Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the rate of community pharmacy closures in England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

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 support the long-term (a) financial and (b) operational sustainability of community pharmacies.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

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 help ensure that patients have timely access to pharmacy services in areas where community pharmacies have closed.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has been clear that community pharmacies will have a vital role in the Neighbourhood Health Service, bringing healthcare to the heart of the high street, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.

There are over 10,400 pharmacies in England. Despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies, access to pharmacies remains good. Over 80% of the population live within one mile of a pharmacy and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. In some rural areas where there is no pharmacy, general practitioners are permitted to dispense medicines to their patients. Patients can also choose to access medicines and pharmacy services through any of the over 400 National Health Service online pharmacies that are contractually required to deliver medicines they dispense free of charge to patients.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding investment in mental health support and screening within PCOS treatment plans.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

While we have no plans at present to make such an assessment, we know that more needs to be done to support women with gynaecological conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the National Health Service.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support and to provide the right support at the right time to the right people, including women with PCOS. We are transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App, including self-referral for talking therapies.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £688 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year.

In the Spending Review announcement, we have confirmed that we will fulfil our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers for children and adults by the end of this Parliament. 6,700 of these workers have been recruited since July, meaning we are more than halfway towards our target.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered prioritising the integration of PCOS care into Women's Health Hubs.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Women’s health hubs bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to provide integrated women’s health services in the community, centred on meeting women’s needs across their life course.

As set out in the core specification on the GOV.UK website, women’s health hubs should provide assessment and treatment for menstrual problems, including but not limited to care for heavy, painful, or irregular menstrual bleeding, and care for conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome.

We are looking to integrated care boards to further expand their coverage of women’s health hubs to improve local delivery of services to women. We will support them in doing so, drawing on the learning from the existing women’s health hubs.

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 ensure that new NICE guidelines on PCOS are embedded in a nationally commissioned diagnostic pathway to reduce diagnostic delays.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not yet published its clinical guideline on the assessment and management of polycystic ovary syndrome. The guideline is currently in development and NICE expects to publish the final guideline in November 2026. Once published, National Health Service commissioners will be expected to take the guideline fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local populations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with owners of defibrillators on encouraging them to register the defibrillators on The Circuit.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has not held any discussions with the owners or guardians of defibrillators. Publicly accessible defibrillators owned by local community organisations are acquired through a variety of means. This can include applying for one from a charity operated fund, purchasing one directly from a charity, or purchasing one as a private purchase. It is not uncommon for charities supplying defibrillators through a fund to require those defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit. Defibrillator charities also promote The Circuit on their website.

There is no registry or database of defibrillator purchases in England, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to have access to the personal information of the people who purchase these devices. Therefore, it is not possible for the Department to contact people who have purchased a defibrillator privately, be it through a charity or from a private company.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on rolling out defibrillators to state-funded schools in England.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department’s defibrillator programme was the largest rollout of defibrillators across England to date. The programme provided over 20,000 defibrillators to almost 18,000 schools, ensuring that all state-funded schools in England have access to a device.

The department is working with the British Heart Foundation to understand the impact the programme is having. Since our rollout, the number of school defibrillators registered on the national database, The Circuit, has risen by 252%, with 66% of all schools in England now having at least one device registered. Our evaluation shows that defibrillators we provided have been available for use and deployed in over 12,000 emergency situations, where there has been a suspected cardiac arrest.

The department continues to work with the British Heart Foundation to evaluate and understand the impact of our programme and support schools in registering their defibrillators on The Circuit.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will (a) collect and (b) publish data on the (i) prevalence, (ii) diagnosis and (iii) treatment of PCOS in England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that can be diagnosed in multiple different ways, including without a diagnosis code and in primary care settings, and therefore it is very difficult to identify the number of specific diagnostic tests carried out overall.

However, the diagnosis code for PCOS is recorded in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) dataset. The number of patients treated in secondary care where the primary diagnosis is PCOS is as follows:

• in 2023/24, there were 2,226 outpatient attendances for patients with a recorded primary diagnosis of PCOS; and
• in 2023/24, there were 1,169 admitted treatment episodes for patients with a recorded primary diagnosis of PCOS.

The most recent publications for outpatient and admitted activity in 2023/24, namely the Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity Diagnosis 2023 to 2024 table and the Outpatient Primary Diagnosis by Attendance Type 2023 to 2024 table, have been placed in the Library due to the size of the data.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of booked practical driving tests were attended by learner drivers in each month in the last ten years.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The attached Excel document shows the percentage of car practical driving tests attended for the last ten full financial years.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation by the Health and Safety Executive entitled GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR) - creosote assessment for renewal, closed on 24 November 2024, whether he plans to issue new guidance on the use of creosote coatings on telegraph poles.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Following the period of public consultation on creosote, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is undertaking an in-depth assessment as part of the renewal process of creosote as a biocidal active substance under the Great Britain Biocidal Products Regulation. This work is still under way, and is due to complete in Spring 2026.

A final decision on the renewal will be taken by the Secretary of State in 2026.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what technological steps her Department is considering taking to restore the number of practical driving test bookings back to pre-covid levels.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

As set out in DVSA’s 2024/25 business plan, DVSA is beginning the process of replacing it’s booking system. The system has many uses including:

• booking and scheduling of all practical driving and riding tests

• recording mandatory training taken by professional lorry and bus drivers

• administering the register of approved driving instructors (ADIs) and the compulsory basic training (CBT) scheme for novice motorcyclists

DVSA will start by replacing the test booking and scheduling service. This will allow better capture and meeting of customers’ requirements, including those with additional needs. DVSA will update the way it schedules tests using modern, flexible technology that makes better use of examiners’ time and reduces manual processes.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests.

DVSA deploys bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his timetable is for the payment of compensation to people approved for a second interim payment for estates under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Following the publication of the Inquiry’s Additional Report, the UK Government has announced further interim payments of £210,000 for eligible estates of someone registered with an IBSS or predecessor scheme (on or before 17 April 2024) who sadly passed away.

This is in addition to the £100,000 interim payments to the estates of deceased infected beneficiaries which opened in October 2024. Since then, 600 interim payments of £100,000 have already been paid to estates.

On 26 September, the Government announced that applications for these interim payments will open on 23 October.

The Government expects the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to begin making payments to the estates of deceased infected people this year.

Councillor John McCabe

Found: Committee members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford; Steve Darling; Amanda Hack

Found: Committee members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford; Steve Darling; Amanda Hack

Found: Committee members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford; Steve Darling; Amanda Hack

Found: Committee members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Johanna Baxter; Mr Peter Bedford; Steve Darling; Amanda Hack