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 ensure that the 18-week waiting time target can be met.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to returning, by March 2029, to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.
In November 2025, performance against the standard was at 61.8%, 2.6% higher than a year earlier. Since the Government came into office, the waiting list for routine appointments, operations, and procedures in England has now been cut by 312,369 despite 30.1 million referrals being added onto the waiting list.
As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we’ve set ambitious targets, and are investing in modernisation, and reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care. We’ve made good progress, through there remains lots more to do.
We will empower patients by giving them more choice and control, reform delivery by working more consistently, and in many cases differently, to deliver more elective care, ensure care takes place in the right place, and implement robust and regular oversight of performance with clear expectations.
In September last year, we announced a new “online hospital”, through NHS Online, which will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years, four times more than an average trust, while enhancing patient choice and control over their care. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027.
We are investing £6 billion of additional capital over five years for diagnostic, elective, urgent, and emergency capacity in the NHS. This includes £1.65 billion of capital funding in 2025/26 to support both immediate winter capacity and infrastructure transformation, for instance new surgical hubs, community diagnostic centres, and beds to increase capacity for elective and emergency care.
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 estimate he has made of the number of patients whose treatment has been delayed as a result of restrictions placed on private providers delivering NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are committed to putting patients first by ensuring that they are seen on time and that they have the best possible experience of care. Since the Government came into office, the waiting list for routine appointments, operations, and procedures in England has now been cut by 312,369. This is despite 30.1 million referrals onto the waiting list.
Integrated care boards have existing contractual powers to manage activity by providers, which were enhanced in 2025/26 with central support for setting and managing activity. Commissioners’ use of these powers support systems to live within their means and deploy better financial discipline than previous years where systems have overspent. As these powers are exercised by local systems, no national assessment has been made.
We expect use of activity management provisions by local systems to support efforts achieving the goal of at least 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment by March 2026 whilst living within financial budgets set for 2025/26.
All trusts are expected to have their own safeguards to ensure that patients waiting for planned care are triaged, and that appointments take place according to clinical priority and the length of time patients have waited, avoiding risk of serious complications.
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 activity management plans on patient waiting times for elective surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards have existing contractual powers to manage activity by providers, which were enhanced in 2025/26 with central support for setting and managing activity. The NHS Standard Contract includes the ability to set Indicative Action Plans (IAPs) to help providers and commissioners plan demand, capacity, and expenditure. While not binding, if activity exceeds the agreed plan, and therefore the funding agreed, an Activity Management Plan (AMP) can be agreed to bring activity back in line.
The provision and use of IAPs and AMPs is designed to deliver the activity levels required to achieve the goal of at least 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment by March 2026 whilst also living within financial budgets set for 2025/26.
Any planning assumptions based on waiting times need to support commissioners’ overall duties to the populations they serve and our waiting time targets, including our commitment to return to the 18 week standard. AMPs allow commissioners and providers to work together to manage elective activity within agreed performance and financial targets, all whilst working towards improving patient waiting times overall.
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 support for training and resources his Department is providing to integrated care boards to help implement the NHS England Maternal Care Bundle, published on 6 January 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Maternity care remains a top priority for NHS Providers, as demonstrated in the planning guidance.
Maternity services in England are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs), and maternity funding, which formed part of the System Development Funding in 2024/25, has been transferred to ICB core allocations for 2025/26. This is to allow local leaders more flexibility to serve the needs of their population.
The Maternity Care Bundle codifies best practice standards and therefore the implementation of the Maternity Care Bundle will be absorbed through ICB core allocations.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will set out the mechanisms for leaseholders and shared ownership tenants to challenge unexpected or excessive maintenance charges; and whether his Department plans to (a) strengthen enforcement or (b) provide additional support for those in dispute with housing associations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Most shared owners have a landlord who is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service. Tenants can therefore take complaints about service charges, not including fees, to the Ombudsman.
The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme places new expectations on shared ownership providers to improve customer experience. These include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability and increasing transparency and fairness on costs.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 4 July 2025 (HCWS780).
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to review the practices of housing associations in relation to the application of maintenance charges for shared ownership properties; and what steps he will take to ensure charges (a) reflect actual services delivered and (b) are communicated in plain language.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Most shared owners have a landlord who is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service. Tenants can therefore take complaints about service charges, not including fees, to the Ombudsman.
The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme places new expectations on shared ownership providers to improve customer experience. These include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability and increasing transparency and fairness on costs.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 4 July 2025 (HCWS780).
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure transparency and fairness in the calculation and application of maintenance charges for shared ownership properties; and whether he will assess the potential merits of introducing clearer guidance to prevent unexpected or disproportionate costs being passed on to (a) leaseholders and (b) part-buy, part-rent tenants.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Most shared owners have a landlord who is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service. Tenants can therefore take complaints about service charges, not including fees, to the Ombudsman.
The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme places new expectations on shared ownership providers to improve customer experience. These include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability and increasing transparency and fairness on costs.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 4 July 2025 (HCWS780).
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms he plans to put in place to safeguard community sports provision if the current statutory consultation arrangements be changed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 103087 on 13 January 2026.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2026 to Question 103084, if she will publish policy proposals to implement the practice of collection of data of non-injury road traffic accidents in order to make an assessment of the risk at rural junctions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
There are currently no plans to collect non-injury collision data from road traffic collisions to make an assessment of risk at rural junctions.
As announced in the recently published Road Safety Strategy, the department is exploring the possibility of breaking down rural roads into several subcategories to better define their purpose. This segmentation will help target safety interventions more effectively, ensuring resources are spent where they can have the greatest impact. We have also announced the establishment of a data-led Road Safety Investigation Branch, which will investigate collisions on a thematic basis.
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 discussions has he had to help conclude the dialogue between NHS England and the manufacturer of givinostat as part of the NICE appraisal.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has had no such discussions. NHS England is responsible for any commercial discussions with companies whose products are undergoing a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence evaluation.
Following discussions in November 2025, NHS England invited the manufacturer, ITF Pharma UK and Ireland, to submit a written proposal to progress a potential commercial agreement in December, with a range of ideas being offered by NHS England that could form the basis of a deal.
NHS England is still awaiting a proposal from the company and has continued to press ITF Pharma on the need to make progress as patients and campaigners deserve certainty on the next steps regarding access to this treatment.