Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, how many and what proportion of Named Day written questions were answered (a) on time and (b) late (i) by Department and (ii) in total.

Answered by Alan Campbell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

The information requested is not held by the Government. Data on response times to written parliamentary questions (PQs) is published following the end of every session by the House of Commons Procedure Committee as part of their continued monitoring and reporting of departmental PQ performance.

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:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-maternity-and-neonatal-investigation-terms-of-reference/national-maternity-and-neonatal-investigation-terms-of-reference

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 adequacy of training for people performing (a) newborn hearing tests and (b) audiology testing in children.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

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 audiology screening for (a) children and (b) newborns.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultations his Department has launched since 4 July 2024; and if he will list them.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the election, the Government outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones, across the missions, for this Parliament.

As the House of Commons would expect, the Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer. Public consultations will be available on the GOV.UK website as they are published, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/search/policy-papers-and-consultations?parent=department-of-health-and-social-care&organisations%5B%5D=department-of-health-and-social-care&organisations%5B%5D=office-for-health-improvement-and-disparities&order=updated-newest

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 reasons for increases in levels of lead poisoning in children.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency coordinates the Lead in Children Exposure Surveillance System, a passive surveillance system covering England, which aims to identify elevated blood lead concentrations, greater than 0.24µmol/L, the equivalent to ≥5μg/dL, in children under 15 years old.

Between 2016 to 2020, the annual number of cases ranged between 33 and 49. From 2021 there was a marked increase in the number of cases. The steep rise in reported cases from 2021 onwards is due to a change in the case definition in our surveillance system. Following a review of the evidence of the harm of lead exposure in children, the public health intervention concentration was lowered from 0.48μmol/L, the equivalent to ≥10μg/dL, to 0.24μmol/L, the equivalent to ≥5μg/dL.

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:

https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/statistical-releases-daily-clearing-analysis-2025

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.

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:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation

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.

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.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the final report of the Cass Review, published in April 2024, what steps he is taking to help ensure the data linkage study is completed.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

A children and young people’s gender research programme, jointly led by NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is in place to underpin the design and delivery of the new model of National Health Service specialist gender care in England.

NHS England is responsible for delivery of the Data Linkage Study. It is a retrospective study based on an analysis of data collected historically for a cohort of adults who, as children, were cared for under a former model of NHS gender care, the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). This study requires no active patient participation and instead relies on an analysis of the available digital information held within health records and other nationally held databases. The analysis will look for potential linkages or associations that do not prove ‘cause and effect’ but nonetheless may provide useful insights on the experience and outcomes of former GIDS patients.

NHS England has taken time to undertake due diligence work on the data sources critical to the study, and to work with organisations to refine the planned approach to data sharing. Study approvals are currently in progress. As with usual research practice, the data linkage study protocol will be made available in the public domain once independent research and ethical approvals have been appropriately secured, at which point the analytical work can begin.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces carry naloxone on the front line.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is supportive of police carriage and administration of naloxone - a lifesaving medicine that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.

The latest available data on which police forces carry naloxone can be found here: Police carriage of naloxone - monitoring data - GOV.UK.

The NPCC and the Home Office are in ongoing dialogue with all police forces on this topic.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question 85849 on Mechanical Thrombectomy: Health Services, what estimate he has made of the time taken for a patient to be transferred from the referring centre to a hospital offering thrombectomy services after the decision to accept the patient for care.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidenced based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service model sets out that all acute stroke patients should have rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours and receive an early multidisciplinary assessment.

The Department does not hold information on transfer times to thrombectomy units in the format requested. The proportion of patients that had access to a stroke unit within four hours has risen to 51.3%, from 47.7% in 2024.

Presently there are 24 Comprehensive Stroke Centres offering mechanical thrombectomy services in the NHS in England, covering six out of the seven NHS regions. NHS England has committed that all NHS regions in England will have access to 24/7 mechanical thrombectomy by April 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question 85849 on Mechanical Thrombectomy: Health Services, when he expects people to be able to access thrombectomy services within four hours when needed.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidenced based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service model sets out that all acute stroke patients should have rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours and receive an early multidisciplinary assessment.

The Department does not hold information on transfer times to thrombectomy units in the format requested. The proportion of patients that had access to a stroke unit within four hours has risen to 51.3%, from 47.7% in 2024.

Presently there are 24 Comprehensive Stroke Centres offering mechanical thrombectomy services in the NHS in England, covering six out of the seven NHS regions. NHS England has committed that all NHS regions in England will have access to 24/7 mechanical thrombectomy by April 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question 85849 on Mechanical Thrombectomy: Health Services, how many and what proportion of stroke units are in trusts which offer mechanical thrombectomy.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidenced based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service model sets out that all acute stroke patients should have rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours and receive an early multidisciplinary assessment.

The Department does not hold information on transfer times to thrombectomy units in the format requested. The proportion of patients that had access to a stroke unit within four hours has risen to 51.3%, from 47.7% in 2024.

Presently there are 24 Comprehensive Stroke Centres offering mechanical thrombectomy services in the NHS in England, covering six out of the seven NHS regions. NHS England has committed that all NHS regions in England will have access to 24/7 mechanical thrombectomy by April 2026.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Mrs Sureena Brackenridge; Dr Caroline Johnson