Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department has considered the impact of NICE’s severity modifier, introduced in 2020, on NHS England’s access to innovative cancer medicines which were previously eligible under the end-of-life weighting.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its recommendations. The severity modifier was introduced in January 2022 as part of a number of changes intended to make NICE’s methods fairer, faster and more consistent.

NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended with a greater proportion of medicines recommended than under NICE’s previous methods. Since then, NICE has continued to monitor how the severity modifier is being applied. The latest figures include data from technology appraisals published up until the end of September 2025 and show that the proportion of positive decisions has increased since the severity modifier was implemented and since data was published in September 2024. 87.0% of decisions taken since the severity modifier was implemented, compared with 82.5% when the end-of-life modifier was being used. NICE is also recommending a greater proportion of new cancer treatments overall, 86.3% compared to 75.0%, and advanced cancer treatments specifically, 84.8% compared to 69.1%.

NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department made an impact assessment of the effect of NICE’s severity modifier, introduced in 2020, on the ability of cancer medicines to meet the new ‘high severity’ threshold for approval.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its recommendations. The severity modifier was introduced in January 2022 as part of a number of changes intended to make NICE’s methods fairer, faster and more consistent.

NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended with a greater proportion of medicines recommended than under NICE’s previous methods. Since then, NICE has continued to monitor how the severity modifier is being applied. The latest figures include data from technology appraisals published up until the end of September 2025 and show that the proportion of positive decisions has increased since the severity modifier was implemented and since data was published in September 2024. 87.0% of decisions taken since the severity modifier was implemented, compared with 82.5% when the end-of-life modifier was being used. NICE is also recommending a greater proportion of new cancer treatments overall, 86.3% compared to 75.0%, and advanced cancer treatments specifically, 84.8% compared to 69.1%.

NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed whether NICE has approved a greater or fewer number of new medicines since the introduction of the severity modifier in 2020, compared with comparable international health systems.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its recommendations. The severity modifier was introduced in January 2022 as part of a number of changes intended to make NICE’s methods fairer, faster and more consistent.

NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended with a greater proportion of medicines recommended than under NICE’s previous methods. Since then, NICE has continued to monitor how the severity modifier is being applied. The latest figures include data from technology appraisals published up until the end of September 2025 and show that the proportion of positive decisions has increased since the severity modifier was implemented and since data was published in September 2024. 87.0% of decisions taken since the severity modifier was implemented, compared with 82.5% when the end-of-life modifier was being used. NICE is also recommending a greater proportion of new cancer treatments overall, 86.3% compared to 75.0%, and advanced cancer treatments specifically, 84.8% compared to 69.1%.

NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households where (a) Pension Credit and (b) Housing Benefit is claimed receive additional consideration due to there being a polygamous marriage.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Since 1988 rules have been in place under successive governments which limit access to benefits for people in polygamous marriages to those who were married in a country which allows such marriages. Any polygamous relationship formed in the United Kingdom is excluded by these rules and the second or subsequent partner is treated as a non-dependant. People in polygamous relationships where they are not married to the other members of the relationship are also excluded by these rules.

Where a claimant is allowed to claim benefits as part of a polygamous marriage their benefit entitlement is based on the standard amount for couples, plus an amount for each additional partner calculated as the difference between the standard amount for a couple and the standard amount for a single person. There is no financial benefit to someone claiming as part of a polygamous marriage as more would be paid in benefits if the additional person claimed as a single person.

The Pension Credit information that has been requested is not held by the Department. Based off the most recent published data (August 2025) from the Housing Benefit Single Housing Extract (SHBE), there are fewer than ten households where the claimant is recorded as having more than one partner. This has been used as a proxy for polygamous marriage.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of information provided by English universities on entry requirements for Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers on their websites.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions.

Universities are free to decide their entry criteria, and admissions teams consider a broad range of information about a student in addition to their predicted grades.

The department continues to work with key sector stakeholders such as higher education providers, UCAS and Universities UK to ensure that students have access to a comprehensive wealth of information, advice and guidance, allowing them to make fully informed and appropriate decisions on course and provider choice.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase collaboration between her Department and Drinkaware.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government regularly engages with partners on matters relating to the Licensing Act 2003 and the sale and supply of alcohol, including with Drinkaware.

We will continue to do so as we take forward reforms to the licensing regime.

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 introducing an equivalent of the EU Safe Hearts Plan in the UK.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We note the recently published European Union’s Safe Hearts Plan and support the EU’s ambition to tackle cardiovascular diseases. Too many lives are lost prematurely to heart disease and stroke, and the Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress on this ambition and tackle unwarranted variation across the country, we will publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework in 2026, which will identify the best evidenced interventions and drive innovation in prevention, treatment, and care.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve pre-release planning to ensure that prison leavers do not become homeless or sleep rough following release.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We are committed to ensuring that robust pre-release plans are created for those leaving custody, so that accommodation needs are identified early and the right support is put in place. Dedicated Pre-Release Teams in prisons work closely with individuals to identify immediate needs, coordinate referrals to relevant services, and support continuity between custody and the community.

In the National Plan to End Homelessness, the Government has committed to reduce the proportion of people released from prison homeless by 50% by the end of this parliament. 50 prison-based Strategic Housing Specialists (SHS) across England and Wales work with probation teams and Local Authorities to enable a multi-agency approach to securing housing before release, including by establishing pre-release accommodation panels with appropriate Local Authorities. We are also investing in integrating digital community accommodation services to make it easier to identify and match individuals to the right housing-related support at the right time.

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