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 introduce the use of AI to detect skin cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a wide range of opportunities to help change our health and care system for the better. One opportunity for AI in the National Health Service is to support with diagnostics, including detecting skin cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) routinely evaluates medical technologies, including innovative AI-enabled technologies, and makes recommendations on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of products for the health and social care services in England. NICE has recommended the use of an AI technology for assessing and triaging skin lesions for patients in the NHS suspected skin cancer pathway.
This AI tool, DERM, can distinguish between benign and cancerous skin lesions with nearly 99.7% accuracy, and is now being used in 25 NHS trusts as a part of the NHS's rollout of ‘teledermatology’. Further evidence on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the tool is currently being collected.
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, when Baxdrostat will be available on the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, medicines need to have a licence before they can be marketed. These are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Licences confirm the health condition the medicine should be used for and the recommended dosage. To get a licence, the manufacturer of the medicine has to provide evidence which shows that the medicine is safe and effective enough to be used for a specific condition and for a specific group of patients, and that they can manufacture the medicine to the required quality.
Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims wherever possible to issue draft guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund drugs recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.
Baxdrostat has not yet been licensed by the MHRA. If the manufacturer submits a request for a marketing authorisation, NICE will appraise baxdrostat to determine whether it can be recommended for routine use on the NHS and will aim to issue guidance as close as possible to licensing.
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 assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Teplizumab in slowing the development of type 1 diabetes; and when he plans to roll-out that drug on the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Teplizumab was licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in August 2025, to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes in adult and paediatric patients 8 years of age and older with Stage 2 type 1 diabetes. Newly licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on new medicines which represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims wherever possible to issue draft guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing and the NHS in England is legally required to fund NICE-recommended medicines, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.
NICE is currently evaluating teplizumab and has published draft guidance for consultation in which it was unable to recommend teplizumab for delaying the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes in people 8 years and over with stage 2 type 1 diabetes. Final guidance is due to be published on 26 November 2025.
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 information his Department holds on the number of people aged under 21 who have been diagnosed as legally deaf in the last 12 months.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
The Office for National Statistics collates data on deaf adults, but not on deaf children. It estimates in its 2022/23 annual population survey that 1,235,855 adults aged 16 years old and over in the United Kingdom have difficulty in hearing. These statistics are available at the following link:
However, other organisations have data or estimates of the number of deaf children and young people. For example, the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education, which brings together a range of organisations with an interest in improving the educational outcomes achieved by deaf children, identified in its 2024 report that there were 54,321 deaf children reported by services across the UK, a 3% increase since 2023. The report is available at the following link:
https://cms.ndcs.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-05/CRIDE%20UK%20-%202024.pdf
NHS audiology services are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing people lies with local NHS commissioners. We expect local commissioning to be informed by the best available evidence, relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and guidance issued by NHS England. In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioner and health and local authority providers who support children and young people with hearing loss. This guide is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf
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 his Department has allocated to blood cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for blood cancer.
It is not possible to break down the Department’s overall spend on blood cancer in England as cancer funding is provided across a range of cancer diagnosis and treatment pathways, with national and local cancer initiatives driving improvement across many different cancer types.
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer one of the largest areas of spend. The NIHR made 70 awards for research projects into blood cancer for the period April 2020 to March 2025 with a combined total funding value of approximately £18 million.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of creatine on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Scientific risk assessment of nutrition and health claim applications in Great Britain are carried out by the UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) and based on thorough and robust evaluations.
In 2024, the UKNHCC considered a health claim on creatine supplementation and improved cognitive function. The proposed conditions of use for the health claim were that creatine should be ingested in an amount of 3g per day and the target population for the health claim is the general population, healthy adults of both sexes.
The UKNHCC considered evidence submitted by the applicant to substantiate the claim and published a negative scientific opinion. Based on the data presented by the applicant, the committee concluded that a cause-and-effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of ≤3g per day creatine and improved cognitive function.
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, if he will take steps to increase the pay of band two phlebotomists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Phlebotomists in England are paid on the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay scale which is underpinned by the Job Evaluation Scheme (JES). The JES is a structured method of comparing job demands as set out in the job documentation, for example the job description, to determine the appropriate AfC pay band for any given role.
Employers are responsible for correctly and consistently implementing the JES locally to ensure staff are paid correctly for the work they are asked to deliver.
Regarding AfC pay in general, the Government remitted the Pay Review Bodies on 22 July to begin the 2025 to 2026 pay round, with the target of getting uplifts into the pockets of health workers earlier next year.
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 information his Department holds on the proportion of ambulance call-outs that were related to (a) drug and (b) alcohol use in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held centrally.
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 extend funding for advice and guidance services for GPs to other parts of primary care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department currently has no plans to introduce funding for Advice and Guidance Enhanced Services for community pharmacy, dental practices, or opticians. Most referrals to specialist services come from general practices (GPs), who have a primary role in the management of patient health and care in the community.
In 2025/26, the Government introduced the General Practice Advice and Guidance Enhanced Service, which makes provision for GPs to claim a £20 fee for each new advice and guidance request, to recognise the key role they play in delivering on the Government’s commitments to shift care from hospital to community and to return to the 18-week Referral to Treatment constitutional standard by March 2029.
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, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of NHS England providing formal agreements in principle to pharmaceutical companies that commercial flexibility may be granted for multi-indication medicines (a) prior to and (b) pending the outcome of NICE evaluations.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answers my Rt Hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Health gave on 1 September 2025 to Questions 69240, 69241, and 69242.