Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish a response to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report of February 2024 regarding funding redress issues for those harmed by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government departments.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many yellow card reports of (1) tinnitus (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) code 10043882), and (2) worsening of tinnitus (MedDRA code 10048029), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency received in each year since 2014, and what medications those reported were linked to.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses the available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, including amending the product information.
The MHRA has received a total of 11,348 United Kingdom based reports through the Yellow Card scheme associated with reaction term tinnitus, including worsening of tinnitus, from 1 January 2014 up to and including 27 November 2025. The reports received between 2014 and 2025 were for a wide range of medicinal products which include antidepressants, hormonal medicines, vaccines, antipsychotics, antibiotics, cardiovascular medicines, drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sedatives, drugs used to treat dementia and diabetes, drugs used to treat osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease, and pain. The following table shows a yearly breakdown of reports associated with tinnitus, from 2014 to 2025, and in total:
Year | Number of reports |
2014 | 147 |
2015 | 164 |
2016 | 230 |
2017 | 206 |
2018 | 197 |
2019 | 205 |
2020 | 212 |
2021 | 7,208 |
2022 | 1,248 |
2023 | 578 |
2024 | 495 |
2025 | 458 |
Total | 11,348 |
It is important to note that anyone can report to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme and the recording of these reports in the Yellow Card database does not necessarily mean that the adverse reactions have been caused by the suspect drug. Many factors must be considered in assessing causal relationships, including temporal association, the possible contribution of concomitant medication, and the underlying disease. We encourage reporters to report suspected adverse reaction reports, and the reporter does not have to be sure of a causal association between the drug and the reactions, as a suspicion will suffice.
The number of reports received cannot be used as a basis for determining the incidence of a reaction, as neither the total number of reactions occurring, nor the number of patients using the drug, is known. All fatal reports, including those reporting completed suicide, are assessed by the MHRA, and cumulative information is reviewed at regular intervals.
Asked by: Lord Stone of Blackheath (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 21 November (HL11829), whether they plan to ask (1) the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society, and (2) patient bodies such as the Medcan Family Foundation, to contribute to the review of the effect of the 2018 law change to allow access to unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use; and what steps they are taking to ensure that that review includes consultation with scientists and patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 1 November 2018, cannabis-based products for medicinal use were placed in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. The regulations permit the prescribing of these products by, or under the direction of, specialist clinicians on the General Medical Council Specialist Register, and for use in clinical trials.
On 2 June, the Government asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), a statutory independent scientific advisory body that advises the Government on drug-related issues, to review the effects of the 2018 law change. This will look at whether the changes have had the desired impact, and whether there are any unintended consequences. The ACMD is an independent scientific advisory body and determines its own procedures.
The ACMD published a public call for evidence running from 17 September 2025 to 17 October 2025, inviting submissions of evidence from all stakeholders, including, but not exclusive to, clinicians, patient bodies, scientists, and researchers. The Department alerted interested parties to the ACMD call for evidence, including the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society, as secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Cannabis under Prescription, and patient bodies, including the Medcan Family Foundation.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many yellow card reports of visual snow syndrome (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities code 10079450) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency received in each year since 2014, and what medications those reports were linked to.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses the available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, including amending the product information.
The MHRA has received a total of 44 United Kingdom based reports through the Yellow Card scheme associated with the reaction term visual snow syndrome received up to and including 25 November 2025. The table attached shows the yearly breakdown of substances associated with visual snow syndrome, each year from 2017 to 2025.
It is important to note that anyone can report to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme, and the recording of these reports in the Yellow Card database does not necessarily mean that the adverse reactions have been caused by the suspect drug. Many factors must be considered in assessing causal relationships, including temporal association, the possible contribution of concomitant medication, and the underlying disease. We encourage reporters to report suspected adverse reaction reports, and the reporter does not have to be sure of a causal association between the drug and the reactions, as a suspicion will suffice.
The number of reports received cannot be used as a basis for determining the incidence of a reaction, as neither the total number of reactions occurring, nor the number of patients using the drug, is known. All fatal reports, including those reporting completed suicide, are assessed by the MHRA and cumulative information is reviewed at regular intervals.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the remits of the National Director of Patient Experience, the National Quality Board, and the forthcoming Quality Strategy specifically include the quality of care for people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The remits of the National Director of Patient Experience, the National Quality Board, and the forthcoming Quality Strategy will encompass all patient groups, including those with learning disabilities. The remit of the National Director of Patient Experience will include listening to the experiences of people with learning disabilities and understanding their priorities for improvement.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a modern service framework for learning disability services to improve patient outcomes and reduce inequalities, and if so, by when.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to driving service improvements and reducing health inequalities for people with a learning disability. There are currently no plans to introduce a specific modern service framework for learning disability services.
A wide range of work is underway to improve the care of people with a learning disability. The NHS Learning Disability Improvement Standard supports National Health Service trusts by setting guidance on safe, personalised, and high-quality care provision. The standards are designed to support organisations in assessing the quality of their services and to promote uniformity across the NHS in the care and treatment provided to people with a learning disability.
People with a learning disability are identified as a priority cohort in the national Core20PLUS5 programme, which seeks to drive local action on health inequalities. NHS England has developed and embedded indicators to monitor access, experience, and outcomes for Core20PLUS populations.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, ensuring there is senior oversight and accountability for tackling health inequalities. Every ICB has a requirement to consider and demonstrate how they will reduce the health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability and autistic people within their local populations within the five year strategic plans required as part of the Medium-Term Planning Framework issued by NHS England in October 2025.
The NHS Act 2006 requires ICBs to have regard to the need to reduce health inequalities and NHS England produces a Statement of Information on Health Inequalities setting out advice for ICBs on how they can achieve this duty. Published in November 2025, this year the statement includes specific reference to people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to the potential merits of introducing further (a) professional or (b) regulatory requirements for those undertaking ultrasound scans.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no plans to introduce further professional or regulatory requirements for those undertaking ultrasound scans. While there are no legal requirements for those carrying out ultrasound in the United Kingdom to hold specific professional qualifications or registration, all providers in England who provide ultrasound scans must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and meet its fundamental standards, which includes ensuring that anyone carrying out such activity has the appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 ensure that neonatal services are fully incorporated into the scope of the National maternity and neonatal investigation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Baroness Amos has published the terms of reference for the national maternity and neonatal investigation. The terms of reference fully incorporate neonatal care into its aims. The full terms of reference are available at the following link:
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following data reflects employees’ self-declared disability information as of the end of September 2025. The following table shows the number of Department staff who declared as having a mental health condition by grade, as of September 2025:
Grade | Headcount |
Administrative Officer/Executive Officer | 10 |
Higher Executive Officer/Fast Stream/Senior Executive Officer | 60 |
Grade 7/6 | 50 |
Senior Civil Servant | [c] |
Total | 120 |
Note: [c] means the figure is confidential and has been suppressed due to small numbers of less than five
In addition, the following table shows the number of Department staff who declared as having a physical disability by grade, as of September 2025:
Grade | Headcount |
Administrative Officer/Executive Officer | 20 |
Higher Executive Officer/Fast Stream/Senior Executive Officer | 70 |
Grade 7/6 | 60 |
Senior Civil Servant | 10 |
Total | 160 |
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with families who have experienced baby loss on their experience of (a) maternity services and (b) other healthcare provision.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has held a series of meetings with harmed and bereaved families from across the country to hear about their experiences of maternity care and the wider healthcare system, most recently meeting with families failed by maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust. He has also twice visited Nottingham to meet with families involved in the ongoing independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Hon. Member and other local constituency MPs were invited to a meeting. However, the Hon. Member was unable to attend.
The Secretary of State has committed to ensuring the voices of women and families are at the heart of improving standards.