Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of waiting times for and availability of trauma-informed therapeutic support for child victims of peer-on-peer or child-on-child sexual abuse; and whether she intends to introduce access targets for such support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that timely support is critical for child victims of sexual abuse, and that demand for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) has risen significantly. The 10-Year Health Plan set out an ambitious reform agenda to transform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future. In line with this, we will go further to ensure that NHS mental health services deliver the care that people deserve, including child victims of sexual abuse.
We are committed to reducing waiting times for specialist CAMHS support, as set out in our Medium-Term Planning Framework. We are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. As part of this, we are investing an additional £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma. By bringing in vital services to schools, we can intervene early, promote wellbeing, and support recovery.
Our action so far has resulted in more young people being supported to access NHS mental health services. In the first 12 months of the Government, nearly 40,000 more children and young people received support compared to the previous 12 months.
There are currently no plans to introduce such an access target. The Darzi Review highlighted that there are too many NHS targets, so we have reduced the number of national priorities for 2025/26, focusing on what matters most to patients.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS trusts do not manage referral pipelines, triage processes, or administrative allocation methods in ways that reduce the apparent size of the elective waiting list without reducing the actual waiting time experienced by patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For referral to treatment (RTT) pathways that start within an interface service, which is any form of intermediary clinical triage, assessment, and/or treatment between primary and secondary care, a patient's clock start will begin at the point the general practice referral is made and not the date that the referral is received by the secondary care provider. Further information can be found in the RTT consultant-led waiting times: rules suite guidance document, which is available at the following link:
The complete time elapsed between referral and treatment will be recorded on the published consultant led RTT waiting time data, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2025-26/
Advice and Guidance (A&G) is where a general practitioner requests advice from a specialist digitally, prior to or instead of a referral, and it has helped divert over 655,000 referrals between April and August 2025. The NHS Electronic Referral System, the platform used for most A&Gs, can allow the specialist to "convert" a request into a referral. An RTT waiting time clock would not commence unless the request is converted to a referral. Where a referral to the waiting list is not required, we expect patients to receive care sooner, in a more convenient setting, having benefitted from specialist advice to inform their care management plan.
The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, outlines plans to move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’. This describes a model where all appropriate referrals and requests, other than those for urgent suspected cancer, are directed through a single ‘front door’ to support triage to the most appropriate next step or outcome for the patient. This will help ensure a more consistent approach to triage which provides quicker access to patients.
There are no plans for an independent audit of pre-listing referral management processes and reporting of delays across National Health Service trusts.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the number of patients currently in (a) pre listing triage and (b) referral assessment stages for consultant led elective care pathways.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For referral to treatment (RTT) pathways that start within an interface service, which is any form of intermediary clinical triage, assessment, and/or treatment between primary and secondary care, a patient's clock start will begin at the point the general practice referral is made and not the date that the referral is received by the secondary care provider. Further information can be found in the RTT consultant-led waiting times: rules suite guidance document, which is available at the following link:
The complete time elapsed between referral and treatment will be recorded on the published consultant led RTT waiting time data, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2025-26/
Advice and Guidance (A&G) is where a general practitioner requests advice from a specialist digitally, prior to or instead of a referral, and it has helped divert over 655,000 referrals between April and August 2025. The NHS Electronic Referral System, the platform used for most A&Gs, can allow the specialist to "convert" a request into a referral. An RTT waiting time clock would not commence unless the request is converted to a referral. Where a referral to the waiting list is not required, we expect patients to receive care sooner, in a more convenient setting, having benefitted from specialist advice to inform their care management plan.
The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, outlines plans to move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’. This describes a model where all appropriate referrals and requests, other than those for urgent suspected cancer, are directed through a single ‘front door’ to support triage to the most appropriate next step or outcome for the patient. This will help ensure a more consistent approach to triage which provides quicker access to patients.
There are no plans for an independent audit of pre-listing referral management processes and reporting of delays across National Health Service trusts.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commission an independent audit of pre-listing referral management processes and reporting of delays across NHS trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For referral to treatment (RTT) pathways that start within an interface service, which is any form of intermediary clinical triage, assessment, and/or treatment between primary and secondary care, a patient's clock start will begin at the point the general practice referral is made and not the date that the referral is received by the secondary care provider. Further information can be found in the RTT consultant-led waiting times: rules suite guidance document, which is available at the following link:
The complete time elapsed between referral and treatment will be recorded on the published consultant led RTT waiting time data, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2025-26/
Advice and Guidance (A&G) is where a general practitioner requests advice from a specialist digitally, prior to or instead of a referral, and it has helped divert over 655,000 referrals between April and August 2025. The NHS Electronic Referral System, the platform used for most A&Gs, can allow the specialist to "convert" a request into a referral. An RTT waiting time clock would not commence unless the request is converted to a referral. Where a referral to the waiting list is not required, we expect patients to receive care sooner, in a more convenient setting, having benefitted from specialist advice to inform their care management plan.
The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, outlines plans to move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’. This describes a model where all appropriate referrals and requests, other than those for urgent suspected cancer, are directed through a single ‘front door’ to support triage to the most appropriate next step or outcome for the patient. This will help ensure a more consistent approach to triage which provides quicker access to patients.
There are no plans for an independent audit of pre-listing referral management processes and reporting of delays across National Health Service trusts.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has received legal advice on the PATHWAYS trial.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthcare of children, like all patients, deserves evidence-based treatments where possible. That is why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a programme of research to support the National Health Service to provide the best support to children and young people with gender incongruence. The programme includes the PATHWAYS trial, a carefully designed clinical trial to assess the relative benefits and harms of puberty-suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.
The Government Legal Department is the Government’s principal legal advisers. Its core purpose is to help the Government to govern well, within the rule of law. They regularly provide advice to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 effectiveness of the soft drinks industry levy on reducing obesity and related illnesses.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government data shows that sugar levels in drinks in scope of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) reduced by 47% between 2015 and 2024, removing approximately 57,000 tonnes of sugar from these drinks. This has had benefits across all socio-economic groups.
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), an ongoing Government-funded survey of food consumption and nutrient status in the United Kingdom, shows that sugar intakes of older children and adolescents reduced between 2014 and 2019, and the amount of sugar coming from soft drinks reduced.
Academic modelling papers suggest that the following benefits may have been realised as a result of the reductions in sugar seen in drinks in scope of the SDIL:
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commit to publishing the results of the Tavistock clinical trial into puberty blockers for children.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been at least two studies relating to puberty-suppressing hormones and the Tavistock clinic. The Early pubertal suppression in a carefully selected group of adolescents with gender identity disorders study, sponsored by University College London, published its findings in 2021. The Outcomes and Predictors of Outcome for Children and Young People Referred to UK Gender Identity Development Services: A longitudinal Investigation study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, was due to end in July 2025. We would expect the study findings to be published in a peer reviewed academic journal within 12 months of the completion of the study.
In addition, NHS England, in conjunction with the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is commissioning a data linkage study, which will provide different and separately valuable evidence to both understand the experience and outcomes of former patients of the Gender Identity Development Service and inform future National Health Service gender care. We would similarly expect the study findings to be published.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish all risk assessments conducted by his Department into the administration of puberty blockers for under 16 year-olds.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2024, NHS England published a suite of documentation relating to its decision to remove gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues as a routine treatment option in the National Health Service for children under 18 years old with gender dysphoria. This documentation included a review of the published evidence, which concluded that there is very limited evidence about safety, risks, benefits, and outcomes for the use of this medication in children with gender dysphoria.
Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. In 2024, the Government introduced an indefinite ban on the sale and supply of puberty blockers via private prescriptions for the treatment of gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria for under 18 year olds.
As part of that legislation the Government conducted a targeted consultation and sought advice on patient safety from the independent Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) and the Cass Review. The Government response to the consultation, the full report of the CHM, and the Cass review are available publicly, and respectively, at the following three links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-the-availability-of-puberty-blockers-for-under-18s/outcome/governments-response-to-the-targeted-consultation-on-proposed-changes-to-the-availability-of-puberty-blockershttps://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20250310143633/https://cass.independent-review.uk/
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that puberty blockers are not administered to under 16 year old children with a mental illness or learning disabilities.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has introduced an indefinite ban on the sale or supply of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, also known as puberty blockers, for gender dysphoria and/or incongruence, to under 18 year olds.
Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. That’s why we are following expert, independent advice from the Cass Review to implement a package of research to find out how the National Health Service can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.
This includes the PATHWAYS trial which has received independent scientific, ethical, and regulatory approvals as well as comprehensive review. The study design, including inclusion criteria and safety protocols, has been thoroughly scrutinised to protect young people's wellbeing. This includes demonstrating a good understanding of the intervention and the possible benefits and risks.
When making prescribing decisions, clinicians have a duty to work with their patient to decide on the best course of treatment, and must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed, taking into account any existing medical conditions or other factors including any disabilities.