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 help support UK-based research into new forms of treatment for dementia.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department delivers dementia research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Government funders are investing in dementia research across all areas, from causes, diagnosis and prevention to treatment, care and support, including for carers.

The NIHR is investing almost £50 million to the UK Dementia Trials Network, which will deliver a coordinated network of early phase dementia trial sites. This will be complemented by the £20 million Dementia Clinical Trials Accelerator, designed to position the United Kingdom as the destination of choice for late phase clinical trials in dementia and neurodegenerative diseases.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dementia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on dementia to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.

The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme, with almost £150 million expected to be allocated to, or aligned with it, aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia by accelerating innovations in biomarkers, clinical trials and implementation. Some of this will be delivered through the Neurodegeneration Initiative which the programme is establishing, which will be a globally unique, not-for-profit, industry led public-private partnership that will work together across government, industry, academia, the National Health Service and third sector to deliver its objectives, including UK research organisations.

So far, the programme has invested £13 million into a range of biomarker innovation projects, many of which are being delivered by UK small and medium enterprises and UK research organisations.

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 using (a) PET scans, (b) cerebrospinal fluid testing and (c) other bio-marker led tests to confirm Alzheimer's disease.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department delivers dementia research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds a range of research into dementia, for example investing almost £11 million to develop new digital approaches for the early detection and diagnosis of dementia.

The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme has already invested £13 million into a range of biomarker innovation projects which include biomarker technologies, ranging from an artificial intelligence tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia, to using retinal scans to detect early-onset dementia decades before symptoms. Some of these innovations could support improved diagnosis in the future, if validated for clinical use.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the service provided by the (a) probate service and (b) probate service contractors.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Official statistics published by the Ministry of Justice show that despite continued high levels of receipts, the effectiveness of the service being provided continues to improve. Average waiting times are reducing and was 6 weeks, from receipt of the documentation needed across all types of grants, for grants issued during October to December 2024, down from 13 weeks for the same period in 2023 and the open caseload has reduced to 39,142 as at the end of December 2024, down from 77,904 at the end of 2023.

HMCTS administers the probate service with civil servants. When a third party provides a service, such as document scanning, HMCTS regularly meets with them to review performance against Service Level Agreements and has no concerns.

Average waiting times and open caseload for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via the Family Court Statistics: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.

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 expanding the criteria for medical exemption certificates to include everyone with a (a) disability and (b) chronic illness.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has no plans to expand the criteria for medical exemption certificates.

Individuals with qualifying medical conditions or with a continuing physical disability which prevents them from leaving their residence without the help of another person are entitled to apply for a medical exemption certificate.

People may also be exempt from prescription charges depending on their age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.

People who do not qualify for an exemption and who need many prescription items could save money with a prescription prepayment certificate, which allows people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. People on a low income can seek help under the NHS Low Income Scheme.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with local authorities on the availability of books in public libraries which feature (a) characters, (b) storylines, (c) lives and (d) the history of the LGBTQ+ community.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires all local authorities to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.

It is for each local authority to determine its stock management policy, including which books and other materials are made available for the benefit of its residents. We expect library collections to represent a variety of perspectives and topics.

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 increase the proportion of Alzheimer's disease specialists compared to other G7 countries.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We want all health and care staff to have received appropriate training to provide high quality care to people with dementia. Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate care for patients. The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available through Skills For Health at the following link:

https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Dementia-Core-Skills-Education-and-Training-Framework.pdf

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 return the dementia diagnosis rate to its target level.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates, we have developed a memory service dashboard to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.

We have funded an evidence-based improvement project to fund two trusts in each region, totalling 14 sites, to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate protocol. Learning is currently being shared and promoted with regional and local partners following an impact assessment of the pilots.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems to enable investigation into local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance diagnosis rates.

We have also published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. The tool continues the work of the Dementia Care Pathway, covering all elements of the Well Pathway, including Diagnosing Well.

The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool launched in April 2025 and is available at the following link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/improving-care/nccmh/service-design-and-development/dementia-100-pathway-assessment-tool

Relaunch of Greener Henley

Use of swift bricks

Experiences of women athletes at the Leander Rowing Club

Carers Week 2025

Climate and Nature Bill

Gaza (No. 2)

UK-EU defence cooperation

Ensuring stability for Ukrainian refugees in the UK

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