Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of a compensation scheme for people adversely affected by Covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would like to reiterate my deepest sympathies to all those individuals who have experienced harm following vaccination, and to their families.
The long-standing Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) provides a one-off, tax-free payment of £120,000 to claimants who have been found, in rare cases and on the balance of probabilities, to have been severely disabled by certain vaccines for a disease listed in the Vaccine Damage Payment Act 1979. The VDPS is not designed to be a compensation scheme and does not prejudice the right of the individual to pursue a claim for damages through the courts.
The Government recognises that concerns have been raised regarding the VDPS, including by some of those who have suffered harm following COVID-19 vaccination. Ministers continue to consider options for reforming the scheme.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 decriminalisation of abortion of women who are (a) vulnerable and (b) subject to (i) coercion and (ii) abuse: and what steps he plans to take to protect them.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. It is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows hon. Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967.
The safeguarding of children, young people and adults who are at risk is a fundamental obligation for everyone who works in the National Health Service and its partner agencies. Following the decriminalisation of abortion for pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancy, the Department will consider whether sufficient safeguards are already in place or whether additional guidance is needed.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 decriminalising abortion on the (a) rights and (b) responsibilities of medical professionals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967.
Under section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967, medical professionals have the right to refuse to participate in terminations of pregnancy, other than where the termination is necessary to save the life of, or prevent grave injury to, the pregnant woman. This right is limited to refusal to participate in the procedure(s) itself and not to pre- or post-treatment care, advice or management.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 help reduce waiting times for decisions on applications to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working with NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), the administrators of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), to process claims at a faster rate. We have scaled up and modernised VDPS operations through the digitisation of the claims process and increasing administration staff working on the VDPS. NHSBSA is also engaging with healthcare providers to improve the return rate of medical records, essential to assessing claims, including though submitting subject access requests.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential link between the use of gabapentin and cognitive impairment in patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. Medicines are authorised on the basis that the benefits exceed the risks, and all products are licensed by the MHRA before being placed on the market.
Product information for gabapentin currently carries warnings of potential side effects of confusion, mental impairment, amnesia, and anxiety, and therefore patients should be advised to exercise caution until they are familiar with the potential effects of the medicinal product. All new safety information continues to be carefully considered, and regulatory action will be taken if considered necessary.
All medicines have side effects, although not everyone will experience them. The MHRA encourages anyone who suspects or experiences a side effect of their medicine to report it to the MHRA through the Yellow Card scheme.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 equitable access to (a) maternity and (b) bereavement care services for Black and Asian families.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for this Government to make sure all women and babies receive high-quality and equitable access to care, regardless of their background, location or ethnicity.
As part of NHS England's three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, all local areas now have in place Equity and Equality action plans. These plans tackle inequalities and barriers to access for women and babies from ethnic minorities and those living in the most deprived areas and also set out how they will equip staff to provide culturally competent care. Integrated Care Boards are responsible for assuring implementation of these plans, and evidence suggests the plans have led to prioritisation of equity for mothers and babies, and increased engagement with service users.
NHS England is also ensuring that maternity healthcare professionals receive training on culturally competent care, which can be a barrier to equitable access for black and Asian women. This is done through their Core Competency Framework and provision of the Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Maternity Services e-learning course. Over 15,400 maternity staff have completed this. NHS England has also embedded equity-focused leadership development through the Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme. All 150 maternity and neonatal units in England have participated in the programme.
With regards to bereavement care services, all trusts in England are now signed up to the National Bereavement Care Pathway, which covers a range of circumstances of baby loss. The aim is to ensure that all bereaved parents, regardless of their background, location or ethnicity, are offered equal, high quality, personalised, safe and sensitive care. In addition, ‘7 days a week’ bereavement services are being set up in every area in England to support women and families who experience pregnancy loss or neonatal death.
We recognise that to deliver consistently high-quality care, much more is required. On 23 June 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced he would be launching an independent, national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services to look at the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care, and to rapidly put in place solutions to improve maternity safety and quality. Alongside this, he also announced that we would be establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which he will chair. Membership of that taskforce will be representative of those who can speak to the inequalities within maternal health.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional (a) neonatal, (b) stillbirth and (c) maternal deaths have occurred since 2018 compared to the Government’s target to halve 2010 rates by 2025; and what steps he is taking to meet these targets.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While there has been some good progress in reducing the rates of stillbirths and neonatal death, the most recent data indicates that we are not on track to meet the Maternity Safety Ambition, set under the previous administration.
We do not hold analysis on the specific ask, but we track progress against the ambition trajectory using various data sources, which are publicly available, including data from the Office for National Statistics and from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK. In 2015, the rate of neonatal death and stillbirths was 1.6 per 1,000 live births and 4.4 per 1,000 births respectively. In the period 2014 to 2016, the rate of maternal death was 9.8 per 100,000 maternities. The most recent data shows that: in 2023 the rate of neonatal death was 1.4 per 1,000 live births; in 2024 the rate of stillbirths was 3.8 per 1,000 births; and in the period between 2021 and 2023 the maternal mortality rate was 12.7 per 100,000 maternities.
We are committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive the high-quality care that they deserve. This is why my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services to understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies, and families experience unacceptable care. The Government is also establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and to be made up of a panel of experts and family, charity, and staff representatives, in order to identify the actions needed to improve care.
But action cannot wait. We are also taking steps to improve care now. We have announced a package of immediate actions to boost accountability and safety. This includes a new system to better identify safety concerns to support rapid action and developing best practice standards to reduce maternal mortality.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 help support research into immunotherapy treatments for (a) pancreatic, (b) brain and (c) other difficult-to-treat cancers; and whether he plans to provide additional funding to clinical trials in this area.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests in research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR continues to welcome high quality, high impact funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including research into immunotherapy treatments.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with pancreatic, brain, and other difficult-to-treat cancers, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and delivering better patient care, to make the United Kingdom a world-leading destination for clinical research. We are working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of medicines and therapies of the future, including treatments for cancer.
The Office for Life Sciences’ Cancer Healthcare Goals programme and the Medical Research Council have co-funded and awarded a £9 million grant to the MANIFEST immunotherapy platform. The MANIFEST consortium is led by the Francis Crick Institute and is composed of academia, the National Health Service, and industry partners, with the aim of expanding and advancing UK immunotherapy research and development capabilities, supporting better targeting and improved efficacy of these expensive treatments, and will look to onboard new cancer types and indications as activity progresses.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase research funding for (a) ovarian, (b) uterine and (c) other gynaecological cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests in research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the period 2020/21 to 2024/25, the NIHR’s Academy and other programmes invested approximately £39 million across 50 gynaecological cancer research projects. The following table shows the number of awards and the value of the awards for each gynaecological cancer type:
Gynaecological cancer type | Number of awards | Awards value |
Cervical cancer | 17 | £15,200,000 |
Ovarian cancer | 17 | £6,300,000 |
Vulval cancer | 1 | £3,700 |
Womb (uterine) cancer | 10 | £3,600,000 |
More than 1 gynaecological type | 5 | £10,000,000 |
Grand total | 50 | £39,000,000 |
Additionally, the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network, which enables the health and care system to attract, optimise, and deliver research across England, and has supported 123 commercial studies and 148 non-commercial studies for gynaecological cancers covering the same period.
The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received. The NIHR continues to welcome high quality, high impact funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all gynaecological cancers.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with relevant professional bodies on the (a) clinical management and (b) treatment of hay fever.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent discussions have taken place on the clinical management and treatment of hay fever specifically, however, as part of the Expert Advisory Group for Allergy, Department policy officials meet regularly with the National Allergy Strategy Group, which includes the professional body, the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The most recent meeting was in April 2025.
The Expert Advisory Group for Allergy, which was established in 2023, is co-chaired by the Department and the National Allergy Strategy Group, and brings stakeholders together to inform policymaking and to identify key priorities in relation to the holistic care of people with allergies, including those with hay fever. The National Allergy Strategy Group is developing the UK National Allergy Strategy 2025-2035. The Department will carefully consider, and respond to, recommendations in the strategy when we receive it later this year.