Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of digital technologies in supporting treatment and recovery services for people experiencing drug and alcohol addiction.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is continuing to invest in improvements to local alcohol and drug treatment services to ensure those in need can access high quality help and support. From 2026, all drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding will be channelled through the Public Health Grant, with over £13.45 billion allocated across three years, including £3.4 billion ringfenced for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and commissioning services to meet these needs. The Government works with local treatment systems to provide a number of digital products including guidance, subject-matter expertise and data tools to help them deliver their service.
Digital products are derived from The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System and other related health datasets and made available via a dedicated website to enable local treatment systems to monitor treatment access and better manage outcomes.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the referral to treatment clock start date is where a GP resubmits a referral following a Single Point of Access triage outcome with which they disagree; and what guidance NHS England has issued to Integrated Care Boards on the referral to treatment clock start date in these circumstances ahead of mandatory Single Point of Access triage processes taking effect from 1 April 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We're setting the Advice and Guidance (A&G) clock start so it's the same as outpatient referrals, ensuring no patient will have to wait longer for an appointment as a result of A&G
As set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework, the National Health Service will move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’ (SPoA) for all appropriate requests and referrals, excluding for urgent suspected cancer. Under the new SPoA model, if a patient needs treatment, their Referral to Treatment (RTT) clock start date will be calculated from the date the Advice and Guidance (A&G) request or referral was received by the SPoA. This is instead of the current process for A&G, where the clock start date is the date that the request or referral is converted to a treatment pathway. This will ensure that patients' waiting times are accurately reflected.
In February 2026, NHS England issued The Elective Single Point of Access: Technical Guidance for 2026/27 to integrated care boards. This provides guidance on RTT rules and quality assurance arrangements, and advice on establishing leadership and governance structures that ensure SPoA outcomes are assessed regularly. The SPoA will be supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service, which will enable NHS England to collect data on triage outcomes.
SPoA is designed to promote clinical collaboration between primary care referrers and secondary care clinicians, including by facilitating two-way communication and shared decision making. General practitioners (GPs) can re-submit a referral following a SPoA triage outcome if they have concerns about the clinical decision. Escalation routes for concerns about triage decisions will continue to operate through locally agreed referral pathways and communication processes for GPs and patients, supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service. Where patients have concerns regarding outcomes, local Patient Advice and Liaison Service teams can provide advice and support.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quality assurance arrangements NHS England has put in place for mandatory Single Point of Access triage decisions from 1 April 2026; what monitoring will be conducted of triage outcomes by specialty and provider; and how GPs and patients will be able to escalate concerns about triage decisions that they consider clinically inappropriate.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We're setting the Advice and Guidance (A&G) clock start so it's the same as outpatient referrals, ensuring no patient will have to wait longer for an appointment as a result of A&G
As set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework, the National Health Service will move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’ (SPoA) for all appropriate requests and referrals, excluding for urgent suspected cancer. Under the new SPoA model, if a patient needs treatment, their Referral to Treatment (RTT) clock start date will be calculated from the date the Advice and Guidance (A&G) request or referral was received by the SPoA. This is instead of the current process for A&G, where the clock start date is the date that the request or referral is converted to a treatment pathway. This will ensure that patients' waiting times are accurately reflected.
In February 2026, NHS England issued The Elective Single Point of Access: Technical Guidance for 2026/27 to integrated care boards. This provides guidance on RTT rules and quality assurance arrangements, and advice on establishing leadership and governance structures that ensure SPoA outcomes are assessed regularly. The SPoA will be supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service, which will enable NHS England to collect data on triage outcomes.
SPoA is designed to promote clinical collaboration between primary care referrers and secondary care clinicians, including by facilitating two-way communication and shared decision making. General practitioners (GPs) can re-submit a referral following a SPoA triage outcome if they have concerns about the clinical decision. Escalation routes for concerns about triage decisions will continue to operate through locally agreed referral pathways and communication processes for GPs and patients, supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service. Where patients have concerns regarding outcomes, local Patient Advice and Liaison Service teams can provide advice and support.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the extent to which obesity levels in England can be reduced, and (2) whether any such reduction can be driven by government action; and what steps they are taking to reduce levels of obesity in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and raising the healthiest generation of children ever.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and published impact assessments, obesity can be reduced over time through sustained improvements in diet at the population level.
The Government is taking bold action to address the obesity crisis. As part of the 10-Year Health Plan, we are consulting on applying the new Nutrient Profiling Model to the existing advertising and promotions restrictions for less healthy food and drink. Illustrative modelling published alongside the consultation suggests this could prevent almost 520,000 cases of adult obesity and over 110,000 cases of childhood obesity over time. We also announced a world first to introduce mandatory healthier food sales reporting for all large food businesses, which could reduce approximately 340,000 cases of childhood obesity, although these figures are provisional and subject to refinement through subsequent impact assessments. This is alongside existing action to restrict junk food advertising on television and online and to give councils stronger powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body Insulin: supporting safe self-administration for patients in the community with a mental health problem, published on 26 February, what steps they plan to take to ensure that vulnerable patients are appropriately supported to administer insulin safely after discharge from hospital.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is considering the Health Services Safety Investigations Body’s report and will respond to the recommendation in the report in due course.
To reduce insulin related harm, the NHS Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards. GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme, which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration.
To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework, sets out how services must effectively assess, plan, and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body Insulin: supporting safe self-administration for patients in the community with a mental health problem, published on 26 February, what assessment they have made of the risks to patient safety of inadequate assessment of a patient's ability to self-administer insulin prior to discharge from hospital
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is considering the Health Services Safety Investigations Body’s report and will respond to the recommendation in the report in due course.
To reduce insulin related harm, the NHS Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards. GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme, which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration.
To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework, sets out how services must effectively assess, plan, and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the NHS Health Check programme in identifying chronic kidney disease; and what steps they are taking to increase uptake of that programme.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Blood pressure is a risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Each year, the NHS Health Check, which is a core component of England’s CVD prevention programme, engages over 1.4 million people and identifies over 340,000 cases of high blood pressure.
Individuals who are identified with high blood pressure during their NHS Health Check are referred to their general practice for further clinical investigation who determine whether an individual should be tested for CKD. Data is currently not collected on the number of individuals who are subsequently tested for CKD.
To improve access and engagement with the NHS Health Check, we are developing the NHS Health Check Online service that people can use at home, at a time convenient to them, to understand and act on their CVD risk. The NHS Health Check Online is being piloted in multiple local authorities across England.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 19 January (HL13473), whether the department has considered allowing the term probiotic to be used in mandatory product labelling, notwithstanding its current treatment as a health claim.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information that must be provided and can be provided on food labels is set out in legislation. The use of specific terms and statements that can be made on food labels is also subject to nutrition and health claims legislation. ‘Probiotic’ is a term commonly used to describe the effect of one or more strains of live bacteria used in food and food supplements. The Department considers the term ‘probiotic’ to constitute a health claim, as it implies that consuming a food or food supplement containing these bacteria may provide a health benefit. The term ‘probiotic’ could only be used on food labels if a specific authorised health claim existed for the particular strain of live bacteria used, which have been scientifically substantiated and authorised in accordance with nutrition and health claims legislation.
There are currently no authorised health claims for probiotics or specific bacterial strains.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include sudden unexplained death in childhood on the NHS website to enable parents and professionals to find information.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the devastating impact of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC) on affected families and communities. As the Minister for Public Health and Prevention (Sharon Hodgson MP) set out during a recent Westminster Hall Debate on this issue on 24 March 2026, the Government’s is committed to strengthening pathology services, ensuring high-quality bereavement support and growing the evidence base around SUDC.
Parents who have lost a child to SUDC should be able to access the advice and support that they need. Bereavement support is available on the NHS help page and GOV.UK website in an online-only format.
NHS Bereavement support is commissioned locally, allowing services to be shaped around the needs of local communities. For anyone seeking help after a bereavement, we encourage them to speak to their general practitioner, who can advise on and refer into local bereavement support services. My officials are exploring opportunities to include signposting on the NHS website to SUDC UK to ensure families have access to information when they need it most.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop a national plan for sudden unexplained death in childhood.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the devastating impact of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC) on affected families and communities. As the Minister for Public Health and Prevention (Sharon Hodgson MP) set out during a recent Westminster Hall Debate on this issue on 24 March 2026, the Government’s is committed to strengthening pathology services, ensuring high-quality bereavement support and growing the evidence base around SUDC.
Parents who have lost a child to SUDC should be able to access the advice and support that they need. Bereavement support is available on the NHS help page and GOV.UK website in an online-only format.
NHS Bereavement support is commissioned locally, allowing services to be shaped around the needs of local communities. For anyone seeking help after a bereavement, we encourage them to speak to their general practitioner, who can advise on and refer into local bereavement support services. My officials are exploring opportunities to include signposting on the NHS website to SUDC UK to ensure families have access to information when they need it most.