Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his department ensures GPs retain telephone and reception facilities to book appointments at GP clinics.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our ambition to end the 8:00am scramble, we want patients to contact their practice by phone, online, or by walking in, and for people to have an equitable experience across these access modes. To ensure that patients are not digitally excluded, the GP Contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, and all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practice (GP). Practice receptions should be open so that patients without access to telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
To support patients who depend on telephone bookings, the 2025/26 GP Contract includes a requirement for all GPs to offer online booking throughout core hours, from 8:00am to 6:30pm. This is designed to ease pressure on phone lines by allowing those who prefer online booking to do so at any time, freeing up phone lines, reducing long phone queues, and improving the experience for those reliant on telephone bookings.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to prevent abuse of social care staff, including threatening unemployment, wage theft, and abuse of overtime.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with regulators, local authorities, other departments, and enforcement bodies to share concerns and intelligence about illegal or unethical practices in adult social care.
The Government is creating the Fair Work Agency (FWA) to simplify the labour market enforcement system and build an economy based on fair competition and fair reward for hard work. It will bring enforcement functions of three existing bodies together, into one place, so employment rights are enforced more effectively and efficiently.
The FWA will be responsible for enforcing domestic agency rules, the national minimum wage, licensing standards for gangmasters, and acting against serious labour exploitation.
The FWA will be implemented in phases following Royal Assent of the Employment Rights Bill, with the FWA being established in April 2026.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how often meetings are held to discuss NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In May 2025, I initiated meetings to reflect on lessons learnt from last winter and to discuss priorities and preparations for this winter. These meetings ran until September 2025. In addition to this my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Chief Executive Officer of NHS England brought leaders from across the system together in September 2025.
Since October 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend and I have been chairing regular winter meetings to ensure the whole system was prepared for, and is responding well to, pressures this winter. The latest urgent and emergency care data is a standing agenda item within these meetings. Since the publication of NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports on 4 December 2025, information from these reports has been considered as part of this standing item.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the allocation process for newly qualified doctors in the Foundation Programme is accessible for applicants with disabilities and long‑term health conditions; and whether he is taking steps to review how reasonable adjustments are assessed and applied within that process.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England recognises the specific challenges that some applicants face, and the UK Foundation Programme runs a process to accommodate the needs of applicants with exceptional circumstances.
The pre-allocation process allows applicants with a health condition or disability who have an absolute requirement to continue receiving specialist healthcare treatment and ongoing follow-up for the condition in a specific location to apply for a foundation school in that area. All pre-allocation requests are reviewed so that the process is as fair and transparent as possible.
All applicants for the Foundation Programme must also complete a Transfer of Information Guidance form which helps foundation schools identify any support or adjustments needed for doctors with health conditions or disabilities.
If necessary, doctors with a health condition or disability may additionally apply for a transfer to a specific foundation school once allocated, as part of the Inter-foundation School Transfer process.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many departmental employees were on performance management plans in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Although the Department holds data on performance markings, it does not centrally record the number of employees on performance management plans and therefore cannot provide figures for 2023, 2024, or 2025. Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades, non-SCS, operate under different performance management frameworks.
SCS follow the Cabinet Office-prescribed SCS framework and should have at least quarterly performance conversations, at which ratings are provided. If an SCS receives the lowest performance rating for two consecutive quarters, a performance development plan is put in place with appropriate support. If the lowest rating continues, there is an expectation that the individual is placed on formal poor performance measures in line with the SCS framework.
Delegated grades follow the Department’s Performance Health Check policy and receive mid and end of year performance ratings, supported by monthly performance conversations. Where a delegated grade performance falls below the expected standard, managers must take early, supportive action through regular performance conversations, before deciding on whether any informal or formal action is required under the Supporting Performance Improvement policy and procedure.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts in England spent more on repayments under Private Finance Initiative contracts than on medicines in the most recent financial year for which figures are available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally. Annual payments, which include facilities management services, under Private Finance Initiative contracts are published annually by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pfi-and-pf2-projects-2024-summary-data
Expenditure on medicines is held by NHS England.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total value of non-contractual severance payments across the department in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Rt Hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings on 30 March 2026 to Question 121274.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his department taking to ensure that people with Huntington’s disease in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire have a named healthcare professional who coordinates their care.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Huntington’s Disease, including in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. Better coordination of care is a priority under the UK Rare Diseases Framework.
On 26 February, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an evidence-based new quality standard for rare diseases, which includes a named healthcare professional to coordinate care. It sets out priority areas for quality improvement and NHS England and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, are required to have regard to quality standards as they discharge their quality improvement duties. Local National Health Service commissioners are expected to take them fully into account in the design of services that meet the needs of their local populations.
The revised NHS England Specialised Neurology Services (adults) specification 2025 also outlines expectations of a system-wide approach, incorporating end-to-end pathways within an integrated neurology system, supporting more equitable and efficient care for people with long-term neurological diseases, including Huntington’s disease.
Dedicated care co-ordinators for Huntington’s disease are not centrally commissioned. Integrated care boards are responsible for working with their local communities to understand the needs of the local populations and to make decisions about how best to commission services, including for those with Huntington’s disease.
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals on the mandatory registration of newly installed public-access defibrillators on The Circuit database.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
According to the British Heart Foundation, who operates The Circuit, there are now over 110,000 registered defibrillators in the United Kingdom. This is an increase of 30,000 since September 2023.
Many charities which supply defibrillators through a fund require those defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit. Many defibrillator charities also promote The Circuit on their website.
The Government considers introducing legislation to require publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to be registered on The Circuit or other independently owned AED databases at this time to be disproportionate. Local communities obtaining AEDs do so on a voluntary basis and introducing legal requirements could disincentive this voluntary action. Therefore, there are currently no plans to bring forward such legislation.
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that publicly accessible defibrillators are registered on The Circuit Database.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
According to the British Heart Foundation, who operates The Circuit, there are now over 110,000 registered defibrillators in the United Kingdom. This is an increase of 30,000 since September 2023.
Many charities which supply defibrillators through a fund require those defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit. Many defibrillator charities also promote The Circuit on their website.
The Government considers introducing legislation to require publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to be registered on The Circuit or other independently owned AED databases at this time to be disproportionate. Local communities obtaining AEDs do so on a voluntary basis and introducing legal requirements could disincentive this voluntary action. Therefore, there are currently no plans to bring forward such legislation.