Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS care provided to chargeable overseas visitors was recovered through the Immigration Health Surcharge in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is one of the National Health Service’s migrant cost recovery methods and is designed to recover NHS costs attributable to migrants requiring a visa longer than six months.
The current IHS fee of £1,035, £776 for students and children, came into force in February 2024. It was calculated as the value of the healthcare budget for 2023/24 that an “average” IHS payer accounts for and reflects the Department’s most recent estimate of the cost of providing NHS services to IHS payers. The full methodology can be found in Annex A of The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2024, at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2024/16/pdfs/ukia_20240016_en.pdf
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the planned inclusion of menopause in women’s health checks from 2026, what preparations his Department is making for that change.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will be working with experts, including general practitioners, over the coming months to design the menopause content for the NHS Health Check.
The NHS Health Check Best Practice Guidance will be updated to reflect the addition of menopause, and it will be for local authority commissioners to implement this through their NHS Health Check providers and to ensure that staff have adequate training. This will support eligible women to access high quality information on the menopause including advice on managing symptoms and where to seek support plus treatment options.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 introduce interim access to omaveloxolone for Friedreich’s Ataxia patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new, licensed medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.
NICE is unable to make a recommendation about the use in the NHS of omaveloxolone for treating Friedreich's ataxia in people aged 16 years old and over. This is because the company, Biogen, withdrew its evidence submission. NICE will review its decision if the company decides to make a new submission. Further information can be found at the following link:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta11431
NHS England does not fund medicines where the company has not engaged with NICE. This is to avoid a potential pathway for circumventing the NICE appraisal process.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 levels of readmission rates among mental health inpatients aged 0-17.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of readmissions and the percentage of all admissions that were readmissions for children and young people’s mental health inpatient services, for 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, and from April to August of 2025/26:
Year | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Number of readmissions | 197 | 196 | 157 | 83 |
Percentage of admissions that were readmissions | 7.9% | 8.7% | 7.5% | 9.3% |
Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England.
A readmission is any admission which takes place within 90 days of a previous discharge, for the same patient.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost incurred by children and young people from North Norfolk for attending their cancer treatment in the nearest specialist treatment centre in Cambridge; how many of them are not receiving support for their travel costs; and whether he will introduce a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund to support with these costs.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to expand early intervention and targeted mental health support for men at risk of suicide in rural constituencies.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including in rural constituencies such as West Dorset. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App.
We are expanding NHS Talking Therapies so that 915,000 people, including men, complete a course of treatment by March 2029, with improved effectiveness and quality of services. We will also expand individual placement and support for severe mental illness so that 73,500 people receive access by March 2028.
The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in 2023, identifies middle aged men as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. The strategy also identifies key risk factors for suicide, providing an opportunity for effective early intervention. One of the key visions of the strategy is to reduce the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health, so that people feel able to seek help through the routes that work best for them. This includes raising awareness that no suicide is inevitable.
On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks, and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.
Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience.
We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk of taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of de-transitioners reporting harm from puberty blockers; and whether his Department considered this data as part of its approval of the trial.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is currently no registry in place in the United Kingdom that routinely collects data that is specific to individuals who choose to detransition at any point following a previous medical intervention for gender reassignment.
Last month, NHS England published a Call for Evidence aimed at healthcare professionals and medical bodies to gather evidence on the care needs of individuals who choose to detransition, in line with the recommendations of the Cass Review. NHS England will publish plans for the establishment of a clinical detransition pathway in 2026, informed by the outcome of the Call for Evidence and a review of the published evidence.
The PATHWAYS trial has been subject to extensive scientific, clinical, ethical, and regulatory approvals. It was approved by an independent National Institute for Health and Care Research funding committee, with the final protocols all subject to rigorous approval processes from both the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Health Research Authority, including review by an independent Research Ethics Committee.
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, what steps his department are taking to ensure people have access to adequate counselling support for disability diagnoses.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs.
More people, including those experiencing depression and anxiety associated with a disability, now have better access to counselling support provided through NHS Talking Therapies services. We have increased the number of therapy sessions so that more than 670,000 people completed a course of treatment last year, compared to 567,000 in 2016/17.
We plan to expand NHS Talking Therapies still further so that 915,000 people complete a course of treatment by March 2029, with improved effectiveness and quality of services.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide redress for mesh and sodium valproate families.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - 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. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report. I will also be meeting the Patient Safety Commissioner in due course.