Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the review by the York Health Economics Consortium, Review of the Economic Model Used to Inform National Decisions on Prostate Cancer Screening in the UK, published on 19 February, whether they plan to (1) respond to the concerns raised about the model, (2) commission an independent review of the model and (3) set out how any resulting recommendations would be implemented.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 17 March 2026 to Question HL14999, which for ease of reference, is reproduced below, and to the Written Statement HLWS82 made on 2 June 2026.
The Government has made it clear that it would like to see screening in place for prostate cancer where it is supported by the evidence.
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) consulted on their draft recommendation regarding prostate cancer screening which was based on a model commissioned from Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR). SCHARR included expert economists and clinicians in workshops throughout the model’s development. The UK NSC ran a series of workshops with economists, academics, and clinicians to examine the model’s structure, evidence, assumptions, and conclusions. It also ran a 12-week public consultation on their draft recommendation and evidence package. Upon request, York Health Economics Consortium were given access to the underpinning model and York, as well as Prostate Cancer Research who funded York’s work, have submitted findings to the consultation. Updates have been made on the basis of comments which have been shared with experts. These findings will be considered alongside the other submissions to the consultation before UK NSC make a final recommendation based on the current evidence base.
The model will be maintained and interrogated as new evidence becomes available. The UK NSC is committed to keeping prostate cancer screening under review.
Asked by: Lord Mott (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 success of the MedTech funding mandate since its launch.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024, NHS England reviewed the MedTech Funding Mandate (MTFM) with key stakeholders. The review found that the MTFM had helped to move the dial on the adoption of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended technologies, improving patient access and testing new approaches to embedding proven innovation across the National Health Service. It also generated valuable learning to strengthen future policy, particularly around consistent implementation, local funding and commissioning, workforce and pathway readiness, stakeholder understanding, and adoption data.
A further review of the policy is underway as part of the broader development of the national health technology delivery plan, to determine how it can continue to best support wider efforts to increase the uptake and spread of promising and proven health technologies.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to collect and publish the total number of patients who have waited over 24 hours in A&E from the decision to admit them until their admission.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England currently publishes validated data on patients waiting more than four hours and more than 12 hours from the decision to admit until admission through its monthly A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions statistical publication, which is available on the NHS.UK website. This includes national, regional, and provider-level information on accident and emergency attendances, waiting times, and emergency admissions. There are no plans to alter the current approach to collating and publishing data in this area.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many square metres of the NHS estate are currently vacant; and what estimate has been made of the annual holding cost.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At a local level, National Health Service trusts are responsible for managing their estates and making effective strategic decisions about land use. As such, the Department does not centrally hold data on the total vacant NHS estate or the associated annual holding costs, with individual NHS organisations holding this information locally.
NHS England’s Estates Return Information Collection collects data annually on unoccupied floor area across the NHS secondary care estate. In 2024/25, the reported unoccupied floor area was 47,476 square metres, with an associated annual occupancy cost of £3.7 million. Estates Return Information Collection data is publicly available at the NHS.UK website.
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government recognises there is more we can do to support NHS organisations to make better use of the existing estate. That’s why we will do more to align financial incentives to increase estates utilisation and dispose of under-used and surplus land, whilst ensuring existing flexibilities are clear and accessible for frontline NHS organisations.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what record is made at each stage of the criminal justice system of whether an individual has ADHD or another neurodevelopmental condition; and whether that record is linked to health, education, or employment records.
Answered by Baroness Levitt
The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving support for neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, across the criminal justice system.
We recognise the importance of early identification of individuals’ needs. As part of the Neurodiversity Action Plan, HMCTS has developed a signposting strategy to help court and tribunal users with additional needs to access support. HMPPS take a needs-led approach to supporting neurodivergent individuals and now screens all prisoners upon arrival. It has introduced a new Additional Learning Needs screener as part of the new Prisoner Education Service. This allows HMPPS to identify any needs and inform appropriate support and reasonable adjustments in order to help prisoners engage with education, skills, work and rehabilitation opportunities.
We continue to work with partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the Health and Justice National Neurodiversity Programme Board, building on progress highlighted in the final update to the Cross-Government Neurodiversity Action Plan, published in February 2026. Our approach draws on the wider recommendations of NHS England's Independent ADHD taskforce and the Chief Medical officer's report on the health of people in prison and on probation, which included a focus on neurodiversity. We have no current plans to establish a separate Taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to create a dedicated taskforce to transform how ADHD and neurodivergence are supported across the criminal justice system.
Answered by Baroness Levitt
The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving support for neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, across the criminal justice system.
We recognise the importance of early identification of individuals’ needs. As part of the Neurodiversity Action Plan, HMCTS has developed a signposting strategy to help court and tribunal users with additional needs to access support. HMPPS take a needs-led approach to supporting neurodivergent individuals and now screens all prisoners upon arrival. It has introduced a new Additional Learning Needs screener as part of the new Prisoner Education Service. This allows HMPPS to identify any needs and inform appropriate support and reasonable adjustments in order to help prisoners engage with education, skills, work and rehabilitation opportunities.
We continue to work with partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the Health and Justice National Neurodiversity Programme Board, building on progress highlighted in the final update to the Cross-Government Neurodiversity Action Plan, published in February 2026. Our approach draws on the wider recommendations of NHS England's Independent ADHD taskforce and the Chief Medical officer's report on the health of people in prison and on probation, which included a focus on neurodiversity. We have no current plans to establish a separate Taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many deaths attributable to antibiotic-resistant infections occurred in England in each of the last five years; and of those how many occurred on the NHS estate.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held or routinely published.
The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) publishes surveillance data on antibiotic-resistant infections, including estimates of 30-day all-cause mortality following resistant bloodstream infections. However, these figures are not a measure of deaths attributable to antimicrobial resistance and should not be interpreted as deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant infections. This surveillance data is available on the GOV.UK website.
The UKHSA publishes case-fatality statistics for healthcare-associated infections, which are available on the GOV.UK website, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. However, these cannot be used to determine deaths attributable to antibiotic resistance because they do not distinguish the effect of resistance from other factors such as underlying illness, age, comorbidities, or the infection itself.
There is no breakdown of the statistics by National Health Service estate.
The ESPAUR’s 2024 to 2025 report included a breakdown by hospital- and community-onset infection but did not include place of death and cannot determine the proportion of deaths occurring in hospital.
The UKHSA is now developing the capability to produce annual estimates of deaths attributable to antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections as part of the United Kingdom’s 2024 to 2029 national action plan for antimicrobial resistance, which is available on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 2 June (HLWS82), which stated £2.8 million in capital funding will be made available to strengthen and expand provision of focal therapy for prostate cancer, what projects will be funded.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The investment in focal therapies, announced on 2 June 2026, will strengthen existing provision in line with the expansion of the TRANSFORM trial for prostate cancer screening.
Any expansion of focal therapy provision to new sites will include appropriate clinical and market engagement. Officials at the Department are working closely with clinicians and researchers to optimise the planned investment of up to £2.8 million in focal therapy. Further details of this investment will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mott (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 impact on patients of increasing wait times for NHS community services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that people are waiting too long for community services. That is why, for the first time, we have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.
In 2025, we published Standardising Community Health Services which provides an overview of core community health services. Setting clear expectations of the core community health services, integrated care boards will support consistent delivery of community health services and effective commissioning, and will improve patient access to care.
NHS England works with local systems, including integrated care boards, to manage demand and mitigate the impact of waiting times on patients, particularly in areas of highest clinical risk. Community health services waiting time data is monitored nationally through NHS England's monthly Community Health Services Situation Report.
Asked by: Lord Mott (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 impacts of untreated ADHD and neurodivergence.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is deeply concerned that too many adults, children, and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism are not getting the support they need early enough, consistently enough, or in ways that are well matched to their needs. There is a range of cross-Government work underway that is examining the impacts of neurodevelopmental conditions on health, education, and employment, and how people can be supported earlier and more effectively.
In December 2025, the Government launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.
We are also committed to transforming outcomes for children, young people, and their families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through pivotal reforms. We want these reforms to support the treatment to prevention shift in our 10-Year Health Plan and its focus on early identification of needs, support, and intervention, enabling more children to access support and thrive in inclusive mainstream settings.
Central to this is the new Experts at Hand offer, backed by £1.8 billion over three years, which will bring health and education professionals around mainstream settings. Alongside this, £1.6 billion will be invested over the next three years to make the mainstream system more inclusive, building on the latest evidence and practice. By 2028, up to £15 million will have been invested to build the evidence base for, and then provide, national inclusion standards. These will set out, for the first time, what support should be available in every mainstream setting. We will also refresh areas of need, update guidance on reasonable adjustments, and revise the SEND Code of Practice.
The Timms Review, the first review of the Personal Independence Payment benefit, is examining how it can better support disabled people to live independently and access the right support at the right level. The review is due to report in the autumn. Additionally, the Milburn Review on Young People and Work is examining how health conditions can affect participation in education, employment, and training, and the implications for welfare dependency. It published its interim report on 28 May, with the final report due to be published later this year.
The Government will consider the findings of these reviews to inform future Government decisions.