Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 (a) efficiency and (b) productivity of the MHRA.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and its ministers regularly hold assurance meetings with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess its efficiency and productivity. Under the Government, the MHRA has cleared all backlogs, and statutory performance targets are now being met.
As part of the MHRA’s ongoing commitment to greater transparency in service delivery, the agency began publishing monthly performance data externally on clinical trials and medicines licenses in April 2023 and extended this to reflect reporting of performance against all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from March 2025. This enhanced reporting provides detailed insights into progress against KPIs and processing times. It enables stakeholders, customers, and partners to plan with greater certainty by offering clear visibility into the performance of key functions, including licensing and clinical trials applications, inspections, batch release, and safety signals. These improvements support more informed engagement and planning across the sector.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the MHRA will build on this to develop a more pro-innovation approach to regulation, while maintaining safety, ensuring that the United Kingdom remains one of the best places in the world to develop and launch new products, with an international reputation for safety and quality.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made and estimate of the total cost of providing personalised coaching to each member of NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate has been made. As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will introduce new ‘skills escalators’ for staff. These will give staff a trajectory for clear career progression, with increasing autonomy.
By 2035, every single member of National Health Service staff will have their own personalised career coaching and development plan, to help them acquire new skills and practice at the top of their professional capability.
Further details on this will be set out in our 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 12 of his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, whether it remains his policy to abolish NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Yes, as announced on 13 March, NHS England will be brought into the Department to form a new joint centre. The necessary work to formally abolish NHS England is underway.
NHS England will continue to undertake its statutory functions, working with the new executive during the transition, until parliamentary time allows for the necessary legislative changes to be made.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his target date is for 92% of patients to begin elective treatment within 18 weeks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to delivering the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.
Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 10 of the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether he plans to introduce tie-ins for dentists (a) beginning training after September 2025, (b) already in training and (c) already qualified.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We believe that working in the National Health Service will give dental graduates the best start to their careers, by giving them the broadest range of experience, great support from strong teams of dental professionals, and the most comprehensive training.
It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the NHS for at least some amount of time.
We will consult with the sector on the detail of introducing this change.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects negotiations on a new dental contract to conclude.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to reforming the dental contract, but we need to take the time to get this right. There are no perfect payment models and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for National Health Service dental patients.
As a first step to reforming the dental contract, we are consulting on a package of changes to improve access to, and improve the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver improved care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. Further information on the consultation is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms
The consultation was launched on 8 July and will close on 19 August 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled Boost to mental health services from thousands of extra staff, published on 27 June 2025, where the dedicated mental health emergency departments will be located.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The announced expansion of crisis assessment centres, also referred to as mental health emergency departments, builds on a number of early implementer sites that have been established in recent years by local health systems to provide a dedicated therapeutic alternative to emergency departments for individuals in a mental health crisis.
Locations for the new centres are being identified through a capital allocation process, involving expressions of interest from integrated care boards and regionally and nationally coordinated assessments of local need, existing provision, and system readiness.
The new centres will typically serve multiple emergency departments and will be accessible via NHS 111, ambulance conveyance, walk-in, or referral pathways.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 publication, Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July 2025, how many additional GPs will be trained in each of the next 10 years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to training thousands more general practitioners (GPs) across the country, which will increase capacity, end the 8:00am scramble, and take the pressure off those currently working in the system.
We will publish a 10-Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. 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 deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.
Further details on training places will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 publication, Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish the new employment contracts which will allow GPs to (a) work over a larger geographies and (b) lead new neighbourhood providers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 3 July 2025, we published the 10-Year Health Plan for England, which announced the plan to introduce two new contracts, for neighbourhood providers and multi-neighbourhood providers, which will encourage general practitioners to work over larger geographies. We will begin make these new contracts available in 2026. Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of newly qualified GPs recruited were trained in the UK since October 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the requested information as workforce and recruitment decisions are made locally by practices and primary care networks. As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is up to general practices to determine how they run their operations.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan we published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training. We will also prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training.