Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of lowering the income threshold for the NHS salary sacrifice car scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Employers in the National Health Service offer a broad range of salary sacrifice schemes which have varying values and requirements. The interaction with the national minimum wage must be considered for all employees who participate in one or more of these schemes. Participation must not mean that an employee’s cash earnings fall below the National Minimum Wage. This is not new policy and is not specific to the NHS.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 safe staffing levels in mental health services on patient safety; whether the Department has revised its definition of safe staffing levels in response to workforce shortages; and what steps he is taking to ensure that staffing standards are maintained at levels that protect both patient safety and staff wellbeing.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. NHS England is currently updating guidance on how trusts should set their staffing levels, via the Developing Workforce Safeguards and Safe Staffing in Mental Health Services 2018 framework, to reflect current evidence and operations. Staffing any service and any shift should be built around the needs of patients which should be the aim of all National Health Service providers.
Guidance on safe staffing levels also specifies that every NHS organisation should have a strategic workforce plan which is discussed and agreed at the trust board level and should also have escalation processes to cover staffing shortages or changes.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 help support people with short and long-term spinal cord injuries.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan will have profound and positive impacts on care for patients with spinal cord injury. More tests and scans are delivered in the community, better joined-up working between services, and greater use of technology will all support people in the management of long-term conditions, including spinal cord injuries.
In March 2025, NHS England published the Spinal Services Clinical Network Specification, which establishes expectations for spinal clinical networks to standardise pathways and reduce variation, with the aim of improving access to care for patients.
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for spinal services is also driving service improvements and better care for patients with spinal cord injuries. GIRFT has worked with National Health Service trusts to showcase examples of best practice which other services can then learn from.
In October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, which includes rehabilitation for spinal cord injury.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the differences between NHS and Civil Service redundancy provisions for staff who have taken partial retirement; and whether his Department has considered aligning NHS provisions with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme where partial retirement does not affect redundancy entitlements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This specific assessment has not been made. Contractual redundancy provisions for staff covered by the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service handbook, also referred to as Agenda for Change, in England were agreed and ratified in partnership by the NHS Staff Council, the collective bargaining structure made up of trade union and employer representatives. Any future changes to the handbook, including this section, would require the Department to issue a mandate to allow negotiations to be undertaken by the NHS Staff Council.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether an Equality Impact Assessment was conducted on the differential treatment of NHS staff who have taken partial retirement under the NHS partial retirement scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no National Health Service partial retirement scheme. Partial retirement has existed as an option for some members of the NHS Pension Schemes since 2008. It was extended to members of the 1995 Section of the legacy NHS Pension Scheme in 2023.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate the number of newly-qualified nurses who lose their professional status because they have been unable to secure employment within two years of graduation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. It sets the standards that registrants must meet to demonstrate that they are capable of practising safely and effectively.
There is no requirement for nurses to be in employment in order to maintain their registration with the NMC. Registrants must pay an annual registration fee and revalidate every three years by submitting a range of evidence demonstrating their skills and adherence to the NMC Code of professional standards and behaviours. They must also demonstrate that they have practised for a minimum of 450 hours over the three year revalidation period.
The NMC publishes an annual leavers survey to understand why people leave its permanent register, alongside annual and mid-year registration data reports. The annual and mid-year registration data tables includes a breakdown of leavers by the years since initial registration, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when Section 16 of the NHS Staff Terms and Conditions (Agenda for Change) handbook was last reviewed in relation to the partial retirement scheme introduced in October 2023; and whether his Department has any plans to update this section to ensure fairness for staff who took partial retirement.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Section 16 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service handbook, also referred to as Agenda for Change, was last updated in 2015. This section sets out the contractual redundancy provisions for staff covered by these terms and conditions and took effect in England from 1 April 2015.
We have no current plans to update this section. These provisions were agreed and ratified in partnership by the NHS Staff Council, the collective bargaining structure made up of trade union and employer representatives. Any future changes to the handbook, including this section, would require the Department to issue a mandate to allow negotiations to be undertaken by the NHS Staff Council.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the 10-Year Workforce Plan will be published; what discussions he has had with external stakeholders since has taken place since the consultation closed on 7 November 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026. This plan will set out action to create a National Health Service workforce that is able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.
That engagement began well before the call for evidence was closed. In early November, ministers hosted an event with nearly one hundred representatives of partner organisations to hear views from across the health system.
Engagement is now continuing while we analyse the submissions to our call for evidence, including a roundtable with medical royal colleges on 14 January that I chaired.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of guidance provided to NHS staff considering partial retirement under the NHS partial retirement scheme in relation to the potential impact on future redundancy entitlements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Partial retirement does not mean that National Health Service staff are ineligible for redundancy payments. However, taking partial retirement may change the way in which contractual redundancy payments are calculated.
The rules concerning the calculation of redundancy payments for National Health Service staff who have previously taken pension benefits are determined in accordance with their contracts of employment, and statutory redundancy entitlements.
Redundancy terms for NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract are set out under section 16 of the NHS Staff Terms and Conditions of Service handbook. This also applies to NHS staff whose redundancy terms refer to section 16. This section states that service used for the purposes of calculating previous pension benefits will not count for the calculation of a contractual redundancy payment. Statutory redundancy entitlements are unaffected.
The Department commissions NHS Employers to provide guidance for employers on a range of topics, including NHS redundancy arrangements and retirement options for NHS staff. The NHS Employers guidance clearly sets out the position in relation to partial retirement and redundancy.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 prevent universities from withdrawing nursing courses due to employment challenges faced by graduates.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To address graduate employment issues, in August 2025 the Government introduced the Graduate Guarantee.
While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for healthcare professions, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability based on learner demand and provider capacity.