Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
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 ensure that all surgeons, including private surgeons, record the implants they have done in the Breast Implant Registry.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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, how many NHS England employees have opted to take the voluntary redundancy scheme commencing in April 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of ambulance station closures on ambulance response times in (a) Shropshire (b) rural areas and (c) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioner. The West Midlands Ambulance Service have two hubs in Shropshire and no current plans to change that.
Integrated care boards are best placed to work with and consult local health and care organisations, local authorities and local stakeholders to decide how to best deliver and meet their local population care needs and national targets for ambulance response times. The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 increase access to Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography scans for cancer diagnosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to increasing access to Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans and other nuclear medicine for cancer diagnosis, primarily by boosting overall diagnostic capacity.
As part of the diagnostic capital allocation from the Spending Reviews between 2021 and 2026, five schemes have been funded to replace aged computed tomography or SPECT-CT scanners with new SPECT-CT scanners for a total investment of £6.2 million. The benefits include increased throughput of patients, lower radiation doses, faster scans, reduced sedation of patients, and improved image quality.
SPECT-CT bids are also within the scope of the 2026 Spending Review multi-year diagnostic capital process, which is ongoing.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 support networks of (a) clinicians and (b) health professionals who wish to share best practice on responding to domestic abuse.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A network of Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) Leads are embedded in almost every National Health Service trust, integrated care board, and region across England. These Leads act as advocates both within the NHS and in partnership with external agencies to improve services for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. The national network of DASV Leads hold quarterly webinars to share good practice. They also use a secure NHS online workspace to share learning, resources, and training.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
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 (a) prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Newbury constituency compared with the national average; and what steps he is taking to prioritise respiratory health nationally.
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 the Newbury constituency, 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 November 2025) |
Newbury | 895 | 695 |
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 Newbury can be found under the West Berkshire county at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) travel expenses and (b) other financial support are available to nursing students.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department for Education provides the primary funding support package for English domiciled students in higher education through the student loans system.
We want to remove the barriers to training in clinical roles like nursing, which is why in addition to student loans, the Department of Health and Social Care provides supplementary non-repayable grants via the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). Eligible nursing students receive a minimum of £5,000 in each academic year, with an additional £1,000 per academic year available for priority areas such as mental health nursing or learning disabilities nursing. Further financial support is also available for childcare, dual accommodation costs, and travel.
These funding arrangements are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.
The 10-Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, set out that we will help students overcome financial obstacles to learning. We are working with the NHS Business Services Authority to reform and modernise the process of supporting students with their placement expenses, including reducing delays to reimbursement of their placement travel and accommodation costs.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 changes in call categorisation thresholds in the East of England since 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is unaware of any national or local changes to guidance on call categorisation thresholds made since 2023, and has therefore made no assessment.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 20 February 2026 to Question 109501 on Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements, how many NHS overseas cost recovery claims remain outstanding after four years; and what the total value is of those claims.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Deadlines for settling claims between the United Kingdom and member states are set out in the implementing provisions of the UK’s agreements with the European Union, the European Economic Area, and with European Free Trade Association states, namely Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. These agreements include common rules for settling claims between states which have Social Security Coordination agreements. The relevant articles in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement are SSCI.47 to SSCI.54, and there are similar provisions in all relevant agreements. The use of common provisions and processing requirements facilitate operational delivery. Further information on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukeu-and-eaec-trade-and-cooperation-agreement-ts-no82021
Under article SSCI.52 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, states have 12 months from the end of the calendar half-year when claims were recorded in accounts to introduce a claim. There are then 36 months to resolve any disputes between the UK and the relevant member state. Agreements require that reimbursements are made as promptly as possible, but these deadlines reflect the complexity of some cases and the volume of claims processed.
Where agreement is not reached within this period, an independent committee provides a resolution process for any dispute between the UK and member states within the terms of the agreements. It is not possible to provide validated data relating to claims over four years as the status of these claims is continuously changing as they are settled, meet settlement deadlines, or go through the resolution process.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 20th February 2026 to Question 109501, for what reason some NHS overseas cost recovery claims take up to four years to settle.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Deadlines for settling claims between the United Kingdom and member states are set out in the implementing provisions of the UK’s agreements with the European Union, the European Economic Area, and with European Free Trade Association states, namely Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. These agreements include common rules for settling claims between states which have Social Security Coordination agreements. The relevant articles in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement are SSCI.47 to SSCI.54, and there are similar provisions in all relevant agreements. The use of common provisions and processing requirements facilitate operational delivery. Further information on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukeu-and-eaec-trade-and-cooperation-agreement-ts-no82021
Under article SSCI.52 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, states have 12 months from the end of the calendar half-year when claims were recorded in accounts to introduce a claim. There are then 36 months to resolve any disputes between the UK and the relevant member state. Agreements require that reimbursements are made as promptly as possible, but these deadlines reflect the complexity of some cases and the volume of claims processed.
Where agreement is not reached within this period, an independent committee provides a resolution process for any dispute between the UK and member states within the terms of the agreements. It is not possible to provide validated data relating to claims over four years as the status of these claims is continuously changing as they are settled, meet settlement deadlines, or go through the resolution process.