Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 industry on the expansion of manufacturing sites for glioblastoma treatment development.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 22 December 2025 by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to Question 99356.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 99357, tabled on 11 December 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 January 2026 to Question 99357.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 MHRA on the potential impact of regulatory reform on the time taken to develop glioblastoma treatments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.
The impact of the new regulatory reform on the development of glioblastoma is that the new regulations will introduce notifiable trials, including initial and modification trials, which will be approved within 21 days without further assessment if they meet the inclusion criteria. Therefore, these submissions will be approved with a short turnaround time. This approach will free up assessors’ time to provide more support for trials that require closer scrutiny. The trials in glioblastoma are part of the oncology area, which represents almost 30% of all submissions received by the MHRA.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services in Broxbourne constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. St Clare Hospice, which cares for patients from the Broxbourne constituency, is receiving £579,780 from this funding.
We are also providing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients. Haven House Children’s Hospice and Noah’s Ark Children's Hospice near Broxbourne will both benefit from this funding.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 13 October 2025 to Question 77757 on Multiple Myeloma: Diagnosis, when the NHS will fully implement non-specific symptom pathways for the purpose of earlier diagnosis of blood cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that every patient receives fast and early diagnosis, including patients with harder to stage cancers, such as myeloma.
The National Health Service has fully implemented 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.
Diagnosing cancer earlier is a key focus of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the cost to the NHS of providing healthcare to (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees in the last financial year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the Neurology Transformation Programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme will be concluding at the end of this financial year. By this time, we will have delivered all of the products, tools, and best practice guidance to support integrated care boards and local pathfinders to transform neurology services at a local level. Expert clinical advice and support will continue to be available during 2026/27 to support local transformation.
As we bring together the Department and NHS England to form a new joint centre, we will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, including for people with neurological conditions, driving productivity up and getting waiting times down. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.
We continue to take forward the Government’s ambitious reform agenda as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, which will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving neurological care for people in all parts of the country. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support people to manage their long-term conditions, including neurological conditions, closer to home.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 19 June 2025 to Question 59605 on Neurological Diseases: Primary Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that GP practices do not replace traditional methods of access with online triage services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices are independent business that hold contracts with the National Health Service to perform essential services to the public. The GP contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person. Practice receptions should be open so that patients have a choice in access and so that patients who struggle to access telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
As a part of this contract, we also require general practices to provide an online consultation tool as an option for patients to contact their general practice throughout core hours. We are clear that all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practitioner.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 ensure that patients are aware that they will continue to have the option to arrange GP appointments by (a) telephone and (b) visiting a practice in-person.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices are independent business that hold contracts with the National Health Service to perform essential services to the public. The GP contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person. Practice receptions should be open so that patients have a choice in access and so that patients who struggle to access telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
As a part of this contract, we also require general practices to provide an online consultation tool as an option for patients to contact their general practice throughout core hours. We are clear that all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practitioner.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on providing dental care for asylum seekers in hotels in the last year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The overall management of asylum seekers is a matter for the Home Office.
The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold data on the expenditure on dental care provided to asylum seekers in hotels in the last year.