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 expand training routes for biomedical scientists, including progression into advanced practice roles, to support earlier diagnostic capacity, improve cancer reporting turnaround times, and enable greater collaboration with medical colleagues as diagnostic services shift from hospital to community settings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The role of biomedical scientists is critical to the delivery of the Government’s overarching ambitions for National Health Service recovery, and to deliver on the strategic shift of moving care from the hospital to the community. The Government and NHS England have ensured that their views and input have been sought to inform the development and delivery of policy, including on diagnostic services.
The pathology professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science, are key stakeholders in NHS England’s pathology transformation and diagnostics programmes. They are represented on programme boards and working groups, and there is a strong track record of joint working, including national engagement events on topics such as sustainability, modernising histopathology services, and digital transformation. This engagement is helping to shape policy and delivery, including the delivery of community diagnostic services, to ensure equitable access to high-quality diagnostics outside of hospital settings.
With more than 270,000 contributions, the engagement the Government undertook to inform the 10-Year Health Plan was the biggest ever national conversation in the history of the NHS. Organisations representing the biomedical science sector played an important part in it. We received consultation responses from a number of these organisations, including The Institute of Biomedical Science and Royal College of Pathologists, who we undertook specific engagement with through our Partners’ Council.
All of this input fed directly into our policy making process, and insights from the engagement are embedded throughout the plan. As NHS England prepares to deliver the Government’s health ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, professional bodies, alongside other key stakeholders, will continue to play an important role in informing the implementation of priority programmes.
Biomedical scientists are increasingly working at the top of their licence, supported by digital pathology and laboratory automation that improves workflow and turnaround times. They provide governance and quality oversight for community point-of-care testing, outside of hospital settings linked to community diagnostic centres and hub laboratories, with advanced and consultant-level roles developing where appropriate.
Decisions on the availability of trainee positions to become registered biomedical scientists are matters for individual NHS trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care. NHS England, and previously Health Education England, have, however, supported advanced specialist diplomas and other advanced training for biomedical scientists, with further information on this available on the Institute of Biomedical Science’s website, in an online only format.
The Government will be publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.
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 ensure that the biomedical science workforce is included in shaping and delivering the shift of diagnostic services from hospital to community settings, as set out in the NHS 10 Year Plan, to ensure that care is triaged at the most appropriate level.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The role of biomedical scientists is critical to the delivery of the Government’s overarching ambitions for National Health Service recovery, and to deliver on the strategic shift of moving care from the hospital to the community. The Government and NHS England have ensured that their views and input have been sought to inform the development and delivery of policy, including on diagnostic services.
The pathology professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science, are key stakeholders in NHS England’s pathology transformation and diagnostics programmes. They are represented on programme boards and working groups, and there is a strong track record of joint working, including national engagement events on topics such as sustainability, modernising histopathology services, and digital transformation. This engagement is helping to shape policy and delivery, including the delivery of community diagnostic services, to ensure equitable access to high-quality diagnostics outside of hospital settings.
With more than 270,000 contributions, the engagement the Government undertook to inform the 10-Year Health Plan was the biggest ever national conversation in the history of the NHS. Organisations representing the biomedical science sector played an important part in it. We received consultation responses from a number of these organisations, including The Institute of Biomedical Science and Royal College of Pathologists, who we undertook specific engagement with through our Partners’ Council.
All of this input fed directly into our policy making process, and insights from the engagement are embedded throughout the plan. As NHS England prepares to deliver the Government’s health ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, professional bodies, alongside other key stakeholders, will continue to play an important role in informing the implementation of priority programmes.
Biomedical scientists are increasingly working at the top of their licence, supported by digital pathology and laboratory automation that improves workflow and turnaround times. They provide governance and quality oversight for community point-of-care testing, outside of hospital settings linked to community diagnostic centres and hub laboratories, with advanced and consultant-level roles developing where appropriate.
Decisions on the availability of trainee positions to become registered biomedical scientists are matters for individual NHS trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care. NHS England, and previously Health Education England, have, however, supported advanced specialist diplomas and other advanced training for biomedical scientists, with further information on this available on the Institute of Biomedical Science’s website, in an online only format.
The Government will be publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.
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 include the biomedical science workforce in the development and delivery of community diagnostic services to ensure equitable access to high-quality diagnostics outside of hospital settings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The role of biomedical scientists is critical to the delivery of the Government’s overarching ambitions for National Health Service recovery, and to deliver on the strategic shift of moving care from the hospital to the community. The Government and NHS England have ensured that their views and input have been sought to inform the development and delivery of policy, including on diagnostic services.
The pathology professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science, are key stakeholders in NHS England’s pathology transformation and diagnostics programmes. They are represented on programme boards and working groups, and there is a strong track record of joint working, including national engagement events on topics such as sustainability, modernising histopathology services, and digital transformation. This engagement is helping to shape policy and delivery, including the delivery of community diagnostic services, to ensure equitable access to high-quality diagnostics outside of hospital settings.
With more than 270,000 contributions, the engagement the Government undertook to inform the 10-Year Health Plan was the biggest ever national conversation in the history of the NHS. Organisations representing the biomedical science sector played an important part in it. We received consultation responses from a number of these organisations, including The Institute of Biomedical Science and Royal College of Pathologists, who we undertook specific engagement with through our Partners’ Council.
All of this input fed directly into our policy making process, and insights from the engagement are embedded throughout the plan. As NHS England prepares to deliver the Government’s health ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, professional bodies, alongside other key stakeholders, will continue to play an important role in informing the implementation of priority programmes.
Biomedical scientists are increasingly working at the top of their licence, supported by digital pathology and laboratory automation that improves workflow and turnaround times. They provide governance and quality oversight for community point-of-care testing, outside of hospital settings linked to community diagnostic centres and hub laboratories, with advanced and consultant-level roles developing where appropriate.
Decisions on the availability of trainee positions to become registered biomedical scientists are matters for individual NHS trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care. NHS England, and previously Health Education England, have, however, supported advanced specialist diplomas and other advanced training for biomedical scientists, with further information on this available on the Institute of Biomedical Science’s website, in an online only format.
The Government will be publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect (1) to complete the policy work to assess how the NHS Health Check programme can be improved, and (2) to respond to the four recommendations made in the report by the National Audit Office, Progress in preventing cardiovascular disease, published on 13 November 2024 (HC 304).
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that fewer lives are lost to the biggest killers, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the 10-Year Health Plan sets out our intention to publish a CVD modern service framework in 2026. Work to improve the impact of the NHS Health Check programme is ongoing and will inform the development of the CVD modern service framework. This will set out the best evidenced interventions, clear quality standards, and a plan for innovation.
Department officials are carefully considering the recommendations from the National Audit Office’s (NAO) report, Progress in preventing cardiovascular disease, and we will respond to the four recommendations made by the NAO in their report by the end of this year.
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 expanding successful regional cancer screening initiatives to the rest of England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Regional pilots such as the Targeted Lung Health Check can be used to build an evidence base and inform decisions regarding screening. However, the Department is guided on screening policy by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). This is an independent scientific advisory committee and makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process.
Regional screening initiatives would only be rolled out nationally when they followed a UK NSC recommendation based on scientific evidence that showed the programme would do more good than harm at reasonable cost.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government given the revenue generated by industry clinical trials for the National Health Service, what steps they are taking to ensure companies are promptly invoiced for research.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England wrote to the National Health Service providers’ chief financial officers and research and development directors on 30 May 2025, requiring them to ensure all commercial trial activities are invoiced in a timely manner. A copy of this correspondence is attached.
NHS England is currently holding a series of round tables to explore the challenges facing some NHS providers in maintaining good financial management for research, and this includes invoicing. The outcome of these roundtables will be the revision and strengthening of NHS England’s Research Finance Guidance, which was first published in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered introducing reporting, and accountability, for the delivery of clinical trials at (1) regional NHS level, and (2) integrated care board level.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government publishes United Kingdom-wide data on clinical research delivery performance through the Department’s UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD) Key Performance Indicator Report. This monthly report brings together data from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to monitor system-wide progress in the delivery of globally competitive clinical research across the UK. Alongside this reporting, the Department also publishes National Health Service trust level data on the study set-up performance of sites in England.
The Health and Care Act 2022 sets legal duties for integrated care boards (ICBs) in relation to research, and these duties include requirements to include research in ICB joint forward plans and reports. The Department and NHS England are currently developing plans for the future structure and functions of ICBs and regions and this includes consideration of where governance for research will sit. In May, NHS England wrote a letter to NHS providers requiring board-level reporting of research activity and income, with scrutiny of the UKCRD programme’s site-level performance metrics for study set-up. A copy of this correspondence is attached. NHS England will publish revised guidance on financial management for research later in 2025.
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 ensure (1) funding, and (2) research infrastructure investment, reaches underrepresented regions to reduce inequity in cancer research.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to funding health and care research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) across England, to ensure that the research we support is inclusive and representative of the populations we serve.
In 2024, the NIHR made equity, diversity, and inclusion a condition of funding for all domestic research awards. This means applicants must demonstrate how their research will contribute towards the NIHR’s mission to reduce health and care inequalities, with a focus on participant inclusion from diverse populations of the United Kingdom.
NIHR research infrastructure has national coverage across the whole of England. Our infrastructure schemes aim to build research capacity and capability across the country, across all geographies and settings. In line with prior commitments, the Department has increased funding for NIHR research infrastructure schemes delivering cancer research outside the Greater South East, including Biomedical Research Centres, Clinical Research Facilities, and HealthTech Research Centres.
Through the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN), the NIHR provides funding to 100% of National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, operating across 12 regions throughout the country. From 2026/27, the RDN will adopt a new national funding model for NHS support costs and research delivery. This will be a consistent, nationally agreed funding distribution model across all regions of England and will reduce regional variation in health research delivery investment. This aims to reduce inequity in research delivery across all therapy and geography areas, including in underserved areas and settings.
The NIHR also provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and care research that is relevant to them.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement that they will accept all recommendations of an independent review into physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) on 16 July, what additional support and training they will provide to existing PAs and AAs to ensure that they can continue to care for patients while addressing concerns about patient safety.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has written to National Health Service trusts, integrated care boards, and primary care networks to reiterate their responsibilities to their staff as employers, including providing pastoral support where required. Importantly, NHS England has also written directly to staff most affected by the recommendations, in the Response to Recommendations from the Independent Review of Physician Associates and Anaesthesia Associates (the Leng Review), available on the NHS.UK website, setting out where they can find support if required.
Implementing the recommendations will require organisations to work together and take action. Some actions will be implemented immediately, whilst others will require wider input, with benefits being fully realised over time. The Department and NHS England will work to ensure that both patient and staff needs are met throughout this process. We will also work collaboratively with other key partners to set out a clear implementation plan for making the required changes, in advance of publishing a fuller response.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the expected remit of the proposed Health Data Research Service includes providing direct care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 7 April 2025 the Prime Minister announced that the Government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million to create a new Health Data Research Service, co-designed through engagement with the public and patients, data users, and stakeholder organisations.
Providing access to data for direct care purposes is not one of the Health Data Research Service’s planned capabilities. The Health Data Research Service will deliver a single point of access to health data for research from multiple sources, National Health Service and non-NHS. This service will bring new treatments and cures to patients by safely enabling the use of patient data to super-charge research, attracting investment and making the United Kingdom one of the best places in the world to conduct ground-breaking medical research.
The Health Data Research Service will be delivered across the UK to provide a single, integrated system for approved researchers across all sectors to access health, social care, and public health data safely. The service will streamline and simplify current processes, ensuring the safety and security of the data, allowing researchers to spend less time talking to different NHS bodies around the country and more time unlocking new insights that will transform our understanding of health.