Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2025 to Question 80524 on Nurses: Training, whether training courses in learning disability nursing will be available in North East Hampshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Undergraduate training places for learning disability nursing are not centrally commissioned by the Government. Instead, they are determined by university education providers, who decide the number of learners they admit based on learner demand and provider capacity. The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for people seeking psychological therapy to support employment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and individual placement and support schemes to address the root causes of mental health issues and provide support for people to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work. We will also make it easier for people to self-refer to talking therapies services through the NHS App.
We are continuing to roll out employment advisors in our NHS Talking Therapies services to support people with common mental health conditions in seeking and retaining employment. Our advisors help people who are in work but struggling or facing difficulties in the workplace, are off work sick, or are looking for work, so we can provide the right support at the right time.
Confidential support is available to people at any stage of their career. This could include school- or college-leavers looking for their first job to people looking at changing their lifestyle or work-life balance as they get closer to retirement.
We are also expanding individual placement and support schemes embedded in community mental health services to improve employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness. These schemes offer intensive, individually tailored support to get people into work, with ongoing support for the employer and employee to help ensure the person keeps their job.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 the revised covid-19 autumn 2025 vaccination eligibility criteria on vulnerable patients with underlying health conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s policy on groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Over time, the risk from COVID-19 has reduced across the United Kingdom population, through exposure to the virus, changes in the virus and vaccination.
The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of illness, serious disease in specific groups, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis, to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. The evidence indicates that whilst the risk from COVID-19 is now much lower for most people, adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and those who are immunosuppressed are those at highest risk of serious COVID-19 disease. A more targeted vaccination programme, aimed at individuals, with a higher risk of developing serious disease, and where vaccination was considered potentially cost-effective, was advised for autumn 2025.
Whilst current COVID-19 vaccines provide good protection against hospitalisation and/or death for those at highest risk, they provide very limited protection against acquiring COVID-19 infection or mild illness, meaning any potential public health benefit of reducing transmission is much less evident.
Long term health consequences following COVID-19 infection, including post-COVID syndromes, such as long COVID, have been discussed at meetings of the JCVI. It remains uncertain whether getting extra COVID-19 vaccine doses has any effect on the chances of developing long COVID, how it progresses, or how it affects people.
The JCVI has proactively published an updated list of Research Recommendations, encouraging future investigations on the exploration of data and evidence on the benefit of vaccination amongst post-COVID syndromes, and those with underlying medical conditions who are not currently eligible.
The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review. Accordingly, the Government will consider any additional advice from the JCVI in due course. Further information on the details of the modelling and analysis considered are within the 2025 and spring 2026 advice, on the GOV.UK website.
Information is collected on hospital bed occupancy and on the reason for hospital admissions. It is, however, not possible to determine which admissions associated with COVID-19 were for individuals who were eligible for vaccination in autumn 2024 but no longer eligible in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Home Office's document entitled Statement of changes in immigration rules, published on 1 July 2025, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that vacancies in social care settings can be filled.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Although overseas recruitment for adult social care ended as of 22 July 2025, for a transition period until 2028, in-country switching for those already in the country and working legally for their employers will be permitted. This means, for example, that care providers will continue to be able to recruit those who want to switch from student or graduate visas, who we know have provided a vital role in workforce capacity in recent years. This approach will be kept under review.
International workers who are already sponsored to work legally in the sector by the end of the transition period will be able to continue to extend their stay, change sponsors and when qualified, apply to settle. These arrangements include those who need to switch employers following a sponsor licence revocation. The Department is providing up to £12.5 million this financial year to 15 regional partnerships to help support workers affected by licence revocation into alternative, ethical employment.
More broadly, we recognise the scale of reform needed to make adult social care attractive as a career and are determined to ensure those who work in care are respected as professionals. That is why we are introducing new Fair Pay Agreements for adult social care workers, with legislation currently going through Parliament, implementing the first universal career structure for adult social care. We are also providing £12 million this year for staff to complete training and qualifications. These changes will help attract staff to the sector, providing proper recognition and opportunities for them to build their careers.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) assess the needs of and (b) provide appropriate support for parents of twins.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is a wide network of universal services and tailored information that parents of twins are able to access.
When babies are delivered safely, parents will likely have them beside them on the postnatal ward, where they will be supported to care for and feed their newborn. In the case that infants are born very early, they may need to spend some time in special (neonatal) care, which is not uncommon in the case of twin births.
The National Health Service website, Your newborn twins, provides expectant parents of twins advice on how to prepare for twins being born early, taking twins home and getting twins into a routine. This is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/baby/newborn-twins-and-multiples/your-newborn-twins/
Additionally, health visiting services are offered to all families, including five health and development reviews, information, support and intervention at key stages for parents and children. Where additional needs are identified, the health visiting service can either provide additional support directly or refer to NHS or local services as required.
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is also supporting parents and carers of children of all ages, with a strong focus on conception to age two. Family hubs provide a wide range of universal services that could help parents of twins, such as support with infant feeding, perinatal mental health, and parent-infant relationships. We know that some local areas are offering more targeted support for parents of twins and multiples through their family hub networks.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to protect NHS (a) staff and (b) volunteers from (i) verbal abuse, (ii) threats, (iii) unauthorised sharing of personal information and (iv) other forms of abuse; whether he plans to extend zero tolerance policies to cover digital harassment; and what steps his Department is taking to provide (A) guidance and (B) support to NHS providers for affected (1) staff and (2) volunteers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working or volunteering in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe and work in an environment free from all forms of harassment, bullying and violence, including digital harassment.
Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff and volunteers and put in place many measures to do this including appropriate security, training, and emotional support for those affected by violence. Additionally, NHS England have developed an NHS Civility and Respect programme which provides national guidance, training and resources to help organisations build positive workplace cultures, tackle bullying and harassment, and ensure staff and volunteers feel safe and supported in all work environments.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what legislative steps his Department is taking to ensure that GP practices assess shared care requests on a case-by-case basis; and whether he plans to introduce legislation to improve consistency and equity in shared care arrangements for patients with mental health diagnoses.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to introduce legislation for shared care arrangements.
Shared care arrangements between a general practitioner (GP) and a specialist are voluntary agreements and are not a part of the GP Contract. GPs do not receive additional funding for taking part in shared care agreements and are able to refuse participation if they think they do not have capacity, or it is not clinically appropriate.
The General Medical Council’s guidance helps GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities. In deciding whether to enter into a shared care arrangement, a GP will need to consider a number of factors to determine whether it is within their sphere of competence, and therefore safe and suitable for their patient’s needs. This includes being satisfied that any prescriptions or referrals for treatment are clinically appropriate.
These processes apply to all shared care requests, including those involving patients with a mental health diagnosis.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) reduce paediatric surgical waiting times and (b) ensure timely access to treatment for children requiring surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out how the National Health Service will reform elective care services and meet the 18-week referral to treatment standard for all patients, including children and young people, by March 2029. As a First Step to achieving this, we have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra 2 million operations, scans and appointments in our first year of government, delivering 5.2 million more appointments.
We have made it easier to track elective waiting times for children and young people through the publication of new demographic data as part of monthly inequalities statistical releases. This was a commitment in the Elective Reform Plan and is a big step forward in improving the transparency of waiting times and will provide accountability for children’s elective waiting lists.
The Plan also sets out several commitments specifically in relation to children and young people, including that integrated care boards and providers should ensure interventions are in place to reduce disparities for groups who face additional waiting list challenges; and primary and secondary care clinicians are to improve e-RS functionality (a national digital platform for referring patients into elective care), by including data to enable better prioritisation of children and young people.
Finally, the clinically-led Getting It Right First Time children and young people programme will continue to work with providers to ensure they are implementing best practice to improve children’s outcomes and waiting times across all medical and surgical specialities.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 (a) support available to ambulance staff who attend traumatic callouts and (b) suicide prevention training requirements for ambulance service managers in North East Hampshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The mental health of all National Health Service staff is a high priority, including ambulance staff as responders to emergency incidents. Ambulance trusts and the Association of Ambulance Trust Chief Executives have worked closely with NHS England to ensure there is a good range of health and wellbeing support for staff. This includes an ambulance sector specific suicide prevention pathway to provide immediate support 24/7 for staff experiencing suicidal ideation.
Significant work is also underway to strengthen the quality and consistency of suicide training across the health system. NHS England published Staying Safe from Suicide: Best Practice Guidance for Safety Assessment, Formulation and Management to support the Government’s work to reduce suicide and improve mental health services. This is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/staying-safe-from-suicide/
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help encourage the take-up of disability nursing courses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working closely with key partners, including higher education providers and employers, to promote learning disability nursing roles and attract people into the profession through various routes including apprenticeships.
We want to remove the barriers to training in clinical roles, which is why in addition to the support available from the Student Loans Company, eligible students studying for a nursing degree receive supplementary non-repayable funding via the Learning Support Fund. This comprises a training grant of £5,000 per academic year and a £1,000 per academic year grant for priority subjects such as learning disability nursing, with further support depending on individual circumstances.
We will publish a refreshed 10-year workforce plan later this year to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need.