Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is undertaking a review into the prevalence of the over-diagnosis of mental health conditions and neurodivergence.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced on 4 December 2025, via a Written Ministerial Statement, the launch of an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism.
The Government is deeply concerned that many adults, young people, and children with mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. Therefore, we are launching this review to understand the rise in the prevalence and demand for services, so people receive the right support at the right time and in the right place.
The review will look to understand, with regard to mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, the similarities and differences regarding prevalence, early intervention and treatment, the current challenges facing clinical services, and the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation, and treatment improve outcomes for individuals.
Professor Peter Fonagy will chair the review with the support of two vice chairs, Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Gillian Baird. The review will appoint an advisory working group of leading academics, clinicians, epidemiological experts, charities, and people with lived experience to directly shape the recommendations and scrutinise the evidence. The Terms of Reference have been published on GOV.UK website and are available at the following link:
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 impact of (a) the Government’s plans to bring NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care and (b) the planned 50% reduction in integrated care board staffing on those boards’ capacity to safeguard children, including their effective participation in multi-agency child protection teams proposed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will publish an impact assessment of its plan to bring NHS England into the Department alongside the primary legislation to enact this reform. We do not expect the integration to have an impact on the capacity of integrated care boards (ICBs) to safeguard children, as the existing safeguarding functions of ICBs will be retained.
To ensure ICBs maintain effective safeguarding functions throughout the reform, NHS England has shared best practice on safeguarding with ICBs earlier this year. In November 2025, NHS England also published a strategic commissioning framework for ICBs with a focus on collaboration with local government and wider system partners.
Safeguarding partners, including health, have a legal duty to work together to safeguard and promote children’s welfare, including through the proposed Multi Agency Child Protection Teams. There is no intention to change this duty through the ICB reform.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 76564 on Surgery: Waiting Lists, what discussions he had with NHS England on (a) the introduction of NHS standard contract technical guidance for 2025-26 and (b) provisions for minimum waiting times before publication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following consultation, NHS England publishes the NHS Standard Contract annually for use by commissioners in contracting for National Health Service-funded healthcare services. The Department is involved in the consultation process on the Standard Contract. Technical guidance is published for information alongside the Standard Contract consultation. Its purpose is to advise commissioners and providers on how to apply the contract.
NHS England develops the standard contract technical guidance in collaboration with the system to ensure it provides the support required for both commissioners and providers to apply the contract requirements and to deliver on Operational Planning Guidance.
The Department has ongoing discussions with NHS England on waiting times. As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to hit those targets and providers are working hard to deliver this commitment.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 76564 on Surgery: Waiting Lists, whether NHS England holds information on which ICBs use minimum waiting times for elective care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following consultation, NHS England publishes the NHS Standard Contract annually for use by commissioners in contracting for National Health Service-funded healthcare services. The Department is involved in the consultation process on the Standard Contract. Technical guidance is published for information alongside the Standard Contract consultation. Its purpose is to advise commissioners and providers on how to apply the contract.
NHS England develops the standard contract technical guidance in collaboration with the system to ensure it provides the support required for both commissioners and providers to apply the contract requirements and to deliver on Operational Planning Guidance.
The Department has ongoing discussions with NHS England on waiting times. As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to hit those targets and providers are working hard to deliver this commitment.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what meetings or engagements Ministers or senior officials from his department have had with any of the following patient organisations to discuss newborn screening: (a) Genetic Alliance UK (b) UK LSD Collaborative (c) UK Newborn Screening Collaborative (d) ArchAngel MLD Trust (e) MPS Society (f) MLD Support Association UK (g) SMA UK (h) Immunodeficiency UK (i) Alex, The Leukodystrophy Charity (j) Metabolic Support UK, since July 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to improving the lives of people living with rare diseases through the UK Rare Diseases Framework, which includes faster diagnosis as one of its four priorities.
In all aspects of population and targeted screening, ministers are advised by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). When assessing the case for newborn screening for rare diseases, as with all other diseases and conditions, the UK NSC uses internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. It is only where the UK NSC is confident that the offer to screen provides more good than harm that a screening programme is recommended. When the UK NSC makes a screening recommendation, ministers are then asked to consider and make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation.
This year, the UK NSC secretariat carried out a review of the committee’s stakeholder engagement strategy and activities. The review included an online survey and three focused stakeholder discussion groups that were attended by a total of 17 external stakeholders, including seven representatives of patient organisations representing rare diseases affecting newborns. The UK NSC stakeholder strategy is being updated to incorporate their valuable feedback and is expected to be published in early 2026.
Although the Department screening team supporting the UK NSC has limited capacity to meet with individual stakeholders, they actively involve and engage with stakeholders and partners in other ways. For example:
The Department screening team meets regularly with the Department’s rare diseases team to discuss overlapping areas of work. The rare diseases team have working relationships with the wider rare diseases community and junior officials have met with Genetic Alliance UK.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the National Screening Committee and the newborn screening programme appropriately consider rare diseases.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
When assessing the case for newborn screening for rare diseases, as with all other diseases and conditions, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) uses internationally recognised criteria, and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. It is only where the UK NSC is confident that the offer to screen provides more good than harm that a screening programme is recommended.
The UK NSC is an independent scientific advisory committee which advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening and supports implementation.