Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is planning to take steps to the next HIV Action Plan for England with the principles of the forthcoming Civil Society Covenant.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the importance of the Civil Society Covenant’s four key principles: recognition; partnership; participation; and transparency. These principles will be reflected in the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year.

These are already at the core of the new plan, and we are therefore engaging a wide range of system partners in its development, including the voluntary and community sector (VCS), and people with lived experience. In order to recognise our strong and experienced civil society and to ensure that communities and people can be heard, we recently hosted engagement sessions with approximately 60 VCS and external partners to discuss what the next action plan should look like. Professor Kevin Fenton, the Government’s Chief Advisor on HIV, has also hosted a series of engagement workshops with approximately 250 system partners, including the VCS, industry, primary care, and integrated care board colleagues, to inform our plan.

Department officials have also engaged with officials from across the Government to align resources and efforts in relation to the next HIV Action Plan for England, all of which is being considered in the new plan’s development.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement, published 13 February 2025, if he will make it his policy to ensure (a) local authority and (b) NHS commissioners (i) set appropriate spending targets and (b) reserve contracts specifically for HIV voluntary sector providers.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services through the Public Health Grant (PHG). Individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and commission the blend of services that best suit their population. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care does not have the statutory powers to direct local authorities or National Health Service HIV commissioners in relation to the allocation of the PHG, beyond what is in existing regulations, and therefore cannot compel local commissioners to set specific targets or implement particular service decisions. As such, no spending targets or specifically reserved contracts are being considered.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Integrated Care Boards are currently meeting the (a) NHS England service specification for adult specialised HIV services and (b) British HIV Association (BHIVA) Standards of Care for People Living with HIV.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In April 2024, NHS England published the updated national Service Specification for Adult HIV services, which sets out the mandatory standards of care that National Health Service providers are expected to meet.

It is for integrated care boards, as the responsible commissioners for adult specialised services for people living with HIV, to determine when and how to assess and monitor provider compliance with the service specification.

NHS England would not assess providers against British HIV Association guidelines, although the service specification includes a reference to these guidelines, and commissioners would expect providers to take the guidelines into account when delivering services.

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 tackle inequalities in access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among (a) the black community and (b) women.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. The Department, NHS England, and the UK Health Security Agency are working together on the development of the new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish this year. We continue to engage and consult with a range of system partners and stakeholders, including local authorities, as we develop the plan. The plan will consider ways to expand pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services and improve equity and access to PrEP for all communities, focusing on underserved groups such as the black African community and women.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS England and (b) local authorities on expanding community-based PrEP services.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. The Department, NHS England, and the UK Health Security Agency are working together on the development of the new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish this year. We continue to engage and consult with a range of system partners and stakeholders, including local authorities, as we develop the plan. The plan will consider ways to expand pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services and improve equity and access to PrEP for all communities, focusing on underserved groups such as the black African community and women.

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 impact of social prescribing on (a) reducing GP appointments and (b) improving patient wellbeing in (i) mental health and (ii) social isolation.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has underlined its commitment to taking a preventive approach to address health inequalities. We are determined to improve people’s physical and mental health, to support them to live longer and healthier lives, and we recognise the role that social prescribing can play in this.  The Department funds the workforce through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, including social prescribing link workers in primary care. In March 2025, the Department agreed to a further year of grant funding for the National Academy for Social Prescribing, securing £1.5 million to advance and expand social prescribing.

The Health Mission specifically cites social prescribing as one of the services that can form part of the multi-disciplinary teams in neighbourhood health centres. The Neighbourhood Health Service has six initial core components, and social prescribing directly relates to both population health management and neighbourhood multidisciplinary teams.

We will soon launch the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works, making neighbourhood health the norm, not the exception.

The Department has commissioned national research into different workstreams for social prescribing.

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 support (a) voluntary and (b) community sector organisations delivering social prescribing services.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has underlined its commitment to taking a preventive approach to address health inequalities. We are determined to improve people’s physical and mental health, to support them to live longer and healthier lives, and we recognise the role that social prescribing can play in this.  The Department funds the workforce through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, including social prescribing link workers in primary care. In March 2025, the Department agreed to a further year of grant funding for the National Academy for Social Prescribing, securing £1.5 million to advance and expand social prescribing.

The Health Mission specifically cites social prescribing as one of the services that can form part of the multi-disciplinary teams in neighbourhood health centres. The Neighbourhood Health Service has six initial core components, and social prescribing directly relates to both population health management and neighbourhood multidisciplinary teams.

We will soon launch the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works, making neighbourhood health the norm, not the exception.

The Department has commissioned national research into different workstreams for social prescribing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to further integrate social prescribing into the Neighbourhood Health model.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has underlined its commitment to taking a preventive approach to address health inequalities. We are determined to improve people’s physical and mental health, to support them to live longer and healthier lives, and we recognise the role that social prescribing can play in this.  The Department funds the workforce through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, including social prescribing link workers in primary care. In March 2025, the Department agreed to a further year of grant funding for the National Academy for Social Prescribing, securing £1.5 million to advance and expand social prescribing.

The Health Mission specifically cites social prescribing as one of the services that can form part of the multi-disciplinary teams in neighbourhood health centres. The Neighbourhood Health Service has six initial core components, and social prescribing directly relates to both population health management and neighbourhood multidisciplinary teams.

We will soon launch the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which will support systems across the country to test new ways of working, share learning, and scale what works, making neighbourhood health the norm, not the exception.

The Department has commissioned national research into different workstreams for social prescribing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will ensure national access to HIV peer support through (a) in-community, (b) in-clinic and (c) online services in partnership with voluntary sector organisations.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030, and is developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address ways to optimise rapid access to treatment and retention in care, and will improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, including consideration of peer support services.

A key component of the Government’s successful HIV emergency department opt-out testing programme includes a recommendation that 10% of the funding allocated to each site should be used to support community and peer support services for individuals diagnosed with a blood borne virus.

NHS England holds overall accountability for the commissioning of HIV services, and since April 2025, commissioning responsibility, including support services for those living with HIV, has been delegated to the integrated care boards. In April 2024, NHS England published the updated national Service Specification for Adult HIV services, which sets out the standards of care that HIV providers are expected to meet, including the availability of community, psychological, and psychosocial support for patients.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether (a) global health and (b) related international funding will be discussed at the UK-France summit.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As part of the UK-France Summit, the Foreign Secretary agreed with his counterpart that the UK and France should specifically collaborate on issues such as global health security; Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR); One Health, including Antimicrobial Resistance; reform of global health architecture; universal health coverage and equitable health policies; and nutrition. These reflect shared priorities in global health.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase the number of trees planted for the purpose of improving carbon capture.

Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Trees and forests are essential to our climate and nature goals. Tree planting rates in England are at their highest in 20 years and in March we launched the Western Forest, the first new national forest in 30 years.

Working together with forest countries, the UK is also playing a leading role in driving international efforts to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 for people, nature and climate.

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 help tackle inequalities in early diagnosis of bowel cancer caused by late presentation by patients to health services.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment and diagnosing cancer, including bowel cancer, earlier are high priorities for the National Health Service. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on what will be done to improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, and ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, including for bowel cancer patients.

The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed by NHS England with representatives from the Department included, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. To further increase coverage across the population in England, NHS England is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App. NHS England is also working on improvements to the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns run across England and are publicly accessible. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Previous phases of the campaigns have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of bowel cancer. It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations to consider whether they wish to run additional campaigns tailored to the needs of their local population and aligned to their service provision.

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care, including for bowel cancer, is a priority for the Government. The NHS England Cancer Programme commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. Rather than a single audit, NHS England commissions ten audits, by tumour type, including for bowel cancer. On 31 December 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published its State of the Nation Report on Bowel Cancer, and the initial recommendations are informing improvements in treatment and care.

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 the rates of early diagnosis of bowel cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment and diagnosing cancer, including bowel cancer, earlier are high priorities for the National Health Service. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on what will be done to improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, and ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, including for bowel cancer patients.

The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed by NHS England with representatives from the Department included, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. To further increase coverage across the population in England, NHS England is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App. NHS England is also working on improvements to the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns run across England and are publicly accessible. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Previous phases of the campaigns have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of bowel cancer. It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations to consider whether they wish to run additional campaigns tailored to the needs of their local population and aligned to their service provision.

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care, including for bowel cancer, is a priority for the Government. The NHS England Cancer Programme commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. Rather than a single audit, NHS England commissions ten audits, by tumour type, including for bowel cancer. On 31 December 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published its State of the Nation Report on Bowel Cancer, and the initial recommendations are informing improvements in treatment and care.

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 help improve outcomes for bowel cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Reducing unwarranted variation in cancer treatment and diagnosing cancer, including bowel cancer, earlier are high priorities for the National Health Service. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on what will be done to improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, and ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, including for bowel cancer patients.

The bowel cancer screening standards have recently been reviewed by NHS England with representatives from the Department included, with changes taking effect from 1 April 2025. This will update the achievable and acceptable thresholds for both uptake and coverage. To further increase coverage across the population in England, NHS England is delivering new approaches to communicating with people about screening through the NHS App. NHS England is also working on improvements to the way eligible people are identified and invited for screening through the transformation of screening programme digital services.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns run across England and are publicly accessible. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Previous phases of the campaigns have focused on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of bowel cancer. It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations to consider whether they wish to run additional campaigns tailored to the needs of their local population and aligned to their service provision.

Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer care, including for bowel cancer, is a priority for the Government. The NHS England Cancer Programme commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. Rather than a single audit, NHS England commissions ten audits, by tumour type, including for bowel cancer. On 31 December 2024, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published its State of the Nation Report on Bowel Cancer, and the initial recommendations are informing improvements in treatment and care.

Found: Marketing and Audiences £280,000 - £284,999 Charl Bassil Chief Brand Officer £210,000 - £214,999 Paul Davies

<p>Can I thank Paul Davies for that important question? As I said in my initial answer, obviously, if children aren't in school, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">then they're not going to get</span></p>

<p>Okay. Thanks, Cabinet Secretary. Let me tell you, more than two million school days were missed between 2023 to 2024 due to unauthorised absences across Wales, and for me, that's a shocking figure. The impact of the absence from the classroom can have serious consequences on a child's learning. I'm sure we can all appreciate that as well, but they may indeed struggle to catch up, fall behind in class, and it can hinder their future career and educational prospects.</p>
<p>In Newport, the number of missed school days have rocketed from just over 74,000 in 2018 to 2019 to 161,420 between 2023 and 2024. Cardiff's figure jumped from nearly 157,000 to just shy of 290,000 in the same time frame. Cabinet Secretary, your own constituency of Torfaen has seen absences increase from 23,000 to just under 50,000. I could go on and on and list every single local authority's figures, but I haven't got the time and I appreciate that you have lots of questions to get through. But the main takeaway here are the figures are damning.</p>
<p>I appreciate your response to my colleague, Paul Davies, about the taskforce group that you've set up, but I'd like to know what else, Cabinet Secretary. Is the Government going to get to grips with the unauthorised absences in Welsh schools? Because the figures that are currently on show shows very much a dangerous upward trajectory. And I'd like to also know in response to Paul Davies's questions, do you have any set time-frames for the taskforce as well as the group that you mentioned in your earlier answer? Thank you.</p>

<p>Well, thank you, Natasha. I'm not sure you did listen to my answer to Paul Davies, actually, because you would have heard me say that tackling the issues with attendance is a top priority for this Government, and one that we are backing with very significant investment.</p>
<p>You hopefully heard me specify the amount of money we're spending on family engagement officers. In addition to that, we're also doing work to promote enrichment activities in school and also during the school holidays. You clearly also haven't been paying attention in what I've said about the taskforce, because I said to Paul, and I've said in written answers to your party, that the taskforce has now completed its work. The taskforce has looked in detail at the reasons for challenges with attendance, so we are now very much in a delivery phase, and notwithstanding the figures that you've just quoted there—actually, attendance rates are improving. They're improving slightly both for the overall attendance rate <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but also the attendance rate</span></p>

<p>Thanks, Cabinet Secretary, but I think my question was actually about the time frame. I mentioned the taskforce, I mentioned every aspect that you quoted in your response to Paul Davies—obviously, I summarised it—but my question was referring to the time frame, which still wasn't answered in your response just now.</p>
<p>But, coming back to my third question, absenteeism isn't the only thing that's going up under the Government's watch. Teacher workloads are on the up, violence in schools is on the up. In fact, the only thing that isn't on the up is, indeed, the Programme for International Student Assessment results and educational outcomes. Cabinet Secretary, we know teachers are working increasingly in challenging environments and under increasingly difficult pressures, but I want to touch upon salaries with you this afternoon.</p>
<p>Figures show that, in 2023 to 2024, male primary school teachers were earning, on average, £3,613 more than their female counterparts, and male secondary school teachers were earning, on average, £2,373 more than female secondary school teachers during the same period as well. The stats show that the variation in average earnings is historic, Cabinet Secretary, so it's not something that I can say is your fault, but closing this gender pay gap, I would argue, is a really important step in combating the current teacher recruitment and retention crisis that's happening in our schools here in Wales right now. So, Cabinet Secretary, what are some of the reasons behind these sizeable gaps, and what steps is the Welsh Government going to be taking to address this, going forward?</p>

<p>Item 2 is next, questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education. The first question is from Paul Davies.</p>

<p>Diolch yn fawr, Paul Davies.&nbsp;You've drawn attention to something that is a matter for local planning authorities, and, obviously, democratically elected local authorities. The planning functions are very much guided by 'Planning&nbsp;Policy Wales',&nbsp;but also, of course, taking into account guidance from other bodies such as NRW. You've raised the question. It obviously needs a lot more explanation about impacts in terms of whether these changes are being made, but, anyway, I think it's important that you have raised it, and I'm sure the Cabinet Secretaries will respond in terms of further questions.</p>

<p>Thank you very much, Paul Davies, and Epilepsy Action is a long-standing organisation, a respected organisation. Of course, you have drawn attention to epilepsy services, and of course there are pathways, and there's been long-term commitment to those pathways, which, of course, are often multiprofessional. So, you've raised this issue, and I'm sure it also could form a question to the Cabinet Secretary when he responds in his oral Senedd questions.</p>

<p>This conduct Order is really&nbsp;part of the jigsaw to actually make our Senedd elections in 2026 much more open and much fairer. I would agree with Paul Davies' request around the RNIB, insisting that, actually, we need to see a fair bit of this actually being non-discriminatory. And we've had evidence, particularly the committees I've sat on, that this is discriminatory to blind people. So, I would like to hear that specific response, if I may, Cabinet Member.</p>
<p>But I want to just touch on an issue that many of us here in the Senedd feel is important, particularly as we go into the 2026 election, which is the issue of deliberate deception. We are going to be faced with an election, in 2026, which will include a broad range of parties, and some of those we know, not just necessarily as members, but potentially candidates, where there will be concerns around what they have said. This is not just about our electoral commitment to democracy, but it's also about ensuring that the public see, here in Wales, that we are committed to ensuring that we address deliberate deception. The situation with the public is that we're at an all-time low, in terms of trust of politicians. So, although this Order doesn't include the element of deliberate deception, and I know that's coming in the Member accountability Bill, I would just ask you, specifically, if you could put on record that there is a commitment to looking at whether we are able to introduce deliberate deception in 2026, that there's an openness from the Welsh Government to consider any means by which we're able to get the mechanism in place to ensure deliberate deception comes into play, ready for the 2026 elections.&nbsp;Diolch yn fawr iawn.</p>