Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data collection exists on the outcomes of people with a dementia diagnosis in care home settings.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England collects and publishes data about people with dementia registered at each general practice (GP) in England. Dementia diagnosis counts are published with ethnicity and age breakdowns, prescriptions of anti-psychotic medications, and record of receiving a care plan review. Diagnosis rates are calculated by comparing recorded diagnoses to estimated dementia prevalence.
From April 2023 data has also been collected on counts of patients on the GP’s dementia register which are aggregated into the following residential types:
- residential care home;
- nursing home;
- private residence;
- no permanent address;
- other residential type; and
- inconclusive residential type.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on implementing the £500 million fair pay agreement for adult social care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The consultation on the design of the Fair Pay Agreement process has now closed, however the Easy Read version remains open until 6 March to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute. We are analysing the responses and will set out our formal response in due course.
We expect regulations establishing the negotiating body, bringing together employer and employee representatives, will be laid in 2026. We expect negotiations will be held in 2027. Once an agreement on how the funding should be spent has been reached, the Fair Pay Agreement will be implemented in 2028.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many households in (i) Fylde constituency and (ii) across Lancashire will benefit from the Disabled Facilities Grant in 2026–27.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have recently confirmed funding of £723 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) in England in 2026/27. The full list of allocations, including for Fylde and Lancashire, can be found at the following link:
We do not know how many households will benefit in Fylde and Lancashire specifically, as- people apply for the grant locally and it is up to each local authority to manage their allocation whilst meeting their statutory duties. In 2024/25, the DFG supported nearly 60,000 people nationally to make adaptations to their homes, with an average grant of approximately £10,000.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations will replace Healthwatch Dudley; and how health and social care will be monitored in Dudley borough.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape report published in July 2025, and in the 10-Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, the statutory functions of local Healthwatch bodies will be transferred to integrated care boards (ICBs) for health, and to local authorities (LAs) for social care.
Both ICBs and LAs will be required to demonstrate how they have gathered patient and user feedback, including and how this has fed into their strategic planning.
To further ensure that the patient voice is at the heart of planning considerations, as part of their regulatory role, the Care Quality Commission will assess whether every commissioner and provider is listening to the views of local people.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is planning to take to inform each children's hospice of its share of NHS funding; and what his planned timetable is for this.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s hospices and integrated care boards will be informed of their children and young people’s hospice grant allocations for 2026/27 imminently. Communication regarding future allocations, for 2027/28 and 2028/29, will be sent once the 2026/27 process is complete.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the effectiveness of the assessment process for NHS Continuing Healthcare in ensuring that decisions are based on sufficient clinical evidence; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that assessments are carried out and validated by a minimum of two independent medical practitioners.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs), with oversight from NHS England. NHS England’s assurance regime promotes accurate assessment, equal access, and consistency within CHC delivery.
Eligibility for CHC is determined through a two-stage assessment process. The second stage is carried out by a multidisciplinary team. The legislation for CHC sets out that the multidisciplinary team must include a minimum of two health professionals or one health and one social care professional. The multidisciplinary team should also ideally include someone with specialist knowledge about the individual’s health and social care needs.
As part of the assessment, the multidisciplinary team review evidence such as the individual’s medical records, examinations, and assessments using a standardised decision support tool to help inform the eligibility decision.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent consideration he has made of the potential merits of a national workforce strategy for community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
To support community pharmacy employers in developing their staff and deliver quality NHS services, NHS England provides a number of funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This includes independent prescriber training, clinical examination skills, and training the next generation of education supervisors.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with representative organisations, including Mencap, on the adequacy of social care charging reforms.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Last year, the Prime Minister asked Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock to chair an independent commission into adult social care to look at how to build a social care system that is fit for the future, including how best to make it fair and affordable
Baroness Casey and her team have been engaging extensively, putting the voices of people who draw on care and their families at the centre of the conversation, as well as meeting with sector organisations. Later this year, the commission will also launch a national conversation to build public consensus on what adult social care should deliver for citizens.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will notify children’s hospices of allocations from the £80 million in funding announced on 16 October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s hospices and integrated care boards will be informed of their children and young people’s hospice grant allocations for 2026/27 imminently. Communication regarding future allocations, for 2027/28 and 2028/29, will be sent once the 2026/27 process is complete.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 the potential merits of including Tourette's in the independent review into mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This review focuses on mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder and therefore it will be at the Chair's discretion as to how far the review considers Tourette's with this in mind.