Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 trends in the level of delays to the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prioritisation process and their potential impact on equitable access to treatment for people living with rare diseases.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) makes recommendations on NHS England’s approach to commissioning treatments that are not routinely assessed through National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisals. Investment decisions are taken against a discretionary funding envelope which is set annually as part of the financial planning cycle based on affordability.
The 2026/27 CPAG annual prioritisation round was held in May 2026, and the recommendations are currently being considered. In addition, CPAG continues to meet regularly throughout the year to consider clinical policy propositions that are cost-neutral or cost-saving.
While no assessment has been made of trends in CPAG recommendations and their impact on people affected by rare diseases, all clinical policy propositions are supported by an Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment (EHIA). The EHIA considers the potential impact of commissioning decisions on equality, health inequalities, and access to the relevant treatment for affected patient groups.
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases under the UK Rare Diseases Framework. We published the fifth annual England action plan in February 2026, where we report on the steps we have taken to advance the priorities of the framework, including getting a diagnosis faster and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 for the Innovative Medicines Fund to support access to treatments that are awaiting funding through the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) process.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
There are no plans to use the Innovative Medicines Fund to provide access to medicines awaiting consideration by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group. The Innovative Medicines Fund is reserved for medicines that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has concluded are plausibly cost-effective, but where additional evidence is required to address resolvable clinical uncertainty. This approach ensures that the Innovative Medicines Fund supports value for money from medicines spending and does not undermine the established commissioning processes for medicines.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 merits of expanding access to HIV PrEP through community pharmacies.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The HIV Action Plan, published on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2025, sets out how the Government will enable every level of the healthcare system to work together to engage everyone in prevention, testing and treatment, tackle stigma, and reach our ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. This includes a dedicated action to deliver tailored and targeted HIV prevention, treatment, and care services to meet the needs of local populations and address inequalities, including access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Access to HIV PrEP in England is via commissioned level 3 sexual health services. These are commissioned by local authorities for people in the community. Decisions on the configuration of these services ultimately rest with local authorities, who may choose to involve pharmacies in PrEP pathways.
To reduce inequalities in education, access, and uptake of HIV prevention interventions, the Government will work with local government on wider implementation of new PrEP approaches and technologies. This includes building and promoting the evidence around alternative delivery settings, digital platforms for remote PrEP prescribing, and new injectable PrEP medications, following regulatory due process.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 restrictions on alcohol in line with existing restrictions on the marketing of less healthy food and drink.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Currently alcohol advertising and promotion in the United Kingdom is regulated primarily through the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which administers the mandatory Advertising Codes, written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, across media through self-regulation for non-broadcast advertising and co-regulation, with Ofcom as a statutory backstop, for broadcast advertising. The ASA’s Advertising Codes contain specific rules about how alcohol can be advertised, as they recognise the social imperative of ensuring that alcohol advertising is responsible.
The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as the lead Government department responsible for advertising, to consider if additional statutory restrictions on marketing and advertising are needed to reduce alcohol related harms.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 manage conflicts of interest associated with alcohol industry involvement in public health policy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Department already has established arrangements in place to manage conflicts of interest for both ministers and civil servants, including where these relate to the alcohol industry.
Ministerial conduct is governed by the Ministerial Code, which sets out requirements on the declaration and handling of ministers’ interests. Civil servants are bound by the Civil Service Code, and by departmental policies that set out how actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest must be identified, declared, and managed.
The Department keeps its internal guidance under regular review to ensure it remains aligned with cross-Government standards and supports transparent and accountable decision-making.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to develop a new national alcohol strategy for England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Central on 23 January 2026 to Question 105860.
The Government is committed to shortening the amount of time spent in ill health and preventing premature deaths caused by alcohol. Action to prevent harms from alcohol feature in several current strategies and plans.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 expand the use of optometry-led diagnostic and treatment pathways.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them.
This can already include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 expand the use of community optometry services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them.
This can already include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83204, what step he is taking to secure a recurrent budget for abiraterone in high risk, non-metastatic prostate cancer, in the context of it being ranked top priority for routine commissioning at the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group Prioritisation Meeting in 2024-25.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
We are pleased to confirm that NHS England announced on 16 January that patients with non‑metastatic prostate cancer will now have access to abiraterone in combination with prednisolone, where it is deemed to be clinically beneficial. This development has been made possible by the health service buying and delivering treatments at better value.
This decision marks a major step forward in the Government’s ongoing work to improve cancer outcomes, ensure earlier access to effective treatments, and support men and their families across England.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures his Department is taking to improve the access people experiencing homelessness have to health and social care services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Department recognises the importance of ensuring that people experiencing homelessness have access to appropriate health and social care services. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline 214, titled Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness, sets out clear expectations for services to be accessible and tailored to individual needs, and is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214/chapter/Recommendations#intermediate-care
We are exploring how best to encourage integrated care boards to adopt and embed this guidance within their commissioning processes.
People experiencing homelessness are considered as an inclusion health group. Inclusion health groups are a key cohort within the locally identified priority ‘PLUS’ populations in NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 framework to reduce healthcare inequalities. Further information on NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 framework is available at the following link:
Integrated care boards are responsible for implementing this approach, aiming to reduce inequalities in health outcomes and improve equitable access to healthcare treatments and services.