Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will consider providing additional funding and resources to support BSGE-accredited endometriosis services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce. We are committed to improving the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care for gynaecological conditions including endometriosis.
The 10-Year Health Plan set out our ambition for high autonomy to be the norm across every part of the country. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the healthcare needs of their local population and have the freedom to do so, and this includes women's health hubs and delivering the direction of the Women's Health Strategy. The Government is backing ICBs to do this through record funding. The 2025 Spending Review prioritised health, with record investment in the health and social care system.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will consider providing specialist pelvic physiotherapy provision within the NHS for patients with endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pelvic physiotherapy is an established and expanding component of National Health Service pelvic health services, delivered across maternity, gynaecology, community services, and specialist pathways. Across wider gynaecology and women’s health hubs, pelvic health physiotherapy is routinely offered for pelvic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary/faecal incontinence, prolapse, dyspareunia, and other presentations commonly associated with endometriosis. Multidisciplinary pelvic pain management, including pelvic physiotherapy, is an expected component within women’s health hubs.
The Government is encouraging integrated care boards to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and supporting them to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls. This should enable improved access to pelvic physiotherapy and earlier intervention for conditions such as endometriosis.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the financial sustainability of childminders in the context of the removal of the wear and tear allowance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This department is taking a range of measures to support the financial sustainability of childminding businesses and other early years providers. From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers, an increase from 96%.
We are also working with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers can be paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. From 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.
In addition, the expansion of the early years entitlements will benefit childminders in different ways. The national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.