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 ensure the NHS Liver Transformation Programme reduces health inequalities in liver disease outcomes for people living in areas with high levels of deprivation.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The resource for transforming liver services sits with integrated care boards, who will consider local need and the actions to progress alongside other clinical priorities.

The national team’s role has been to bring together relevant stakeholders to co-ordinate, influence and share learning to support local transformation.

NHS England has identified Clinical and Programme oversight resource to be active during reorganisation, with a lead programme management resource to support prioritised national workstreams.

The programme to date has prioritised reviews of the differential impact of liver disease in relation to health inequalities and deprivation. Examples include evidence of liver-related premature mortality being 4.8 times higher in the most deprived areas, 86% of liver disease deaths, which have increased by 400% since 1970, being related to alcohol harms, South Asian communities being at a higher risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and cirrhosis, and type 2 diabetes and MASLD disproportionately affecting the most deprived communities.

The transformation of the liver services programme includes a number of workstreams including awareness, early identification, and treatment of liver disease, and these will benefit people in these communities. Geographically specific data is available to local commissioners to assist them with focusing their work on deprivation and inequalities, to support their prioritisation.

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 ensure that the NHS Liver Transformation Programme is adequately staffed and prioritised during the ongoing reorganisation of NHS England.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The resource for transforming liver services sits with integrated care boards, who will consider local need and the actions to progress alongside other clinical priorities.

The national team’s role has been to bring together relevant stakeholders to co-ordinate, influence and share learning to support local transformation.

NHS England has identified Clinical and Programme oversight resource to be active during reorganisation, with a lead programme management resource to support prioritised national workstreams.

The programme to date has prioritised reviews of the differential impact of liver disease in relation to health inequalities and deprivation. Examples include evidence of liver-related premature mortality being 4.8 times higher in the most deprived areas, 86% of liver disease deaths, which have increased by 400% since 1970, being related to alcohol harms, South Asian communities being at a higher risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and cirrhosis, and type 2 diabetes and MASLD disproportionately affecting the most deprived communities.

The transformation of the liver services programme includes a number of workstreams including awareness, early identification, and treatment of liver disease, and these will benefit people in these communities. Geographically specific data is available to local commissioners to assist them with focusing their work on deprivation and inequalities, to support their prioritisation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to the NHS Liver Transformation Programme for 2026-27.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The resource for transforming liver services sits with integrated care boards, who will consider local need and the actions to progress alongside other clinical priorities.

The national team’s role has been to bring together relevant stakeholders to co-ordinate, influence and share learning to support local transformation.

NHS England has identified Clinical and Programme oversight resource to be active during reorganisation, with a lead programme management resource to support prioritised national workstreams.

The programme to date has prioritised reviews of the differential impact of liver disease in relation to health inequalities and deprivation. Examples include evidence of liver-related premature mortality being 4.8 times higher in the most deprived areas, 86% of liver disease deaths, which have increased by 400% since 1970, being related to alcohol harms, South Asian communities being at a higher risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and cirrhosis, and type 2 diabetes and MASLD disproportionately affecting the most deprived communities.

The transformation of the liver services programme includes a number of workstreams including awareness, early identification, and treatment of liver disease, and these will benefit people in these communities. Geographically specific data is available to local commissioners to assist them with focusing their work on deprivation and inequalities, to support their prioritisation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received from children and young people on improving the healthiness of school food as part of the proposed updated School Food Standards.

Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department knows that children and young people’s own experiences are key to shaping effective school food standards. To support this, the department has been engaging with children and young people to understand what they eat at school, what they enjoy, and what they would like to see improved.

As part of the consultation, the department has worked with youth organisations, such as the Food Foundation’s Young Food Ambassadors and Bite Back 2030.This is to ensure that the consultation responses they submitted capture the views of children and young people, helping the department build a rounded picture of what matters to children in their day-to-day school life.

The consultation ran from 13 April 2026 to 12 June 2026 and the department is analysing the responses. The results of the consultation and the department's response will be published on GOV.UK in September 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce geographic variation in liver disease (a) diagnosis (b) treatment and (c) health outcomes.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer he received on 20 July in response to Question 17758.

Subsequent to this answer, NHS England’s Transformation of Liver Services Programme has been retitled Liver Disease Programme, and has moved into the next phase of delivery, which will focus on a targeted set of priorities where the programme can continue to build on the strongest areas of impact and provide strategic national support, strengthen alignment with wider transformation agendas, and enable systems to prepare for new clinical and operational opportunities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce health inequalities in liver disease outcomes in the North West.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer he received on 20 July in response to Question 17758.

Subsequent to this answer, NHS England’s Transformation of Liver Services Programme has been retitled Liver Disease Programme, and has moved into the next phase of delivery, which will focus on a targeted set of priorities where the programme can continue to build on the strongest areas of impact and provide strategic national support, strengthen alignment with wider transformation agendas, and enable systems to prepare for new clinical and operational opportunities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the UK-US pharmaceutical agreement, how the Government’s proposed pilot on productivity benefits in medicines assessment will account for the wider value of treatments for rare conditions, including impacts on patients, families and unpaid carers.

Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Implementation work is currently underway to develop further details for each individual pilot. Detail regarding which treatments, including for rare conditions, are included, how each pilot will function, and how stakeholders will be involved are yet to be determined. Groups including the Charity Medicines Access Coalition and the Association of Medical Research Charities have been involved in the development of pilot concepts and will continue to be consulted. These groups collectively represent hundreds of organisations, including those representing people affected by rare conditions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how treatments for rare conditions will be prioritised for inclusion in the Government’s proposed pilot on supporting faster access to innovative medicines, as part of the UK-US pharmaceutical agreement.

Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Implementation work is currently underway to develop further details for each individual pilot. Detail regarding which treatments, including for rare conditions, are included, how each pilot will function, and how stakeholders will be involved are yet to be determined. Groups including the Charity Medicines Access Coalition and the Association of Medical Research Charities have been involved in the development of pilot concepts and will continue to be consulted. These groups collectively represent hundreds of organisations, including those representing people affected by rare conditions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how patient organisations representing people living with rare conditions will be consulted on the development of new pilots being delivered as part of the UK-US trade agreement.

Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Implementation work is currently underway to develop further details for each individual pilot. Detail regarding which treatments, including for rare conditions, are included, how each pilot will function, and how stakeholders will be involved are yet to be determined. Groups including the Charity Medicines Access Coalition and the Association of Medical Research Charities have been involved in the development of pilot concepts and will continue to be consulted. These groups collectively represent hundreds of organisations, including those representing people affected by rare conditions.

Prohibiting Members of Parliament from having paid second jobs

Richard Pengelly