Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the work of the Lung Health Check programme at the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is aware of the interesting data originating from Hull, which demonstrates that an appreciable number of people can be identified as having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through a targeted approach to those that have been through lung cancer screening. This work is informing policy considerations.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of the recommended NHS pay awards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Last year’s pay awards for NHS staff were among the biggest across the public sector. This year, we have announced above inflation, fully funded pay increases across all staff groups for a second year in a row. These thoroughly deserved pay rises demonstrate how this Government wants to work with staff in our shared ambition to rebuild the NHS. We have been able to fully fund these pay award thanks to the reforms we’ve made, including cuts to bureaucratic duplication and central running costs.Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many babies were born with conditions not picked up during screening tests in each of the last ten years for which data is available.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally. There is no specific field in the Maternity Services Dataset (MSDS) to capture screening results. Screening tests offered during pregnancy can be captured in MSDS via SNOMED codes, however information relating to screenings tests is not routinely collected or published. Therefore, data recorded in the MSDS via SNOMED codes is currently unlikely to cover screening test results, and mainly either describes whether the screening test was offered or took place, or whether it is entirely absent. Everyone who is eligible is invited to undertake antenatal screening during pregnancy. However, the offer relies on informed consent. Some parents may choose not to undertake screening tests. The current opt in rate is relatively high at around 70%.
No screening test is 100% accurate and they can have false positive and false negative results. In England, any laboratory undertaking screening tests as part of the National Health Service’s antenatal and newborn screening programmes is required to adhere to rigorous testing processes in line with individual screening programme handbooks and must also be accredited by the UK Accreditation Service to the International Organization for Standardization’s requirements for quality and competence in medical laboratories, ISO 15189:2022, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.iso.org/standard/76677.html
The UK National Screening Committee keeps all screening programmes under review. Work is ongoing to look at tests that could be included in antenatal screening programmes to increase detection or reduce the need for further invasive diagnostic tests.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 to reduce the number of people with lower gastrointestinal cancers waiting beyond 62 days from urgent referral for their first definitive treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so more patients survive, including those with bowel cancer. As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.
Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people, including those with bowel cancer, getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months. We have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with lower gastrointestinal cancers cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve survival rates for bowel cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so more patients survive, including those with bowel cancer. As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.
Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people, including those with bowel cancer, getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months. We have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with lower gastrointestinal cancers cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the allocated budget is for the smokefree pregnancy incentive scheme for the year 2025-26.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme has a budget of £5.8 million for the financial year 2025/26, with future settlements being considered as part of the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 community-based ear wax removal services are made available to patients in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal. When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.
Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.
However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many human embryos were discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available; and what uses discarded embryos are put to.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table, provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), shows the number of human embryos discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available:
Year | Embryos discarded |
2022 | 160,285 |
2021 | 172,665 |
2020 | 137,296 |
2019 | 173,130 |
2018 | 177,765 |
2017 | 175,616 |
2016 | 174,327 |
2015 | 175,478 |
2014 | 176,661 |
2013 | 170,654 |
Source: HFEA.
Notes:
There is no further information collected by the HFEA after an embryo is discarded.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 success rate of IVF is in each of the last ten years for which information is available.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual reports on their website which include success rates of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The following table shows the success rate of IVF in each of the last ten years for which information is available:
Year of treatment | Birth rate per embryo transferred |
2022 | 23% |
2021 | 23% |
2020 | 24% |
2019 | 24% |
2018 | 23% |
2017 | 23% |
2016 | 22% |
2015 | 21% |
2014 | 20% |
2013 | 19% |
Source: HFEA annual report on fertility treatment and the HFEA dashboard.
Notes:
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 health outcomes for children born by IVF.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that its expert Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee monitors new studies relating to health outcomes in children conceived by IVF. They last discussed this topic in February 2025, and the associated paper and minutes can be found on the HFEA website, at the following link:
HFEA Register data is used in research studies which look at the effects of IVF on the health of children born, with further information about these studies, including details of current and previous projects, available on the HFEA website at the following link:
https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/data-research/