Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Independent Monitoring Board's report entitled Annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/YOI Downview, published on 3 September 2025, what steps he is taking to ensure acutely mentally unwell prisoners are swiftly (a) identified and (b) given care in an appropriate facility at (a) HMP/YOI Downview, (b) other prisons and (c) other young offenders institutions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions prison health care services for HMP/YOI Downview and every other prison and young offenders institution in England. Every prison has onsite health care services including primary care, mental health, dentistry, and substance misuse teams.
The National Service Specification for integrated mental health sets out how patients within secure settings, who require support for their mental wellbeing, should receive the same level of healthcare as people in the community, both in terms of the range of interventions available to them, in order to meet their needs, and the quality and standards of those interventions.
This includes access to crisis intervention and crisis prevention for those at high risk of self-harm and suicide, where such behaviours relate to poor emotional wellbeing and/or minor psychiatric morbidity.
Access to mental health provision is available to every person in prison at any stage of their sentence, beginning at the point of entry. NHS England commissions first night reception screening to have a registered nurse/practitioner review patients’ medical history to address any immediate health needs and risks and to ensure medication is made available as soon as possible and that onward referrals to onsite healthcare teams, including mental health services, for both urgent face to face appointments, within 24 hours, and routine face to face appointments, within five working days, are made.
Outside of reception screening, people in prison can be referred or can self-refer to mental health services, within those timeframes.
When someone is acutely unwell, they can be transferred from prisons and other places of detention to hospital for treatment, under the Mental Health Act, within the target transfer period of 28 days. The Mental Health Bill, currently going through Parliament, introduces a statutory 28-day time limit within which agencies must seek to ensure individuals who meet the criteria for detention under the act are transferred to hospital for treatment. NHS England’s South East Health and Justice team is funding a transfer and remissions co-ordinator from January 2025, to improve, where possible, safe, effective, and efficient transfers to hospital level treatment and interventions.
NHS England is reviewing the National Integrated Prison Service Specification to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the prison population.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendations on surrogacy in the report by the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women and Girls entitled Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences: The different manifestations of violence against women and girls in the context of surrogacy, published on 14 July 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UN Special Rapporteur’s report is framed within the context of Violence Against Women and Girls and recommends banning surrogacy in all forms.
The United Kingdom Government supports surrogacy as an option for family formation, for people unable to carry their own children. For this option, we recommend the use of UK not-for-profit surrogacy organisations.
For those considering surrogacy overseas, we recommend taking specialist legal advice and consulting the advice published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/surrogacy-overseas/surrogacy-overseas
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 status of the proposed PATHWAYS clinical trial.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Better quality evidence is critical if the NHS is to support young people suffering from gender incongruence, so we are supporting a programme of research, recommended by the Cass Review, including the PATHWAYS study. The health and wellbeing of the children and young people involved is our primary concern.
Ethical and regulatory approvals have been received for the observational element of the study. Approval processes and site set-up are well underway for the clinical trial and we will provide an update when the study moves to the next stage.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the average cost of healthcare was for (a) male prisoners and (b) female prisoners in HMP Downview in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
HMP Downview is a women’s prison. The average cost of healthcare per female prisoner at HMP Downview for 2024/25 was £11,765.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 reason that over 4,100 women from the poorest backgrounds in the UK have donated their eggs since 2011.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not undertaken an assessment, however, academic research in the United Kingdom has consistently found that donating eggs and sperm is driven by altruism.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published data shows that egg and sperm donors in England from 2011 to 2020 lived in similar or more affluent socio-economic areas than the general population.
The following table shows the number of egg donors living in each of the multiple deprivation deciles in England at time of registration, between 2011 and 2020:
Multiple deprivation decile | Number of egg donors |
1 | 1,117 |
2 | 1,488 |
3 | 1,542 |
4 | 1,360 |
5 | 1,310 |
6 | 1,214 |
7 | 1,114 |
8 | 1,097 |
9 | 1,050 |
10 | 860 |
Source: the HFEA report, Trends in egg, sperm and embryo donation 2020.
Notes:
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of allowing young women to be solicited for egg donations by for-profit fertility clinics utilising adverts which do not list known health risks on their safety.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the United Kingdom’s fertility sector regulator, sets out strict requirements in its Licence Conditions and Code of Practice in relation to the recruitment of donors and the information that must be given to egg donors in advance of donating at United Kingdom licensed fertility clinics, which includes information about the potential immediate or longer-term health risks and the psychological consequences of being a donor, as well as offering counselling to everyone involved.
The HFEA’s Code of Practice states that advertising should be designed with regard to the sensitive issues involved in recruiting donors and should follow the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes. This includes that advertising or publicity aimed at recruiting gamete or embryo donors, or encouraging donation, should not refer to the possibility of financial gain or similar advantage, although it may refer to compensation permitted under relevant HFEA Directions.
The ASA and HFEA issued a joint enforcement notice in 2021 to ensure fertility clinics and others were aware of the advertising rules, which remains in place.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 impact of £985 per cycle payments to egg donors on the level of incentive to women from the poorest backgrounds to donate eggs because of financial need.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The compensation rate for egg donation is set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as provided for in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA has advised that the donor compensation levels originally set in 2011 followed a thorough ethical review, which identified a set of principles that ensured altruism remained at the heart of donation and that there were not any unjustifiable barriers to donation. The HFEA has advised that the increase in donor compensation from 1 October 2024 to £985 per cycle reflects the rise in inflation since the compensation rates were first introduced in 2011.
Academic research in the United Kingdom has consistently found that donating eggs and sperm is driven by altruism, and HFEA published data shows that egg and sperm donors in England from 2011 to 2020 lived in similar or more affluent socio-economic areas than the general population.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of running long term studies in to the impact on women's bodies of egg retrieval.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) recently reviewed the published evidence of health outcomes for those having fertility treatment, including egg donors. The last 10 years of evidence were reviewed and the HFEA will update relevant information on its website as needed.
The HFEA also set out strict requirements in its Licence Conditions and Code of Practice relating to the information that must be given before egg retrieval takes place in United Kingdom licensed fertility clinics, whether for the patient’s own use or to donate to others. This includes information about the potential immediate or longer-term health risks and the psychological consequences of being a donor, as well as offering counselling to everyone involved.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 ensure newly qualified nurses are not prevented from accessing band 5 roles within the NHS due to (a) experience requirements and (b) such roles only being advertised internally.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.
NHS England is working with employers, universities, and regional nursing leads to ensure support is in place to help graduating nurses find a role as soon as possible after qualification, aiding their transition into the workplace.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
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 help improve the capacity of sexual health (a) drop in clinics and (b) services in Reigate constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities in England, including East Sussex County Council which covers Reigate, are funded through a ring-fenced Public Health Grant to commission comprehensive, open access sexual health services. Therefore, it is the responsibility of local authorities to decide on spending priorities, such as drop-in clinics and general services, based on the blend of services that best suits the needs of their population.
For 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the grant to £3.858 billion. This is a cash increase of £198 million compared to 2024/25, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and 3.0% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local public health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after a period of reduced spending between 2016 and 2024.