Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the Government’s ten year plan ‘Fit for the Future’ in which he states the Government ‘s intention to move health services from hospitals to the community, if he will putlish a list of the current community patient services offered at the Doddington hospital site in Fenland, and for each service the NHS organisation which is responsible for the delivery of those services.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The current community patient services offered at both the North Cambridgeshire site in Wisbech and the Doddington hospital site in Fenland, and the organisations delivering those services, are listed in the attached tables.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the Government’s ten year plan ‘Fit for the Future’ in which he states the Government’s intention to move health services from hospitals to the community, if he will publish a list of the current community patient services offered at the North Cambridgeshire site in Wisbech, and for each service the NHS organisation which is responsible for the delivery of that service.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The current community patient services offered at both the North Cambridgeshire site in Wisbech and the Doddington hospital site in Fenland, and the organisations delivering those services, are listed in the attached tables.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the expected overall value of additional payments to be made to GPs from seeking advice and guidance from hospital consultants for at least 25 per cent of certain referrals in each of the next three years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Neighbourhood Health Framework sets out an ambition to improve how patients are directed to the most appropriate care, including through better use of Advice and Guidance (A&G) between general practices (GPs) and specialist services. There is no target for A&G. The 25% diversion rate referenced in the Neighbourhood Health Framework is based on learning seen in areas where this model is already working well and demonstrates the potential benefit to other systems. The importance of clinical judgment remains unchanged, that if a patient needs a hospital referral, they will get one.

The 2026/27 GP Contract embeds the £82 million of funding from the previous A&G enhanced service into core practice funding. Embedding A&G in the core contract recognises it as routine clinical practice, removes annual signups, and provides more predictable funding while supporting consistent patient pathways.

No separate payments will be made to GPs for each A&G request. As such, the Department has not set an expected overall value of additional payments to be made to GPs seeking A&G from hospital consultants.

The GP Contract does not mandate the use of A&G in all circumstances. Instead, as per the Medium-Term Planning Framework published in October 2025, providers are expected to prioritise A&G prior to or in place of a planned care referral for at least ten specialties, selected locally for the greatest overall benefit and to shape delivery of elective pathways. This does not take away a GP’s right to refer, which remains a matter of clinical judgement. This reflects longstanding planned‑care referral practice and does not alter existing legal or professional accountability frameworks for GPs.

A&G is designed to support quicker, clearer clinical decision making, by enabling GPs and specialist to discuss and agree the most appropriate next steps for a patient. A&G avoids patients having to join lengthy hospital waiting lists and undertake unnecessary appointments where this is in the patient’s best interests and where care can be delivered closer to home. Direct advice from specialists supports joint working between primary and secondary care. Between April 2025 and November 2025, A&G has avoided 1.1 million patients being added to waiting lists, ensuring patients receive the care they need in primary and community settings where appropriate, instead of being added to the elective waiting list unnecessarily.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which key performance indicators he will use to judge the success of his Department's SME Commercial Pathway.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Pathway will be a contributor to the primary measure of success, which is achieving the Ministry of Defence’s target of spending £7.5 billion annually with SMEs, both directly and through the supply-chain, by 2028. The Department is exploring a wider range of indicators to measure the success of our policies in attracting new and smaller suppliers into the defence supply-base, including for example the speed of our procurement and the value of inward investment.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, the average time taken for an SME to obtain security clearance to (a) bid for and (b) deliver a defence contract.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In most instances, it is not necessary for a company or individual to hold security clearance prior to commencing the bidding process for a government contract.

Should access to sensitive information or assets be required either during the bidding phase or for the delivery of the contract, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) project team is responsible for initiating the vetting procedure. Security vetting is conducted by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV), which operates under the Cabinet Office.

The duration of the security vetting process can differ on a case-by-case basis, due to the multiple checks conducted by various agencies. As a result, there is no standard timeframe applicable to all cases.

United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) continues to meet its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across each product type. UKSV KPIs are set and regularly reviewed in consultation with customer groups, governed by ministerial oversight, to ensure demand is balanced whilst maintaining assurance in national security safeguards. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, the (a) number and (b) value of Defence Innovation Loans made in each round since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The number and value of Defence Innovation Loans made since 4 July 2024, by financial year (FY), are as follows:

DIL Round Number Value

Defence Innovation Loan FY2023-24 Cycle 4 1 £881,570

Defence Innovation Loan FY2023-24 Cycle 7 1 £1,247,513

Defence Innovation Loan FY2024-25 Cycle 2 1 £750,000

Defence Innovation Loan FY2024-25 Cycle 5 1 £451,600

TOTAL 4 £3,330,683

Defence Innovation Loans are considered to be “made” when funding is agreed at the end of the two-stage decision process, finalised by the Innovate UK Credit Committee, which can sit several months after the initial DASA/F&G decision conference. This is why two projects appear in this list despite their DIL Cycle being prior to the date stated in the PQ.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to answer question 115383, tabled on 24 February 2026.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I will respond to the right hon. Member shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS sites offering diagnostics have seen at least one modality removed in the last 12 months.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold official data on how many National Health Service sites offering diagnostics have seen at least one modality removed in the 12 months.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Ministry of Defence small and medium-sized enterprise engagement published on 24 March 2026, whether his Department plans to publish the (a) the SME action plan and (b) a direct spending target on the same day as the Defence Investment Plan.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to publishing an annual SME Action Plan as a key element of Defence’s work to improve opportunities for SMEs.

On current plans, the MOD’s full annual SME action plan, including direct spending target will not be published concurrently with the Defence Investment Plan. The action plan which will include a spending target are currently forecast to be published in the second quarter of 2026.

Found: Speaker (Sir Lindsay Hoyle) (Chair), The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir Alan Campbell), Steve Barclay

Found: • EA directed by then Secretary of State Steve Barclay under Section 40 of Environment Act to clear