Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 15 of the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of co-locating Job Centre services within Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our aim is to have a Neighbourhood Health Centre in each community that provides easier, more convenient access to a full range of health and care services on people’s doorsteps, bringing together National Health Service, local authority, and voluntary sector services in one building to help create a holistic offer that meets the needs of local populations.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While we will be clear on the outcomes we expect, and we will give significant licence to tailor the approach to local need, for example to consider the merits of co-locating Job Centre services within Neighbourhood Health Centres. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, this will mean services will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, and deprived inner cities.
The rollout of Neighbourhood Health Centres will be progressive over this Parliament, with early sites focused on the areas of greatest need.
Furthermore, the Government is committed to supporting more individuals into employment. On 9 October, the Department for Work Pensions confirmed Connect to Work funding of over £1 billion across England and Wales over the next five years, which will support 300,000 disabled people and people with health conditions and/or other complex barriers to employment to find and remain in work.
There is a range of existing Department for Work Pensions employment support depending on individual needs, including local level provision for disabled people and disadvantaged groups. This includes employment advisors in Talking Therapies, increased Work Coach Support in Job Centres, and Access to Work grants, among others.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 36 of the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what his definition is of community, in this context.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering a Neighbourhood Health Service that brings care closer to communities, ensuring that care happens as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a person’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in hospital if necessary.
The 10-Year Health Plan set out our aim to establish a neighbourhood health centre in every community that will be a ‘one stop shop’ for patient care and the place from which multi-disciplinary teams operate.
In this context, ‘community’ refers to the local place where people live and receive care and support, encompassing the networks of health, care, and voluntary services that exist around individuals, families, and neighbourhoods.
Care in the community will be supported through multidisciplinary neighbourhood teams and neighbourhood health centres.
Neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of health and care services on people’s doorsteps, joining up the National Health Service and local authority and voluntary services.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many languages the NHS app will be available in by 2035.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan recently committed to offering services in the NHS App in multiple languages to reach people who have difficulty with English where it is not their first language. Scoping has started to understand how to deliver this in a safe and cost-effective way, so that translations are reliable, consistent across patient journeys, accessible by those that they are intended for, and are making good use of public funds. The NHS App is currently available in English and Welsh.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 34 of his Department's policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what the outcome will be if a patient needs to spend more than their Personal Health Budget on care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Personal health budget holders should have regular contact with their local integrated care board (ICB) so that if their situation changes, including in relation to costs, their personalised care and support plan can be reviewed. A personal health budget review can also be requested at any time by an individual or their local ICB if circumstances have changed.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 10-Year Health Plan, what assessment he has made of public trust in AI for use in AI diagnosis tools.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan commit the Government to making the National Health Service become the healthcare system in the world most ready for artificial intelligence (AI). The Department is testing AI in areas that cause the most harm to health and to our economy. Supporting clinicians to make faster and more effective decisions through the testing and deployment of diagnostic support AI has been one of the key areas of the Department’s work.
This Government takes public opinion on AI deployment seriously. The Department and UK Research and Innovation have previously held public dialogue on how the public feels decisions should be made about access to their personal health data for AI purposes. Insights from these dialogues have been used to inform policymakers and future guidance for both developers and adopters of AI tools in the NHS.
To bridge the gap between policy and practice and build confidence in AI for both the public and adopters, the NHS launched the AI Ambassadors Network in January 2025, allowing clinicians and NHS staff to hear from and pose questions directly to AI experts and regulators. The network already has almost 10,000 members.
In the UK, AI products used in health and care are regulated as medical devices to ensure patient safety and are subject to stringent requirements, including those laid out in the Medical Devices Regulations 2002, and robust monitoring by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, this year we will review regulations, and in 2026, we will publish a new regulatory framework for medical devices, including AI.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, how clinical negligence cases involving mistakes by surgical robots will be handled.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England.
The bulk of NHSR’s workload is handling negligence claims on behalf of the members of their indemnity schemes. One of the indemnity schemes is the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST). CNST handles all clinical negligence claims against member NHS bodies where the incident in question took place on or after 1 April 1995.
The scheme covers all clinical negligence claims arising from the diagnosis, care, or treatment of patients by the Member, rather than specifying particular procedures.
In every claim pursued, NHSR assesses whether their member has been negligent in treating the patient. This will include an assessment of whether any technology employed to assist the treatment has been used appropriately.
It is important to note that surgical robots are not in anyway autonomous and are used as a surgical instrument by a qualified surgeon. This Government is setting a target of 500,000 robotic surgical operations by 2035 where the evidence supports it, in terms of faster recovery and reduced complications for patients.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to help ensure that rural communities with poor (a) broadband and (b) mobile signal can access digital NHS services from home.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Digital health should be seen as part of a multi-channel offering that meets the needs and preferences of users. Digital services must be designed to alleviate healthcare inequalities rather than exacerbate them. Our goal is to ensure that reducing healthcare inequalities and improving digital inclusion have due focus in wider inclusive user design and delivery for all digital health products and services. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
We continue to work with partners, including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), to reduce digital barriers and support those at risk of digital exclusion.
The National Health Service Digital Inclusion Framework supports delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan by providing a structured approach to tackling digital barriers across connectivity, skills, confidence, and accessibility. It ensures digital transformation is inclusive and aligned with the Plan’s ambition to personalise care, reduce inequalities, and create a health system that works for everyone.
Integrated care systems (ICSs) have also been asked, through NHS priorities and operational planning guidance for financial year 2025/26, to implement the NHS Digital Inclusion Framework and identify local populations most at risk of exclusion, including those affected by poor connectivity.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of being able to view the risk of major conditions on people with poor mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan includes a commitment to begin implementing integrated risk scores that bring together polygenic risk scores (PRS) and other non-biological risk factors. NHS England, in partnership with Our Future Health and clinical experts, will carry out a service evaluation, considering a number of factors including clinical impact and the impact on individuals of the implementation of PRS, beginning with a targeted number of major conditions.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 7 of the NHS 10 Year Plan, if he will set out the circumstances in which integrated care board boundaries will differ from those of mayoralty authorities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It remains the Government’s ambition for integrated care boards (ICBs) to be coterminous with one or more strategic authorities wherever feasible, a commitment made in the English devolution white paper and reaffirmed in our 10-Year Health Plan.
Next summer, as local government reform progresses, the Department of Health and Social Care will work closely with NHS England and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to decide any further ICB mergers and boundary changes.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled £75 million boost for hospices to transform end-of-life care, published on 20 July 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the revenue implications for hospices of this investment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Hospices do incredible work by supporting people and families when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from their respective ICBs for providing National Health Services.
The £75 million capital funding boost for hospices was intended to help them to provide the best end of life care to patients and their families in a supportive and dignified physical environment by, for example, funding refurbishments, overhauling IT systems, and improving facilities for patients and visitors. The impact this may have had on revenue has not been assessed.
Additionally, we are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, as known as the Children’s Hospice Grant.
I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.