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 (i) medical, (ii) dental and (iii) midwifery students it will fund to start studies in 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school and dental school places on an annual basis. OfS will publish its intake target for the 2026/27 academic year in due course.
For the 2025/26 academic year, the OfS has published its intake target at 8,126 for medical school places and 809 for dental school places
Undergraduate training places for midwives are not centrally commissioned by the Government. Instead, they are determined by local employers and education providers who decide the number of learners they admit based on learner demand and provider capacity funding.
For the 2025/26 academic year, the number of acceptances for midwifery was 3,390. This data is from 2025 and was taken 28 days after A-level result day. It is not final data. Further information is available on the UCAS website, at the following link:
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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 progress it is making on the implementation of the New Hospital Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2025, we published the Plan for Implementation, which is available at the following link:
This plan put the programme on a credible and sustainable footing, ensuring taxpayers get maximum value for money. We are committed to delivering all schemes and are moving at pace with the funding in place for design work, construction, and business case development.
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 NHS Trusts offer robotic assisted surgery.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold trust-level data on the offer of robotic assisted surgery. Decisions to offer robotic assisted surgery are agreed at an integrated care board and trust level, in line with local population need.
Our 10-Year Health Plan commits to expand surgical robot adoption over the next decade, in line with The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. We will establish national registries for robotic surgery data from 2029 and develop telesurgery networks. The National Health Service aims to increase the number of robotic-assisted procedures to 500,000 by 2035, up from 70,000 in 2023/24.
Earlier this year, NHS England published the first national guidance for the implementation of robotic assisted surgery (RAS) in the NHS, offering guidance on procurement, commissioning, implementation, training, and evaluation. A national steering committee is already in place to support the adoption of RAS, ensure safe implementation, and to oversee the training requirements for surgeons and surgical teams.
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 steps his Department is taking to ensure that neonatal services are fully incorporated into the scope of the National maternity and neonatal investigation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has published the terms of reference for the national maternity and neonatal investigation. The terms of reference fully incorporate neonatal care into its aims. The full terms of reference are available at the following link:
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 times the national maternity and neonatal taskforce has met.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and will take forward the recommendations of the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, forming them into a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. Consultation on the terms of reference and shape of the taskforce with families has begun, and the first meeting of the taskforce will take place in the new year, with initial feedback from the independent investigation to be considered as part of it.
The investigation will report to the Secretary of State before the end of the year and publish its final report and recommendations in the Spring 2026. These recommendations will supersede the multiple existing actions and recommendations already in place. As confirmed in the Secretary of State’s June 2025 announcement, the findings of the investigation will feed into the taskforce and provide invaluable insight and recommendations into the key areas that require 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, who the members are of the national maternity and neonatal taskforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be made of up a breadth of independent clinical and international expertise including those who can speak to the inequalities within maternal health, as well as family and staff representatives, charities and campaigners. The taskforce will work closely with families in developing the action plan, ensuring their voices are central to this work.
The members of the taskforce will be announced in due course. Families have been engaged on the membership and the terms of reference for the taskforce ahead of its announcement in the new 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, what steps he is taking to improve the retention of surgical staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.
To support this ambition, the Government plans to introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff, including promoting flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace. They will provide a framework for leaders across the NHS to build a supportive culture that embeds retention.
NHS England is already leading work nationally through its retention programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.
In August, NHS England published the 10-point plan for improving resident doctors working lives which addresses issues such as annual leave and payroll errors. The Department continues to work to improve working conditions for all resident, specialty, associate specialists and specialist (SAS) doctors and consultant doctors.
This year, we accepted the Pay Review Body recommendations for headline pay for 2025/26 such that consultant and SAS doctors received an above inflation pay uplift of 4% and resident doctors received 4% + £750.
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 medical school places are funded for start in 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school places on an annual basis. OfS will publish its intake target for the 2026/27 academic year in due course. For the 2025/26 academic year, information is available at the following link:
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 recent steps he has taken to help increase the number of blood donors.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England. Recently, NHSBT has led a number of initiatives to increase blood donations and in turn improve blood stocks, specifically:
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 steps he is taking to help increase the level of exercise undertaken by children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the physical and mental health benefits that an active lifestyle can bring for children and young people.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education co-fund the Primary School PE and Sport Premium, which enables schools to support children to have fun and move more through PE, sport, play and other forms of physical activity.
As committed to in the 10-Year Health Plan’s Prevention chapter, both departments are also working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to develop a new School Sport Partnerships network that will drive collaboration between schools and break down barriers for those who are less active, increasing opportunities for all children to move more. This is alongside wider cross sector action to reduce physical inactivity and get millions moving more. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
In the summer, DHSC teamed up with Joe Wicks to launch ‘Activate’, a series of animated, fun five-minute workouts to help families and schools tackle inactivity among children.