Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to introduce a modern service framework for cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone in the National Health Service is responsible for delivering high-quality care. As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board will oversee the development of a new series of service frameworks.
Between 1997 and 2010, National Service Frameworks were a clinically-led approach to developing guidance that supported sustained improvement in major condition outcomes, including by narrowing inequality and reducing unwarranted variation. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will reintroduce and modernise this approach. These Modern Service Frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery.
Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of Modern Service Frameworks. The criteria for determining other conditions for future Modern Service Frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
Plans to introduce a modern service framework for cancer will be considered as part of the development of the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 support people with early stages of Type 1 Diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing guidance on the use of Teplizumab for delaying the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes in people eight years and over with stage 2 type 1 diabetes. Further information can be found on NICE’s website, and is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta10981.
The expected publication date of the guidance is 26 November 2025.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 ensure the implementation of NHS England’s cervical cancer elimination plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future, restates the National Health Service’s aim to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through improved uptake of cervical screening and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Delivering the plan and making progress towards committed targets is a key priority for NHS England, working with the Department, providers, and wider health system partners.
NHS England continues to develop its strategy, building on the strong foundations of both school-based programmes, ensuring as many young people as possible take up the offer of HPV vaccination, and cervical screening offered by local general practices (GPs) and other venues. Key activities to increase equitable HPV vaccine and screening uptake include:
- all children, both boys and girls aged 12 to 13 years old, or those in Year 8, being offered the HPV vaccine. Vaccinating boys not only helps to protect girls, it also directly benefits them, as HPV vaccination helps to protect boys from HPV related cancers, such as head, neck, and genital cancers. NHS England is taking a multi-pronged approach to improving HPV vaccine uptake. This includes improvements in School Age Immunisations Service provider delivery, investing in better digital services and data, improving access to vaccination services in supplementary settings, and continuing to deliver clear public health messaging;
- ensuring appropriate follow-up for those who have not yet been vaccinated, as NHS England has launched the GP HPV campaign, which went live from July 2025. GPs have been asked to invite unvaccinated individuals aged 16 to 24 years old for their HPV vaccine as a requirement of the GP Contract. The campaign runs until 31 March 2026;
- NHS England working with the Department and the UK Health Security Agency to develop options for HPV catch-up vaccination through community pharmacies from 2026;
- improving confidence in vaccinations, by working with Government partners to deliver improved campaigns that raise awareness of vaccination;
- indicating our intention to transform our approach to cervical screening for under-screened women or people with a cervix in July 2025. From early 2026, they will receive home testing kits, starting with those that are the most overdue for screening. This will help to tackle deeply entrenched barriers that keep some away from life-saving screening;
- the Digital Transformation of Screening programme, which is leading an ambitious, end-to-end transformation of screening services, and which is being rolled out in a test and learn way. New digital services will support screening participants to manage their screening appointments via the NHS App as well as delivering new, artificial intelligence ready services for staff, freeing up their time to focus on care;
- taking insight driven approaches to addressing inequalities using both data and behavioural insights to target communications and activities to increase uptake and coverage;
- sharing good practice among regions, integrated care boards, and providers, with NHS England having developed a central online resource which includes information on reducing inequalities and supporting equalities, and where all information can be readily accessed by NHS organisations and providers;
- NHS England launching our first ever cervical cancer elimination creative campaign and communications toolkit for Cervical Screening Awareness Week, from 16 to 24 June 2025. This will continue to be developed;
- engaging and maintaining relationships with stakeholders, which will be central to the ongoing delivery of the Cervical Cancer Elimination plan, and ultimately the elimination of cervical cancer in England; and
- carrying out screening in any primary care setting, including sexual health clinics, rather than just at GPs. This includes evenings and on weekends.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not considered shortening the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer. It is, however, a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and to improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the faster diagnosis standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
NHS England is supporting general practitioners in diagnosing ovarian cancer earlier in various ways. This includes encouraging GP direct access to tests for patients who fall outside of urgent suspected cancer referrals and sharing evidence-based assessments of where cancer recognition and referral guidance could be improved with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to inform referral updates. NHS England also funds Gateway-C, an early diagnosis education platform aimed at primary care, which includes a module on ovarian cancer.
Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include targets to improve the diagnosis times for myeloma in the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including myeloma and other blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes.
To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating it faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people aged 18 and over who have speech, language and communication needs.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold a dataset that would support an estimate of the number of people aged 18 years old and over who have speech, language, and communication needs to this degree.
The Government recognises the important role that speech and language therapy services play in supporting people to overcome health and social barriers and enhancing overall quality of life.
All NHS services, including speech and language therapy, should operate in accordance with the best available evidence-based practices. Where sufficient evidence exists, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) publishes formal guidance. Frontline services, including those delivering speech and language therapy, are expected to adhere to NICE guidance wherever it is available and applicable.
The Department continues to work with NHS England and other partners to improve understanding of speech, language and communication needs for people of all ages.
It is the ambition of this Government that, through its commitment to deliver a single patient record, people who have speech, language and communication needs will receive more co-ordinated, personalised and predictive care across the system.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women have died after taking six misoprostol tablets that were prescribed (1) by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service after a telephone consultation, and (2) after a face-to-face consultation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967, registered medical practitioners must notify the Chief Medical Officer of abortions within 14 days. The Department collects information on abortions via the HSA4 abortion notification form. The form does not record the number of misoprostol tablets prescribed by the abortion provider nor whether they received a telephone consultation, therefore the Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 patients with multiple weight-related health conditions who fall below the current NHS eligibility threshold for tirzepatide, also called Mounjaro, are not excluded from other forms of treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - 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 authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the NHS on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE estimated that approximately 3.4 million people are eligible for tirzepatide to treat obesity.
The National Health Service is currently rolling out tirzepatide in primary care, prioritising those with the highest clinical need first. NHS England has worked with clinical experts, integrated care boards, patient and public representatives, healthcare professionals, charities and royal colleges on its prioritisation approach, which it set out in its interim commissioning guidance. This is available at the following link:
As part of the rollout plans, the NHS will look at different service models, including digital and community options and will speed up roll out if possible. Progress on the NHS rollout of tirzepatide will be reviewed by NICE in three years.
For those not currently eligible for tirzepatide, there are a variety of weight management services provided by the NHS and local government. These range from multi-component behavioural programmes to specialist services for those living with severe obesity and associated co-morbidities. All weight management services will have some form of eligibility criteria to ensure that they are targeted at those most likely to benefit. For example, the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is a behavioural programme primarily aimed at adults living with obesity who also have type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of including fruit and nut bars under the restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products on the health of consumers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever.
There are restrictions on high fat, sugar and salt products in relation to advertising and promotions. These restrictions apply to categories of products of most concern for childhood obesity, which were chosen following public consultation. The Nutrient Profiling Model is then applied to products within each category to determine which products are ‘less healthy’ and therefore subject to the restrictions, based on the balance of positive and negative nutrients. This means that, while products that are not high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are unaffected, fruit and nut bars that are high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are in scope of the restrictions.
We have not quantified the impact of specific products within the advertising or promotions restrictions. However, we have published detailed impact assessments on costs and benefits of these policies on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to recognise obesity as a disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not recognise obesity as a disease.
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which the Government accepts and works to, focus on obesity as a complex but preventable public health issue. NICE does not classify obesity as a disease but recognises that it increases the risks of a range of adverse health outcomes including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. NICE provides robust, evidence-based guidance on the identification, prevention and treatment of obesity. NICE guidelines stress the importance of clinical judgement, including considering whether someone is living with another health condition alongside obesity that may be relevant.