Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will discuss with [i] UKAD and [ii] other relevant bodies about the use of [i] IPEDs and [ii] SARMS amongst young people in the context of the aims of the Men's Health Strategy.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the mental and physical health risks of young people taking steroids. This Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and to exploring options, through the cross-government National Youth Strategy, to improve young people’s access to accurate health information, both online and offline.
While no assessment has currently been made about the reasons for the use of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) amongst young people. Treatment for IPED or steroid use within drug and alcohol treatment services is available, depending on local commissioning arrangements. The Government also runs Talk to FRANK, a drug and alcohol information and advice service for young people, parents and others concerned about drug use. The website includes information on the mental and physical health risks of steroid use and is updated regularly. More information is available at the following link:
The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on its consultation, ‘Growing up in the online world’, which closes on 26 May 2026. This consultation will help inform future policy to better protect children’s health and wellbeing and ensure that digital platforms play their part in promoting safe and healthy online experiences.
We are also taking a range of actions to improve men’s health literacy, as set out in the Men’s Health Strategy. These include:
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made about the reasons for the use of [i] IPEDs and [ii] SARMs amongst young people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the mental and physical health risks of young people taking steroids. This Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and to exploring options, through the cross-government National Youth Strategy, to improve young people’s access to accurate health information, both online and offline.
While no assessment has currently been made about the reasons for the use of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) amongst young people. Treatment for IPED or steroid use within drug and alcohol treatment services is available, depending on local commissioning arrangements. The Government also runs Talk to FRANK, a drug and alcohol information and advice service for young people, parents and others concerned about drug use. The website includes information on the mental and physical health risks of steroid use and is updated regularly. More information is available at the following link:
The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on its consultation, ‘Growing up in the online world’, which closes on 26 May 2026. This consultation will help inform future policy to better protect children’s health and wellbeing and ensure that digital platforms play their part in promoting safe and healthy online experiences.
We are also taking a range of actions to improve men’s health literacy, as set out in the Men’s Health Strategy. These include:
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the extent to which mainstream schooling in (a) East Midlands and (b) Leicestershire has the capacity, expertise and resources to support children with Special Educational Needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing in all mainstream settings to ensure they have the capacity, expertise and resources to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This includes a new training package, backed by £200 million, to ensure that staff across early years, schools and post-16 settings can be trained to support pupils with SEND. We are also investing £1.6 billion in an Inclusive Mainstream Fund to support the development of a more inclusive education system.
We will develop National Inclusion Standards that set out evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs.
We are investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer so that mainstream settings can more easily access specialist expertise, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists (SaLTs) and occupational therapists without needing to wait for a diagnosis. To support this, we are investing over £40 million to train more educational psychologists and get more SaLTs working in education settings.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of (a) anabolic steroid and (b) image and performance enhancing drugs use in prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Prisons in England and Wales have a range of specialist staff and equipment to tackle the smuggling of contraband into prisons, including drugs. We have invested over £40 million into new physical security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars – including £10 million on counter-drone measures. This includes X-ray body scanners, Enhanced Gate Security, detection dogs, drug trace detection equipment and improved netting and grilles. Dedicated search teams are resourced with specialist tools to detect and retrieve illicit mobile phones being used to facilitate drug conveyance. Prisoners are punished when caught smuggling contraband and can face additional time behind bars and the loss of privileges.
We recognise the harms caused by abuse of steroids and image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs). We work closely with health partners to ensure people misusing these drugs in prison can access timely and effective mental health care and recovery support which meets their individual needs. Alongside this we are strengthening guidance for prison staff on the threats presented by steroids.
The prison drug testing regime includes steroids. Testing data informs our understanding of changing threats in custody, as well as enabling action on individual instances of steroid or IPED detection. We are currently reviewing our drug testing regime in the round, to ensure it supports the best outcomes in understanding levels and types of drug use and supporting individuals through treatment and recovery pathways.
The latest figures for the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons in England and Wales can be found in table 6.2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest (Chapter 6, Finds in Prison), and this includes finds of steroids. It is important to consider with incidents of finds in prisons, that an increase in numbers may be as a result of more items being found (although not necessarily attributable to any one particular security counter-measure), rather than more items being present in prisons.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to prevent the smuggling of anabolic steroids and image and performance enhancing drugs into prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Prisons in England and Wales have a range of specialist staff and equipment to tackle the smuggling of contraband into prisons, including drugs. We have invested over £40 million into new physical security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars – including £10 million on counter-drone measures. This includes X-ray body scanners, Enhanced Gate Security, detection dogs, drug trace detection equipment and improved netting and grilles. Dedicated search teams are resourced with specialist tools to detect and retrieve illicit mobile phones being used to facilitate drug conveyance. Prisoners are punished when caught smuggling contraband and can face additional time behind bars and the loss of privileges.
We recognise the harms caused by abuse of steroids and image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs). We work closely with health partners to ensure people misusing these drugs in prison can access timely and effective mental health care and recovery support which meets their individual needs. Alongside this we are strengthening guidance for prison staff on the threats presented by steroids.
The prison drug testing regime includes steroids. Testing data informs our understanding of changing threats in custody, as well as enabling action on individual instances of steroid or IPED detection. We are currently reviewing our drug testing regime in the round, to ensure it supports the best outcomes in understanding levels and types of drug use and supporting individuals through treatment and recovery pathways.
The latest figures for the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons in England and Wales can be found in table 6.2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest (Chapter 6, Finds in Prison), and this includes finds of steroids. It is important to consider with incidents of finds in prisons, that an increase in numbers may be as a result of more items being found (although not necessarily attributable to any one particular security counter-measure), rather than more items being present in prisons.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to support newly qualified teachers to gain SEND specialisms to support children with Special Educational Needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We have taken steps to ensure newly qualified teachers are well prepared to support all pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and the Early Career Framework (ECF) are evidence-based, developed with SEND experts, and require trainees to meet Teachers’ Standards, including understanding pupils’ additional needs.
Early career teachers are entitled to two years of structured support based on the ITT and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which has been strengthened following review to include more content on adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
We are also investing over £200 million this Parliament to improve SEND training for all staff across education settings. From September 2026, all staff will have access to new government-backed training, with further courses from 2027. In the interim, newly qualified teachers can access the Universal SEND Services programme, offering free training and resources to support inclusive practice.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of VAT policy on compassionate medicines access.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under UK VAT law, some transactions where no money changes hands are treated as if a supply has been made – these are called deemed supplies. This is to keep the system fair if a business has reclaimed VAT on costs. Whether VAT applies to medicines or treatments provided for free depends on the precise facts of each case.
The Government is aware of the issue you raise in the context of free-of-charge medicines and, recognising the importance of patients across the UK having access to innovative medicines, I want to see this issue resolved quickly. The Government is in discussions with relevant stakeholders including the life sciences sector on this matter.
Given these ongoing discussions, I understand that HMRC will use its discretion to extend certain deadlines and suspend collection of tax if a taxpayer has requested a statutory review. This does not mean that HMRC has changed its view of past tax liabilities. Individual taxpayers should speak directly to HMRC on their specific circumstances.
HMT does not hold information on VAT revenue from free-of-charge medicines. Businesses are not required to provide a breakdown by product or service on their VAT returns as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.