Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 24 February 2025 to Question HL4889 on Knee Replacements: Waiting Lists, what specific steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for (a) knee replacements and (b) other orthopaedic operations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of August 2025, the waiting list for Trauma and Orthopaedics, which includes patients waiting for knee replacements and other orthopaedic operations, stood at 866,426. Performance against the 18-week referral to treatment standard was 58.8%.
The Department is taking a range of specific steps to reduce waiting times for these procedures. To continue to expand and enhance surgical capacity, we have allocated £1.65 billion in capital funding in 2025-26 to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care. As of September 2025, 123 surgical hubs are operational across England and we are committed to ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years, so more operations can be carried out. These dedicated and protected surgical hubs focus on high volume low complexity surgeries, with the majority of hubs undertaking trauma and orthopaedics procedures.
We are improving efficiency within existing capacity. Theatre utilisation within elective surgical hubs has shown a steady improvement from around 79% in August 2024 to an average of around 81% in August 2025, enabling a greater number of procedures to be undertaken across all specialties.
As part of the Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, we are also optimising perioperative care to ensure patients are ready for surgery sooner. This includes encouraging patients waiting for surgery to engage in prevention health measures such as smoking cessation and weight management, ensuring more patients are assessed as fit to proceed to surgery, and therefore leave the waiting list faster.
This Government is committed to putting patients first and tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. These measures have already contributed to increased elective activity. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra 2 million operations, scans, and appointments in our first year, having delivered 5.2 million more appointments. This marked a vital First Step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the NHS constitutional standard, by March 2029.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of extending employer National Insurance contribution relief to (a) employees aged under 25 and (b) individuals returning to work from welfare on levels of (i) employment and (ii) job creation in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This government is committed to supporting young people to earn or learn. That is why the Chancellor has recently announced that we will offer a guaranteed job to young people on Universal Credit who are unemployed for over 18 months. This forms a key part of the government’s Youth Guarantee, building on existing employment support and sector-based work academies, with more details to come at Autumn Budget.
We are committed to supporting all people on welfare who can work into work. At the recent Spending Review, we increased funding for employment support to over £3.5 billion by 2028-29, helping people to access the skills they need to progress, tackling inactivity and ensuring more people are in better jobs.
There are a wide range of factors to take into consideration when introducing a tax relief. These include how effective the relief would be at achieving the policy intent, how targeted support would be, whether it adds complexity to the tax system, and the cost.
The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the National Security Advisor discussed the case on Chinese espionage recently dropped by the CPS with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing on 14th July 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has a clear and consistent policy to not comment on the NSA’s meetings to protect sensitive information pertaining to this country’s national security. This has been the case under successive governments.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether minutes were taken of the meeting between the National Security Advisor and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on 14th July 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has a clear and consistent policy to not comment on the NSA’s meetings to protect sensitive information pertaining to this country’s national security. This has been the case under successive governments.