Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will take forward the recommendations of the report entitled Mental health clinically-led review of standards - Models of care and measurement: consultation response, published on 22 February 2022, including the development of an access standard for non-urgent community mental health care.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the clinically-led review, data is now available showing the number of referrals for urgent mental health crisis care (specifically Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams), by level of urgency, and the number responded to within the appropriate timeframe for that level of urgency. These are for new urgent referrals within 24 hours; and new very urgent emergency referrals within 4 hours. This data is available at the following link on the National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
As there are numerous different services and patient pathways provided within the mental health sector, there is no single waiting list standard and there are multiple ways of measuring how many people are waiting for the start of support, help or treatment.
With regard to accessing non-urgent community mental health services, as part of the mental health clinically-led review of standards in 2022, NHS England has collaboratively developed additional mental health waiting times metrics across NHS-funded urgent and emergency care, and NHS-funded community mental health services. While no specific waiting times standard for community mental health services has been set, the review recommended four weeks.
Some children and young people who have a mental health need as part of a referral pathway may also have other needs. NHS England has tried to separate out referrals in a way that shows more clearly where waits lie without enforcing a hard, exclusionary line that might lead to perverse incentives, longer waits and the risk that children and young people are left with no support. From December 2025, some limited breakdowns of children and young people’s waits have been published, with four broad groups: (a) autism; (b) other neurodevelopmental; (c) gender identity; and (d) all other waits. This last group is expected to be mostly mental health related waits. As a single patient referral spell may be included in multiple groups, NHS England also publishes an indicator of the overlap between this last group, and the other groups.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 trends in the waiting times for children and young people to start community eating disorder treatment, based on the data published by NHS England.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government keeps waiting time data for children and young people’s community eating disorder services under close review, drawing on the statistics published regularly by NHS England.
We recognise that demand for eating disorder services has increased in recent years and that performance varies across the country. That is why we are reforming eating disorder services so that children and young people can access timely, effective support when they need it, rather than after their condition has escalated.
This shift towards prevention and stronger community-based support underpins the new National Health Service guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services, published last month. The guidance makes clear that children and young people should receive timely, joined-up care delivered as close to home as possible.
The Government is also recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across the NHS to increase capacity and ensure that help is available when and where it is needed. NHS England continues to work with integrated care boards to improve performance against national access standards and reduce unwarranted variation in waiting times.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help reduce geographic variation in waiting times for children and young people to start community eating disorder treatment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that there is unacceptable geographic variation in waiting times for children and young people accessing community eating disorder treatment.
We are reforming eating disorder services to ensure that children and young people can access timely, effective support when they need it, rather than after their condition has escalated. This shift towards prevention and stronger community-based support underpins the new National Health Service guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services, published last month. The guidance makes clear that children and young people should receive timely, joined-up care delivered as close to home as possible.
In addition to the updated guidance, NHS England has commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a National All-Age Audit of Eating Disorders. The audit seeks to drive improvement of the identification and appropriate management of eating disorders and the quality and consistency of services for children and young people, adults of working age, and older adults. The audit covers both community and inpatient settings. A key part of this work is to produce a report that will map out eating disorder services in England and the care offered by them. In understanding what variation exists, we can begin to address the variation in care provision.
To support this, the Government is recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across the NHS to increase capacity and ensure that help is available when and where it is needed. NHS England continues to work with integrated care boards to improve performance, reduce unwarranted variation, and ensure services meet national access standards so that all children and young people can access high-quality eating disorder care regardless of where they live.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 merits of commissioning national training to support the workforce delivering eating disorder services for children and young people.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the workforce delivering eating disorder services for children and young people has the right skills and training.
NHS England already has extensive eating disorder training in place for staff across both mental and physical health services, covering awareness and specialist up-skilling. This includes e-learning and simulation training for doctors, general practitioners, and primary care clinicians, nurses across all four branches, acute hospital staff, dietitians, and pharmacy teams.
Following the 2017 Ombudsman report Ignoring the Alarms, NHS England worked with Beat and the Royal College of Psychiatrists to strengthen training on the safe medical management of eating disorders. More recently, NHS England has commissioned further specialist training, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Eating Disorders Credential, family-based therapies, cognitive behavioural therapy for eating disorders, and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder training.
We will continue to work with NHS England to ensure that the workforce is appropriately trained and supported to deliver high-quality, evidence-based care.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Psychiatrists' report entitled National Audit of Eating Disorders Service Mapping Report 2025, published in December 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national access and waiting time standard for adults with eating disorders.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While no such specific assessment has been made, we recognise the devastating impact an eating disorder can have on someone’s life, and that the earlier treatment is provided, the greater the chance of recovery. We are carefully considering the findings of the National Audit of Eating Disorders Service Mapping Report 2025.
We are working with NHS England to improve community-based eating disorder services, including crisis care and intensive home treatment, to boost outcomes and recovery, reduce rates of relapse, prevent eating disorders continuing into adulthood and, if admission is required as a very last resort, reduce lengths of stay.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Future Homes Standard on the delivery of high-quality, future-proofed homes that reduce energy bills for residents; and whether the Standard will include requirements on the installation of solar photovoltaic panels on suitable new homes.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homes built under the Future Homes Standard will be future proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and cutting consumer energy bills.
A full impact assessment will be published in due course.
Government have confirmed that the Future Homes Standard will include solar panels and that we expect them to be installed in the majority of new homes. Installing solar panels on new build homes could save families hundreds of pounds a year, while also strengthening energy security by reducing exposure to international gas markets.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that the merging of ICBs will not result in wider use of BMI as a pre-requisite for joint replacement surgery in England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of individual integrated care boards (ICBs) to determine clinical commissioning policies, such as eligibility for joint replacement surgery, for their local areas, including when an ICB is the result of a merger.
As with all surgery, body mass index (BMI) should be considered as part of a holistic, personalised perioperative evaluation of the risks versus the clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. As per National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, BMI should not be considered in isolation as a barrier to surgery.
As part of the National Health Service Elective Reform Plan, the Government has committed to expanding access to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme for patients waiting for hip and knee replacements. This will help optimise patients for their surgery, potentially leading to a reduced length of hospital stay and minimising their risk of post-operative complications.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many integrated care boards have activity management plans in place; and which integrated care boards have activity management plans in place for planned care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold this information centrally. Integrated care boards have contractual powers to manage activity by providers, which were enhanced in 2025/26 with central support for setting and managing activity. The NHS Standard Contract includes the ability to set indicative activity plans to help providers and commissioners plan demand, capacity, and expenditure. While not binding, if activity exceeds the agreed plan, and therefore the funding agreed, an activity management plan can be agreed to bring activity back in line.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 increase the number of rheumatologists working in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.
This Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to help support the Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative UK, including to improve understanding of the genetic and environmental factors associated with such conditions and to develop more effective treatments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care including eating disorders.
Through the NIHR, the Department directly supports the Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative UK (EDGI), which is a collaboration between King’s College London, NIHR BioResource, and the eating disorder charity Beat. EDGI is the largest study of eating disorders ever conducted in England, aiming to collect psychological, medical, and genetic information of 10,000 people with experience of an eating disorder.
The NIHR recently partnered with other mental health research funders (the Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Medical Research Foundation) in a funding initiative that supports new collaborations in eating disorders research, bringing together eating disorders experts and researchers not previously involved in this field. Funded work includes studies that examine biological and environmental risk factors for eating disorders, and work that collaborates with the EDGI project.