Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department collects data on the number of people registered as organ donors who are (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages transplant services across the United Kingdom, and this includes the operation of the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).
NHSBT does not collect data on the religion of those on the transplant waiting list. The information available on annual activity and the current waiting list is captured in the NHSBT Annual Activity Report, available on the NHSBT organ donation and transplantation website, which is available at the following link:
Individuals can choose to provide details of their faith or beliefs when registering on the ODR via the NHSBT webpage. Some sources of registration onto the ODR do not have an option to record or report religion. As of 29 April 2025, where religion was reported, there were:
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of Jewish people who are on the register waiting for a transplant.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages transplant services across the United Kingdom, and this includes the operation of the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).
NHSBT does not collect data on the religion of those on the transplant waiting list. The information available on annual activity and the current waiting list is captured in the NHSBT Annual Activity Report, available on the NHSBT organ donation and transplantation website, which is available at the following link:
Individuals can choose to provide details of their faith or beliefs when registering on the ODR via the NHSBT webpage. Some sources of registration onto the ODR do not have an option to record or report religion. As of 29 April 2025, where religion was reported, there were:
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of Sikhs who are on the register waiting for a transplant.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages transplant services across the United Kingdom, and this includes the operation of the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).
NHSBT does not collect data on the religion of those on the transplant waiting list. The information available on annual activity and the current waiting list is captured in the NHSBT Annual Activity Report, available on the NHSBT organ donation and transplantation website, which is available at the following link:
Individuals can choose to provide details of their faith or beliefs when registering on the ODR via the NHSBT webpage. Some sources of registration onto the ODR do not have an option to record or report religion. As of 29 April 2025, where religion was reported, there were:
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of Sikhs who have liver disease according to the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes mortality data and National Health Service hospital admission rates related to liver disease in England, in public health profiles. There is no data available for the number of Sikhs who have liver disease specifically.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are receiving support through the Healthy Start scheme in Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The following two tables show the number of people on the digital scheme in March 2025 for all ward areas in Birmingham, and in the ward of Edgbaston specifically:
Month | Local authority | People on the digital scheme |
March 2025 | Birmingham | 12,820 |
Month | Ward | People on the digital scheme |
March 2025 | Edgbaston | 186 |
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting times were for patients requiring an organ transplant in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) religion and (b) ethnic group.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on waiting times is not held by year for religious or ethnic groups. Waiting times also vary between organ types.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation and managing the organ transplant waiting list across the United Kingdom. Information available on annual activity and the current waiting list is captured in the NHSBT Annual Activity Report, which is available at the following link:
https://www.odt.nhs.uk/statistics-and-reports/annual-activity-report/
Improving National Health Service Organ Donor Register registration rates overall and particularly for ethnic minority groups is a priority for the Government and NHSBT, to save and improve more lives.
NHSBT conducts marketing and communication activity throughout the year to increase organ donation particularly for underrepresented groups which includes but is not limited to: publication of the Annual Report of Ethnic Differences in Transplantation with supporting media coverage including on the BBC Asian Network; raising awareness during South Asian Heritage Month with charities and organisations; continued activity during Organ Donation Week 2024 with partners including Dalgety Tea and an exclusive screening of the living donation film ‘The Final Gift’ at Brixton’s Ritzy cinema.
NHSBT is committed to reducing health inequalities in treatment and health outcomes that see some people wait longer for life saving treatments, or in some cases miss out on them all together. Some of the priority areas to tackle health inequalities include reducing the waiting time for minority groups waiting for organs and increasing access to automated exchange transfusion by people with sickle cell disorder.
NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme is part of NHSBT’s work to build support for organ donation amongst Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic communities, working through faith groups to increase understanding and drive behavioural change on organ donation. In the latest funding round, we awarded 51 organisations funding to begin their work in September 2024. This included £150,000 to support deceased organ donation and £150,000 to support living kidney donation.
Projects range from local community charities, experienced blood/organ charities to universities and places of worship. For example, the South Asian Heritage Trust aims to raise awareness about organ donation and tackling health inequalities by empowering South Asian communities to make informed choices and increase the number of registered organ donors. NHSBT also works closely with patient groups and charities including the Sickle Cell Society, the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (NBTA), the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, the NHS Race Health Observatory and many more.
NHSBT works closely with the NBTA to deliver culturally and religiously sensitive messaging about low donation rates amongst their communities.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 improve NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates among (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages transplant services across the United Kingdom. NHSBT works with an extensive network of organisations and individuals who have established and trusted relationships with their communities. Last year, in collaboration with the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (NBTA), NHSBT delivered a conference with the aim of developing culturally and religiously sensitive messaging to promote organ donation within these communities by engaging faith leaders and organisations. Representatives from 51 organisations attended, including British Sikh Nurses. This promotes the sharing of messaging guidance with many faiths, including Sikhism. The report will be shared with all community grant groups and organisations working to increase engagement with faith groups. NHSBT and the NBTA, along with the Race Equality Commission, will continue to work together, and have established a Messaging Conference Implementation Group which will take forward the actions arising from the conference. NHSBT also creates and shares a host of faith-based assets on its website, including for Judaism, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/your-faith-and-beliefs/judaism/
The Jewish Organ Donor Association is a recipient of the Community Grant Programme, which is a two-year programme focused on building long-term relationships through trusted peers and leaders in the community, engaging with black African and Caribbean, South Asian, East and South East Asian, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Muslim, and Christian communities. It aims to raise awareness, tackle misinformation, and change perceptions and behaviours around organ donation. A total of £600,000 was given to 51 recipients in 2024.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 improve NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates among ethnic minority groups.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Organ Donor Register is operated by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). Improving NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates overall and particularly for ethnic minority groups is a priority for the Government and NHSBT, to save and improve more lives. NHSBT runs marketing and communication activity throughout the year to increase organ donation, particularly for underrepresented groups, which includes but is not limited to:
- publication of the Annual Report of Ethnic Differences in Transplantation, with supporting media coverage, including on the BBC Asian Network;
- raising awareness during South Asian Heritage Month with charities and organisations; and
- Organ Donation Week 2024, which saw continued activity with partners, including Dalgety Tea, and an exclusive screening of the living donation film The Final Gift at Brixton’s Ritzy cinema
NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme is part of NHSBT’s works to build support for organ donation amongst black, Asian, mixed heritage, and minority ethnic communities, working through faith groups to increase understanding and drive behavioural change on organ donation.
NHSBT works closely with the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance to deliver culturally and religiously sensitive messaging about low donation rates amongst their communities. In addition, a range of online and printed materials in relation to faith are available on the dedicated faith and beliefs section of the NHSBT website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/your-faith-and-beliefs/
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of levels of screening of type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Early Surveillance for Autoimmune diabetes (ELSA) study is researching a screening programme for children, aged three to 13 years old, to detect for type 1 diabetes with a simple finger stick blood test. This looks for four antibodies, protein markers, which are associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.elsadiabetes.nhs.uk/
This study is currently screening children across the United Kingdom to identify those at risk of developing type 1 diabetes. The programme has been running through schools and general practice surgeries, as well as through online recruitment, and has been hugely successful, with over 24,000 children stepping forward for this test. The ELSA study launched in November 2022 with the intention for all enrolled children to be screened by the end of February 2025. The Department is awaiting the publication of the results of this study.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 screening relatives of people with type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Early Surveillance for Autoimmune diabetes (ELSA) study is researching a screening programme for children, aged three to 13 years old, to detect for type 1 diabetes with a simple finger stick blood test. This looks for four antibodies, protein markers, which are associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.elsadiabetes.nhs.uk/
This study is currently screening children across the United Kingdom to identify those at risk of developing type 1 diabetes. The programme has been running through schools and general practice surgeries, as well as through online recruitment, and has been hugely successful, with over 24,000 children stepping forward for this test. The ELSA study launched in November 2022 with the intention for all enrolled children to be screened by the end of February 2025. The Department is awaiting the publication of the results of this study.