Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement a national youth health strategy to reduce mortality in people under 39 that includes (a) mental health conditions and (b) sudden cardiac death.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is already taking action to improve the physical and mental health of young people. The Government is co-producing a National Youth Strategy which will set out a long-term vision for young people, aged 10 to 21 years old, and up to 25 years old for those with special educational needs and disabilities, and provide them with meaningful choices and chances.
The 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service will make it fit for the future and better support children, young people, and adults. The Government is committed to taking a cross-Government strategic approach to children and young people’s mental health, and will recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff by the end of the Parliament and will expand mental health support teams in schools in England.
NHS England is currently working with a range of stakeholders to review the national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions. This will support patients who often present as young adults with a previously undiagnosed cardiac disease, or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause, including sudden cardiac death. The service specification can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf
There are no current plans to implement a national youth health strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will conduct a review on the prevention of sudden cardiac death that includes (a) an estimation of the incidence of sudden cardiac death, (b) methods to (i) detect and (ii) minimise cardiac conditions and (c) recommendations for future research.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently working with a range of stakeholders to review the national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions. This covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause, including sudden cardiac death. The service specification can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf
Over the past five financial years, 2019/20 to 2023/24, The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has invested £145 million in cardiovascular and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes. The NIHR has also made other significant investments in NIHR infrastructure that collectively strengthen specialist facilities, the workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system. This investment has enabled significant cardiovascular disease and stroke research funded by other funders to take place.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
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 impact of (a) expanding eligibility for Healthy Start and (b) increasing the payments for Healthy Start recipients on (i) maternal and (ii) child health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Health Mission, the Government is committed to prevention and to tackling obesity, creating a fairer, healthier food environment. Pregnant women and children aged under four years old and over one year old each receive £4.25 every week, and children under one year old each receive £8.50 every week. Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries are also eligible for free Healthy Start Vitamins.
An evaluation of the Healthy Start scheme in England led by the National Institute for Health and Care Research is due to provide a final report in 2026.
The Healthy Start scheme is kept under continuous review and eligibility aligns closely with other passported benefits across Government.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times his Department has accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information regarding complaints received by the Department and subsequently referred to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is published in our annual report. Copies of these dating back to 2010 can be found on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/dhsc-annual-reports-and-accounts
More detailed information on determinations reached by the Ombudsman can be found on their website. The last period for which data is currently available is for 2023/24, with further information available at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) local authorities to increase Healthy Start scheme uptake.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions on the importance of improving children's health.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA is committed to increasing uptake of the Healthy Start scheme as much as possible to ensure all children have a healthy start in life.
The NHSBSA actively promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme at a local level. The NHSBSA constantly reviews these materials to ensure that the communications reach those that need support most. In May 2025, Healthy Start supported over 358,000 people.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds data on the proportion of eligible people that have not enrolled in the Healthy Start scheme in (a) Gorton and Denton constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies, although it does hold data on the local authorities within which the Gorton and Denton constituency sits. Therefore, the following table shows the number of people on the digital scheme, as of 23 May 2025, in the Manchester and Tameside local authorities:
Local authority | Number of people on the digital scheme |
Manchester | 5,383 |
Tameside | 1,858 |
In addition, the following table shows the number of people on the digital scheme, as of 23 May 2025, in England:
Country | Number of people on the digital scheme |
England | 328,685 |
The NHSBSA does not currently hold the data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start or the proportion of eligible people who have not enrolled.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that any future redress to those affected by in-utero exposure to sodium valproate includes both (a) financial and (b) non-financial compensation.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to implement the compensation recommendations in the Hughes Report, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
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 adequacy of prescribing practices of medicines with known teratogenic properties.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prescribers are expected to work with patients to make decisions about their care and treatment as part of shared decision-making, and this should include discussing risks, benefits, and possible consequences of different options. Where applicable, the risk of teratogenic effects should be made clear as part of these discussions.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), acting on behalf of my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is responsible for the regulation of all medicines and medical devices in the United Kingdom, by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe.
Pharmaceutical companies are required to test the medicines used in their products for teratogenicity, and the MHRA requires that information on the teratogenic properties of medicines, and the actions required to minimise risk, are included in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for healthcare professionals, as well as the Patient Information Leaflets (PIL) of licenced products.
Where necessary, the MHRA will undertake additional work to raise awareness, for example in the case of valproate, a medicine with teratogenic properties. The risks with valproate when taken during pregnancy have been communicated by using SmPC and PIL updates. In addition, the magnitude and type of risks associated with valproate use in pregnancy have also been communicated in articles in the MHRA’s bulletin, Drug Safety Update, and letters through the NHS Central Alerting System, supported by messages from professional bodies reinforced through changes to clinical guidelines and improved alerts in general practitioner prescribing systems.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
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 effectiveness of the medicines licensing process for novel medications in being able to detect potential teratogenicity prior to the medicine being made available to patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is a member of the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), which uses internationally standardised guidelines and principles in its assessment and approval of medicinal products.
Teratogenicity is a complex issue which requires an overlapping approach, encompassing preclinical risk evaluation and assessment, close monitoring during clinical trials, and post-authorisation surveillance measures.
The preclinical assessment of teratogenicity is conducted in accordance with ICH S5(R3) Guidelines on the detection of reproductive and developmental toxicity for human pharmaceuticals. The guideline recommends the evaluation of potential teratogenicity in two animal species, typically rodent and non-rodent. The drugs are administered to pregnant females, and teratogenic effects are examined in the offspring. While there is some flexibility, these studies are mandatory. Whole embryo culture systems and other in vitro methods may be used for rapid screening.
Regarding potential reproductive toxicity, which covers teratogenicity, for participants in clinical trials, it is required that a preclinical evaluation of the male and female reproductive organs is conducted, assessed, and confirmed as acceptably safe prior to the inclusion of fertile human participants into early phase clinical trials. Furthermore, appropriate precautions and safety monitoring during the exposure of such participants minimises the risk of unintentional exposure to an embryo or foetus.
Any detected signals or predicted risks of teratogenicity are outlined in the labelling requirements, which may emphasize contraception mandates during the clinical trials and following marketing authorisation approval.
A system of safety reporting and reviews by sponsors and the MHRA is in place to ensure that any safety information relating to concerns that emerge from a clinical trial or following marketing authorisation is addressed in the interests of patient safety.