Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding and capacity in mainstream schools for children and young people with SEND; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that mainstream schools have the resources required to deliver high-quality SEND provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Mainstream school funding is increasing by 2.6% per pupil in the 2026/27 financial year compared to 2025/26. On top of this increase, mainstream schools will be receiving an additional £522 million to support them with overall costs, including the costs of staff pay awards.
Furthermore, to reverse the trend of late intervention and escalation in special educational needs and disabilities, the department is providing an additional £4 billion over this year and the next two years. This includes:
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) introduce national guidance and (b) amend NHS dental contractual requirements to ensure that NHS dental practices make reasonable adjustments for disabled patients before deregistering them from NHS dental lists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Care Quality Commission regulations mandate that all registered providers of dental care must have due regard to the protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010. Under the Equality Act, health and care organisations, including providers of National Health Service dental services, have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled patients to access care.
Patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice in the same way that they are registered with a general practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. NHS dentists may refuse to see a patient if they have reasonable grounds for doing so, for example when a patient repeatedly does not attend appointments.
We recognise that certain groups of patients may find it difficult to access dental care. Community dental services are available to people whose additional needs may mean they are not able to be treated at high street dental practices.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 potential merits of introducing a legal requirement that vape shops cannot operate near schools.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department ran a call for evidence at the end of last year inviting feedback on the implementation of a retail licensing scheme for tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products. This included asking about the factors that should be taken into consideration when making decisions to grant a premises licence, such as the location and density of retailers.
We are carefully considering the feedback gathered and intend to consult on our proposals for the new retail licensing scheme in 2027.
More broadly, we are committed to tackling youth vaping. On 10 July, we launched a United Kingdom-wide consultation on new proposals to reduce the appeal of vaping, tobacco, and nicotine products, including proposals on product packaging, flavour descriptors, device appearance, and changing where and how vapes are displayed in shops.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of children’s hospices reducing services due to funding levels.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We recognise the challenging financial situation facing many hospices due to a range of cost pressures, and we understand that some children and young people’s hospices are having to make difficult decisions about services.
However, to support the sector, the Government has provided a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England and has secured approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over the three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, helping to provide greater financial certainty and stability.
Since the beginning of this year, NHS England has written twice to all integrated care boards (ICBs) requesting an update on the financial stability of hospices within their footprint and the steps being taken to mitigate risks as a matter of urgency. As part of the most recent request, in April, information was also gathered from Hospice UK to provide a rounded picture of the hospice sector. It is clear from all the returns received that there is a clear commitment from ICBs to work collaboratively with hospices and to understand any existing or potential impact of financial pressures, with clear steps being taken at a local level to mitigate risks to patients.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 trends in the level of geographic inequalities in access to high-quality children’s palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We recognise that there are currently inequalities in access to, and the quality of, palliative care and end-of-life care. This is one of the reasons why we are developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care.
On 4 June, we published an interim update on the MSF in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, which is available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88
The MSF will provide a clinically led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvement in patient and carer outcomes, including for children and young people with palliative care needs, by reducing both inequality and unwarranted variation.
The MSF will focus on reducing unwarranted variation in access, experience, and outcomes, ensuring that everyone can receive high‑quality, personalised care in the right place at the end of life. The MSF will address inequalities in access to palliative care and end-of-life care by embedding a stronger focus on identifying, measuring, and reducing health inequalities across the system.
It will support a shift towards strategic, population‑based commissioning, enabling integrated care boards to plan and deliver services based on a clear understanding of local need, including underserved and disadvantaged groups.
The MSF will also strengthen the use of data and evidence, including metrics that are under development, to help systems identify gaps in provision, track progress, and ensure funding and services are distributed more equitably.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard, (a) how many algorithmic tools deployed through the NHS Federated Data Platform have been assessed as falling within the mandatory scope of that standard, (b) how many such records have been published on the GOV.UK register, and (c) what the timetable is for any outstanding records to be published.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As of the end of May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including the Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust.
One algorithmic tool deployed through the NHS FDP has been assessed as within the scope of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS) and submitted to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s ATRS team.
No records relating to algorithmic tools deployed through the NHS FDP have yet been published on the GOV.UK website’s ATRS register. NHS England continues to engage with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on next steps. No timetable for publication has yet been agreed.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, a) what data is held on serious errors in interpreting PSA pathology results without reference to a patient’s medical history, b) and how the Department ensures such incidents are reported through Datix.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
Data on serious errors in interpreting prostate-specific antigen (PSA) pathology results is not held centrally.
Patient safety incidents relating to PSA testing are recorded on local risk management systems, of which Datix is one of a number of systems. This data is submitted to the national Learn from Patient Safety Events service, run by NHS England, for all reported patient safety events.
Providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, including those involving PSA testing. All providers are legally required to notify the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of specific incidents, for example the death of a service user or specific incidents that have resulted in injury. The CQC monitors this information and uses it to inform its assessment of services.
The recording of incidents is supported through local compliance mechanisms, staff training, and clear reporting pathways.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether an Equality Impact Assessment has been completed for the Inpatient and Outpatient Care Co-ordination Solution products used through the NHS Federated Data Platform to flag patients for removal from elective waiting lists.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As of the end of May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust.
There is no statutory requirement to complete a formal Equality Impact Assessment for individual digital products. However, the Department and NHS England are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010 and must have due regard to the need to reduce inequalities and advance equality of opportunity in the exercise of their functions.
Equality considerations are factored into the design, governance, and deployment of the NHS FDP. Products delivered through the platform are subject to robust clinical safety, information governance, and assurance processes.
NHS organisations are responsible for the local use of these tools, including ensuring that decisions on elective waiting list management are clinically led and take appropriate account of equality considerations for their populations.
Equality Impact Assessments are undertaken where required as part of established NHS governance processes. Responsibility for completing such assessments sits with the relevant data controller, which is NHS England for the national instance and individual trusts and integrated care boards for their local use of the platform.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Office for Students has had discussions with the University of Nottingham on its compliance with conditions E1 and E2 of its conditions of registration following the approval by the University's Council, on 6 May 2026, of the Future Nottingham 2 draft business case.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) is an independent regulator and is responsible for determining how and when to use its regulatory powers, including when and how to engage with registered providers on compliance with conditions of registration.
The department does not therefore hold information on whether the OfS has held discussions with the University of Nottingham regarding its compliance with conditions E1 and E2 following the approval of the Future Nottingham 2 draft business case.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of hotel closures on families and individuals who have established links in the cities and areas in which they have settled and who now face dispersal.
Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
All residents in a hotel no longer being used to accommodate asylum seekers will be provided with alternative suitable accommodation. Moves are coordinated by the accommodation provider, and options may include dispersal accommodation, alternative contingency sites, or larger accommodation sites. Individuals may be relocated anywhere within the wider contract region and not necessarily within the same local authority area.
It is important to note that the asylum accommodation system operates on a no‑choice basis. Requests related to medical or safeguarding needs are considered under existing published policies. Residents are given a minimum of five days’ notice of relocation, and providers discuss individual needs and circumstances with each person. Where possible, work is done to minimise disruption, particularly for families.