Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts will be involved in the Rapid National Investigation into maternity and neonatal services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - 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.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) births and (b) elective c-sections occurred in each NHS trust in England in 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service routinely publishes data on maternity activity for NHS hospitals, including data relating to the number of births, the method of onset of labour, delivery methods, and places of delivery. An annual publication for this data, covering the financial year ending March 2024, is available at the following link:
A monthly breakdown of statistics is also available, at the following link:
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 ensuring that the national review of Maternity Services (a) includes representations from (i) patients and (ii) campaign groups and (b) encourages their active involvement.
Answered by Karin Smyth - 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.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 the inclusion of Oxford University Hospitals Trust in the rapid review of NHS maternity services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The investigation will carry out rapid reviews of up to ten trusts with specific issues. The process of determining which trusts to review is ongoing, and once decided, they will be announced as soon as possible.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 support NHS Trusts with (a) additional pharmacist staff salaries, (b) the cost of additional monitoring blood tests and (c) additional service delivery costs when new drug treatments are funded for NHS patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme, published on 4 April 2025, governs transactions between providers and commissioners of secondary healthcare by setting the rules for determining the amount payable for the provision of healthcare services. In short, it defines the basis for fairly reimbursing National Health Service trusts for the work they do. More information on the scheme is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/
Prices in the scheme have been updated to reflect the latest NHS pay awards. The 2025/26 prices have been calculated in part by updating 2024/25 pay award prices, published in September 2024. for inflation and efficiency;
The scheme includes a published list of 2025/26 prices reflecting the latest pay awards, which are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2025-26-nhs-payment-scheme/
This list includes the price paid to NHS trusts for persons who solely require a blood test. High-cost drugs, which can include those that have just received approval, are excluded from prices and are subject to separate agreement on appropriate funding between providers and commissioners.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 a regulatory body for antenatal education organisations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are cutting the number of regulatory bodies as they are overwhelming the National Health Service system and taking focus away from the basics of patient care. The changes we are making will improve quality and safety by making it clear where responsibility and accountability sits at all levels of the system, and making it easier for staff, patients, and users to directly feed into the system to improve quality of care.
We therefore have no plans currently to introduce a further regulatory body specific to antenatal education organisations.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to (a) improve access to antenatal care education for women and families and (b) ensure that high-quality (a) information and (b) information on birthing is delivered during antenatal classes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Maternity services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs), and it is the responsibility of local commissioners to ensure services, including antenatal education, are designed to be accessible and high-quality.
As was set out in the 2025/26 National Health Service operational planning and contracting guidance, when taking decisions, ICBs and providers are asked to pay particular attention to challenged and fragile services, including maternity and neonatal services, thereby delivering the key actions of the Three Year Delivery Plan and continuing to address variation in access, experiences, and outcomes. Antenatal care is a key focus of the plan.
In addition, NHS England expects ICBs to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. For antenatal care education, NICE guidelines recommend offering antenatal classes to all first-time mothers and their partners, covering a range of topics, including preparing for labour and birth. It also advises that classes should be considered for women in subsequent pregnancies where there may be a benefit.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 requirement upon Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to make savings of £99 million this year on the delivery of health services in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Like many other trusts, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust overspent against their own plan in 2024/25, despite receiving significant additional support to deliver that plan. We can no longer accept overspends as standard. It is critical that all National Health Service organisations maximise every penny available to them and deliver the plans that they agree to. All efficiency savings will be used by organisations such as the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to reinvest in services and deliver on their plans.
All systems have agreed breakeven financial plans for 2025/26, requiring £11 billion of efficiencies and other savings, or 7.1% of total allocation. While ambitious, NHS England has provided detailed efficiency and productivity support during 2025/26 planning and will continue to do so through a new finance improvement programme to ensure efficiency and financial plans are met without adversely impacting service delivery or patient care.
As of the second month, the trust reports that it is on track to deliver the efficiencies set out in their plan for 2025/26.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 30 June 2025 to Question 62450 on Vamorolone, which NHS Trusts have submitted prior approval forms.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service trusts which have submitted prior approval forms are as follows:
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 access to NHS occupational therapists involved in Disabled Facilities Grants for (a) children and (b) other people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Occupational therapists play an important role in delivering the Disabled Facilities Grant at a local level by assessing older and disabled people’s needs, recommending home adaptations, and ensuring the suitability of proposed solutions.
Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level ensuring they have the right number of staff in place and with the right skills mix, to deliver safe and effective care. These staff include Allied Health Professionals such as occupational therapists.
The Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, to ensure that we retain more of our skilled and dedicated staff. NHS England is leading work nationally through its retention programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.