Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 planned service upgrades to breast cancer screening capacity are delivered on time.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2023, ten new mobile breast screening units and nine new static breast screening units have been provided, alongside 37 wider upgrades covering hardware, software and live remote access for existing units.
Breast screening services are commissioned regionally, against a national service specification. Local breast screening providers are responsible for managing their equipment replacement plans and planning for service delivery to ensure they have sufficient capacity to delivery timely breast screening to their eligible population. Alongside the estate and equipment investment, comprehensive data is being collected via a workforce survey for breast screening services to support workforce planning at a local, regional and national level.
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it easier for people to access cancer screening, diagnostic and treatment in patients’ local areas, backed by the latest technology to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with NHS England on the adequacy of funding for children's palliative care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children’s palliative care services, including hospices, do incredible work to support people and their families when they need it most. Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
We are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 support access to Enhertu for patients with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes independent, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service in England on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded for eligible patients based on an evaluation of clinical and cost effectiveness.
NICE has recommended Enhertu, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, for use in the Cancer Drugs Fund for the treatment of women with HER2-positive secondary breast cancer and it is now available for the treatment of eligible patients while further data on its effectiveness is being collected that will inform a NICE decision on routine funding.
NICE published guidance in July 2024 on the use of Enhertu for the treatment of HER-2 low metastatic and unresectable breast cancer and was unfortunately unable to recommend it for routine NHS funding. I understand that NICE and NHS England have sought to apply as much flexibility as they can in their considerations of Enhertu for HER2-low breast cancer and have made it clear to the companies that their pricing of the drug remains the only obstacle to access.
Ministers met with the manufacturers of Enhertu, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo in November 2024, to encourage them to re-engage in commercial discussions with NHS England. Despite NICE and NHS England offering unprecedented flexibilities, the companies were unable to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price. NICE’s guidance published in July 2024 will therefore remain unchanged. NICE has reassured me that the door remains open for the companies to enter into a new NICE appraisal if they are willing to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price.
Since January 2022, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed. These treatments are now available to eligible National Health Service patients.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 planned Integrated Care Board cuts on the delivery of the NHS 10-year plan in South Suffolk.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, integrated care boards (ICBs) will become strategic commissioners with responsibility for using multi-year budgets to enhance local population health while achieving efficiencies. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
ICBs will continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and will work with NHS England to ensure this is done effectively within the running costs allowance with savings reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 financial cuts to Integrated Care Boards on NHS service delivery in South Suffolk.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, integrated care boards (ICBs) will become strategic commissioners with responsibility for using multi-year budgets to enhance local population health while achieving efficiencies. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
ICBs will continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and will work with NHS England to ensure this is done effectively within the running costs allowance with savings reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 financial cuts to Integrated Care Boards on patients in South Suffolk.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, integrated care boards (ICBs) will become strategic commissioners with responsibility for using multi-year budgets to enhance local population health while achieving efficiencies. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
ICBs will continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and will work with NHS England to ensure this is done effectively within the running costs allowance with savings reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 changes to Integrated Care Boards on patient care in South Suffolk.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, integrated care boards (ICBs) will become strategic commissioners with responsibility for using multi-year budgets to enhance local population health while achieving efficiencies. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
ICBs will continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and will work with NHS England to ensure this is done effectively within the running costs allowance with savings reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 adequacy of the accessibility of autism assessments in South Suffolk.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays for accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, including early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including the provision of autism services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following a recent diagnosis of autism. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.
The Government is also supporting inclusive environments and earlier intervention for children through the Early Language Support for Every Child and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programmes.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 adequacy of the £26 million NHS England Children’s Hospice Grant for meeting the costs faced by children’s hospices in South Suffolk.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant. We cannot yet confirm what the funding for 2026/27 will be, or how it will be administered.
The Department and NHS England are looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.
The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that the future state of services reduces variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.
Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining how to operationalise the required changes to palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to extend the NHS England Children’s Hospice Grant beyond the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant. We cannot yet confirm what the funding for 2026/27 will be, or how it will be administered.
The Department and NHS England are looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.
The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that the future state of services reduces variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.
Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining how to operationalise the required changes to palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.