Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England collects data on the (a) performance and (b) downtime of hospital decontamination units.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold or collect the information requested.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts operate on-site endoscope (a) reprocessing and (b) decontamination centres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold or collect the information requested.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 implications for his Department’s policies of the submissions from (a) Greece, (b) Slovakia, (c) Romania and (d) Czechia on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill through the EU TRIS process.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Technical Regulatory Information System notification is a standard process which applies under the Windsor Framework. It is not an approval process. The Government’s position remains that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will apply in Northern Ireland and is consistent with both our domestic and international obligations.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the impact of the analysis that the July and November five day resident doctors’ strikes are estimated to have cost £500 million by the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic Financial Outlook (page 122).
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We stand by the approximate £500 million figure as a reasonable estimate of the combined cost of resident doctor strikes so far this year in July and November 2025. This figure is based on actual costs from July 2025, approximately £240 million, and an initial estimate for November 2025 based on similar levels of activity output and turnout, to those seen in July. We will continue to update the estimate for November strikes as new data becomes available, in line with receiving business as usual financial data from National Health Service systems.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the projected cost is of the abolition of NHS England, including staff redundancy packages, consultancy fees, administration and restructuring costs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The abolition of NHS England will involve some upfront costs associated with organisational change. £1 billion is the estimated overall cost of redundancy exits across the Department, NHS England, and the integrated care boards. In the 2025 Autumn Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that HM Treasury would bring forward £860 million of the Department’s SR25 settlement to support with the upfront costs. By reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication, the Government will unlock savings of £1 billion per year by the end of the Parliament, equivalent to the cost of over 115,000 extra hip and knee operations.
The Government is committed to ensuring that Parliament and the public are appropriately informed of exit costs, as well as material consultancy, administration, and restructuring costs. Information will be published at the appropriate time, in line with established reporting mechanisms, to ensure transparency and accountability. The Department will continue to provide updates as the reforms progress.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the lifespan of the RAAC within Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of staff and patients at the seven predominantly reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) hospitals remains our utmost priority.
An independent report, commissioned by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has confirmed that the seven RAAC hospitals can remain open beyond 2030 as a result of the continued efforts of trusts and the NHS England National RAAC programme to manage the presence of RAAC and deliver remediation, mitigation, and safety works. The report, published 12 December 2025, can be read in full at the following link:
We will continue to support NHS England’s national RAAC programme with £1.6 billion across the next four years, from 2026/27 to 2029/30, to ensure sufficient funding to complete the planned RAAC remediation works and meet the additional RAAC monitoring and mitigation costs identified in the report.
Construction for all RAAC replacement schemes is currently planned to commence and substantially deliver between 2025 and 2030 as part of Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the impact of the findings by the study of 1,005 GPs entitled “General practitioners’ adoption of generative artificial intelligence in clinical practice in the UK: An updated online survey”, published in the Digital Health science journal on 25th November 2025 that stated that 35% of doctors used AI for writing documentation, 27% for differential diagnoses and 24% for treatment or referrals despite having no formal training or oversight.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of the study published in Digital Health on 25 November 2025 regarding the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) by general practitioners (GPs). AI has the potential to transform health and care services by improving health outcomes, enhancing patient safety, and reducing costs. However, it is crucial to rigorously and regularly evaluate AI technologies to ensure they work safely, ethically, and effectively in different clinical settings.
The Department is currently assessing the implications of these findings through engagement with NHS England, the General Medical Council, and other stakeholders. Guidance is also being developed to ensure safe and ethical use of AI in clinical settings, which includes requirements for training and accountability, and working with regulators such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for health and Care Excellence to develop evaluation pathways for AI tools. This is to ensure the AI tools meet standards equivalent to other regulated medical technologies, and whether additional safeguards or standards needed to mitigate risks to patient safety and data security are explored.
We will continue to monitor emerging evidence and ensure that any integration of AI into clinical practice is underpinned by appropriate oversight, transparency, and professional responsibility.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the current planned completion date for the rebuild of Hinchingbrooke Hospital as part of the New Hospital Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pursuant to my answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 29225, the expected completion date will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book and as is usual for large infrastructure projects.
Construction of the main hospital build at Hinchingbrooke Hospital is expected to commence in 2027/28 as set out in the published Plan for Implementation.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse has been of redundancy packages for staff following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the abolition of NHS England, we are clear on the need for a smaller centre, as well as scaling back integrated care board running costs and NHS provider corporate cost reductions in order to reduce waste and bureaucracy.
Redundancies are anticipated to cost approximately £1 billion in total, with most exit activity concentrated in 2025/26 and 2026/27, to release savings as soon as possible and to align to the available funding. The precise split between financial years and organisations is being worked through as operational delivery planning progresses.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on undertaking a sprint review.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The sprint review is initiated and led by the Ministry of Defence, working with the Department of Health and Social Care and other Governmental and private organisations. A series of meetings are planned for late 2025 which will explore and progress the joint plans to meet the recommendations outlined in the Strategic Defence Review.