Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department is allocating to reduce the maintenance backlog at sites owned by Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Hospitals Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is set to receive £9.7 million in funding through the Estates Safety Fund 2025/26. This funding will help deliver vital safety improvements at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and the Cheltenham General Hospital, enhancing patient and staff environments, and reducing the levels of critical maintenance backlog.
In addition, the Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board has also been provisionally allocated £53.1 million in operational capital funding, including primary care business as usual capital, for 2025/26 to allocate to local priorities, including maintenance backlogs.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding he plans to allocate to midwife (a) training and (b) recruitment in the next 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Education and Training tariff funds clinical midwife placements at approximately £5,000 per full time equivalent post. The rate is adjusted by the Market Forces Factor and varies by region. In addition, eligible midwifery students can apply for the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). The LSF provides a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 per student per academic year. We review the funding arrangements for both schemes annually.
Funding for midwife training is demand led and is not capped by the Government. The total amount of funding depends on the number of students in the system.
National Health Service trusts manage their recruitment at a local level. This includes allocating funding to ensure they have the right number of staff in place with the right skills mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
To reform the NHS and make it fit for the future, we will publish a 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s five long-term missions. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 the number of digital cognitive behavioural therapy treatments available for insomnia on the NHS.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is for local integrated care boards to decide whether cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) should be offered to their populations as a treatment for insomnia.
NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression offers low-intensity therapy which may include interventions around sleep hygiene. Individuals who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression can be referred by their general practitioner, or can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies via the following link:
Individuals can also access helpful resources on sleep problems on the Every Mind Matters website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-health-issues/sleep/
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Prioritisation Board has agreed to prioritise digital technologies that deliver CBT interventions for insomnia and insomnia symptoms as a topic for the development of HealthTech guidance.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review levels of access to cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is for local integrated care boards to decide whether cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) should be offered to their populations as a treatment for insomnia.
NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression offers low-intensity therapy which may include interventions around sleep hygiene. Individuals who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression can be referred by their general practitioner, or can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies via the following link:
Individuals can also access helpful resources on sleep problems on the Every Mind Matters website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-health-issues/sleep/
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Prioritisation Board has agreed to prioritise digital technologies that deliver CBT interventions for insomnia and insomnia symptoms as a topic for the development of HealthTech guidance.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the prescription of weight loss drugs on the NHS without associated prescriptions of exercise and physical activity on muscle mass.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Weight loss drugs, including semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide, are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as clinically and cost-effective treatment options on the National Health Service for obesity. The guidance from NICE states that these drugs should be prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, and that healthcare professionals should arrange information, support, and counselling on additional diet, physical activity, and behavioural strategies when these drugs are prescribed. As such, healthcare professionals in the NHS should not be prescribing weight loss drugs without arranging information and support on physical activity and exercise. The Government has therefore not made an assessment of the potential impact of the prescription of weight loss drugs on the NHS without ‘associated prescriptions’ of exercise and physical activity on muscle mass.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure healthcare practitioners prescribe exercise when weight loss injections are prescribed for anti-obesity treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Weight loss drugs, including semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide, are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as clinically and cost-effective treatment options on the National Health Service for obesity. The guidance from NICE states that these drugs should be prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, and that healthcare professionals should arrange information, support, and counselling on additional diet, physical activity, and behavioural strategies when these drugs are prescribed. As such, healthcare professionals in the NHS should not be prescribing weight loss drugs without arranging information and support on physical activity and exercise. The Government has therefore not made an assessment of the potential impact of the prescription of weight loss drugs on the NHS without ‘associated prescriptions’ of exercise and physical activity on muscle mass.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of levels of access to medication by neurodivergent people who have been diagnosed (a) by the NHS and (b) privately.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition, related to how the brain develops, rather than an illness. Although some approaches are particularly helpful for autistic people, and medication may be prescribed for co-existing issues, autism is not treated directly, including through medication.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to medication services for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
It is for the responsible clinician to decide on the most appropriate treatment plan to manage ADHD in discussion with their patient. This decision is based on the clinician’s expertise regarding treatment options, evidence, risk and benefits and the patient’s personal circumstances as part of a shared decision-making process. The NICE guidelines on ADHD set out the considerations that healthcare professionals should account for when considering treatment options.
Shared care within the National Health Service refers to an arrangement whereby a specialist doctor formally transfers responsibility for all or some aspects of their patient’s care, such as prescription of medication, over to the patient’s general practitioner (GP). The General Medical Council (GMC) has issued guidance on prescribing and managing medicines, which helps GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities. The GMC has made it clear that GPs cannot be compelled to enter into a shared care agreement. GP practices may decline such requests on clinical or capacity grounds. If a shared care arrangement cannot be put in place after the treatment has been initiated, the responsibility for continued prescribing falls upon the specialist clinician; this applies to both NHS and private medical care.
We have taken swift action to improve the supply of ADHD medications and, as a result, many issues have been resolved. However, some issues remain, and we are working with the relevant manufacturers to help resolve them, as soon as possible.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 increase capacity for training new GPs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training thousands more general practitioners and will ensure that there is sufficient capacity in the National Health Service to deliver this.
To reform the NHS and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of Government’s five long-term missions. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 increase (a) the recruitment and (b) levels of training of GPs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have invested an additional £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) in 2024/25 to enable the recruitment of over 1,000 recently qualified general practitioners (GPs). Under the 2025/26 GP contract changes, the ARRS will become more flexible to allow primary care networks to respond better to local workforce needs. The two ARRS pots will be combined to create a single pot for the reimbursement of direct patient staff costs. There will be no restrictions on the number or type of staff covered, including GPs and practice nurses.
The curriculum for postgraduate training is set by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges for foundation training, and by individual Royal Colleges and faculties for specialty training. The General Medical Council approves curricula and assessment systems for each training programme. Curricula emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the status is of the independent economic review of pharmacies, in the context of the recently announced abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissioned Frontier Economics to undertake an independent economic analysis of National Health Service pharmacy funding in 2024. The findings of this work were published by Frontier Economics on 28 March 2025.
We have now concluded the consultation on funding for 2024/25 and 2025/26, and have agreed with Community Pharmacy England to increase the community pharmacy contractual framework to £3.073 billion. This deal represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This shows a commitment to rebuilding the sector.