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, whether he plans to publish the new health strategy in this calendar year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The strategy will be informed by the Call for Evidence which closed on 17 July 2025. We aim to launch the Men’s Health Strategy later this year.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 help support (a) the Echo Centre in Liskeard and (b) other community-based neuro-rehabilitation services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) is currently funding a community neuro-rehabilitation group meeting in the Echo centre in Liskeard. This has supported 48 people since January 2025, via a thirteen-week course, in a supportive group environment, to develop the skills, strength, and confidence to manage their condition independently and reduce their need for wider health and care services.
A community neurorehabilitation and stroke therapy team is funded by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB and provided by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to provide assessments, treatment, and management for people with stroke and complex neurological conditions. This includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and supporting people with complex hospital discharges.
Further work is underway to understand the impact of the group course held at the Echo centre, the need for wider services, and how the people receiving, or waiting for, neurorehabilitation are using the health and care services. This will be used to inform the longer term commissioning of health and care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and ensure they best meet the needs of residents.
Additionally, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan, the National Health Service in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is investing in services to prevent, where possible, conditions which require neurorehabilitation, such as strokes, and to reduce and delay the symptoms of conditions such as acquired brain injuries.
In August, NHS England updated its service specification for adult specialised neurology services. It states that neurology patients should have timely access to the full range of inpatient and outpatient specialised neurorehabilitation services. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.
In October, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury. The guideline covers rehabilitation in all settings for children, young people, and adults with a chronic neurological disorder, neurological impairment, or disabling neurological symptoms due to acquired brain injury.
Asked by: Andy MacNae (Labour - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to confirm the funding settlement for Start for Life services from 1 April 2026; whether that funding settlement will include the (a) increased geography and (b) widened age range of the programme; and whether ring-fenced funding will be allocated to provide (i) parent-infant relationship support, (ii) perinatal mental health support and (iii) infant feeding services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out an ambitious agenda for a decade of renewal to create a new model of care to improve the nation’s health. Over the next decade, we will give every child the best start in life by expanding Start for Life services and by integrating zero-to-five-year old’s health and children’s services within communities, with a strong focus on the critical first 1,001 days.
Building on the £126 million funding boost for the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme in 2025/26, an additional £500 million will enable Best Start Family Hubs to be rolled out to every local authority from April 2026.
The Government recognises the importance of providing local authorities with certainty on financial allocations and we will communicate outcomes, including grant details and delivery expectations where applicable, with local authorities when we have more information to share.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to create a pathway for NHS (a) diagnosis and (b) care for (i) hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and (ii) hypermobility spectrum disorders.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the needs of their local population, including for those with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders. It is the responsibility of ICBs, working with clinicians, service users, and patient groups, to develop services and care pathways that meet patients’ needs.
The 10-Year Health Plan for England will improve services for people with EDS and other long-term conditions by shifting care to the community with neighbourhood teams, expanding access to physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and using digital innovation to help patients self-manage and receive more integrated, personalised care. This approach aims to provide more proactive and accessible support by bringing services closer to home and making it easier for patients to access the help they need.
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, when he plans to publish the men’s health strategy; and whether it will include funding to help prevent (a) suicide and (b) premature death for men.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The strategy will be informed by the Call for Evidence which closed on 17 July 2025. We aim to launch the Men’s Health Strategy later this year.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to ensure (a) better patient outcomes and (b) reduced waiting times for residents in Essex awaiting appointments for Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are a number of initiatives at the national level supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s throughout England, including the United Kingdom-wide Neuro Forum, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.
NHS England has established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with Parkinson’s. This focuses on providing access equitably across the country, care as close to home as possible, and early intervention to prevent illness and deterioration in patients with long-term neurological conditions. A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model, which will include components on delivering acute neurology services, improving health equity in neurology, and improving community neurology services.
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, including for Parkinson’s patients in Essex and the rest of England. We have surpassed our commitment to deliver an extra two million elective appointments, having delivered 5.2 million additional appointments in our first year in Government. This marks a vital first step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.
Between August 2024 and August 2025, we reduced the number of incomplete neurology pathways by almost 10,000, or 4.3%, from 236,621 to 226,432, and reduced the average waiting time for neurology services from 16.7 weeks to 15.4 weeks. Additionally, 56.1% of patients referred were seen within 18 weeks, up from 53.1% at the same point last year. This is lower than the national average and we are continuing our efforts to improve this, recognising that this is a challenged specialty.
The January 2025 Elective Reform Plan commits to reforming outpatient services by supporting general practitioners and hospital doctors in working together better, to ensure referrals are used when a patient really needs hospital care, through increased uptake of Advice and Guidance.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing the covid-19 vaccination to pensioners under 75; and how he made that estimate.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
Population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised national programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of those who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. In line with JCVI advice, in autumn 2025 a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed.
The JCVI’s advice for COVID-19 for autumn 2025 was informed by a standard cost-effectiveness assessment, in line with other routine vaccinations in the national immunisation programme, and the JCVI Code of Practice. The JCVI operates within a framework similar to that used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to support optimal use of health service resources.
The JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025, including the rationale and approach to cost effectiveness, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure continuity of care for children with rare or complex conditions when accessing frontline NHS services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to supporting children with long term conditions and ensuring they receive the support they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition, as well as their families and carers receive high-quality, compassionate continuity of care.
Working under the UK Rare Diseases Framework the Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. The framework’s priorities include better coordination of care and increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals, including in primary care. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and published the fourth England action plan on 28 February 2025.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England collects data on outcomes for children with congenital heart conditions who are treated in non-specialist settings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The specific information requested is not held centrally. Information related to the outcomes for children with congenital heart conditions is available through the National Congenital Heart Disease Audit Annual Summary Report. The report does not disaggregate by non-specialist service.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is the Department taking to promote earlier detection, ensure dentists, GPs and other frontline health professionals are trained to identify early warning signs, and improve timely diagnosis and referral for treatment in relation to mouth cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for patients with mouth cancer. Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will include further details on how we will speed up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
To support earlier and faster cancer diagnosis, we are now delivering additional checks, tests, and scans at 170 community diagnostic centres.
Additionally, to help increase early detection of cancer, the Government has recently launched Jess’s Rule, an initiative that asks general practitioners (GPs) to think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to diagnose a patient, or their symptoms have escalated.
We are also investing an additional £889 million in GPs, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This will help to ensure that we have a well-trained and well-equipped primary care service that can take the time to provide quality care to patients around the country.
Dentists and other dental professionals, including hygienists, routinely check the soft tissues of a patient’s mouth for signs of cancer during dental visits and, as part of the check-up, will make an assessment and record an individual’s oral cancer risk. Dentists will prioritise patients at a higher risk of oral cancer for more frequent recall and review in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.