Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 15 September (HL3068), given that of the organisations mentioned only British Bank provides start-up funding, and given that they reject large numbers of unemployed applicants, what conversations they have had with microfinance organisations that provide mentoring and loans between £500 and £5,000 to unemployed people to help start their own businesses.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As referenced in the response to HL3068 on 15 September 2026, Jobcentre Plus work coaches can provide self-employment information and support to customers and signpost them to specialist national or local organisations that provide advice, including in relation to finance, to support people to start a business.
The Department for Work and Pensions does not offer financial advice about business loans or advise customers about specific loan providers. Therefore, the department has not engaged with specific microfinance organisations that provide loans to unemployed people to help them start their own business.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the UK expert clinical consensus statement on renal denervation published in Heart journal in November 2025 that found 93 per cent of surveyed UK clinicians support the NHS and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to update their respective commissioning policy and guidance, what plans they have to update current guidance to enable the routine commissioning of renal denervation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is reviewing the clinical evidence for the commissioning of renal denervation treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance, taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness.
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 case for establishing a reimbursement pathway for renal denervation as a treatment for resistant hypertension, given that it is approved and commercially available in a number of comparable healthcare systems internationally but is not routinely commissioned by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is reviewing the clinical evidence for the commissioning of renal denervation treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is an independent body with its own processes for reviewing and updating its guidance, taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider the factual summary of consultation responses published on 7 December 2023 to constitute the report required by section 4 of the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc.) Act 2019; on what basis they consider the statutory duty to have been fulfilled; and on what date the five-year period provided for by section 4 began.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice jointly consulted on proposals to provide coroners with new powers to investigate term stillbirths in 2019. The factual summary of responses to the consultation, published in 2023, set out the feedback received from respondents but did not give a Government view on whether, and if so how, the law ought to be changed to enable or require coroners to investigate stillbirths.
Following the publication of Baroness Amos’ independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, the Government has committed to publishing a response to the 2019 consultation in due course. The five-year period provided for by section 4 of the 2019 act begins on the date when the Government publishes its report into whether and how to change the law on coronial investigations of stillbirths.
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 virtual triage model used at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust; and whether they plan for this to inform the development of NHS Online.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Online is being developed using evidence and learning from existing virtual outpatient services and wider digital healthcare models across the National Health Service and internationally. It is being designed with input from patients and clinical experts to ensure services are safe, effective, and appropriate for virtual delivery. The impact of NHS Online will be monitored as the programme develops and is implemented.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish an evaluation framework for NHS Online to assess its impact on waiting times, outpatient attendance, diagnostic turnaround times, patient outcomes and health inequalities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Online is being developed using evidence and learning from existing virtual outpatient services and wider digital healthcare models across the National Health Service and internationally. It is being designed with input from patients and clinical experts to ensure services are safe, effective, and appropriate for virtual delivery. The impact of NHS Online will be monitored as the programme develops and is implemented.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support integrated care boards to adopt virtual outpatient pathways before NHS Online launches in 2027.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Online is being developed using evidence and learning from existing virtual outpatient services and wider digital healthcare models across the National Health Service and internationally. It is being designed with input from patients and clinical experts to ensure services are safe, effective, and appropriate for virtual delivery. The impact of NHS Online will be monitored as the programme develops and is implemented.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the reply by Baroness Merron on 15 September (HL Deb col 1073) that health and well-being boards "are responsible for drawing up the local plans for what the locality needs" to whom the health and well-being board is accountable if they do not deliver sufficient social care at the neighbourhood level
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health and wellbeing boards are statutory committees of local authorities with a strategic role in assessing local needs and developing plans for improving health and wellbeing. They are not responsible for delivering adult social care services.
Neighbourhood health plans set out the agreed strategy for meeting health and care needs of a local population. As set out in guidance, these plans are developed jointly by local government, the National Health Service, and their partners, and form part of a continuous process of strategic assessment and planning.
Responsibility for the commissioning and delivery of adult social care remains with local authorities. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have duties to shape their local and ensure the availability of services that meet the needs of their population.
Local authorities are accountable for the discharge of those statutory responsibilities through the established local government accountability framework.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to apply the core pillars of the renewed women’s health strategy for England to the treatment of migraine, in light of its higher prevalence in women than men.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving care for people with migraine, including those whose symptoms are associated with menopause, is supported through a range of National Health Service initiatives. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance provides evidence-based recommendations on the diagnosis and management of migraine, while NHS England supports improvements in headache and migraine services through initiatives such as the NHS RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit, which aims to improve pathways between primary and specialist care and ensure patients receive the right intervention at the earliest opportunity.
NHS England announced on 10 September that migraine would be added to the list of conditions for which individuals can get further support from participating prescribing pharmacies under the Pharmacy First programme, later this autumn. While migraine affects a higher proportion of women than men, the services referred to above are available to both men and women in need of support.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the care pathway for migraines associated with menopause.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving care for people with migraine, including those whose symptoms are associated with menopause, is supported through a range of National Health Service initiatives. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance provides evidence-based recommendations on the diagnosis and management of migraine, while NHS England supports improvements in headache and migraine services through initiatives such as the NHS RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit, which aims to improve pathways between primary and specialist care and ensure patients receive the right intervention at the earliest opportunity.
NHS England announced on 10 September that migraine would be added to the list of conditions for which individuals can get further support from participating prescribing pharmacies under the Pharmacy First programme, later this autumn. While migraine affects a higher proportion of women than men, the services referred to above are available to both men and women in need of support.