Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to help prevent delays to spinal operations including where infrastructure such as operating room seals are broken leading to operations being cancelled and delayed.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the significant impact that delays to spinal surgery can have on patients and is taking action to reduce waiting times and minimise cancellations.
As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we are increasing elective capacity and improving productivity across the National Health Service, including through the expansion of dedicated surgical hubs. These hubs use ringfenced staff and facilities to protect planned operations from urgent and emergency pressures.
NHS England also provides targeted national and regional support to trusts with the greatest waiting list pressures, including through the clinically led Getting It Right First Time programme and their Further Faster programme for spinal services.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
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 impact of delayed and cancelled spinal operations on patients' lives and b) what support is available to patients awaiting spinal operations for months or years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the significant impact that delays to spinal surgery can have on patients and is taking action to reduce waiting times and minimise cancellations.
As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we are increasing elective capacity and improving productivity across the National Health Service, including through the expansion of dedicated surgical hubs. These hubs use ringfenced staff and facilities to protect planned operations from urgent and emergency pressures.
NHS England also provides targeted national and regional support to trusts with the greatest waiting list pressures, including through the clinically led Getting It Right First Time programme and their Further Faster programme for spinal services.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what dates the An NHS Fit for the Future Mission Board met since it ceased to be a Cabinet committee in November 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mission Boards ceased to be Cabinet Office committees at the end of last year. Since then, my ministerial colleagues and I have continued to engage stakeholders through a variety of fora to take forward the 10-Year Health Plan, through which we are delivering our Health Mission. Oversight is maintained by the Departmental Board, chaired by My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, details of which can be found on the GOV.UK website.
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 civil servants in their Department were found to have broken the Civil Service Code in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows recorded disciplinary cases which were upheld and included breaches of the Civil Service Code, for 2024 and 2025:
Year of outcome | Number of these cases where the allegation included “Breaches of the Civil Service Code” |
2024 | <5 |
2025 | 6 |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the Earned Settlement proposals on recruitment and retention rates in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, on a range of subjects including immigration policy.
The Home Office consultation on Earned Settlement closed in February 2026 and responses are currently being analysed. This analysis will inform the development of the final Earned Settlement model, including consideration of any potential exemptions or transitional measures for those already on a pathway to settlement. Following analysis of the consultation responses, the necessary impact assessments, including those relating to the National Health Service, will be undertaken. Once the final model has been agreed, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has the Department made of the potential impact of the Earned Settlement proposals on NHS waiting lists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, on a range of subjects including immigration policy.
The Home Office consultation on Earned Settlement closed in February 2026 and responses are currently being analysed. This analysis will inform the development of the final Earned Settlement model, including consideration of any potential exemptions or transitional measures for those already on a pathway to settlement. Following analysis of the consultation responses, the necessary impact assessments, including those relating to the National Health Service, will be undertaken. Once the final model has been agreed, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly.
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 steps he is taking to address regional differences in funding for patients trying to conceive through IVF, in the context of NICE guidelines on offering people under 40 up to three full cycles of IVF.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population.
On 31 March, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated fertility guideline, which recommends that women under 40 years old who meet the clinical eligibility criteria should be offered up to three full cycles of in vitro fertilisation.
We expect ICBs to consider and reflect the updated NICE fertility guideline in their commissioning decisions, and we are working with NHS England to support greater consistency in provision.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
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 accessibility of hearing tests for those 18 years old and under, including by audiologists who are not registered with the CQC.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services in England and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity, including for audiology services for those 18 years old and under.
The National Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity dataset includes data on the percentage of patients waiting more than six weeks for an audiology assessment, and can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/
However, this data cannot be split by adult/child, therefore the Department has not made a formal assessment of the accessibility of hearing tests for those 18 years old and under. As of January 2026, the dataset showed that 45% of patients were waiting more than six weeks for an audiology assessment.
Audiology services are not required to be registered with Care Quality Commission where the services provided do not fall under the regulated activities, as set out in the regulations. Audiology activities, such as hearing tests, hearing aid fittings, and tympanometry/routine assessments are not regulated activities. More information is available at the following link:
When an audiologist is a practicing clinical scientist or a hearing aid dispenser, they must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, with further information available at the following link:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether ICBs that are clustered have developed individual 5-year plans as set out in the medium term planning framework or if these have been developed jointly across cluster arrangements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Most integrated care boards (ICBs) who are clustering have provided combined plans. Where ICBs have provided individual plans, they have referenced their clustering arrangements to ensure that the strategies are aligned.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Putney constituency compared with national averages during the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Putney and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence | 2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025) | 2025/26 (April 2025 to December 2025) |
Putney | 725 | 705 |
England | 612,855 | 511,558 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Wandsworth can be found at the following link: