Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS procedures have been conducted in private hospitals in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving elective performance and cutting waiting lists is a priority for the Government. We have made significant progress with patients being seen faster, and November saw the second biggest drop in the waiting list for 15 years outside of the early days of the pandemic.
Fit for the Future: The 10-Year Health Plan for England and the Partnership Agreement between NHS England and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network reaffirmed our continued commitment to using independent sector capacity to improve access, reduce backlogs, and build a sustainable healthcare system.
Between April 2025 and November 2025, the latest month for which data is available, independent sector providers delivered 9.9% of all elective ordinary and day case procedures for the National Health Service.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 reduce NHS waiting lists in Leicestershire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. We have committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029.
We are transforming elective services to ensure that patients get timely access to the care they need. This includes investing £6 billion of additional capital over five years for diagnostic, elective, urgent, and emergency capacity in the NHS.
Elective capacity has been increased in Leicestershire through both a surgical hub and community diagnostic centres (CDC). The Leicester General Hospital Elective Hub opened in 2023, and with additional funding expanded further in 2024. Dedicated and protected surgical hubs focus on providing high volume low complexity surgery, separating elective services from urgent and emergency care, improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital pressures.
Within the NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board we are improving community access to scans and tests, helping patients get the care they need through the Hinckley Community Diagnostic Centre and the Leicester Community Diagnostic Centre, both open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
In the NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board, which covers Leicestershire, the waiting list size has fallen by 1,000 since the Government took office in July 2024. The proportion of waits under 18 weeks in November 2025 is 54.8%.
In order to return to the constitutional standard, NHS England is offering a range of support to providers to reduce waiting times. This includes tailored regional and national support, as well as sharing best practice, with additional support via the Getting It Right First Time programme.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants that possess a criminal record (a) in the UK and (b) abroad were previously thought by her Department to not hold a criminal record since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not readily available, requiring manual scrutiny of systems and matching of individual records, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.