Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 12 March (HLWS1401), what estimate they have made of how much higher real terms NHS mental health spending in England in 2026–27 would be if mental health spending as a proportion of overall NHS spending had not been reduced since 2023–24.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, set out in his Written Ministerial Statement on expected mental health spend on 12 March, National Health Service mental health spending is forecast to reach £16.1 billion in 2026/27, a real‑terms increase of £140 million compared with 2025/26. Since 2023/24, this represents £0.9 billion of real‑terms growth in mental health investment.
The Government does not have an estimate of how much higher spending would be in real terms if the share of spend had remained consistent since 2023/24. The change in proportion of total NHS spend allocated to mental health reflects significant additional investment in other core areas of the NHS, including technology and digital transformation, strengthened general practice, and the establishment of neighbourhood health centres. These wider improvements, even if not counted as “pure” mental health spend, will deliver important benefits for mental health patients, supporting earlier intervention and addressing key drivers of long‑term mental wellbeing.
The headline share of spend measure does not capture the full range of investment supporting mental health, including significant capital funding of £473 million over the next four years for rolling out community‑based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments.
While the share of spend rose prior to 2024 to 2025, it did not in itself deliver the improvements in outcomes that patients rightly expect. That is why, as set out in the 10‑Year Health Plan and the Medium‑Term Planning Framework, the Government is shifting from input‑based requirements towards a clearer focus on the outcomes that matter most for people with mental health needs.
Improving mental health services cannot simply be about more funding. We need a new approach that reduces waiting times, improves the quality of care, and strengthens prevention and early intervention. This includes ensuring people can access a wider range of support models within and beyond the NHS, helping them receive support earlier, avoid reaching crisis, and experience better outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, of the human eggs which were harvested and frozen by vitrification from 2014-24 for social purposes, how many (1) did not thaw satisfactorily or were considered unsuitable for an attempt at fertilisation, (2) of those thawed underwent attempts at fertilisation with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and (3) of those fertilised produced viable embryos suitable for uterine transfer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it does not hold information on the method of freezing for the whole period requested, the reasons the eggs were frozen, or how many eggs did not thaw satisfactorily or were considered unsuitable and how many of the eggs thawed underwent attempts at fertilisation. The following table shows the number eggs fertilised, the number of embryos created, and the number of embryos transferred from 2014 to 2023:
Eggs fertilised | 29,029 |
Embryos created | 18,498 |
Embryos transferred | 2,949 |
Data is as recorded by the HFEA on 17 December 2025 and reflects the data on this date and therefore may change over time.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of whether the newborn screening programme is fit for purpose and screens for all conditions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Newborn Blood Spot Programme screens for ten rare but serious conditions and consistently achieves very high coverage, with the most recent figure at 98% in quarter two of 2025/26.
Coverage of babies who move into the area after birth is lower, at 83%, so the programme is less effective for this subgroup, although numbers are much smaller.
A total of 570,865 babies were screened in 2024/25, demonstrating the programme is operating effectively at scale, and the system is robust enough to deliver screening across a large cohort.
Over one million babies have been screened for severe combined immunodeficiency since the launch of the in-service evaluation (ISE) in 2017. NHS England’s report on the 30-month ISE evaluation period found that screening detected ten babies with the condition who would otherwise have gone undetected until infections developed, thus preventing serious illness.
NHS England is currently planning a large-scale ISE of screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in newborn screening services, which will help inform a future UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation on whether screening for SMA should be added to the NHS Newborn Blood Spot Screening Programme. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, asked officials to explore whether the ISE, which was due to start in January 2027, could be expanded to cover the whole of England and start earlier. It has now been confirmed that the ISE will start three months earlier, in October 2026. We will announce further updates regarding its expansion in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects to publish draft regulations on the ban on high-caffeine energy drink sales to under 16s; what lead in time she considers appropriate for vending operators; and whether the Government plans a staged implementation or any pilot programme for new enforcement technologies.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of adequacy of the level of regulation on vending operators following the implementation of the planned ban on high-caffeine energy drinks for under 16s and the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce restrictions on the sale of coffee and other high caffeine beverages to under 16s.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, whether his Department has assessed the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Vending and Automated Retail Association's estimate that over 80% of vending machines operate in closed environments without routine access for under 16s; whether his Department has assessed the proportion of vending machines that operate in closed environments without routine access for under 16 year olds; and what assessment he has made of the proportionality of applying a blanket ban of the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks through vending machines in closed settings where under 16 year olds do not have access.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what duties the proposed policy on banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16s would place on gyms supervising under 16 sessions to enforce possible vending machine restrictions; and what assessment he has made of (a) the level of customer intervention required to enforce such restrictions and (b) the potential risks of confrontation or conflict arising from those duties.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) how gyms with existing over 18 membership policies could enforce restrictions on sales via vending machines where a parent purchases a high-caffeine energy drink for a child and (b) the potential impact of this policy on predominantly adult only facilities.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains his Department's policy to restrict the age threshold to 16 for purchasing high-caffeine energy drinks; whether he is considering increasing that threshold to 18; and what assessment he has made of the compatibility of this policy with plans to lower the voting age to 16.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.