Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will consider providing specialist pelvic physiotherapy provision within the NHS for patients with endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pelvic physiotherapy is an established and expanding component of National Health Service pelvic health services, delivered across maternity, gynaecology, community services, and specialist pathways. Across wider gynaecology and women’s health hubs, pelvic health physiotherapy is routinely offered for pelvic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary/faecal incontinence, prolapse, dyspareunia, and other presentations commonly associated with endometriosis. Multidisciplinary pelvic pain management, including pelvic physiotherapy, is an expected component within women’s health hubs.
The Government is encouraging integrated care boards to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and supporting them to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls. This should enable improved access to pelvic physiotherapy and earlier intervention for conditions such as endometriosis.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is issued to maternity services and safeguarding partners on cannabis use during pregnancy and while caring for new born babies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Maternity services are required to provide care in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on antenatal care and pregnancy, reference code NG201, and complex social factors, reference code CG110. These guidelines specify that women should be asked about substance use, including cannabis use, as part of routine antenatal care.
Women requiring support for substance misuse should be offered a personalised care and support plan which may include referrals to specialist services. NHS England recently published the Improving postnatal care toolkit which aims to support system leaders improve postnatal care. This includes the development of targeted care pathways for vulnerable groups, such as women affected by substance misuse.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
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 16 December 2025 to Question 98794 on Mission Boards, who the internal and external members are of the Health Mission Board.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mission boards have been reformed to become delivery-focused forums benefitting from external and industry expertise, led by the relevant Secretary of State.
The 10-Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, is delivering our Health Mission. Ministers and external stakeholders are involved in a variety of forums to take forward the various elements of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 the availability of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the number of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches employed in the National Health Service in England.
Patients presenting with headaches may be treated through multiple points of contact across primary, urgent, and secondary care, with input from different clinical teams depending on symptoms and severity.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what standardised guidance is available to NHS maternity services regarding a) paternal involvement and b) support for fathers in childbirth.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Midwives have issued guidelines emphasising the importance of involving fathers and partners in maternity and perinatal care. These guidelines set expectations for trusts to adopt family-centred care and to treat fathers as active participants, not just visitors or observers. These resources are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://rcm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/engaging_dads_pocket_guide.pdf
The Department and NHS England do not hold data on the proportion of births in National Health Service facilities at which a father is present.
Asked by: Natalie Fleet (Labour - Bolsover)
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 NHS midwives undertaking trauma-informed training as part of their maternity care training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many National Health Service trusts and Accredited Education Providers such as universities have developed their own training programmes or academic modules around Trauma Informed Care (TIC) for midwives. NHS England is undertaking a rapid scoping exercise on current TIC mandatory and non-mandatory training provision across perinatal services, to assess the merit of more comprehensive TIC training for staff.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will investigate NHS Barts Health Trust funding for the Tower Hamlets Muslim Charity Run; and if he will make it his policy to ensure NHS funds are not used to support events which discriminate against women and offer no alternative single-sex provision.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Tower Hamlets Muslim Charity Run is not funded by NHS Barts Health Trust. National Health Services are available to all, irrespective of sex. The Government does not tolerate discrimination within public services.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to publish proposals for a long-term funding settlement for adult social care during this Parliament.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29 sets out multi-year
settlements for local authorities, including upper tier authorities that have social care responsibilities. As part of this, the government have set out the funding available to local authorities for adult social care over three years, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding being made available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26.
Alongside a document setting out priority outcomes and expectations for local authorities’ delivery of adult social care from 2026-27, the Department of Health and Social Care has published local authority level notional allocations for adult social care to facilitate local authority budget setting and plans to progress the delivery of adult social care priorities. Notional allocations are not formal spend expectations but will instead act as a reference point to support local authorities in budget-setting. These will be reviewed annually to reflect new data and any wider changes in local government funding.
The provisional Local Government Settlement consultation has closed and the government will publish the final details in due course.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 resolve the barrier whereby chiropractors cannot work within the NHS because they are not Allied Health Professionals, but Allied Health Professional status requires employment within the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans by either the Department or NHS England to review the list of health and care professions that are represented by the Chief Allied Health Professions officer.
Where there is demand for services, such as those provided by a chiropractor, integrated care boards are able to make independent decisions on which health professionals they employ and may commission a limited amount of such treatment.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
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 limited spaces for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology on workforce diversity and access to the profession.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. The Government is fully committed to attracting, training, and recruiting the mental health workforce of the future, including clinical psychologists.
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.