Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Together for Short Lives’ report entitled Overstretched and Underfunded: The State of Children’s Hospice Funding in 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of cuts to ringfenced NHS funding for children's hospices beyond 2025-26 on the adequacy of (a) end of life care, (b) respite support and (c) other essential services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s hospices do incredible work to support seriously ill children and their families and loved ones when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.
We are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, was known as the Children’s Hospice Grant.
I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children’s and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
This revenue funding is intended to be spent by hospices to provide high-quality care and support for the children and the families they care for, either in the hospice or in the community, including in children's homes. They can, for example, use this funding for providing respite care for children who have high health needs, by providing physiotherapy or occupational therapy, or by providing 24/7 nursing support for a child at the end of their life.
We are also supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps (a) his Department and (b) the NHS are taking to counter (i) misinformation and (ii) disinformation about vaccines.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling vaccine misinformation, and we have highlighted our focus on this within the 10-Year Health Plan where we have committed to working with local government, civil society, voluntary organisations and community groups to support public trust in vaccines, particularly in terms of what is needed to restore childhood immunisations rates.
Inaccurate information can spread easily, particularly on online platforms, and it is important that we continue to robustly counteract mis and dis information and point to science. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) closely monitors online activity, including social media and search data, to gather insights about the conversations people are having about vaccinations online, to help inform the information we provide and communications campaigns.
The Department and its partners, take a broad multi-pronged approach to provide authoritative, accurate and transparent information on the benefits and risks of vaccination. For example, UKHSA and NHS England are working to ensure that health care professionals are adequately briefed and trained, with UKHSA recently updating its National Minimum Standards and core curriculum for vaccine training, published in June 2025, which set out expectations for training and competency requirements for all those delivering immunisation services.
Additionally, the Department is working with UKHSA and the National Health Service to ensure that parents and patients have access to up to date and accurate information on all vaccines delivered by the NHS, and to identify and rebut false information. This includes information leaflets and promotional materials available online about different vaccination programmes, covered in a range of translations and accessible formats. Vaccination is also included in the latest Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum guidance from July 2025 to ensure that young people learn the facts and scientific evidence relating to vaccination and immunisation.
Furthermore, the Department, UKHSA and NHS England are also delivering national communication campaigns which proactively highlight the value of vaccines and the risks associated with vaccine preventable diseases, and build confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety. Campaign activity includes paid advertising, media, stakeholder engagement and partnerships with a wide range of organisations.
Whilst there is no room for complacency, UKHSA’s latest parental attitudes survey 2025, data shows that vaccine confidence remains high, with 84% of parents saying they trusted vaccines.
We encourage people to speak to a trusted health professional about any vaccine concerns.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the readiness of integrated care boards to assume responsibility for commissioning vaccination and immunisation services from April 2026.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan reaffirmed the importance of work to establish integrated care boards (ICBs) as ‘strategic commissioners of local health services, responsible for all but the most specialised commissioning’.
In preparation for this, the NHS Executive commissioned a review of NHS England’s direct commissioning functions to make recommendations on the future arrangements for discharging these functions in light of the planned integration of NHS England into a restructured Department of Health and Social Care.
The review, which has now been agreed, proposes transferring commissioning responsibility for suitable specialised services, vaccination and screening services, and health and justice services to ICBs. It is proposed that this transfer will take place, alongside the implementation of changes to legislation, in April 2027.
Our expectation is that during 2026/27, ICBs will take a more central role in shaping these services. This will be achieved through closer collaboration and partnership with NHS England, as the accountable organisation, and will build on the strong joint working arrangements already in place this year for delegated specialised services. A development programme and safe transfer checklist will, alongside this closer working, help to ensure that ICBs are ready to take on their new responsibilities from April 2027.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Sickle Cell Disease Quality Improvement Programme will continue when the Department of Health and Social Care takes over the responsibilities of NHS England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Quality Improvement Programme remains committed to improving outcomes and quality of life for people living with sickle cell and thalassaemia. The programme is taking targeted action to align to the commitments within the 10-Year Health Plan to reduce health inequalities nationally, to ensure people in these communities can live longer, healthier lives, spending less time in poor health.
The integration of NHS England into the Department is not due to happen in this financial year, and all programmes of work will be reviewed in alignment with budget setting in future years.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 timeliness of Care Quality Commission processing of applications for registration as (a) care providers and (b) registered managers in (i) England and (ii) Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not record registration data in the format requested, for the timeliness of registration application processing by constituency.
Dr Penny Dash published her report into the CQC in October 2024. The Government accepted her findings and has since been supporting the CQC to improve rapidly, as well as holding it to account for its performance.
The Department meets regularly with the CQC to review performance. The volume of registration applications and reducing the backlog of registration applications over 10 weeks old is one of the four key priorities discussed at these meetings.
The CQC has been making tangible progress. For all registration application received as care providers and registered managers in England, the percentage of applications older than 10 weeks has reduced significantly, from a peak of 61.1% in May 2024, to 32.9% in July 2025, a reduction of 28.2%.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 help improve the Care Quality Commission’s registration process times; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those processing times on the (a) capacity and (b) continuity of care services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not record registration data in the format requested, for the timeliness of registration application processing by constituency.
Dr Penny Dash published her report into the CQC in October 2024. The Government accepted her findings and has since been supporting the CQC to improve rapidly, as well as holding it to account for its performance.
The Department meets regularly with the CQC to review performance. The volume of registration applications and reducing the backlog of registration applications over 10 weeks old is one of the four key priorities discussed at these meetings.
The CQC has been making tangible progress. For all registration application received as care providers and registered managers in England, the percentage of applications older than 10 weeks has reduced significantly, from a peak of 61.1% in May 2024, to 32.9% in July 2025, a reduction of 28.2%.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 improve Care Quality Commission processing times for the registration of care providers in (a) England and (b) Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not record registration data in the format requested, for the timeliness of registration application processing by constituency.
Dr Penny Dash published her report into the CQC in October 2024. The Government accepted her findings and has since been supporting the CQC to improve rapidly, as well as holding it to account for its performance.
The Department meets regularly with the CQC to review performance. The volume of registration applications and reducing the backlog of registration applications over 10 weeks old is one of the four key priorities discussed at these meetings.
The CQC has been making tangible progress. For all registration application received as care providers and registered managers in England, the percentage of applications older than 10 weeks has reduced significantly, from a peak of 61.1% in May 2024, to 32.9% in July 2025, a reduction of 28.2%.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the National Institute for Health and Care Research will report on its evaluation into the Sickle Cell Disorder Emergency Department Bypass Unit pilots.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England pilot (Oct 2023 - July 2025) is being independently evaluated by the Rapid Service Evaluation Team (REVAL), which is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and based at the University of Manchester. Preliminary findings are due in September 2025, with full results in December 2025.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 instances of pre-term infants both (a) not receiving the maternal vaccination programme for respiratory syncytial virus and (b) not being eligible for palivizumab.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme to protect newborn infants, via maternal vaccination, was introduced in England in September 2024, in line with independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The National Health Service has also offered high-risk eligible infants a monoclonal antibody called palivizumab over the RSV season since 2010, and continues to do so. Palivizumab is typically reserved for premature infants with specific major underlying medical conditions.
The JCVI is aware that very premature babies are unlikely to benefit from maternal vaccination. In February 2023, the JCVI advised that existing infant risk groups eligible for RSV monoclonal antibody immunisation should preferentially be protected with nirsevimab over palivizumab. In October 2024, the committee supported work being taken forward for a monoclonal antibody programme to protect all very/extremely premature infants, ideally from 2025/26. We are exploring all options to ensure there is effective protection against severe RSV illness for all very premature infants.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timeline is for the publication of an assessment of the (a) efficacy and (b) impact of the maternal vaccination programme for respiratory syncytial virus.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency undertakes monitoring and evaluation of immunisation programmes, including the effectiveness of vaccines. Monitoring and evaluation work has begun for the new respiratory syncytial virus programmes which launched in September 2024 to protect infants through maternal vaccination and for direct protection of older adults. Findings will be published in due course.