Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help reduce the number of GP visits before diagnosis for patients with blood cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer as early and fast as possible. However, because of the state of the NHS this Government inherited, we recognise that patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
To help prevent multiple general practice (GP) visits and emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The Department recently hosted a roundtable with industry experts to discuss the proposal for Jess’s Rule. Outcomes and further steps will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has developed, as proof-of-concept projects, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled summarisation tools that have been used to analyse and draw out key themes from free text and survey responses, as well as to summarise academic journals and parliamentary speeches. AI-enabled topic modelling tools have also been used to label text data source results and to group together similar responses in consultation analysis.
In addition, a generative AI tool, Microsoft 365 Copilot, is currently being trialled by the Department’s staff in anticipation of a Department wide roll out of the tool in October 2025.
The Department regularly reviews the usage of AI to maximise productivity benefits for staff and the public.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 with the Food Standards Agency to help increase levels of public awareness of dangerous food product recalls.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Food recalls and allergy alerts often receive a high level of engagement depending on the scale and risk associated with each recall. It is the responsibility of businesses to reach the public through displaying in-store notices and notifying consumers through their own communication channels. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) amplifies recalls to reach a wider audience and those most vulnerable.
The FSA works with national and regional media outlets, and shares recall information across its social media channels. This strategy achieves regular national coverage, plus targeted regional coverage. Targeted advertising campaigns on social media encourage the public to sign up for the food alerts and recalls service. Promoting the alerts and recall service is a key objective of our current business campaign. Safer food means better business, which aims to support small and micro businesses in protecting their customers.
Targeted partnerships with healthcare providers, charities and organisations that represent vulnerable consumers facilitate direct access to those who are most at risk to food borne diseases. This includes immunocompromised groups or those living with an allergy.
The FSA carried out a key review of the recall process in 2017 with the strengthened processes in place by 2019, and an evaluation of improvements carried out in 2022. At the heart of this work is making sure that as much as possible the system works smoothly across all those involved so that consumers are aware when unsafe foods are recalled.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Food Standards Agency on increasing the frequency of food hygiene assessments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Law Code of Practice (the Code), which is prepared by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and issued by my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, provides statutory guidance to local authorities and Port Health Authorities responsible for the delivery of official food controls and other official activities. Within the Code is guidance for authorities on how to determine the frequency of official controls using a risk-based approach. Higher risk or non-compliant establishments receive a higher frequency of official control than lower risk, compliant establishments.
The FSA has recently consulted upon a revised Code which included proposals to introduce and develop flexibilities available to authorities. These can help support more focus on higher risk or non-compliant food establishments. The FSA aims to lay the revised Code in autumn 2025. The FSA also continues to work across Government and with local authority partners to ensure food safety regulation remains proportionate and effective.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to improve access to new treatments for patients with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service diagnoses cancer earlier and treats it faster so that more patients, including those with breast cancer, survive.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on their costs and benefits. Cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of a positive NICE recommendation. Since January 2022, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed, including treatments for secondary breast cancer such as Truqap and Korserdu, which are now available to eligible NHS patients.
The National Cancer Plan for England will be published later this year and will set out further details on how we will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with secondary breast cancer. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 67468 on Diseases: Undocumented Migrants, what the cost to the public purse was for initial health assessments for irregular migrants in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.
The Department, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency officials are supporting the Home Office and regional and local health partners to support delivery of reforms to the asylum system, including to accommodation for asylum seekers. The Department’s role focuses on addressing the health needs of asylum seekers, protecting local services, and addressing the transmission risks for infectious diseases.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with (a) NICE and (b) NHS England on the (i) availability of and (ii) access to new treatments for patients with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and Department officials have regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England on a range of issues including access to new treatments.
NICE makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all new licensed medicines, including medicines for secondary breast cancer, should be routinely funded by the NHS. NHS England funds all NICE-recommended treatments for breast cancer with the funding available from the point of a positive draft NICE decision. Since 2018, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed, including treatments for advanced breast cancer, such as Truqap and Korserdu, which are now available to eligible NHS patients. NICE recommended treatments are available to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make provision for the early diagnosis of blood cancers in the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers such as myeloma, as well as other unstageable cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, in order to improve outcomes.
To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancer earlier and treating it faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of tuberculosis have been recorded in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of people notified with tuberculosis in England over the last 10 years is published as part of the UK Health Security Agency’s tuberculosis annual report. The latest annual report, released in December 2024, includes data up to the end of 2023. The full report and data tables are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-in-england-2024-report
The following table shows tuberculosis notifications for the previous 10 years:
Year | Total number of notifications |
2014 | 6,473 |
2015 | 5,734 |
2016 | 5,621 |
2017 | 5,066 |
2018 | 4,610 |
2019 | 4,704 |
2020 | 4,124 |
2021 | 4,407 |
2022 | 4,375 |
2023 | 4,855 |
2024 | 5,480 |
Note: data for 2024 is provisional and was included in the quarterly report for quarter four of 2024, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tuberculosis-in-england-national-quarterly-reports/national-quarterly-report-of-tuberculosis-in-england-quarter-4-2024-provisional-data
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his department holds on how much health tourism has cost the NHS in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not currently hold data on the overall cost to the National Health Service of treating complications arising from procedures carried out overseas. However, we are actively exploring ways to better understand the scale and impact of these costs on NHS services.