Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all members of the NHS workforce, including psychologists, dietitians, nurses, and pharmacists, receive mandatory training on weight management support, recognising obesity as a life-long relapsing condition.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the National Health Service workforce is provided with high-quality training to support them to deliver quality care to patients living with obesity.
The curricula for postgraduate specialty training are developed by royal colleges and faculties and approved by the General Medical Council. Standards of education and proficiency are the responsibility of the statutorily independent professional regulators.
Individual employers are responsible for appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development to ensure they continue to provide safe and effective care. NHS England and other organisations support employers and the NHS workforce by providing and signposting to evidence‑based training resources on weight management. These include programmes that incorporate behavioural approaches, and in some cases psychological elements, available through platforms such as e‑Learning for Healthcare, the Royal College of General Practitioners Obesity Hub, and the Strategic Centre for Obesity Professional Education programme.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 align the number of nursing graduates with the availability of entry-level jobs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 11 August 2025, the Government announced the Graduate Guarantee for nurses and midwives. The guarantee will ensure that there are enough positions for every newly qualified nurse in England. The package of measures will unlock thousands of jobs and will ensure thousands of new posts are easier to access by removing barriers for National Health Service trusts, creating opportunities for graduates and ensuring a seamless transition from training to employment.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of military hospital provision.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Armed Forces personnel in the UK routinely receive secondary care, including specialist hospital treatment, through the NHS, working with the Defence Medical Services (DMS) to ensure that specific defence requirements are met.
The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine is the UK's primary military medical facility. Based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, military medical personnel are integrated with NHS staff to provide specialist treatment for injured military personnel, including those evacuated from overseas. It further serves as a centre for training and research.
Additionally, there are over 1000 military Doctors, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals permanently based in 56 NHS trusts across the UK, ensuring military medics maintain the skills they require to support military operations across the globe and providing essential support to our NHS. Through this partnership, Defence is supporting the government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future with military healthcare professionals routinely treating members of the general public, however, for security reasons they are not always identifiable as being serving members of the Armed Forces.
DMS is working closely with NHS England and health services in the Devolved Administrations to ensure non-deployable personnel awaiting NHS treatment are returned to fighting fitness. Further, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to meet the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) recommendations including rebuilding capacity and capability, in partnership with the NHS, to meet the demands of warfighting.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is being provided to (a) Torbay and (b) Exeter NHS Trusts to recruit and retain specialist cancer nurses and the cancer workforce.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has made good progress in growing and developing the cancer and diagnostics workforce.
In 2024/25, approximately 8,000 people received training to either enter the cancer and diagnostics workforce or develop in their roles. As part of this, over 1,600 people were on apprenticeship courses, with over 270 additional medical specialty training places funded. Over 1,000 clinical nurse specialist (CNS) grants were made available to new and aspiring CNSs across England, including Devon.
We are working to end the postcode lottery for cancer services. NHS England is working with NHS regions and the royal colleges to increase the number of clinical and medical oncology staff overall. In addition, we aim to fill vacancies and expand workforces in trusts that most need more staff, including in rural and coastal areas, to help boost performance.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 help ensure that patients with secondary breast cancer have a clinical nurse specialist allocated to them.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, approximately 8,000 people received training to either enter the cancer and diagnostics workforce or to develop in their roles. As part of this, over 1,600 people were on apprenticeship courses, with over 270 additional medical specialty training places funded. Over 1,000 clinical nurse specialist grants were made available to new and aspiring clinical nurse specialists.
NHS England is also investing in structured career development and education support. The Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development programme provides a nationally agreed framework for capability, career development, and education for nurses, allied health professionals, and the support workforce working in cancer care. This is also beneficial for the training and development of clinical nurse specialists working in breast cancer care.
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, how many neurologists working in the NHS have specialist training in Parkinson’s disease in (a) England and (b) Coventry and Warwickshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold a central count of the number of specialist Parkinson’s nurses employed across the National Health Service, either in England as a whole or in Coventry and Warwickshire specifically.
Specialist Parkinson’s nurses play a vital role in supporting people with Parkinson’s disease through personalised care, medicines management, and advice on self‑management. However, these posts are not recorded as a discrete workforce category in national workforce datasets. Workforce planning, including decisions about the number and type of specialist nurses needed locally, is the responsibility of individual employers and their integrated care boards (ICBs), which are best placed to assess the needs of their populations.
The Department does not hold data on the number of neurologists with specialist training in Parkinson’s disease, either nationally in England or within Coventry and Warwickshire. National workforce datasets do not record condition‑specific sub‑specialisms within neurology, and responsibility for determining local specialist workforce configurations rests with individual employers and ICBs.
As of October 2025, there are 51 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of neurology within the Coventry and Warwickshire ICB area. This is a decrease of one, or 2.2%, compared to last year and an increase of 23, or 79.3%, compared to five years ago. This includes 21 FTE consultants. This is an increase of two, or 9.9%, compared to last year and six, or 41.5%, compared to five years ago.
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, how many specialist Parkinson’s nurses are currently employed within the NHS in (a) England and (b) Coventry and Warwickshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold a central count of the number of specialist Parkinson’s nurses employed across the National Health Service, either in England as a whole or in Coventry and Warwickshire specifically.
Specialist Parkinson’s nurses play a vital role in supporting people with Parkinson’s disease through personalised care, medicines management, and advice on self‑management. However, these posts are not recorded as a discrete workforce category in national workforce datasets. Workforce planning, including decisions about the number and type of specialist nurses needed locally, is the responsibility of individual employers and their integrated care boards (ICBs), which are best placed to assess the needs of their populations.
The Department does not hold data on the number of neurologists with specialist training in Parkinson’s disease, either nationally in England or within Coventry and Warwickshire. National workforce datasets do not record condition‑specific sub‑specialisms within neurology, and responsibility for determining local specialist workforce configurations rests with individual employers and ICBs.
As of October 2025, there are 51 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of neurology within the Coventry and Warwickshire ICB area. This is a decrease of one, or 2.2%, compared to last year and an increase of 23, or 79.3%, compared to five years ago. This includes 21 FTE consultants. This is an increase of two, or 9.9%, compared to last year and six, or 41.5%, compared to five years ago.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in Chelmsford to recruit and retain specialist cancer nurses and cancer workforce.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and NHS England are acting to ensure that we train the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it including at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSEFT).
In 2024/25, an estimated 8,000 people received training to either enter the cancer and diagnostics workforce or develop in their roles.
NHS England has also been expanding specialty training places in key professions, including histopathology, clinical radiology, and gastroenterology. Targeted national campaigns and outreach activities, for example in clinical oncology, also promote cancer career pathways, with a focus on increasing applications.
Additionally, NHS England Workforce, Training and Education and the East of England Cancer Alliance work closely with MSEFT to understand local training needs. Together, they coordinate and allocate funding to ensure the cancer nursing workforce has access to the development pathways it requires, supporting both recruitment and long-term retention.
MSEFT is preparing to launch an oncology nursing rotation across oncology wards, the chemotherapy unit and clinical nurse specialist (CNS) teams. Many of these CNS roles sit within the cancer division, supporting the development of competencies, and enable structured career progression for nurses alongside programmes of reform for workforce.
To improve retention, NHS England is investing in structured career development and education support. The Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development programme provides a nationally agreed framework for capability, career development, and education for nurses, allied health professionals, and the support workforce working in cancer care.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides on the minimum training and professional standards required for healthcare professionals undertaking child protection medicals for safeguarding assessments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Standards of proficiency, conduct, and performance of registered professionals are the statutory responsibility of healthcare regulators, such as the General Medical Council for doctors and the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nurses and midwives, which are independent of the Government. Approved Education Institutions and practice partners develop the specific content and design of training programmes to meet these standards. Training programmes are then approved and monitored by the relevant regulator. Practice partners provide practice placements for healthcare students and can include National Health Service trusts, social care, voluntary organisations, and general practices.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many neurologists there are who have specialist training in Parkinson’s; how many geriatricians there are who have specialist training in Parkinson’s; and how many specialist Parkinson’s nurses there are in the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the Department does not hold data specifically on the number of Parkinson’s specialist staff in England, we do hold data on the number of doctors working in the wider specialities of neurology and geriatric medicine. As of August 2025, there were 2,010 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of neurology and 6,284 in geriatric medicine in National Health Service trusts and other organisations in England. This includes 1,025 FTE consultant neurologists and 1,687 FTE consultant geriatricians.
The Department does not hold specific data on the number of specialist Parkinson’s nurses employed in the NHS in England. These roles are commissioned locally by NHS trusts and integrated care boards as part of neurology and movement disorder services.
NHS England has published a service specification for specialised adult neurology services, which includes Parkinson’s disease as part of its scope. This specification sets out requirements for multidisciplinary care, including access to Parkinson’s disease nurse specialists, consultant neurologists and allied health professionals.
NHS England is also implementing initiatives such as the Neurology Transformation Programme and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aim to improve access to specialist care, reduce variation, and develop integrated models of service delivery for conditions including Parkinson’s disease. These programmes align with the National Institute for Care Excellence guidance on Parkinson’s disease, reference code NG71, which recommends that people with Parkinson’s have regular access to specialist staff with expertise in the condition.