Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 that Integrated Care Boards are (a) adequately resourced and (b) trained to commission effective care pathways for patients with aplastic anaemia.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Working under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as aplastic anaemia.
The majority of the treatment pathway for aplastic anaemia is an integrated care board commissioning responsibility. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is an NHS England specialised commissioned service that covers aplastic anaemia, and NHS England has published two national service specifications, one for adults and one for children. The HSCT specifications set out the standards that the providers of the service must meet, which includes access to a range of multidisciplinary staff, including psychological support and nurse specialists trained in communication and counselling.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to include universal type 1 diabetes screening in the forthcoming 10-year plan for preventing chronic disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to preventing and managing conditions such as diabetes in all parts of the country.
More tests and scans delivered in the community and better joint working between services will support the management of conditions, including diabetes, closer to home.
The plan will draw directly from the extensive engagement we have undertaken with the public, patients, and staff, including those in the diabetes care sector. We are in the final stages of working on the plan and will publish it shortly.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 introducing a universal screening programme for type 1 diabetes on the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis in children and young adults.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening, and which supports implementation.
A proposal for screening for neonatal diabetes mellitus was submitted to the UK NSC via its 2021 annual call process. An evidence-mapping exercise was conducted at that time which concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to recommend screening for this condition.
The UK NSC received a submission via its 2024 annual call process to consider screening for autoimmune type 1 diabetes through blood testing. The committee requested further information from the submitter, and this is now in the process of being reviewed. Further information on the annual call process can be found at the following link:
The UK NSC is aware of the ELSA study that is looking at screening children for type 1 diabetes, and looks forward to receiving the results of this study in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England and the UK National Screening Committee on the (a) feasibility and (b) cost-effectiveness of implementing a universal screening programme for type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening, and which supports implementation.
A proposal for screening for neonatal diabetes mellitus was submitted to the UK NSC via its 2021 annual call process. An evidence-mapping exercise was conducted at that time which concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to recommend screening for this condition.
The UK NSC received a submission via its 2024 annual call process to consider screening for autoimmune type 1 diabetes through blood testing. The committee requested further information from the submitter, and this is now in the process of being reviewed. Further information on the annual call process can be found at the following link:
The UK NSC is aware of the ELSA study that is looking at screening children for type 1 diabetes, and looks forward to receiving the results of this study in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the 10 Year Plan for the NHS.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10 Year Health Plan will make the NHS fit for the future with three key shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention.It will deliver the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 adequacy of GP appointment availability in South Northamptonshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is determined to work with the National Health Service to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access general practitioner (GP) appointments, including in South Northamptonshire. In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 1,700 newly qualified GPs across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients
We delivered an £889 million uplift in funding for 2025/26, with general practice now receiving a growing share of NHS resources. Additionally, the new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will upgrade more than a thousand GP surgeries across England, helping to improve productivity.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 NHS dental contract reforms on rural patient access.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural and coastal areas. This is why we have launched the Golden Hello scheme which will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists. There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 reduce ambulance response times in South Northamptonshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in South Northamptonshire.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce waiting times for autism assessments for children in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments for children in rural areas, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs, including those in rural areas, and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these. NHS England is also working with research organisations to explore evidence-based models that support improved outcomes for those people waiting for an autism assessment.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has commissioned research into the potential impact of toxic emissions from battery storage fires near residential areas on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not formally commissioned research into this topic. However, on 14 March 2025, the Environment Agency published the paper, Net zero: Environmental and social implications of energy storage technologies: summary, which is available at the following link:
On 3 June 2025, a paper was also placed in the House of Commons library which has details of Battery energy storage systems; this is available at the following link:
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7621/CBP-7621.pdf
Despite the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) not currently undertaking research per se on fires involving lithium ion batteries, UKHSA draws upon previously published Public Health England guidance on products of combustion, for example, Combustion products: a toxicological review, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/combustion-products-a-toxicological-review
In addition, practical guidance has been developed by the Waste Industry Safety and Health forum, Fire Risk and Lithium Batteries at Waste Transfer, Recycling and Recovery Operations, which is available at the following link:
https://www.wishforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/INFO-08.pdf