Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
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 impact of staff providing NHS services being employed on different contractual terms to NHS Agenda for Change staff on (a) equality and (b) the workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This specific assessment has not been made. Independent organisations commissioned by the National Health Service in England, such as general practices or social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales that they use.
Where such organisations choose to dynamically link to any of the national contracts, including Agenda for Change, those staff will be contractually entitled to receive the same uplifts in pay and associated terms and conditions as staff employed in NHS organisations.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 impact of a respiratory Modern Service Framework on NHS provision in Bristol East constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme. There has not, therefore, been a specific assessment made in relation to National Health Service provision in the Bristol East constituency.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that NHS commissioning ensures equivalent employment practices in outsourced NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to making work pay and ensuring that outsourced services are delivered in a way that improves quality, gives greater stability and longer-term investment in the workforce, and delivers better value for money as part of the broader commitments on procurement.
In December 2025 the Employment Rights Act received Royal Assent and passed into law. This act aims to enhance worker security, fairness, and pay, as well as banning exploitative practices.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
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 ensure that there are an adequate number of suitable training places available for medical graduates across all of the UK, including those who have graduated in Scotland and who are mobile in terms of securing employment; what steps he is taking to prevent newly qualified doctors travelling overseas for work, particularly those graduating during this academic year and including those who graduated in 2025 and have yet to be connected with a suitable training opportunity; and whether he has plans to review the pre-entry qualifications for medical training places and start accepting UK based medical graduates, who miss out on a training place by a matter of a few exam marks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.
We have also introduced the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 which delivers the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places. We expect that all eligible prioritised applicants for the foundation programme in 2026 will be offered a place.
This act will ensure a sustainable medical workforce that can meet the health needs of the population, and will mean we are less reliant on an unpredictable labour market and can make best use of the substantial taxpayer investment in medical training. It will reduce competition for places and give homegrown talent a path to become the next generation of NHS doctors.
There are no current plans to review the pre-entry qualifications for medical training places in respect of UK based medical graduates who have not achieved the necessary exam marks.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the (i) number and (ii) adequacy of provision of paediatric post-mortem specialists in (a) Gloucestershire, (b) the South West and (c) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of paediatric post mortem specialists either across England or in the South West or Gloucestershire regions.
NHS England does publish monthly information on the number of staff employed in the National Health Service in England, including information on the grade and specialty of NHS doctors. This includes information on the number of doctors working in the specialty of pathology as well as the sub-specialty of paediatric and perinatal pathology. This is not though the same as those able to provide paediatric post mortems. The relevant information can be found in the file ‘NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations – data tables’ in each monthly publication, at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
NHS England established a national programme in late 2022 to address paediatric and perinatal pathologist workforce challenges and has undertaken significant work in relation to workforce funding, training, and incentives. This has included making additional funding available to support training posts in areas where there have been interested candidates but no training post available and changes to the national training course and examination structure. The number of training posts has increased across several recruitment rounds and the perinatal and paediatric training pathway will be at a full complement of 16 training posts from February 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2026 to Question 114110, what information his Department holds on tyre procurement by its arm’s-length bodies, including NHS trusts and other agencies; and whether he plans to collect centrally data on the proportion of retread and single-use imported tyres procured for heavy vehicle fleets operated by those bodies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold any information on tyre procurement by its arm’s length bodies and does not intend to collect data on the proportion of retread and single-use imported tyres by those bodies.
NHS England reports that that emergency ambulances and rapid response vehicles used by National Health Service trusts, which are based on light commercial vehicle and car platforms, do not routinely utilise retread tyres. This reflects the demanding operational duty cycles associated with frontline emergency response, where vehicle reliability, performance, and safety are critical. As a result, these vehicles typically operate with new tyres in line with manufacturer guidance and operational requirements.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to deliver universal thrombectomy services by April 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has approved an additional £14.2 million of funding, targeted to areas where 24/7 access to thrombectomy is currently not available, in order to enable delivery from 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of including international medical graduates who are GMC-registered and who have at least two years’ NHS experience by 5 March 2026 in the prioritisation for specialty training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 5 March 2026, prioritises United Kingdom medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places.
For specialty training places starting in 2026, immigration statuses are being used as a practical proxy to capture applicants who are most likely to have significant experience working in the health service in the UK.
From 2027, immigration status will no longer automatically determine priority for specialty training. Instead, we are able to make regulations to specify any additional groups who will be prioritised by reference to criteria indicating significant experience as a doctor in the health service, or by reference to immigration status. The Department will work with NHS England, the devolved administrations, and other partners on how best to define and evidence significant NHS experience as part of the development of those regulations.
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 recommendation in the report by the UK BioIndustry Association From innovation to impact: unlocking patient access to innovative rare disease medicines, published on 4 December 2025, to develop a separate evaluation pathway for innovative orphan medicines where a cost-effectiveness based evaluation is not appropriate, and of its implementation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to introduce a separate evaluation process for orphan medicines. Most medicines, including orphan medicines, are assessed through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) standard technology appraisal programme, with a small number of treatments for very rare and severe conditions considered through the highly specialised technologies programme, which applies a higher cost-effectiveness threshold.
NICE’s methods are suitable for evaluating rare disease medicines where prices are set fairly. Approval rates for rare disease medicines are in line with overall NICE recommendations, and between April 2024 and April 2025 NICE recommended all 15 rare disease medicines assessed through the standard programme.
We are also investing approximately 25% more in innovative treatments through an increase to NICE’s cost-effectiveness threshold and changes to how health benefits are valued. This will support access to medicines delivering significant health benefits, including for rare diseases, that may previously have been declined on cost-effectiveness grounds.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to meet representatives of Thyroid UK and The Thyroid Trust to discuss the prescribing of liothyronine in primary care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no current plans to meet representatives of Thyroid UK and The Thyroid Trust to discuss the prescribing of liothyronine in primary care.