Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on improving the recognition of overseas qualifications and reducing barriers to employment in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom is designed to protect patients and the public by ensuring that registered practitioners are appropriately trained, competent, and fit to practise.
The UK’s healthcare professional regulators are independent bodies responsible for setting standards of education, training, and professional conduct. They are also responsible for setting registration routes, including for overseas‑qualified applicants, to ensure UK standards of safe and effective practice are met. Only those who meet these requirements can legally practise in regulated healthcare professions.
National Health Service employers are responsible for ensuring that individuals appointed to specific roles meet the requirements of those posts in line with service needs, patient safety requirements, and relevant NHS frameworks.
The Government is committed to maintaining robust regulatory frameworks that support public safety, professional standards, and confidence in the healthcare system. Through its programme of regulatory reform, the Government will bring forward legislation to modernise the legislative frameworks of the regulators to ensure that they have the powers they require to protect the public while supporting an effective and flexible workforce. In the meantime, we continue to engage with regulators to support the effective use of their existing powers and frameworks to facilitate efficient registration pathways for both UK and overseas‑qualified applicants, consistent with public protection.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out how the Government will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 the potential impact of regulatory and accreditation barriers on the level of NHS workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom is designed to protect patients and the public by ensuring that registered practitioners are appropriately trained, competent, and fit to practise.
The UK’s healthcare professional regulators are independent bodies responsible for setting standards of education, training, and professional conduct. They are also responsible for setting registration routes, including for overseas‑qualified applicants, to ensure UK standards of safe and effective practice are met. Only those who meet these requirements can legally practise in regulated healthcare professions.
National Health Service employers are responsible for ensuring that individuals appointed to specific roles meet the requirements of those posts in line with service needs, patient safety requirements, and relevant NHS frameworks.
The Government is committed to maintaining robust regulatory frameworks that support public safety, professional standards, and confidence in the healthcare system. Through its programme of regulatory reform, the Government will bring forward legislation to modernise the legislative frameworks of the regulators to ensure that they have the powers they require to protect the public while supporting an effective and flexible workforce. In the meantime, we continue to engage with regulators to support the effective use of their existing powers and frameworks to facilitate efficient registration pathways for both UK and overseas‑qualified applicants, consistent with public protection.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out how the Government will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.
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 estimate he has made of the number of vacancies for newly qualified midwives in the North West of England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of vacancies for newly qualified midwives in the Northwest of England.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps they are taking to increase the amount of UK made steel used in procurement contracts overseen by their Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government Commercial Function (GCF), based in the Cabinet Office, published its strategy document for 2026 to 2029 on 7 April 2026, which is available at the following link:
Driving economic growth is a key pillar of this strategy, in line with Government policy, capitalising on the industrial strategy targets to create jobs in the United Kingdom, and a key part of the strategy is market shaping and making use of the collective buying power of the Government to drive UK economic growth and resilience.
One of the first steps will be for the GCF to work with the commercial directors across the Government in four pilot sectors, namely shipbuilding, steel, artificial intelligence, and energy infrastructure, to identify key data requirements, and to pilot underpinning market shaping assessments for each. The Cabinet Office will be publishing a Procurement Policy Notice specifically on UK steel transparency later this year.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish departmental spending data for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 on (a) non-NHS entities part of the NHS Workforce Alliance; (b) providing consultancy and advice; (c) providing advice on managing agency supply; and (d) providing data analysis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish spending data for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 on approved non-NHS entities providing NHS patient care as part of the Insourced Services framework.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 help reduce waiting times at the RUH (Bath) A&E department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures facing emergency departments, including at the Royal United Hospital Bath, and is taking sustained action to reduce accident and emergency waiting times and improve patient flow across urgent and emergency care. Through the NHS Medium‑Term Planning Framework and the Model Emergency Department, NHS England has set out a clear trajectory for improving performance, with a focus on reducing long waits, improving safety, and delivering better patient experience.
At the Royal United Hospital Bath, NHS England is working with the trust and the wider local system to support delivery of these improvements. This includes action to improve patient flow, increase the use of Same Day Emergency Care to avoid unnecessary admissions, strengthen discharge and community capacity, and deliver capital investment to improve emergency department flow. The trust is also receiving support from national improvement programmes, including Getting It Right First Time, alongside action to strengthen overnight staffing and real‑time performance oversight.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
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 recognise clinical academic training undertaken during specialty training by doctors in England towards consultant salary seniority.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical academic training undertaken during medical specialty training does not currently count towards consultant salary seniority. However, salary seniority may be negotiated locally at the start of a consultant post. Universities have separate pay scales for clinical academics which would take academic experience into account.
Clinical academic trainees can have academic time counted towards their Certificate of Completion of Training. Trainees undertaking a higher academic qualification, such as a PhD, during their training may qualify for an academic pay premium. This is a taxable, non-pensionable allowance for trainees in England who have completed an approved higher degree and returned to clinical training. It is paid annually until the completion of clinical training and is aimed at incentivising academic careers.
Asked by: Lord Adebowale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the interim report of the Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism, published on 31 March, whether the final report of the Review will address the evidence on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal exposure to alcohol and other substances, including the misidentification of these conditions as ADHD or autism; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism is examining changes in population prevalence, levels of psychological distress, recorded diagnosis and referral, and perceived need for support. A key aim of the review is to understand how these relate to one another. The review is also considering how current support systems work in practice. This includes whether diagnosis has too often become the only gateway to help, and how earlier intervention and preventative support are best offered within and beyond the National Health Service. The review is independent of the Government, and it is for the chair and vice chairs to determine the specific issues the review considers.
The review’s interim report, published at the end of March, sets out the evidence reviewed so far on prevalence, describes the impact of rising demand for diagnosis and support, identifies where the evidence is uncertain, and outlines the key questions for the next phase. It does not offer final conclusions or recommendations.
The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.
A central concern of the review is that access to recognition, diagnosis, and support is uneven. The next phase will examine inequalities in prevalence, diagnosis, support, and outcomes in more detail, including variation by ethnicity, age, sex, deprivation, and other characteristics.
Asked by: Lord Adebowale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the interim report of the Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism, published on 31 March, what steps they are taking to ensure that the final report addresses race as a structural determinant of neurodevelopmental diagnosis and access to support, as distinct from ethnicity as a self-reported cultural category.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism is examining changes in population prevalence, levels of psychological distress, recorded diagnosis and referral, and perceived need for support. A key aim of the review is to understand how these relate to one another. The review is also considering how current support systems work in practice. This includes whether diagnosis has too often become the only gateway to help, and how earlier intervention and preventative support are best offered within and beyond the National Health Service. The review is independent of the Government, and it is for the chair and vice chairs to determine the specific issues the review considers.
The review’s interim report, published at the end of March, sets out the evidence reviewed so far on prevalence, describes the impact of rising demand for diagnosis and support, identifies where the evidence is uncertain, and outlines the key questions for the next phase. It does not offer final conclusions or recommendations.
The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.
A central concern of the review is that access to recognition, diagnosis, and support is uneven. The next phase will examine inequalities in prevalence, diagnosis, support, and outcomes in more detail, including variation by ethnicity, age, sex, deprivation, and other characteristics.