Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish further details on plans to expand the provision of (a) palliative and (b) end of life care in community settings as outlined in the 10-Year Plan for Health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs, including the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB, which covers the Stafford constituency, are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
As set out in the Government’s recently published 10-Year Health Plan, we are determined to shift more care out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative care and end of life care services, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift, and were highlighted in the plan as being an integral part of neighbourhood teams.
The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that, in future, services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.
Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining how to operationalise the required shifts in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 the 10-Year Plan for Health delivers equitable access to (a) palliative and (b) end of life care across all communities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
One of the three shifts that the 10-Year Health Plan will deliver is the shift of healthcare from the hospital into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative care and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift and were highlighted in the plan as being an integral part of neighbourhood teams.
I have tasked officials to look at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all- age palliative and end of life care, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 tackle health inequalities in the North East.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This government is working to stamp out this country’s stark health inequalities. The North East has had the lowest healthy life expectancy for over ten years, which is unacceptable.
The Government has put tackling these inequalities at the heart of the 10 Year Plan. We will create a fairer Britain where everyone can access quality care, regardless of background, income or postcode.
We are taking unprecedented action by diverting billions of pounds to working class communities that need it most – prioritising investment in towns with the greatest health needs.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 care for people with arthritis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Services for those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including arthritis, are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs). The Department expects MSK services to be fully incorporated into integrated care system planning and decision-making.
As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. Launched in December 2024, with 17 ICBs selected in the first cohort, including the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB, GIRFT teams have deployed their proven Further Faster model to work with ICB leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with arthritis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services. The GIRFT programme is continuing to develop the approach to better enable integrated care systems to commission the delivery of high-quality MSK services in the community, which will benefit patients now and into the future.
Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these will help deliver improvements to arthritis care in all parts of the country.
More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support people to manage their long-term conditions, including arthritis, closer to home.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on strategies for reducing child obesity in the North East.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our Health Mission, the Government is committed to ensuring that people live well for longer. This includes tackling the determinants that underpin stark health inequalities to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions and to create the healthiest generation of children ever.
The 10-Year Health Plan for England outlines a range of actions to address childhood obesity. We will fulfil our commitments to restrict junk food advertising targeted at children, ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16 year olds, and use our revised National Planning Policy Framework to give local councils stronger powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools. We will work with the Department for Education to update school food standards. To support the families most in need, we are expanding free school meals to all children with a parent in receipt of universal credit. The Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy consultation sets out proposals to further drive reformulation, including ending the exemption for milk-based drinks and reducing the minimum sugar thresholds. By the end of this Parliament, we will introduce mandatory healthy food sales reporting for all large companies in the food sector.
These are national-level policies and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the Government’s approach of moving towards the prevention of ill health, including tackling obesity within its 10-Year Health Plan.
Specifically, in the North East, North East local authorities received a total of £256 million in Public Health Grant funding for 2025/26. Directors of Public Health oversee the use of the Public Health Grant, working in partnership with a range of stakeholders to maximise the health gain associated with local resources, including addressing levels of childhood obesity in the North East. This includes commissioning the National Child Measurement Programme. Additionally, Directors of Public Health from each local authority are working in partnership with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board to support action to address childhood obesity through a North East and North Cumbria Healthy Weight and Treating Obesity Strategy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) data protection and (b) ethical implications of commercial DNA testing services used by minors without age verification.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All companies providing DNA testing kits or DNA testing services must comply with the provisions of the Human Tissue Act 2004 relating to consent. This provides the ethical framework for DNA testing. Under the Act, a person who has not attained the age of 16 years old cannot give consent for a DNA test. Any company failing to appropriately verify that a person using a DNA testing service is legally able to give consent, may be liable for prosecution under the act.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing regulatory standards for the marketing of consumer DNA testing kits.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is aware that there are a number of DNA test kits on the market. The majority claim to provide information on ancestry, and in general these would not be regarded as medical devices.
However, those that make medical claims in relation to predisposition of medical conditions would be regarded as in vitro diagnostic medical devices and would require the relevant CE mark or a UK Conformity Assessed marking.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 capacity of local health committees to respond promptly to local clinical trial requests.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical trial requests are responded to by the Health Research Authority (HRA). The Department routinely monitors the performance of Research Ethics Committee approval timelines delivered by the HRA to ensure these meet targets for clinical trial approvals.
Currently, 100% of HRA ethics reviews are completed by committees within the legal timeframe of 60 days. The median review time is consistently less than 40 days, and there is special provision for expedited reviews of urgent studies, such as were seen as part of regulators’ response to COVID-19, with approval being issued within days.
Additionally, the HRA and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are broadly delivering combined reviews for clinical trials within the 60-day target, and backlogs have been cleared since September 2023.
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.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
o ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on commissioning research into the health and productivity impacts of working night shifts.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research into work and health through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). This includes research into the health and productivity impacts of working night shifts. The Department has recently commissioned research to develop and test an intervention for shift work sleep disorder in National Health Service workers.
To build the evidence base on work and health, last year the NIHR funded the Work and Health Development Awards, leading to four major collaboration awards.
The NIHR launched a second round of Work and Health Awards in November 2024, and will launch a call in Spring 2025 to assess the labour-market outcomes of NIHR-funded health interventions. Alongside these initiatives, the NIHR launched a call in July 2024 to identify the most effective interventions that organisations can adopt to improve the physical and mental health of the United Kingdom’s workforce.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including the health impacts of working night shifts. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on work and health to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 repayment rate for newer medicines under the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth on the UK life sciences sector.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth (VPAG) is a unique partnership between the Government and the pharmaceutical industry and includes a range of commitments to support innovation and improve National Health Service access and uptake of newer medicines. This also includes the novel £400 million investment programme which aims to boost the global competitiveness of the United Kingdom, stimulate economic growth, and support patient access to medicines through targeted investment.
The Department has been engaging closely with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to understand the potential impact of the higher-than-expected VPAG headline payment percentage in 2025. In recognition of the pressure that the increased headline payment percentage is putting on industry we have committed to bringing forward the mid-scheme review of the VPAG from Autumn 2025 to June 2025.
As part of this review, the ABPI and their member organisations have been invited to put forward their proposals for discussion, as well as suggestions for how the pharmaceutical sector can actively work alongside the Government to increase the UK’s overall share of global research and development activity, and drive economic growth.