Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 January 2026 to Question 107667, what information his Department holds on which ICB senior staff and Board members will be involved in the commissioning of neighbourhood health centres in North West London.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The selection of senior staff and board members involved in the commissioning of neighbourhood health centres will be determined by each integrated care board. As the North West and North Central London Integrated Care Boards are merging to form the West and North London Integrated Care Board from 1 April 2026, an interim structure is in place. The Chair and Chief Executive Officer have been appointed and, alongside other senior leads, will oversee commissioning of these services in accordance with forthcoming approval processes.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 January 2026 to Question 107667 on Neighbourhood Health Centres and Urgent Treatment Centres: Greater London, which (a) health authorities and (b) related public bodies in North West London will be consulted; and who will have to agree before any neighbourhood health centres are commissioned in North West London by the relevant ICB.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There will be a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community. The Government has announced its commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres, with 120 delivered by 2030, through a mix of public private partnership and public capital. Integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.
As noted in the answer on 28 January 2026 to Question 107776, ICBs are responsible for commissioning general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. As they are best placed to make such decisions, ICBs also consider how best to provide urgent care, including Urgent Treatment Centres, to ensure patient demand is effectively met.
The process for commissioning Neighbourhood Health Centres is currently being determined, and we anticipate that planning will be carried out collaboratively with local partners.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 neighbourhood health centres that will be in North West London ICB by (a) 2030 and (b) 2035.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There will be a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community. The Government has announced its commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres, with 120 delivered by 2030, through a mix of public private partnership and public capital. Integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for Neighbourhood Health Centres.
As noted in the answer on 28 January 2026 to Question 107776, ICBs are responsible for commissioning general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. As they are best placed to make such decisions, ICBs also consider how best to provide urgent care, including Urgent Treatment Centres, to ensure patient demand is effectively met.
The process for commissioning Neighbourhood Health Centres is currently being determined, and we anticipate that planning will be carried out collaboratively with local partners.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will estimate how many NHS employers offer their employees the opportunity to join a credit union by offering a payroll deduction service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information. Local employers across the National Health Service are best placed to understand their staff’s needs and circumstances. NHS staff have access to a range of support for financial wellbeing, including credit union membership.
NHS Employers have published information to support NHS trusts on salary sacrifice arrangements and tax-free childcare, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/salary-sacrifice-schemes
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the criteria being used to determine where new a) neighbourhood care centres and b) urgent treatment centres are being located in London.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and Local Health Systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs. As they are best placed to make such decisions, ICBs also consider how best to provide urgent care, including Urgent Treatment Centres, to ensure patient demand is effectively met.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out the steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care this winter, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding. This includes the expansion of co-located Urgent Treatment Centres to allow for the effective streaming of patients, helping to reduce waiting times and overcrowding.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people attended Northwick Park Hospital A&E Department in each of the last 6 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England began publishing data on accident and emergency attendances at the site-level from November 2025, and therefore only two months of data are currently available. The following table shows the number of type 1 and 2 accident and emergency attendances, as well as all attendances, at Northwick Park Hospital, for November and December of 2025:
Month | Type 1 and 2 attendances | All type attendances |
November 2025 | 9,930 | 17,410 |
December 2025 | 9,960 | 17,055 |
Source: A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2025-26 dataset, avaiable at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2025-26/
Note: the data for December 2025 is provisional, and all figures have been rounded to the nearest five in line with data suppression rules.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the replacement system for the NHS Electronic Staff Record will be required to record whether (a) clinicians have condition-specific specialisations such as a Parkinson’s Specialist Nurse and (b) roles are speciality-specific such as neuro physiotherapist.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service provider trusts are required to provide core workforce data to NHS England and the Department based on definitions set out in the National Workforce Data Set (NWD). The NWD is kept under review to ensure it is kept up to date while the burden on trusts of data collection remains proportionate.
The replacement system for the NHS Electronic staff Record (ESR), the Future NHS Workforce System (FWS) will make it easier to record the information that aligns with NHS organisational needs, including the skills and specialisms of staff. NHS England is currently working with the NHS Business Services Authority to make the best use of the data capture ability of the new system.
There is not a hard deadline for deciding what will be recorded on the FWS. As with ESR, new fields will be able to be added to meet the changing requirements of trusts and of national workforce planning. We will though need to continue to work with trusts to ensure that the data we require them to capture is both useful, proportionate and aligned with operational needs.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make a decision on the replacement system for the NHS Electronic Staff Record.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority signed a contract with Infosys to deliver a new enhanced workforce management system for the National Health Service on 10 October 2025. Further details on the programme can be found at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/future-nhs-workforce-solution-transformation-programme