Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 11 September 2025 to Question 74995 on Covid: Vaccination, for what reason (a) spousal household contacts aged under 75 years of immunosuppressed individuals and (b) other household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals are not eligible for the NHS covid-19 autumn booster programme during the autumn and winter of 2025/26.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, involving hospitalisation and/or death, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024 noted that in the era of high population immunity to COVID-19, and with all cases due to highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants, any protection offered by the vaccine against the transmission of infection from one person to another was expected to be extremely limited. On this basis, the JCVI did not advise offering vaccination to any household contacts. The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024, with both the advice and the Government’s response available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-accepts-advice-on-2024-autumn-covid-vaccine-programme
Household contacts were therefore not offered vaccination in the autumn 2024 campaign. On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme covering vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026. In line with its advice for the autumn 2024 campaign, the JCVI did not advise COVID-19 vaccination for household contacts. This advice is available at the following link:
The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the spring and autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Government is considering the advice for spring 2026 carefully, and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 ensure that bereaved parents have equal access to specialist psychological support following (a) pregnancy and (b) baby loss.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Experiencing pregnancy or baby loss can be extremely difficult and traumatic. We are determined to make sure all bereaved parents, regardless of where they live, have access to specialist psychological support.
As of June 2025, Maternal Mental Health Services are now available in all areas of England. These services provide specialist psychological support for women with moderate/severe or complex mental health difficulties arising from birth trauma or baby loss.
All trusts in England are also signed up to the National Bereavement Care Pathway. This pathway is designed to improve the quality and consistency of bereavement care for parents and families experiencing pregnancy or baby loss.
We also recognise the importance of maternity bereavement services being available at all times. Seven day a week bereavement services are in the process of being set up in every area in England to support women and families who experience pregnancy loss or neonatal death.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North 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 NHS staff who are assaulted at work do not face (a) loss of pay, (b) punitive attendance management processes and (c) risk of dismissal while recovering from injuries sustained in the course of their duties.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS trusts are independent employers that have their own policies and procedures for managing staff sickness absence. Sickness absence policies and procedures should be fair, reasonable and comply with existing employment legislation.
For all NHS staff, including those on the Agenda for Change (AfC) contract and medical contracts, the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook provides entitlement of up to 6 months full and six months half occupational sick pay when staff are too ill to work. The Handbook also states that when calculating an employee’s sick pay entitlement, absence caused by injuries attributable to NHS employment will be disregarded and should not count toward sickness absence totals.
Where NHS staff are off work due to a work-related injury or illness, they may be eligible for NHS injury allowance. Injury allowance tops up pay to 85% of an individual’s earnings for up to 12 months when on reduced pay or half pay.
To address variance in how NHS organisations manage sickness absence attendance, NHS England is currently working to develop a ‘Supporting Attendance’ Human Resources policy framework. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/future-of-human-resources-and-organisational-development/nhs-people-policy-frameworks/
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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) ethical, (b) legal, and (c) safeguarding implications of UK residents entering commercial surrogacy arrangements overseas; and whether the Government plans to review the legal framework in such cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to review the legal framework for international surrogacy arrangements.
The Government supports surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family.
The Government recognises that international surrogacy is a complex area, and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office has published guidance for British nationals seeking international surrogacy arrangements.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 June 2025 to Question 61726, if he will publish: (a) the data source for the reported 8.9% increase in doctors working in clinical oncology between 2021 and 2023, (b) the number and percentage increase in consultant clinical oncologists over that same period and (c) the number of consultant clinical ncologists per capita by Integrated Care System or NHS Trust area, including identification of the five areas with the lowest consultant-to-population ratios.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on the number of staff employed by National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) in England, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
It should be noted that the change in doctors working in the specialty of clinical oncology is between February 2024 and February 2025, the latest period for which data is available.
As of February 2025, there were over 1,800 full time equivalent doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 150, or 8.9%, more than in 2024.
The change in the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of clinical oncology employed by NHS trusts and ICBs in England between 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2023 was 14.1%; the change over the same period in consultant clinical oncologists was 12.2%.
The following table shows the number of FTE consultant clinical oncologists employed by NHS trusts or ICBs per million population by ICB area for February 2025:
ICB | Consultant Clinical Oncologists – FTE, February 2025 | ONS Projected Population, June 2025 | Consultant Oncologists (per 1,000,000 population) |
Mid and South Essex | - | 1,232,502 | - |
Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin | - | 533,260 | - |
Humber and North Yorkshire | 1.1 | 1,744,824 | 0.6 |
South West London | 5.8 | 1,557,624 | 3.7 |
Frimley | 3.0 | 791,237 | 3.8 |
West Yorkshire | 23.2 | 2,497,926 | 9.3 |
Coventry and Warwickshire | 9.6 | 1,016,366 | 9.4 |
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire | 9.7 | 980,250 | 9.9 |
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | 11.8 | 1,167,873 | 10.1 |
Somerset | 6.0 | 590,928 | 10.2 |
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | 11.1 | 1,060,963 | 10.5 |
Black Country | 13.9 | 1,249,119 | 11.1 |
Sussex | 20.5 | 1,768,736 | 11.6 |
Northamptonshire | 9.5 | 817,757 | 11.6 |
North East London | 25.6 | 2,147,223 | 11.9 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 21.3 | 1,779,694 | 12.0 |
North Central London | 18.0 | 1,485,975 | 12.1 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 36.4 | 2,620,678 | 13.9 |
Lincolnshire | 11.2 | 795,667 | 14.1 |
North East and North Cumbria | 46.0 | 3,070,741 | 15.0 |
Norfolk and Waveney | 17.5 | 1,071,923 | 16.3 |
Derby and Derbyshire | 17.9 | 1,091,150 | 16.4 |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 13.6 | 815,030 | 16.7 |
Suffolk and North East Essex | 17.8 | 1,028,298 | 17.3 |
Greater Manchester | 52.2 | 3,008,589 | 17.4 |
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | 10.7 | 596,108 | 17.9 |
Gloucestershire | 12.4 | 671,296 | 18.5 |
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | 24.4 | 1,198,878 | 20.4 |
Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 39.3 | 1,893,635 | 20.8 |
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 25.3 | 1,184,050 | 21.4 |
Kent and Medway | 42.0 | 1,932,162 | 21.8 |
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | 42.3 | 1,870,248 | 22.6 |
South East London | 42.1 | 1,861,345 | 22.6 |
North West London | 52.9 | 2,222,784 | 23.8 |
Dorset | 19.7 | 802,632 | 24.6 |
South Yorkshire | 36.0 | 1,432,349 | 25.1 |
Surrey Heartlands | 28.0 | 1,085,724 | 25.7 |
Birmingham and Solihull | 36.5 | 1,407,053 | 26.0 |
Hertfordshire and West Essex | 44.0 | 1,540,310 | 28.6 |
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | 27.8 | 964,041 | 28.8 |
Devon | 37.4 | 1,268,832 | 29.5 |
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | 33.5 | 1,037,500 | 32.3 |
England | 957.1 | 58,893,277 | 16.3 |
Source: NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Cancer Plan will include targets to improve timely diagnosis of (a) myeloma and (b) other blood cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers such as myeloma, as well as other unstageable cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, in order to improve outcomes.
To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancer earlier and treating it faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to include dementia specialist nurses in the Neighbourhood Health Service model; and what steps he is taking to ensure access to dementia specialist nurses in every community.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Neighbourhood Health Service will bring together teams of professionals closer to people’s homes to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community. We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, and so they could include dementia specialist nurses. While we will be clear on the outcomes we expect, we will give significant licence to tailor the approach to local need. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, services may look different in rural communities, coastal towns, or deprived inner cities.
Provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We would expect ICBs to commission services, which may include dementia specialist nurses/admiral nurses, based on local population needs, taking account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines. NICE recommends providing people living with dementia with a single named health or social care professional who is responsible for coordinating their care.
Under the 10-year plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence plans to publish guidelines for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of chronic urinary tract infections.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has an established prioritisation process overseen by a prioritisation board, for the identification of priorities for guidance development. Anyone can suggest a topic through the NICE website at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/forms/topic-suggestion
NICE has no current plans to develop guidance on chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) at this time and the topic has not been considered by its prioritisation board. However, NICE has produced a clinical guideline on antimicrobial prescribing for recurrent UTIs which provides recommendations on treatments and self-care for the prevention of recurrent UTIs. This guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng112
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North 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 increase the number of clinical oncologists in regions with the lowest consultant-to-population ratios.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We’re building our cancer workforce. As of February 2025, there are over 1,800 full time equivalent doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 150, or 8.9%, more than last year.
We will publish a new workforce plan to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places to deliver the care patients need, transforming the health service and making it fit for the future.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to include the (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment and (c) research of urinary tract infections in the (i) 10-year Health Plan and (ii) Women’s Health Strategy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will set out how we tackle the inequities that lead to poor health. This will include how we will improve access to and the experience of care for conditions such as chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs). 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 conditions, including chronic UTIs, closer to home.
Recurrent UTIs are more prevalent in women. This Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we build a National Health Service fit for the future, and our focus is on turning the commitments in the Women's Health Strategy into tangible actions to improve health for women.