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 adequacy of wheelchair provision services in Derbyshire.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, and NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services.

Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required.

NHS England is taking steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, including wheelchair provision, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.

On 1 April 2025, the NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB appointed Blatchford Ltd to run wheelchair services.

The NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB provided additional funding to address the most clinically urgent, long-standing patients that are waiting for a wheelchair and is monitoring with Blatchford on a weekly basis. There are, however, still 1,000 long-standing patients currently waiting for a wheelchair.

The NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB has put in place a clinical priority plan developed jointly between the NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB and Blatchford Ltd to address long-standing patients. As of Mid-November 2025, with regard to long-standing patients waiting for a wheelchair, there has been a 56% deduction in adults and a 54% reduction in children and young people. The ICB continues to work through the remaining patients.

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 specific challenges that face adults with learning difficulties in accessing health services; and what actions he is taking to ensure that they receive an acceptable level of service.

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

A learning difficulty is a reduced ability for a specific form of learning and includes conditions such as dyslexia and dyspraxia. These are life-long conditions.

Under the Equality Act 2010, public sector organisations are required to make changes in their approach or provision to ensure that services are accessible to disabled people as well as to everybody else.

Reasonable adjustments can make a real difference to people’s care and are based on physical or mental impairment, not on diagnosis. The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is being rolled out across health and care services to ensure that disabled people’s reasonable adjustments are recorded and shared, enabling support to be tailored appropriately. This is supported by e-learning for all health and social care staff. All organisations that provide National Health Service care or adult social care must also follow the Accessible Information Standard.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population. Further information on specific learning difficulties can be found on the NHS website.

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Found: With best regards, Mr Toby Perkins MP Chair, Environmental Audit Committee

Found: With best regards, Mr Toby Perkins MP Chair, Environmental Audit Committee

Found: Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield and Staveley, said: “This is hugely disappointing news.

Found: Current membership Mr Toby Perkins (Labour; Chesterfield) (Chair) Olivia Blake (Labour; Sheffield Hallam

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins; Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins; Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla

Found: Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) Registered in England and Wales | Reg No 07015240 Toby Perkins

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla Denyer

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla Denyer

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla Denyer

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla Denyer

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Carla Denyer

Air pollution is a serious threat to both public health and the natural environment. It has been linked to heart disease, strokes, cancer, asthma and impacts on lung development in children. Tens of thousands of lives are being shortened in the UK by air pollution, according to the Chair of the Environment Agency.