Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women in the UK have received Allergan breast implants.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) breast implants and (b) PIP breast implants have ruptured and had to be removed in the last 10 years; and how many of those ruptured implants were not listed on the breast and cosmetic implant registry when implanted.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports of BIA-ALCL there have been in the UK; and which manufacturers of breast implants those reports have been associated with.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As has been previously shared in evidence submitted to the Women and Equalities Select Committee in July 2025, with further information in the document attached, the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) closely monitors Breast Implant Associated- Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a cancer of the immune system, not a breast cancer, and publishes the output from this monitoring on the GOV.UK webpage, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/breast-implants-and-anaplastic-large-cell-lymphoma-alcl
The MHRA has developed, with advice from independent expert advisory group, a follow up strategy to collect further data on adverse incidents reporting BIA-ALCL. This has informed the information that is published on the MHRA webpage relating to BIA-ALCL which includes the most up to date number of confirmed reports of BIA-ALCL made to the MHRA, and the breakdown of the number of confirmed reports of primary BIA-ALCL cases by manufacturer of breast implant.
Please note that the data on the GOV.UK webpage should be interpreted in the context of the ‘Notes and limitations to the data’ section also provided on the webpage.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of the research programmes that are underway on the safety of breast implants.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any specific research into the safety of breast implants but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The Department does not hold information related to breast implant safety research funded by other sources.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 the Nursing and Midwifery Council on wait times for (a) general cases and (b) cases before the case examiner.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC is independent of Government, directly accountable to Parliament and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees the bodies that regulate health and care professionals in the UK, which includes the NMC.
As Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), I monitor the NMC’s performance and meets with the organisation regularly, which includes discussion on the timeliness of the NMC’s fitness to practise processes. In line with the Ministerial Code, details of all ministerial meetings, including those with the NMC, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on pay for specialist community public health nurses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Specialist community public health nurses in England are typically paid on the National Health Service’s Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system.
Annual AfC pay awards are decided following recommendations from the independent NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB). We accepted the 2025/26 recommendations in full, and the Government has asked the NHSPRB to begin the 2026/27 pay round. Relevant stakeholders are invited to submit evidence to the NHSPRB to inform its deliberations.
Officials and ministers continue to engage with AfC unions on pay and contractual matters via the NHS Staff Council.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether British citizens who receive undergraduate medical training overseas will be considered as part of plans to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation postgraduate training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. We will set out next steps in due course.
Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the NHS workforce, and we recognise the valuable role that British citizens who studied medicine abroad play in our NHS.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to stop the use of paper forms for blood tests ordered by (a) GPs and (b) hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pathology service transformation is critical to delivering the Government's ambitions for the National Health Service. The NHS has invested heavily in delivering digital transformation for pathology services to reduce reliance on paper-based processes; working closely with integrated care boards, pathology networks, and clinical IT suppliers to ensure interoperability between clinical systems to enable a fully digital, joined-up approach to pathology services.
This includes implementing and expanding use of electronic test requesting systems and supporting efforts to standardise their use. These systems allow clinicians in general practice and hospital settings to request pathology tests digitally, improving efficiency, reducing transcription errors, and enhancing patient safety.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has (a) allocated to and (b) spent on the treatment and care of individuals subject to female genital mutilation in each financial year since 2014-15.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinical services for women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) are locally commissioned and include standard National Health Service delivery, for example in obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as maternity FGM clinics for pregnant women and FGM support clinics. The Department does not directly commission FGM support services and does not hold information on local spend on FGM services.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will make public their decision on licensing the personalised immunotherapy developed to treat the malignant brain tumour glioblastoma, DCVax-L.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a Marketing Authorization Application to the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for DCVax-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA is working with the applicant to reach a decision on this application, to ensure a thorough review that ensures quality, safety, and efficacy.