Asked by: Chris Hinchliff (Labour - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's timetable is for finalising the second set of Modern Service Frameworks; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including respiratory conditions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Modern service frameworks (MSFs) will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.
The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of 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 the 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.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will have discussions with the Office for National Statistics on revising its back baseline to reflect pre-2020 trends.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Analysts from the Department of Health and Social Care are having regular discussions with colleagues at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) regarding planned improvements to the methodology used to estimate excess deaths, as outlined in an ONS blog post from April 2025, which is available at the following link:
https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2025/04/04/excess-deaths-our-continued-work-towards-a-better-understanding
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 adequacy of the resilience of NHS services to disruptions within the commercial laundry sector.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England estates, commercial, and emergency preparedness, resilience, and response teams are undertaking an assessment of the provision of laundry services, in-house and out-sourced, in the National Health Service. This includes the NHS requirements for laundry services, available capacity, and the most efficient approach to their provision.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 hospital parking charges on patients with long-term health conditions; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing free hospital parking for those patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of hospital parking charges on patients with long-term health conditions, or the introduction of free hospital parking for those patients.
It is important that the National Health Service is as accessible as possible to those that need it most. That is why the NHS already provides free hospital car parking to those in greatest need. This includes disabled blue badge holders, frequent outpatient attenders, and parents of children staying overnight. Some patients with long-term health conditions will therefore be provided free parking when included in these groups.
More widely, all NHS trusts are expected to follow the published NHS Car Parking Guidance. This states that car parking charges, where they exist, should be reasonable for the area, with further information available at the following link:
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s financial wellbeing offer for its workforce includes access to a variety of advances including rental deposits and season ticket loans, as well as debt/budgeting advice and support through its Employee Assistance Programme.
The Department does not offer credit union membership via payroll deductions and has no current plans to introduce such arrangements. Of our executive agencies, only the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has a general payroll deduction facility which could be used for such a purpose and the UKHSA includes details on its Financial Wellbeing page as to where employees can find further information on credit unions.
Asked by: John Grady (Labour - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics and training providers on the long term availability of training courses for people to qualify as clinicians and technicians in Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability based on learner demand and provider capacity.
NHS England continues to work closely with the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics and education providers to maintain and strengthen training pathways, including apprenticeship routes, for learners into these courses.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake a review of publicly funded fellowship programmes for training overseas doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to review publicly funded fellowship programmes for training overseas doctors. A range of international postgraduate medical training schemes operate across the National Health Service. These are governed by individual NHS trusts, medical royal colleges, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and indirectly, NHS England, and the General Medical Council. These programmes are expected to be properly governed, provide value for money, and ensure fair treatment for all participants. We expect all NHS organisations to operate in line with these principles.
Asked by: John Grady (Labour - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department is taking to help ensure the long term availability of training courses for people to qualify as clinicians and technicians in Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability based on learner demand and provider capacity.
NHS England continues to work closely with the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics and education providers to maintain and strengthen training pathways, including apprenticeship routes, for learners into these courses.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much their Department has spent on X and xAI since July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of January 2026, total expenditure by the Department since July 2024 has been £69,384.94, inclusive of VAT, on X and zero on xAI.
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 the total monetary value was of NHS costs submitted under the European Health Insurance Card scheme that were not recovered in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our agreements with the European Union, European Free Trade Association countries and Switzerland, we make claims to European countries for National Health Service costs incurred by temporary visitors from those countries. Claims are made in arrears and take up to four years before they are fully settled.
The following table shows the position of European Health Insurance Card and Provisional Replacement Certificate claims for the last three financial years as of 31 March 2025:
Financial year | Total value of claims submitted by UK (£000s) | Claims withdrawn by UK (£000s) | Claims paid to the UK (£000s) | Outstanding claims (£000s) |
2022/23 | 10,200 | 402 | 9,174 | 624 |
2023/24 | 12,054 | 233 | 6,570 | 5,251 |
2024/25 | 12,041 | 19 | 863 | 11,159 |
Grand Total | 34,295 | 654 | 16,606 | 17,035 |
These figures come from extracts from the NHS Business Services Authority’s claims processing database used by the Department for accounting purposes. Claims listed as withdrawn or paid have been settled whereas those listed as outstanding are still being agreed. We expect most outstanding claims to be settled in the United Kingdom’s favour.
This data excludes countries where NHS costs for temporary visitors are reimbursed based on a formula agreement which calculates costs from the number of visitors from that country to the UK. Further information is available at the following link: