Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to initiatives targeting male mental health in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 19 November 2025, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the first ever Men’s Health Strategy for England. This aims to improve the health of all men and boys in England, including those in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
The strategy includes investment in community-based men's health programmes and suicide prevention programmes, and a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to make sure people know what mental health support is available to them. It also includes comprehensive action on major health challenges including suicide, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health.
This strategy is a crucial first step, laying the foundation from which we can learn, iterate, and grow. We will work with the Men's Health Academic Network and the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector to develop and publish a one-year-on report, highlighting the improvements made and where future efforts will need to be targeted.
The strategy is not just a plan, it is a call to action to create a society where men and boys are supported to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. We recognise that many of the issues affecting men cannot be solved by the Government alone. The strategy also highlights how everyone can help by setting out how other sectors, such as the National Health Service, local government, employers, charities, research funders, and communities, can contribute to shared outcomes.
We do not hold data on how much funding has been allocated specifically to men’s mental health initiatives in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. This information may be held locally.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is the Department taking to ensure providers of NHS services in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency have the resources to implement the men’s health strategy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 19 November 2025, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the first ever Men’s Health Strategy for England. This aims to improve the health of all men and boys in England, including those in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
The strategy includes investment in community-based men's health programmes and suicide prevention programmes, and a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to make sure people know what mental health support is available to them. It also includes comprehensive action on major health challenges including suicide, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health.
This strategy is a crucial first step, laying the foundation from which we can learn, iterate, and grow. We will work with the Men's Health Academic Network and the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector to develop and publish a one-year-on report, highlighting the improvements made and where future efforts will need to be targeted.
The strategy is not just a plan, it is a call to action to create a society where men and boys are supported to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. We recognise that many of the issues affecting men cannot be solved by the Government alone. The strategy also highlights how everyone can help by setting out how other sectors, such as the National Health Service, local government, employers, charities, research funders, and communities, can contribute to shared outcomes.
We do not hold data on how much funding has been allocated specifically to men’s mental health initiatives in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. This information may be held locally.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what workforce planning measures he has implemented to support the delivery of home-based NHS care in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
The NHS is increasingly using virtual wards, also known as hospital at home, to support people at the place they call home, and enable the shift from hospital to community care. Virtual wards allow patients to get the care they need at home safely and conveniently, rather than being in hospital.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 the national HIV surveillance system remains compatible with international reporting standards.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and its predecessors have led HIV surveillance since the beginning of the epidemic in the early 1980s. In addition to continued collaboration and acting as expert advisors on HIV surveillance to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) European region, the UKHSA ensures that its data remains compatible by reporting standard data to ECDC/WHO European region and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS on an annual basis.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 laboratory capacity required to meet anticipated levels of HIV screening during the HIV Action Plan for England 2025–2030 period.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the new HIV Action Plan, we will continue the success of the blood-borne virus emergency department opt-out testing programme, investing £156 million from April 2026 to March 2029 to deliver opt-out HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C testing in emergency departments in very high and high HIV prevalence areas.
We will also expand digital provision of HIV testing, investing £5 million in 2025/26 to trial HIV testing through the NHS App, working in partnership with existing commissioned sexual health providers, such as those already used by local authorities, rather than building a new service from scratch. These services have a strong track record in at-home HIV testing, and the NHS App will provide a new entry point that routes people into that established service.
National Health Service trusts are responsible for ensuring laboratories have adequate capacity for all testing, including HIV screening.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 clinical commissioning structures are prepared for changes arising from the HIV Action Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new HIV Action Plan (HIV AP), published on 1 December 2025, sets out how the Government will enable every level of the healthcare system to work together to engage everyone in prevention, testing and treatment, tackling stigma, and reaching our ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030.
National Health Service integrated care boards hold commissioning responsibility for adult HIV services in line with the relevant NHS England service specification. NHS England is supportive of the HIV AP and its recommendations and is committed to the implementation and delivery of the plan.
The HIV AP asks local partners across the NHS and local authorities to carry out a HIV needs assessment which will inform the development and publication of local HIV plans across the country during 2026/27.
Local areas will monitor uptake and outcomes to identify gaps and improve equity in access to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. The UK Health Security Agency will continue to support this with robust data monitoring and reporting.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to review guidance for local authorities on HIV support service commissioning.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new HIV Action Plan, published on 1 December 2025, sets out how the Government will enable every level of the healthcare system to work together to engage everyone in prevention, testing and treatment, tackling stigma, and reaching our ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. Services to support people living with HIV are primarily the responsibility of National Health Service integrated care boards, who commission adult HIV care in line with the relevant NHS England service specification. Providers of HIV care are responsible for collaborating with local authority commissioned social care where needed.
The HIV Action Plan also asks local partners across the NHS and local authorities to carry out a HIV needs assessment which will inform the development and publication of local HIV plans across the country during 2026/27. Local areas will monitor uptake and outcomes to identify gaps and improve equity in access to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. The UK Health Security Agency will continue to support this with robust data monitoring and reporting.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to ensure integrated care boards covering the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency have the capacity to deliver palliative and end of life care closer to home.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life, including in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 potential impact of the forthcoming palliative care and end-of-life care framework on the provision of palliative care services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life, including in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 support NHS trusts to increase same-day elective procedure capability.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Same-day elective procedures, or day surgeries, allow patients to be treated and discharged on the same day, helping to reduce waiting times, minimising cancellations due to bed pressures, and supporting patients to recover more quickly, in the comfort of their own home.
To expand same-day capability, we are investing in dedicated elective surgical hubs focused on high-volume, low-complexity procedures. These hubs improve productivity and support more patients to return home the same day, in line with the Right Procedure, Right Place principles.
There are currently 124 operational hubs in England, 23 of which have opened since the Government took office. Over the next three years, we are committed to increasing the number of hubs to boost surgical capacity and deliver faster access to common procedures.
NHS England also continues to run the Getting It Right First Time programme, as part of which trusts are supported to maximise hub productivity and increase the proportion of inpatient procedures completed as day surgeries.