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 improve the early diagnosis of cancers occurring in people aged under 50 years old.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the early diagnosis of cancer for patients of all ages, including people aged under 50 years old.
The National Cancer Plan for England, published in February 2026, identifies earlier diagnosis as a key driver of improved cancer outcomes. The plan sets out action to expand diagnostic capacity, harness new technologies, including genomics and artificial intelligence, and redesign pathways to help cancers be detected and diagnosed earlier.
The Government is committed to reducing the number of cancers diagnosed through emergency presentation and improving access to faster and more convenient tests, checks, and scans. This includes expanding diagnostic capacity and improving the use of data to identify delays and variation across cancer pathways.
Full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways has been achieved across England. These pathways support earlier diagnosis for patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer but do not align with a specific tumour type, helping to identify cancers that can otherwise be diagnosed at a later stage.
The National Cancer Plan also commits to speeding up detection and diagnosis for children and young people with cancer, ensuring their needs are embedded in the design of neighbourhood health services, improving access to specialist support, and supporting the safe use of artificial intelligence-based decision tools.
In addition, the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce is helping drive improvements across early detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience, with its commitments reflected in the National Cancer Plan.
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, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on protecting maternity safety campaigners from Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no discussions between my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice on protecting maternity safety campaigners from Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
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 protections are in place to ensure that individuals who raise concerns about NHS services are not subject to inappropriate access to their personal medical records.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department takes the issue of inappropriate access to anyone’s medical records seriously. There are various safeguards used in the National Health Service to prevent unauthorised access to patient records.
NHS England is developing guidance which is focused on inappropriate access to patient records. The guidance will be aimed at NHS organisations and highlights the importance of ensuring that patient records are only ever accessed for legitimate purposes and any inappropriate access is likely to be considered a significant data breach. The guidance will be published in the coming months.
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 industry partners were consulted as part of the process for the development of options to replace VPAG under the US-UK pharmaceutical deal.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The arrangement between the United States and United Kingdom has been received positively by industry so far and will continue supporting greater investment in UK life sciences.
The Government and the UK life sciences industry have launched a Joint Taskforce to drive innovation in the UK’s commercial environment for medicines. As part of the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan and Life Science Sector Plan, the Government has established a sprint process with the pharmaceutical sector to consider options for accelerating progress towards the Government’s ambitions for the UK being the third most important Life Science economy by 2035.
The process will involve key agencies such as NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and will engage with charitable and patient groups to ensure a broad range of views are considered. Industry is represented by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and a sample of their members companies. A full list of these companies is provided below.
The Joint Taskforce process will not represent formal voluntary scheme negotiations but acts as a precursor to develop options for the future of the voluntary scheme and look at the broader medicines pricing system.
With regard to the pilots, the Arrangement commits that the pilots should be agreed by 30 June this year and be launched by 1 September. The sprint process to consider options, including pilots, continues as planned. Industry sprint representatives 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, whether the government will meet its target piloting replacement options for VPAG under the US-UK pharmaceutical deal by 30 June 2026.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The arrangement between the United States and United Kingdom has been received positively by industry so far and will continue supporting greater investment in UK life sciences.
The Government and the UK life sciences industry have launched a Joint Taskforce to drive innovation in the UK’s commercial environment for medicines. As part of the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan and Life Science Sector Plan, the Government has established a sprint process with the pharmaceutical sector to consider options for accelerating progress towards the Government’s ambitions for the UK being the third most important Life Science economy by 2035.
The process will involve key agencies such as NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and will engage with charitable and patient groups to ensure a broad range of views are considered. Industry is represented by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and a sample of their members companies. A full list of these companies is provided below.
The Joint Taskforce process will not represent formal voluntary scheme negotiations but acts as a precursor to develop options for the future of the voluntary scheme and look at the broader medicines pricing system.
With regard to the pilots, the Arrangement commits that the pilots should be agreed by 30 June this year and be launched by 1 September. The sprint process to consider options, including pilots, continues as planned. Industry sprint representatives 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 guidance his Department has issued to NHS trusts on accessing patient medical records outside of direct clinical care; and what safeguards are in place to prevent unauthorised access.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s website provides a range of information governance guidance to the National Health Service on the secure and appropriate use of medical records, including guidance on the use of records outside of direct care. This can be found at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/information-governance
There are various safeguards used in the NHS to prevent unauthorised access to patient records. These include:
role based access control, meaning users are restricted in what they can access, so that it is appropriate to their role;
multi-factor authentication, meaning users are required to prove their identify with at least two details;
shielding records, meaning as records can be hidden from normal view, and only accessed by contacting an authoriser, or via an alert triggered by attempted access;
organisational policies determined at local level; and
auditing, with systems recording who has accessed a record and when, in case this needs to be reviewed/investigated.
Staff accessing systems are bound by employment contract and professional codes of conduct to ensure their access to data is necessary and appropriate. All organisations handling patient data should have training in place to ensure staff are aware of their responsibilities.
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, with reference to the response of 20 April 2026 to question 125947; what progress has been made on receiving independent expert advice from the JCVI on the meningococcal B vaccination programme, including whether this should be extended to young people who were not eligible for the routine infant immunisation programme introduced in 2015.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care told the House on 17 March in the context of the meningococcal disease outbreak in Kent, the Joint Committee on Vaccinations (JCVI) has been asked to re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines to assess, for example, an expanded offer to older children and/or young adults. The JCVI will provide updated advice to the Department this summer around whether, and to what extent, a vaccine programme for older children and/or young adults would be clinically effective. This will also include an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of such a vaccination programme. The JCVI is required to consider the cost-effectiveness of a vaccination programme as part of their Code of Practice, which is available at the following link:
The JCVI gives advice to ministers based on the best evidence, reflecting current good practice and/or expert opinion. This involves a robust, transparent, and systematic appraisal of the available evidence from a wide range of sources. The JCVI aims to work with key stakeholders while maintaining the independence of committee processes and considerations.
The context of the recent meningococcal outbreak in Kent will be important to consider in any updated modelling which is considered by the JCVI going forward.
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 it his policy to produce a set of specific local recommendations for each trust included in the Amos review of maternity and neonatal care following the publication of the National recommendations.
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 has made an estimation of the cost of a meningococcal B vaccination programme for all young people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As my rt. Hon. Friend, the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, told the House on 17 March 2026 in the context of the meningococcal disease outbreak in Kent, the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) has been asked to re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines to assess, for example, an expanded offer to older children and/or young adults. The JCVI will provide updated advice to the Department this summer around whether, and to what extent, a vaccine programme for older children and/or young adults would be clinically effective. This will also include an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of such a vaccination programme. The JCVI is required to consider the cost-effectiveness of a vaccination programme as part of their Code of Practice, which is available at the following link:
The JCVI gives advice to Ministers based on the best evidence, reflecting current good practice and/or expert opinion. This involves a robust, transparent, and systematic appraisal of the available evidence from a wide range of sources. The JCVI aims to work with key stakeholders while maintaining the independence of committee processes and considerations.
The context of the recent meningococcal outbreak in Kent will be important to consider in any updated modelling which is considered by the JCVI going forward.
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 are he is taking to procure meningococcal B vaccines.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is engaged in procurement activity to maintain sufficient stockpiles of meningococcal B vaccines to support the United Kingdom’s future routine immunisation programmes. This procurement process is in its final stages and is expected to conclude in the coming weeks. If a contract is awarded, a notice will be published in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.
UKHSA has an existing contract for meningococcal B vaccines, with sufficient stock available to maintain the current immunisation programme and to meet any additional needs resulting from recent outbreaks.