Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England spent on (a) communications and (b) public advertising relating to NHS (i) dentistry and (ii) oral health initiatives in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has spent no money on communications or advertising relating to National Health Service dentistry or oral health initiatives in the last five years.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment. They are also responsible for deciding how best to communicate about their services for patients.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of doctors accused of sexual misconduct were placed under interim suspension by the GMC between 2018 and 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants, and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is independent of the Government, being directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any doctors were erased or struck off due to sexual misconduct between 2018 and 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants, and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is independent of the Government, being directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with the (a) General Medical Council and (b) Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on the implementation of the new Guidance for MPTS Tribunals, published in October 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Discussions have taken place between the Department and both the General Medical Council and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to understand how the updated guidance will influence tribunal decision making and whether the new sanction bandings in the guidance, which set out recommended sanction levels based on the type and severity of the case, will lead to more consistent outcomes.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the average time between the (a) onset of symptoms and (b) formal diagnosis for patients with (i) lung, (ii) pancreatic, (iii) liver, (iv) brain, (v) oesophageal and (vi) stomach cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.
To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.
Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 reduce the time taken to diagnose (a) lung, (b) pancreatic, (c) liver, (d) brain, (e) oesophageal and (f) stomach cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.
To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.
Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 reduce the time taken to diagnose (a) cancers that present with (i) vague and (ii) non-specific symptoms and (b) pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.
To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.
Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 patients with (a) vague and (b) non-specific symptoms can undergo a range of tests in one visit at Community Diagnostic Centres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the 18-week constitutional standard by the end of this Parliament. The plan commits to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and to speeding up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the referral to treatment 18-week standard.
As well as expanding capacity by building up to five more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2025/26 and by expand existing CDCs, the plan commits to optimising the use of this capacity by increasing same day tests and consultations, as well as the range of tests offered. We are also increasing the operating hours of CDCs so that more offer services 12 hours a day, seven days a week, so that tests are accessible for patients around their busy working lives. This is backed by part of the £600 million of capital for diagnostic services announced at the October Spending Review.
NHS England is also taking steps to improve diagnostic pathways. Strongly coordinated pathways will involve testing in one visit in order to support early and accurate diagnosis.
Patients can be referred to CDCs via their general practitioner or via hospital based clinical teams. Clinicians are responsible for working with patients to assess symptoms that may be considered as vaguer and more non-specific, ensuring that this includes referral for appropriate diagnostic tests.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 merits of increasing funding for (a) vaccines and (b) the wider medtech sector in the context of the US Government’s decision on mRNA vaccine research.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccines are an important tool for preventing and lessening the impacts of disease. The Department invests in vaccine research through several routes, targeting interventions in areas essential for health resilience, such as mRNA vaccine technology. For instance, the Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which includes the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway to support the rapid set up and delivery of clinical trials in the United Kingdom, including the UK’s first norovirus mRNA vaccine trial. The Department also established the Official Development Assistance-funded UK Vaccine Network Project in 2015 and has funded the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations since 2018.
More widely, the Government is partnering with industry to drive forward mRNA vaccine research and development. Through its ten-year strategic partnership with the Government, signed in 2022, Moderna will invest over £1 billion in mRNA research and development in the UK, strengthening the UK's vaccine manufacturing capacity through construction of the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre. Additionally, the Government's strategic partnership with BioNTech will see 10,000 National Health Service patients provided with personalised cancer immunotherapies, including mRNA cancer vaccines, by 2030, ensuring that UK patients have early access to these innovative new treatments.
Supporting research into vaccines is critical to improving pandemic preparedness and delivering the global 100 Days Mission, which the UK has supported since its establishment. The mission aims to have safe and effective diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines available and equitably accessible in the first 100 days of a pandemic threat being identified. The £520 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund backs UK manufacturing and will bring globally mobile manufacturing investments, including vaccines and medical technology (MedTech), to the UK, strengthening the UK’s economy and generating high-skill, high-wage jobs.
The Government is also committed to supporting the MedTech industry, which is a central pillar in the UK’s life sciences sector and will help build an NHS that is fit for the future. The Government has recently set out its plans for life sciences in the 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan, which includes enhancing support for MedTech small and medium-sized enterprises through UK Research and Innovation and NIHR.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish formal terms of reference for the review of the Carr-Hill formula.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The review of the Carr-Hill formula will consider how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP contract, drawing on a range of evidence and advice from experts.
Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.