Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
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 NICE guidance on GLP-1 medications for obesity is implemented consistently across Integrated Care Boards; and if he will review the methodology used to allocate funding for GLP-1 medications and specialist weight management services so that it reflects the true number of clinically eligible patients in each ICB and reduces regional variation in access.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are legally required to make funding available for medicines recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in line with NICE guidance and the NICE Funding Variation for tirzepatide.
NHS England is supporting ICBs to implement local pathways for the assessment, prescribing, and management of tirzepatide, and has centrally commissioned wraparound support for eligible patients. It has also provided additional funding in 2025/26 and 2026/27 to support towards the cost of prescribing weight loss medicines. From 2026/27, NHS England has introduced new Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators, with additional funding to support implementation of obesity medicine pathways in primary care.
NHS England monitors implementation through routine engagement with systems. There are currently no plans for NHS England to review the methodology used to allocate funding to ICBs for these services.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on establishing a cross Government obesity strategy that treats modern obesity treatment, including GLP-1 medications and digital wraparound support, as an investment with ring fenced, long-term funding; and if he will publish any modelling his Department holds on the potential savings to the NHS and welfare budgets from such an approach.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, set out the decisive action the Government is taking to tackle the obesity crisis and ease the strain on the National Health Service. This included a commitment to expand access to GLP-1 medicines.
The NHS is one of the first health systems globally to provide population level access to GLP-1 weight loss medicines through a publicly funded service. Rollout of access through primary care is being phased in, with an initial focus on prioritising those with the highest clinical need, while ensuring services can expand safely and sustainably. From 2026/27 new general practice incentives will support more consistent identification and treatment of patients with obesity in primary care.
Every NHS patient prescribed tirzepatide for obesity in primary care should also be offered structured wraparound behavioural support. NHS England has centrally commissioned wraparound behavioural support for eligible patients, which it is currently re procuring for a further multi-year period.
There are currently no plans to publish modelling on potential savings to the NHS and welfare budgets.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports were submitted by members of the public through the Yellow Card scheme, in each of the past five years, in relation to the sale of (a) counterfeit medicines, (b) unapproved medicines in the UK, and (c) medicines which are authorised for supply in the UK but supplied through unregulated channels.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Answering the question raised by the Hon. Member would require the Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency staff to go through a large volume of data manually. This is because the information is not held in such a way to be able to filter by the requested categories.
The sections (a) and (b) would require a data extraction to identify all reports received from members of the public over the last five years. Following this, a manual review would need to be undertaken of every report to cross reference the suspect drug against all active licenses at the time of reporting for each individual case and would thereby incur disproportionate cost. Section (c) is information which is not held in the Yellow Card database.
The Guide to Parliamentary Work sets here out that there is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The Guide to Parliamentary Work is published online and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports submitted by members of the public through the Yellow Card scheme resulted in enforcement action by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, in each of the past five years, in relation to the sale of (a) counterfeit medicines, (b) unapproved medicines in the UK and (c) medicines which are authorised for supply in the UK but supplied through unregulated channels.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 March 2026 to Question 122732.
The Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected adverse drug reactions, medical device incidents, and concerns about the safety and quality of medicines. Where appropriate, reports raising potential counterfeit, compliance, or safety issues may be referred to relevant teams within the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for consideration of regulatory or enforcement action.
However, this information is not held in a format that readily allows the MHRA to identify how many reports submitted by members of the public resulted in enforcement action in relation to counterfeit medicines, unapproved medicines in the UK, and medicines which are authorised for supply in the United Kingdom but supplied through unregulated channels. Extracting this information from Yellow Card reports would require a manual review of individual records and would incur disproportionate cost. The MHRA is therefore unable to provide the requested figures for each of the past five years.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether the current resourcing level in the Criminal Enforcement Unit of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is sufficient to progress enforcement action in all cases where warranted.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Resourcing levels and operational demand are kept under ongoing review to ensure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Unit remains able to respond effectively to evolving criminal threats. While additional capacity could facilitate additional activity, the unit delivers an effective enforcement response within the resources allocated, applying risk-based prioritisation to ensure the most serious threats to public health are addressed.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
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 improve support and services for patients with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
NHS England continues to work with eating disorder services and local commissioners to improve access to assessment and treatment for people with a suspected eating disorder, including those presenting with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Lessons from previous pilots commissioned to improve access to support and develop training on ARFID has contributed to this work.
Community children and young people’s eating disorder services across England provide assessment and treatment for eating disorders, including ARFID, and local areas are able to commission training and adapt care pathways to ensure services meet the needs of patients with this condition.
In January 2026, NHS England also updated guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, including ARFID, that seeks to strengthen early identification and intervention of eating disorders, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist community eating disorder services as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Whilst the guidance focuses on improving community pathways for children and young people, the national specialised adult service model continues to provide access to highly specialist inpatient treatment for adults with complex eating disorders, through the Specialised Adult Eating Disorder Units network. These units deliver multidisciplinary care that typically includes psychiatric assessment and treatment, psychological therapies, medical monitoring, dietetic support and structured rehabilitation, and can provide inpatient care for adults with severe and enduring eating disorders where required.
Integrated care boards are responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to work with UKHSA to issue specific guidance for (a) health professionals and (b) the public, regarding the health risks to pregnant people during periods of extreme heat.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recognises that there are risks caused by exposure to extreme high temperatures which are set out in the Adverse Weather and Health Plan Equity Review and Impact Assessment 2024. This includes an assessment on stillbirth, pre-term birth, and maternal health complications.
UKHSA provides a weather-health alerting system for England, which alerts the public, including specific vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, and public sector organisations to prepare for impacts of adverse weather, including high temperatures. Risks to health are communicated via heat-health alerts.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department plans to update NHS antenatal and maternity guidance, in the context of emerging evidence that extreme heat exposure can elevate risks to pregnant people and unborn children.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recognises that there are risks caused by exposure to extreme high temperatures which are set out in the Adverse Weather and Health Plan Equity Review and Impact Assessment 2024. This includes an assessment on stillbirth, pre-term birth, and maternal health complications.
UKHSA provides a weather-health alerting system for England, which alerts the public, including specific vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, and public sector organisations to prepare for impacts of adverse weather, including high temperatures. Risks to health are communicated via heat-health alerts.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of potential new treatments for glioblastoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Department of Health and Social Care enables research via its research arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and is committed to furthering our investment and driving scientific advancements in research into the causes and treatment of brain tumours. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, the NIHR directly invested £11.8 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumours. During the same period, the NIHR’s wider investments include around £37.5 million in research infrastructure and the research workforce. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, invested £46.8 million in brain tumour research.
Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
NICE has issued guidance for the NHS on several treatments for glioma and glioblastoma and has a number of other topics in active development.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of different funding mechanisms that could be applied to new obesity treatments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance.
NICE has recommended several weight loss medicines as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources that are now being made available to NHS patients. The NHS is currently rolling out tirzepatide for obesity in primary care, using a phased approach based on clinical need to manage NHS resources. Around 220,000 individuals are expected to be eligible over the next three years. NHS England worked with clinical experts, integrated care boards, patient and public representatives, healthcare professionals, charities and royal colleges on its prioritisation approach, which it set out in its interim commissioning guidance, available at the following link:
Through the Obesity Healthcare Goals programme, launched in 2022, we are working with industry and research partners to develop and test new delivery and funding models. This includes the Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP), which is piloting community-based and pharmacy-led provision of weight management services, alongside pharmaceutical and digital interventions. The programme is supported by up to £85 million in joint funding from Government and Eli Lilly, with a portion ring-fenced for devolved administrations. These pilots will generate evidence on clinical outcomes, patient experience, and economic sustainability to inform future commissioning decisions.
The Government remains firmly committed to tackling obesity as a major public health challenge, improving access to effective interventions, and reducing health inequalities across the country.