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, if he has considered the potential merits of establishing a database of licensed weight loss injection providers that is easily accessible to the public.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All GLP-1 medicines, which are licensed injections for weight loss, are prescription only medicines, which means they can only be prescribed by a healthcare professional.
GLP-1 medicines can be purchased privately. A consultation with a healthcare professional must happen before the prescription can be issued, so that the prescriber can carry out proper checks and make sure the patient is aware of the benefits and risks of taking the medicine.
GLP-1 medicines should not be bought from unregulated sellers such as beauty salons or via social media, or from anywhere without a prior consultation with a healthcare professional.
To guarantee receipt of a genuine GLP-1 medicine, it must be acquired from a legitimate pharmacy, including those trading online, with a prescription issued by a healthcare professional.
Patients can check if the pharmacy, online or otherwise, is legitimate. For pharmacies based in Great Britain, patients can check on the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) website whether it is properly registered, which is available at the following link:
https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/registers
For pharmacies based in Northern Ireland, patients can refer to the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) website, which is available at the following link:
https://registers.psni.org.uk/
For further information about use of online pharmacies, patients can also refer to the GPhC’s guide on how to keep safe when getting medicines or treatment online, which is available at the following link:
The GPhC and the PSNI could also be contacted for more information on their actions on helping patients to obtain these medicines safely.
Patients can also visit the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) #FakeMeds website for tools and resources to help purchase medicines or medical devices safely online, with further information available at the following link:
https://fakemeds.campaign.gov.uk/
To promote safe access to GLP-1 medicines and increase public awareness of these resources, the MHRA has published guidance for the public highlighting important information such as how to obtain them safely and key risks to be aware of. Further information on the MHRA’s guidance is available at the following link:
Patients can also check the credentials of the healthcare professional prescribing the medicine via the relevant United Kingdom professional regulator, such as the:
- General Medical Council for doctors;
- the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nurse independent prescribers;
- the GPhC for pharmacists in Great Britain;
- the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland; and
- the respective regulatory bodies for other non-medical prescribers.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Independent Monitoring Board's report entitled Annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/YOI Downview, published on 3 September 2025, what steps he is taking to ensure acutely mentally unwell prisoners are swiftly (a) identified and (b) given care in an appropriate facility at (a) HMP/YOI Downview, (b) other prisons and (c) other young offenders institutions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions prison health care services for HMP/YOI Downview and every other prison and young offenders institution in England. Every prison has onsite health care services including primary care, mental health, dentistry, and substance misuse teams.
The National Service Specification for integrated mental health sets out how patients within secure settings, who require support for their mental wellbeing, should receive the same level of healthcare as people in the community, both in terms of the range of interventions available to them, in order to meet their needs, and the quality and standards of those interventions.
This includes access to crisis intervention and crisis prevention for those at high risk of self-harm and suicide, where such behaviours relate to poor emotional wellbeing and/or minor psychiatric morbidity.
Access to mental health provision is available to every person in prison at any stage of their sentence, beginning at the point of entry. NHS England commissions first night reception screening to have a registered nurse/practitioner review patients’ medical history to address any immediate health needs and risks and to ensure medication is made available as soon as possible and that onward referrals to onsite healthcare teams, including mental health services, for both urgent face to face appointments, within 24 hours, and routine face to face appointments, within five working days, are made.
Outside of reception screening, people in prison can be referred or can self-refer to mental health services, within those timeframes.
When someone is acutely unwell, they can be transferred from prisons and other places of detention to hospital for treatment, under the Mental Health Act, within the target transfer period of 28 days. The Mental Health Bill, currently going through Parliament, introduces a statutory 28-day time limit within which agencies must seek to ensure individuals who meet the criteria for detention under the act are transferred to hospital for treatment. NHS England’s South East Health and Justice team is funding a transfer and remissions co-ordinator from January 2025, to improve, where possible, safe, effective, and efficient transfers to hospital level treatment and interventions.
NHS England is reviewing the National Integrated Prison Service Specification to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the prison population.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when NICE plans to review (a) guideline NG17 for Type 1 diabetes in adults and (b) guideline NG18 for Diabetes (type 1 and type 2) in children and young people; and what the timelines are for the next updates.
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 translating evidence into authoritative evidence-based guidance for the health and care system on best practice, in order to drive improved outcomes for patients.
NICE currently has no plans to update guidelines NG17 and NG18. NICE takes a proactive approach to surveillance, monitoring for changes in the evidence base that may impact on its recommendations. Topics for new or updated guidance are considered through the NICE prioritisation process. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by an integrated, cross-organisational prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's news story entitled, Update on Gaza medical evacuation scheme, published on 22 August 2025, what estimate he has made with Cabinet colleagues on the number of Gazan (a) children and (b) immediate family members that will be accepted for evacuation and treatment in the UK.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Statement HCWS899 made to the House on 1 September 2025 by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
The safety, privacy, and wellbeing of these severely ill and vulnerable patients and their families remains our absolute priority. We will not be providing further operational details on the numbers who have arrived at this stage.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is responsible for the (a) national and (b) regional (i) adoption and (ii) spread of health innovation within the NHS; and what role the Health Innovation Network and Integrated Care Systems play in this process.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Act 2006, NHS England has a statutory duty to promote innovation in the provision of health services. The Health and Care Act 2022 extends this duty to each integrated care board (ICB), requiring them to promote innovation as part of their planning and commissioning responsibilities.
Nationally, NHS England supports the adoption and spread of innovation through programmes such as the NHS Innovation Service, Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme, and the NHS Innovation Accelerator. NHS England also works alongside the Department and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) to develop national policy and coordinate action to strengthen the health innovation ecosystem.
Innovation is a central theme of both the 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan. The latter sets out specific actions and assigns senior responsible officers across NHS England, the Department, OLS, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, reflecting the shared national responsibility for supporting innovation.
Regionally, Health Innovation Networks (HINs), commissioned by NHS England and OLS, support the adoption and spread of innovations across England through, but not limited to, building capacity to serve integrated care system (ICS) needs, supporting ICSs with the roll-out of national innovation programmes, real-world evaluation, and supporting local-to-national adoption. Each HIN serves its local population but also works as part of a network to share learning and support the spread of innovation across England.
Ultimately, ICBs and National Health Service providers are the commissioners of services. They decide whether to procure new products, services, or technologies based on local priorities, evidence of benefit, affordability, and alignment with system plans.
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, how many patients in England are receiving treatment with the Optune Tumour Treating Fields device; and at which NHS Trusts such treatment is available.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) considered the use of tumour treating fields (TTF) in its guideline on brain tumours, reference code NG99, published in 2018 and recommended that the treatment should not be offered by the National Health Service for the management of newly diagnosed glioblastoma or recurrent high-grade glioma, based on an assessment of the evidence available at the time.
Decisions on whether guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence are taken by the NICE prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer, in line with its published prioritisation framework. NICE’s prioritisation board considered TTF for glioblastoma in July 2024, where they agreed the topic should not be prioritised but reconsidered when relevant key trials have completed.
At the meeting on 15 September 2025, the topic was reconsidered. The prioritisation board noted that some trials are ongoing, including a key trial that is likely to be published in 2026, and consequently agreed that the topic should still not be prioritised at this time, but revisited once those trials have been published.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 improve the health outcomes of veterans in the West Midlands.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As well as being able to access all National Health Services across the United Kingdom, NHS England has introduced several bespoke services to improve the healthcare support available to veterans. These are: Op RESTORE which supports veterans with service-related physical health problems; Op COURAGE which supports veterans with a mental health pathway; and Op NOVA which supports veterans in the justice system.
In addition, the veteran-aware trust and the veteran-friendly accreditation schemes raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the specific needs of veterans. These schemes provide support to ensure appropriate signposting and referrals to relevant veteran and wider services within the NHS. All trusts in the West Midlands have been accredited as veteran aware and all primary care networks in the West Midlands have at least one accredited practice.
In May 2025, a national training and education plan was announced to help veterans benefit from improved and targeted healthcare. NHS staff across England will receive dedicated training to help them identify and support patients with military backgrounds. This will be rolled out across the NHS from November 2025.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the commercial arrangements made by NHS England with marketing authorisation holders between January 2020 and September 2025 involving indication-specific pricing were for indications for (a) rare non-oncology and (b) ultra-rare non-oncology conditions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between January 2020 and September 2025, NHS England entered into 75 commercial arrangements involving indication-specific pricing. Of these, eight of the commercial agreements have involved indication-specific pricing for rare non-oncology conditions, and of those eight, two were for indications classed as ultra-rare non-oncology conditions.
Please note that the following definitions of rare and ultra rare non-oncology conditions have been applied: rare, meaning a condition which affects less than 1 in 2,000 people, as per the National Health Service rare diseases framework; and ultra-rare, meaning a condition affecting 1 in 50,000 people or fewer in England.
Asked by: Warinder Juss (Labour - Wolverhampton West)
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 the proposals in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's final draft guidance, issued on 14 August 2025, to not recommend using cerliponase alfa, also called Brineura, for the treatment of children newly diagnosed with neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2, also called CLN2.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes its decisions independently of the Government and in line with its carefully developed methods and processes. It would not therefore be appropriate for the Department to comment on or intervene in NICE’s decision making. However, these are very difficult decisions to make, and NICE recognises that they have real and important implications for patients. It only publishes final guidance on the use of a medicine after a very careful consideration of the evidence and a consultation with stakeholders.
NICE has not yet concluded its appraisal. It has received two appeals against its draft recommendation which will be heard by NICE’s independent appeal panel on 25 November 2025. Progress of the appraisal is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-hst10061
Brineura is currently available to National Health Service patients for a limited period, under a managed access agreement that was agreed in 2019. This will ensure continued access for patients who have already started treatment. It will also ensure continued access for patients who begin treatment either before the agreement ends in December or when NICE publishes its final recommendations, depending on which is sooner.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 20 October 2025 to Question 77257 on North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust: Medical Records, when he expects discussions between NHS England regional and national colleagues to take place on the (a) approvals and (b) funding for the outline business case.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust is currently part way through the business case process for a new Electronic Patient Record, working to submit its outline business case (OBC) in 2026. NHS England is supporting them to produce a robust and affordable OBC which meets their core capabilities as set out by the NHS England Frontline Digitisations Programme. This includes providing procurement support, subject matter expertise, and funding, including capital and revenue.
Hinchingbrooke has also recently submitted its strategic outline case for its new hospital as part of the NHP, which was considered by the Joint Investment Committee on 22 October 2025, and a decision is pending.