. Further information can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/data-and-clinical-record-sharing/

The Department supported the NHS’s Connecting Care Records programme which joins up information based on the individual rather than through one organisation. Through targeted investment, local Connecting Care Record systems have been established in all integrated commissioning board areas. 97% of trusts and 92% of primary care networks are now connected, in order to share information such as medications, allergies, test results, and clinical correspondence.

Furthermore, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced the intention for there to be a single patient record which would provide a comprehensive patient record, reducing duplication when patients have to repeat their medical history when interacting with the NHS.

The Department continues to advise patients to follow National Health Service guidance on reducing the risk of skin cancer. This advice is available publicly on the NHS website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/melanoma-skin-cancer/

NHS England run Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement and crack down on rogue retailers selling illegal and unregulated vape products to children and young people. The bill introduces new £200 fixed penalty notices in England and Wales for certain tobacco and vape offences, including underage sales, enables the introduction of a retail licensing scheme in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and enables the introduction of a new registration scheme for tobacco, vape, and nicotine products sold in the United Kingdom’s market.

The Government is investing £10 million of new funding in 2025/26 into Trading Standards, to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales in England, and to support the implementation of the measures in the bill. This funding is being used to boost the Trading Standards workforce by recruiting approximately 80 new apprentices. The new funding will also support the storage and recycling of seized illicit vapes, the additional work to identify and seize illicit vape consignments at ports, and the training of Trading Standards officers on the new single use vapes ban.

The devolved administrations will need to fund the delivery of the devolved measures in the bill for their nations. The Barnett formula will apply in the usual way, and it is for the devolved administrations to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit.

The introduction of a new Vaping Products Duty in October 2026 will provide civil and criminal powers to HM Revenue and Customs, in order to assess for duty and seize products and equipment used to produce or transport illicit vape products.

Preventing diabetes is a complex task, and requires multi-faceted action. Prevention involves collaboration in order to tackle the underlying issues such obesity, poor diets, and lifestyle issues. We have several programmes in place to help reduce the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, such as the NHS Health Check, England’s flagship cardiovascular disease programme for those aged 40 to 74 years old, which aims to identify people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and some cases of dementia, in order to signpost them to behavioural support such as weight management and clinical treatment if needed.

Furthermore, those identified of being at risk of developing type 2 diabetes can be referred to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, a nine-month programme that supports people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes to reduce their risk through changing their behavior. The programme is highly effective, cutting the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 37% for people completing the programme, compared to those who do not attend.

For those young adults, those aged 18 years old and over, who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and who are overweight or obese, the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme is also available. The programme supports individuals to lose weight, improve their blood sugar levels, reduce diabetes-related medication, and put their diabetes into remission. 32% of patients who completed this programme had put their type 2 diabetes into remission following participation. Further information on the programme is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/treatment-care/diabetes-remission/

For patients with established diabetes, NHS England achieved their long-term plan objective that 20% of all type 1 diabetes patients are in receipt of flash glucose monitoring as of April 2021. Progress continues to be made for patients with type 1 diabetes, with over 65% of people currently using flash glucose monitoring to help manage their condition. NHS England can confirm that over 200,000 eligible people living with diabetes benefit from real-time continuous glucose monitoring.

Furthermore, following the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) recommendations on access to hybrid closed loop (HCL) technology last year, NICE and NHS England agreed on a phased implementation period for HCL over five-years, with roll-out commencing in April 2024.

All adults with diabetes are recommended, as prescribed by NICE, to enroll in the eight annual health checks, which include: blood sugars (HbA1c); blood pressure; cholesterol; foot examination; kidney function; urinary albumin; body mass index; and smoking. Adherence to these checks have been associated with reduced emergency admissions, amputations, retinopathy, and mortality. The proportion of people with type 1 diabetes who are receiving all eight care processes had recovered back to 43.3% in 2023/24 and 62.3% for type 2 diabetes, compared to 27% and 37%, respectively, in 2020/21.

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 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has developed interventional procedures guidance on high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for prostate cancer and focal therapy using HIFU for localised prostate cancer. This type of guidance considers if interventional procedures are safe and work well enough for wider use in the National Health Service, and both pieces of guidance acknowledge that there is a lack of evidence on quality-of-life benefits and long-term survival.

The NICE’s guidelines recommend that HIFU should not be offered to people with localised or locally advanced prostate cancer, other than in the context of controlled clinical trials comparing their use with established interventions.

Following publication of the 2024 to 2029 UK AMR National Action Plan in May 2024, the Department is preparing the first annual report, summarising the progress made to date.

The organisations responsible for delivery provide regular updates to the Department, and the appropriate governance structures ensure that delivery is kept on track and that progress is being made on the national action plan’s commitments and targets, alongside managing programme risks.

The Department has also commissioned an evaluation of the 2024 to 2029 UK AMR National Action Plan, which will assess the implementation of antimicrobial resistance policy, provide evidence on the effectiveness of the national action plan, and inform future antimicrobial resistance policy development and implementation.

NHS England is committed to providing equitable access to breast screening services for eligible women aged 50 years old and over across the country, including in West London.

In West London, women aged 50 to 70 years old are invited for breast screening every three years as part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, to the screening sites at the West of London Breast Screening Service (WOLBSS). There has been a surge in demand recently, following the disruption caused during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address the increased demand for screening services post-COVID recovery, NHS England is working with the WOLBSS to improve appointment availability. This includes extending clinic hours, offering weekend clinics, investing in workforce recruitment and training, and targeting areas with lower screening uptake.

The information requested on average waiting times is not held centrally for screening mammograms.

NHS England is committed to providing equitable access to breast screening services for eligible women aged 50 years old and over across the country, including in West London.

In West London, women aged 50 to 70 years old are invited for breast screening every three years as part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, to the screening sites at the West of London Breast Screening Service (WOLBSS). There has been a surge in demand recently, following the disruption caused during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address the increased demand for screening services post-COVID recovery, NHS England is working with the WOLBSS to improve appointment availability. This includes extending clinic hours, offering weekend clinics, investing in workforce recruitment and training, and targeting areas with lower screening uptake.

The information requested on average waiting times is not held centrally for screening mammograms.

The long-term evaluations of Sure Start show large-scale, holistic interventions can be effective in improving children’s health, reducing hospitalisations, and delivering positive impacts on long-term health and development outcomes.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme builds on lessons learned from Sure Start about the benefits of integrated, multi-agency workforce and place-based support to improve baby and child health outcomes. The programme places health services at the heart of support for families, particularly for babies, from conception to the age of two years old.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is being extended in 2025/26, with £126 million being made available for families to deliver on the Plan for Change and to give every child the best start in life.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing the local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and for commissioning services to meet those needs. In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26, the Department is providing Lincolnshire with £3,382,494 from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant and £217,783 from the Individual Placement and Support grant to improve drug and alcohol services and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. All funding is provided at the Lincolnshire level, and it is for Lincolnshire County Council to determine how to meet need in South Holland and The Deepings.

Alongside the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we are increasing our efforts to support smokers to quit and have invested an additional £70 million in 2024/25 and 2025/26 for all local authority commissioned stop smoking services in England. In each financial year, Lincolnshire has been allocated £1.1 million to invest in local stop smoking services, in addition to existing spend on these services from the Public Health Grant. The purpose of this investment is to boost capacity and demand for evidence-based support to quit smoking, and ensure we secure a smoke-free United Kingdom where no one is left behind.

In April 2025, a new statutory levy on gambling operators, expected to raise around £100 million per year, was introduced to fund the research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms. The levy will be distributed across the three workstreams with 50% allocated to NHS England, alongside appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, to commission the development of effective treatment and support services at national and sub-national levels.

The Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, to ensure the retention of our hardworking and dedicated staff, including oncologists and radiologists.

The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve outcomes for people living with cancer. Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients. We will continue to ensure that we train the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it, and the cancer plan will reflect this.

NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, including supporting staff wellbeing, focusing on improving organisational culture, and promoting flexible working opportunities. Partial retirement is now also available as an alternative to full retirement, enabling NHS staff, with the agreement of their employer, to draw down some or all their pension whilst continuing to work and build up further pension, subject to a reduction in pensionable pay.

The Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, to ensure the retention of our hardworking and dedicated staff, including oncologists and radiologists.

The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve outcomes for people living with cancer. Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients. We will continue to ensure that we train the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it, and the cancer plan will reflect this.

NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, including supporting staff wellbeing, focusing on improving organisational culture, and promoting flexible working opportunities. Partial retirement is now also available as an alternative to full retirement, enabling NHS staff, with the agreement of their employer, to draw down some or all their pension whilst continuing to work and build up further pension, subject to a reduction in pensionable pay.

As of 6 June 2025, the Department has five civil servants without a permanent assigned post. These individuals are undertaking temporary assignments until a permanent post can be found. The Department does not hold any of the equivalent programme categories as requested, from people action team to skills match hub. As such, no individuals are allocated to these.