Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 estimated pressures on the NHS in winter 2025-26 on A&E staff in Epsom and Ewell constituency; and what steps he is taking to support A&E staff in winter 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is a top priority, including those working in accident and emergency. NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive.
The Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 aims to learn the lessons from last winter and focuses on improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance this winter, helping to reduce the pressure on our hardworking frontline staff. Measures include: improved hospital flow; reduction in ambulance handovers; support discharge capacity planning; and reducing the average length of stay for patients requiring overnight emergency admission.
Employers across the NHS have their own arrangements in place for supporting their staff including occupational health provision, employee support programmes and board level scrutiny through health and wellbeing guardians.
At a national level, NHS England has made available additional support. This includes a focus on healthy working environments, tools and resources to support line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their wellbeing, and emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 help support Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not directly fund air ambulance services on a routine basis. Air ambulances in England operate as independent charities and are supported by the National Health Service through the provision and training of key clinical staff.
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 progress he has made on implementing recommendation 38 of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, published in May 2023.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recommendation 36 relates to the expansion of the Veterans’ Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) accreditation scheme to include care homes and hospices. In July 2024, a pilot was launched by the Royal Star and Garter, supported by the VCHA. An evaluation of the pilot, led by the Royal British Legion, commenced in summer 2025. The evaluation findings will assess the practical viability of the scheme and will be accompanied by a full analysis of the options and associated financial costs.
Recommendation 38 relates to treatment for addiction. Veterans can access all substance misuse services available to non-veterans. In addition, the National Health Service has commissioned Op COURAGE, the veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service which provides support to veterans with substance misuse and mental health issues. NHS England are developing plans to provide training and education about the needs of the Armed Forces community to NHS staff through the National Armed Forces training and education programme. This will include NHS services that provide support to veterans with addiction issues.
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 progress he has made on implementing recommendation 36 of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, published in May 2023.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recommendation 36 relates to the expansion of the Veterans’ Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) accreditation scheme to include care homes and hospices. In July 2024, a pilot was launched by the Royal Star and Garter, supported by the VCHA. An evaluation of the pilot, led by the Royal British Legion, commenced in summer 2025. The evaluation findings will assess the practical viability of the scheme and will be accompanied by a full analysis of the options and associated financial costs.
Recommendation 38 relates to treatment for addiction. Veterans can access all substance misuse services available to non-veterans. In addition, the National Health Service has commissioned Op COURAGE, the veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service which provides support to veterans with substance misuse and mental health issues. NHS England are developing plans to provide training and education about the needs of the Armed Forces community to NHS staff through the National Armed Forces training and education programme. This will include NHS services that provide support to veterans with addiction issues.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
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 implications for his Department's policies on tackling unmet needs for social care of The University of Manchester's publication entitled ‘Tackling unmet needs for social care among older people’ published on 21 May 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The publication by the University of Manchester raises important implications for how adult social care is delivered by local authorities. The Government recognises the long-term trend of a reduction in the number of local authority funded long-term packages of adult social care, despite an ageing population. This can result in people’s care needs going unmet, placing pressure on unpaid carers, including spouses and family members, who provide essential care and support.
We remain committed to ensuring that local authorities meet their duties under the Care Act 2014, including the requirement to undertake Carer’s Assessments for those who appear to have needs and may be eligible for support. Where eligible, local authorities have a duty to provide appropriate, high-quality support services that focus on carers wellbeing.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is assessing how well local authorities in England are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including their duties relating to unpaid carers. Formal assessments commenced in December 2023 and as of October 2025, the CQC has published over 80 local authority assessments. So far, the CQC has identified a number of emerging themes in local authorities’ delivery of adult social care, including a lack of support for unpaid carers. Ratings and reports are published on the CQC’s website, at the following link:
https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered research from The University of Manchester advocating for care support packages that target whole households.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have not made a direct assessment of the potential merits of implementing care support packages for households, rather than for individuals requiring care. However, we recognise the importance of people’s wider support networks for those drawing on care and support.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England must provide a broad range of high-quality, sustainable care and support services to meet the needs of their local populations, including carers and those who draw on care.
Local authorities are required to take a holistic approach when carrying out a needs assessment, considering an individual's needs, circumstances, and the outcomes they wish to achieve. Where family members or friends are involved, the assessment must take into account the extent to which they are willing and able to provide support. In addition, where a carer appears to have needs for support and may be eligible for help, the local authority is required to carry out a Carer’s Assessment to determine the appropriate support.
We also welcome the use of models such as family group conferencing in places like Camden, which put both individuals and their families and friends at the heart of the decision making.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
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 parity of pay between staff employed by (a) independent sector providers of NHS services and (b) the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service staff pay is set by the Government and usually informed by recommendations made by pay review bodies (PRBs). The PRBs are independent advisory bodies made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them by a range of stakeholders, including the Government and trade unions, to make recommendations for headline pay awards and on related matters.
PRBs make recommendations to the Prime Minister and ministers for most staff working in the NHS. The PRBs do not advise on the pay or terms and conditions for staff employed by independent sector providers of NHS services such as social enterprises.
Independent organisations, such as social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and the provision of any non-consolidated pay awards.
It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate and how to recoup any additional costs they face.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services in Aylesbury constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The statutory guidance states that ICBs, including the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB, must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.
The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.
We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.
Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining the drivers and incentives that are required in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. The Hospice of the St Francis and Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, which both serve people in the Aylesbury constituency, are receiving £486,476 and £1,114,316 from this funding respectively.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many private delivery partners have declined to deliver a contract for his Department on the basis of concern for protection of intellectual property or private commercial interest in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department must comply with the legal requirements under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, since February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 in taking forward all procurement exercises leading to the award of a contract to a supplier. Compliance is managed by a professional procurement official within the Department’s Commercial Directorate who is assigned to each procurement exercise.
Business cases following the Government’s standard five-case model, setting out the strategic, economic/value for money, financial, commercial, and management case, are required for all procurements over £5 million. The Department’s Commercial Assurance Board (CAB) considers and approves high value, from £10 million to £30 million of capital or £50 million in revenue, business cases or high-risk commercial cases across the Department and its Arms’ Length Bodies. In addition, the CAB acts as commercial ‘keyholders’ for the business cases presented to the committees below, ensuring that commercial factors are considered when recommendations are made by:
Suppliers are invited to bid for contracts using the standard contract terms and conditions in use by the Department and across the Government. These include intellectual property (IP) clauses which grant the buyer a licence to use the supplier’s IP in the context of receiving and benefiting from the deliverables being bought. These typically allow sub-licensing under certain conditions and restrictions designed to avoid unfair exploitation of supplier IP. Standard terms and conditions are available on the GOV.UK website. By submitting a bid, suppliers are accepting the Department’s standard terms and conditions as set out above.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what due diligence his Department undertakes before the selection of contract delivery partners for major programmes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department must comply with the legal requirements under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, since February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 in taking forward all procurement exercises leading to the award of a contract to a supplier. Compliance is managed by a professional procurement official within the Department’s Commercial Directorate who is assigned to each procurement exercise.
Business cases following the Government’s standard five-case model, setting out the strategic, economic/value for money, financial, commercial, and management case, are required for all procurements over £5 million. The Department’s Commercial Assurance Board (CAB) considers and approves high value, from £10 million to £30 million of capital or £50 million in revenue, business cases or high-risk commercial cases across the Department and its Arms’ Length Bodies. In addition, the CAB acts as commercial ‘keyholders’ for the business cases presented to the committees below, ensuring that commercial factors are considered when recommendations are made by:
Suppliers are invited to bid for contracts using the standard contract terms and conditions in use by the Department and across the Government. These include intellectual property (IP) clauses which grant the buyer a licence to use the supplier’s IP in the context of receiving and benefiting from the deliverables being bought. These typically allow sub-licensing under certain conditions and restrictions designed to avoid unfair exploitation of supplier IP. Standard terms and conditions are available on the GOV.UK website. By submitting a bid, suppliers are accepting the Department’s standard terms and conditions as set out above.