Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to reduce ambulance handover delays at major hospitals in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients in the past year have waited longer than 28 days for diagnostic tests related to suspected Lung Cancer.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to issue guidance to specialised neurology centres on the diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current specific plans to issue guidance to specialised neurology centres on the diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia.
The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
A timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support they need. We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. This ambition includes ensuring provision of a validated diagnosis of dementia subtype.
We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected this year.
As we develop this, we will consider what interventions should be supported to improve dementia care and diagnosis.
We are committed to publishing an interim product in September this year to feed into National Health Service and local government planning cycles, and will aim to publish the full modern service framework by the end of this calendar year as recommended by Baroness Casey.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding he has provided for services supporting people with post traumatic stress disorder in the last three years.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
It is not possible to identify the amount of funding specifically for services supporting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many people treated for PTSD will receive treatment in NHS Talking Therapies, which support other common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, as well as PTSD.
Depending on the circumstances of their case, individuals with diagnosed and undiagnosed PTSD may also be referred or could present themselves to most other forms of mental health provision, including community, crisis, and inpatient services, as well as to specific pathways for other conditions which may be co-occurring for some patients.
For 2026/27, overall National Health Service mental health spending is forecast to increase to a record £16.1 billion. The following table shows the amount of mental health spend for the past three years:
Year | NHS Mental Health Spend |
2025/26 | £15.7 billion |
2024/25 | £15.1 billion |
2023/24 | £13.9 billion |
Note: the figure for 2025/26 is forecast.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 reduce waiting times for psychological therapy.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Government recognises that waiting times for psychological therapies are too long and is committed to improving timely access to care. We are expanding NHS Talking Therapies, which continue to meet their waiting time standards, and increasing capacity in mental health services generally by recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers, with over 8,000 already in post. Alongside this, we are rolling out new community‑based and digital models of care, improving data on waits, and supporting self‑referral routes to help people access support earlier and reduce waiting times overall.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is children and young people diagnosed with depression to access child and adolescent mental health services in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The data for this question is unavailable. NHS England does not report waiting times data for specific conditions unless there is an existing waiting times standard, for example Children and Young People eating disorders or Early Intervention in Psychosis.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients are currently on waiting lists for specialist assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
NHS England publishes quarterly Autism Waiting Time Statistics, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/autism-statistics
In December 2025, there were an estimated 254,108 people with an open referral for suspected autism in England. These are statistics in development and do not yet represent a complete picture of waiting times for autism assessments in England. Work to determine which provider organisations should be submitting data for autistic people is ongoing.
The Government has recognised that, nationally, 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, and reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities focus will improve early intervention and support.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to autism assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for autism assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing existing and new guidance, as published. In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/
This guidance intends to help the NHS improve their autism assessment services and improve the experience for those referred to a service. More broadly, in December 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, launched the independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism.
The review’s interim report, published at the end of March, sets out the evidence reviewed so far on prevalence, describes the impact of rising demand for diagnosis and support, identifies where the evidence is uncertain, and outlines the key questions for the next phase. It does not offer final conclusions or recommendations.
The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how rare and neglected diseases are prioritised in research funding allocations.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Government responsibility for delivering research into rare diseases is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The Department of Health and Social Care invests over £1.7 billion each year on research through the NIHR, including research on rare diseases, such as the RareCare study which aims to better understand what causes delays to diagnosis so we can take steps to address this.
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases through the UK Rare Diseases Framework. Pioneering research is an underpinning theme of the framework. In the 2025 England Rare Disease Action Plan we introduced a new action to support rare disease research through changes to clinical trial regulations. For rare disease research, where patient populations are small and trial designs often complex, the flexibility and proportionality of this framework will enable more efficient set-up and conduct of clinical trials. We have also made significant investments to support rare disease research. This includes the Rare Disease Research UK Platform, a £14 million investment over five years from the MRC and the NIHR, announced in 2023, which is now established and positioned well within the rare disease research landscape. Further information the Rare Disease Research UK Platform is available at the following link:
https://rd-research.org.uk/nodes/
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding is allocated for research into treatments for Motor Neurone Disease.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Government responsibility for delivering motor neurone disease (MND) research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, primarily by the Medical Research Council.
It is not the usual process of the NIHR to allocate funds for research into specific conditions. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including MND. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.
The Government is investing in MND research across a range of areas, including possible treatments. For example, the MND Translational Accelerator, supported by £6 million of Government funding, has twelve projects all aimed at speeding up the development of treatments for MND.
The NIHR has also invested £8 million into EXPERTS-ALS, a pre-clinical study which is designed to accelerate the identification and testing of the most promising treatment candidates for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the most common form of MND. This will connect to the later phase platform trial, MND SMART.
Welcoming applications on MND 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.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to expand screening programmes for early detection of Cervical Cancer.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving cancer screening services in line with the National Cancer Plan and as part of the 10-Year Health Plan’s shift from sickness to prevention.
Later this year, we will start to offer self-testing for human papilloma virus to women who have missed their cervical screening appointments by at least six months. This expansion aims to overcome barriers that stop women from taking up cervical screening which can both prevent and catch cervical cancer early.