Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Overseas Visitor Managers are employed by the NHS (1) in total, and (2) in each NHS Trust.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the data requested on the number of overseas visitor managers that are employed by the National Health Service.
NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. The data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the Human Resources system for the NHS. The level of detail available in the dataset is insufficient to identify staff who are employed in roles described as ‘Overseas Visitor Managers’ or similar.
The Department and NHS England publish annual data on the income identified and recovered from chargeable overseas visitors in England in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts and in NHS England’s consolidated NHS provider accounts.
The following table shows aggregate income identified and cash payments received between 2020 and 2025:
Year | Aggregate income identified | Cash payments received in-year |
2020/21 | £61,000,000 | £21,000,000 |
2021/22 | £67,000,000 | £25,000,000 |
2022/23 | £100,000,000 | £32,000,000 |
2023/24 | £123,000,000 | £42,000,000 |
2024/25 | £142,000,000 | £43,000,000 |
Source: The Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts and Consolidated NHS provider accounts.
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold a breakdown of this information by NHS trust.
NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2025 to Question 85962 on Special Educational Needs: Hearing Impairment, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making support for families available from birth.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is committed to ensuring that all children, including deaf and hard of hearing children, have the best possible start in life. The NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme aims to identify permanent moderate, severe, and profound deafness and hearing impairment in newborn babies. Screening is offered to all babies in England.
Funding is available to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including deaf and hard of hearing children, to access early education and childcare. This includes special educational needs inclusion funding and disability access funding.
Further, in December 2025, the department announced access to early SEND support across the country through Best Start Family Hubs. In every local authority next year, councils are being tasked with recruiting a dedicated SEND practitioner for every hub to provide direct, family-facing support. The new offer will help parents identify emerging needs sooner, and support vital join-up between early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams, including for young children with hearing impairments.
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 steps his Department is taking to improve workplace catering and break facilities for healthcare workers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Good physical working environments are important for staff wellbeing and retention. Staff need to be given the time and space to rest and recover from their work, particularly when working on-call or overnight. This is recognised as a priority in the NHS People Promise which sets out the importance of employers prioritising spaces for staff to rest and recuperate, and ensuring access to hot food and drinks.
In May 2024, NHS England and NHS Charities Together launched a £10 million Workforce Wellbeing Programme to support National Health Service staff in England. It will provide tailored health and wellbeing support to NHS staff, including grants to improve facilities. A three-year programme of work named Great Food, Good Health, led by NHS England, aims to improve the experience and quality of nutritious food that patients, staff, and visitors receive in hospital. As part of this, NHS England has made clear that NHS organisations must be able to demonstrate they have suitable 24/7 food service provision.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to prevent NHS trusts from generating surpluses from car parking income charged to staff, patients and visitors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Free National Health Service hospital carparking is in place for in-need groups. This includes disabled blue badger holders, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of children staying overnight, and NHS staff working overnight.
Car parking charges, where they do exist, are a significant control mechanism within trusts to manage capacity as there are a limited number of car parking spaces available for patients and staff. The income from car parking is primarily used to pay for the cost of running the car park, for example security and maintenance costs. Any surplus income is re-invested in NHS services.
All trusts are expected to follow the published NHS Car Parking Guidance. This states that where car parking charges do exist, they should be reasonable for the area. The guidance is avaiable at the following link:
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the impact of long-term stays in temporary accommodation on (a) children’s physical and mental health and (b) children’s educational outcomes; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any negative effects identified.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures to support families in need of temporary accommodation.
The government will end the unlawful placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit and work with the NHS to end the practice of discharging mothers with newborn babies into bed and breakfasts or other unsuitable housing.
The government will provide £950 million through the fourth and largest round of the Local Authority Housing Fund from April 2026 to deliver up to 5,000 high quality homes for better temporary accommodation by 2030.
A new legal duty will also be introduced for councils to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, so no child is left without support.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will also introduce a clinical code on children in temporary accommodation to improve data collection, with the aim of preventing further deaths caused by gaps in health care provision.
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 breastfeeding support in the West Midlands.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to giving every child the best start in life and support for breastfeeding plays an important role in achieving this.
Most families will receive breastfeeding information and support from midwives and health visitors. We are currently refreshing the guidance for The Healthy Child Programme to strengthen the quality of services, including health visiting. We have increased the number of midwives, with 1,056 more full time equivalent midwives working in the National Health Service in September 2025 compared to September 2024.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are investing £18.5 million in 2025/26 to improve infant feeding support in 75 local authorities. This includes Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Telford and Wrekin, and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands. Our investment has also increased the capacity of the National Breastfeeding Helpline so that families across the United Kingdom can access breastfeeding support 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
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 steps is the Government taking to ensure that there are adequate Blue Badge parking spaces at NHS facilities in Hampshire and Surrey.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations decide how they provide parking locally, including whether it is charged for, based on the needs of patients, visitors, and staff, as well as environmental factors. The NHS car parking guidance requires free parking to be provided for four groups: disabled people; frequent outpatient attenders; parents of sick children staying overnight; and staff working night shifts. Further information is available at the following link:
These local decisions include the number of Blue Badge parking spaces.
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 steps his Department is taking to help ensure that hospital parking is affordable and inclusive for staff and patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations decide how they provide parking locally, including whether it is charged for, based on the needs of patients, visitors, and staff, as well as environmental factors. The NHS car parking guidance requires free parking to be provided for four groups: disabled people; frequent outpatient attenders; parents of sick children staying overnight; and staff working night shifts. Further information is available at the following link:
These local decisions include the number of Blue Badge parking spaces.
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, pursuant to Answer of 3 December 2025 to Question 94075 on Health Services: Foreign Nationals, when he last reviewed the operation of the NHS cost-recovery regime with NHS England: and what milestones have been set to measure improvements in the effectiveness of that regime.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England publish data annually on the income identified, recovered, and written off from chargeable overseas visitors in England in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts and in NHS England’s Consolidated NHS provider accounts. The information for the last three years is available at the following links:
National Health Service charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year.
No formal review of the system of cost recovery has taken place. However, we continue to work with NHS England to ensure that the system works as effectively and fairly as possible.
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, how much income was (a) invoiced, (b) collected, and( c) written off under the NHS cost-recovery regime in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England publish data annually on the income identified, recovered, and written off from chargeable overseas visitors in England in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts and in NHS England’s Consolidated NHS provider accounts. The information for the last three years is available at the following links:
National Health Service charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year.
No formal review of the system of cost recovery has taken place. However, we continue to work with NHS England to ensure that the system works as effectively and fairly as possible.