Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to appointing a National Cardiovascular Disease Director.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has a National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Prevention.
We are committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next ten years and are prioritising ambitious, evidence-led and clinically informed approaches to CVD prevention and care to tackle one of the country’s biggest killers head-on.
To accelerate progress towards this ambition, we will publish a CVD Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year. The framework will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whist fostering innovation across the CVD pathway. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people and communities are at the heart of its development.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Health Innovation Network Impact Report 2024–25, published on 18 September 2025, in relation to the use of point-of-care diagnostic testing technologies for cardiovascular disease prevention in the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government welcomes the Health Innovation Network (HIN) Impact Report 2024/25, and the network's focus on cardiovascular disease as a strategic priority. We recognise the significant impact of the HINs in driving innovation into the National Health Service, benefitting 4.9 million patients and leveraging £3 billion of investment since 2018. This is why the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan make explicit commitments to continue funding and empowering them.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework later this year.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to clinicians to provide a standardised approach to effective interventions for treatment of cardiovascular disease conditions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) later this year.
The Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people, and communities are at the heart of its development. These frameworks will identify the best evidenced interventions that would support progress towards this goal, with a focus on those with the best means to drive up value and equity. Furthermore, they will set standards on how those interventions should be used, alongside a clear strategy to support and oversee uptake by clinicians and providers.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to integrate family history data into risk assessments for cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with experts to integrate genomic testing for pharmacogenomic profiles into the cardiovascular disease prevention programme, the NHS Health Check, enabling early identification and intervention for high-risk individuals.
Alongside this, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year. The framework will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whist fostering innovation across the cardiovascular disease pathway. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely with stakeholders to co-produce the CVD MSF, ensuring that experts, people, and communities are at the heart of its development.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Office for Budgetary Responsibility’s approach to scoring the economic benefits of cardiovascular healthcare spending measures.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that cardiovascular disease (CVD) will impact on economic activity.
That is why this Government has an ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade. To accelerate progress, we will publish a new CVD Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) this year, which will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
We have noted the Office for Budget Responsibility’s approach to scoring the economic benefits of cardiovascular healthcare spending measures and will consider this as part of our ongoing work to develop the CVD MSF.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set a target for reducing incidence of cardiovascular disease as part of the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to fewer lives being lost to the biggest killers, such as cardiovascular disease. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework later this year.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as treatment for post-stroke complications other than depression.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2023 National Institute for Health and Care guideline NG236, on recommendations on stroke rehabilitation, reviewed the evidence and concluded that whilst there was some evidence on the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the short term, the research does not yet support adoption other than for depression. Thie guideline NG236 is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG236
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of adopting a short stroke piston operated system rather than direct gas impingement for any of the rifle variants tendered for development under Project Grayburn.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Project GRAYBURN is currently in its concept phase. An important output of this phase will be the definition of user requirements, covering the full range of performance characteristics, including calibre and operating system.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 promote heart awareness month.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome heart awareness month, which raises awareness about heart disease, promoting lifestyle changes for a healthy heart. The Department and NHS England regularly run health-related media campaigns targeting audiences to take preventative action.
Throughout January and February, we will be running the Healthy Choices Quiz campaign which supports people to prioritise health improvements and take proactive action on a range of behaviours, many of which support heart health.
The National Health Service website includes a Better Health section, offering advice and support to make small, achievable lifestyle changes, for example, increasing physical activity, losing weight, and help to quit smoking, all of which can significantly improve long-term health, including your heart health.
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) this year. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce incentives to encourage the adoption of recommendations in the Modern Service Framework for Cardiovascular Disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) in 2026. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the cardiovascular disease pathway.
The Department and NHS England are engaging widely throughout the development of the CVD MSF to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care, and as part of this we are considering the role of levers and incentives.