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, how many people have received Gastric band surgery in each of the last three years in England and Wales broken down by male and female.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. The Department does not hold information on gastric band and gastric sleeve surgery in Wales.
For England, the table below shows the number of gastric band and gastric sleeve surgeries undertaken between 2022 and 2025:
Financial Year | Gastric Band | Gastric Sleeve | ||||
Female | Male | Other | Female | Male | Other | |
2022-23 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 1,928 | 460 | 1 |
2023-24 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 2,443 | 568 | 18 |
2024-25 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3,122 | 664 | 26 |
This analysis is based on Hospital Episode Statistics and includes all episodes in which a procedure for the insertion of a new gastric band or gastric sleeve is recorded. These figures do not directly represent the number of individual patients, as one person may have multiple episodes of care either within the same hospital stay or across different admissions during the year and/or over years.
Data for gastric sleeve procedures also includes episodes where the sleeve is performed as part of wider surgery for a duodenal switch.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential factors that may prevent women from seeking diagnosis and referral for lipoedema; and what steps he is taking to ensure timely access to specialist assessment and treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women with lipoedema can face a number of barriers to seeking diagnosis and referral, including long waits, misdiagnosis, often as obesity or lymphoedema, and low awareness of the condition among both the public and some healthcare professionals. These factors can lead to delayed recognition, worsening symptoms, and reduced confidence in seeking care.
We recognise the need to improve awareness and understanding of lipoedema. To support earlier, more accurate diagnosis, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has worked in partnership with Lipoedema UK to develop a dedicated e‑learning module for general practitioners, covering the presentation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of lipoedema in primary care. This resource is freely available to RCGP members.
Access to specialist assessment and treatment for lipoedema is commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to understand local population need. Treatment options may include compression therapy, simple lymphatic drainage, self‑management support and, in severe cases, consideration of liposuction in line with interventional procedures guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Clinicians may offer treatment where appropriate, using their professional judgment and taking advice published by NICE into account.
We are aware that some European countries, including Germany, have expanded access to liposuction for lipoedema following emerging evidence from the German LiPLEG study into liposuction. In England, NICE’s current guidance advises that evidence on the safety and efficacy of liposuction for chronic lipoedema remains limited, and it should only be offered with appropriate clinical governance and safeguards. NICE will review this guidance once the full LiPLEG data is available.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered adopting approaches to lipoedema treatment used by other European countries, like Germany and Spain.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women with lipoedema can face a number of barriers to seeking diagnosis and referral, including long waits, misdiagnosis, often as obesity or lymphoedema, and low awareness of the condition among both the public and some healthcare professionals. These factors can lead to delayed recognition, worsening symptoms, and reduced confidence in seeking care.
We recognise the need to improve awareness and understanding of lipoedema. To support earlier, more accurate diagnosis, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has worked in partnership with Lipoedema UK to develop a dedicated e‑learning module for general practitioners, covering the presentation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of lipoedema in primary care. This resource is freely available to RCGP members.
Access to specialist assessment and treatment for lipoedema is commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to understand local population need. Treatment options may include compression therapy, simple lymphatic drainage, self‑management support and, in severe cases, consideration of liposuction in line with interventional procedures guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Clinicians may offer treatment where appropriate, using their professional judgment and taking advice published by NICE into account.
We are aware that some European countries, including Germany, have expanded access to liposuction for lipoedema following emerging evidence from the German LiPLEG study into liposuction. In England, NICE’s current guidance advises that evidence on the safety and efficacy of liposuction for chronic lipoedema remains limited, and it should only be offered with appropriate clinical governance and safeguards. NICE will review this guidance once the full LiPLEG data is available.
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, how many people have received Gastric Sleeve surgery in each of the last three years in England and Wales broken down by male and female.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. The Department does not hold information on gastric band and gastric sleeve surgery in Wales.
For England, the table below shows the number of gastric band and gastric sleeve surgeries undertaken between 2022 and 2025:
Financial Year | Gastric Band | Gastric Sleeve | ||||
Female | Male | Other | Female | Male | Other | |
2022-23 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 1,928 | 460 | 1 |
2023-24 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 2,443 | 568 | 18 |
2024-25 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3,122 | 664 | 26 |
This analysis is based on Hospital Episode Statistics and includes all episodes in which a procedure for the insertion of a new gastric band or gastric sleeve is recorded. These figures do not directly represent the number of individual patients, as one person may have multiple episodes of care either within the same hospital stay or across different admissions during the year and/or over years.
Data for gastric sleeve procedures also includes episodes where the sleeve is performed as part of wider surgery for a duodenal switch.
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, how many people have been referred to Weightloss clinics within the last year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service and local government provide a range of services to help people living with overweight and obesity to manage their weight.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning health services within their area in line with local population need and taking account of relevant guidance. This includes specialist weight management services, or weight loss clinics, for those living with severe obesity and associated health conditions.
The National Obesity Audit (NOA) aims to bring together existing comparable data from the different types of weight management services across England in order to drive improvement for the benefit of those living with overweight and obesity. Responsibility for the management and collection of referral data sits at a local system level, and not all providers of weight management services are submitting data into the NOA at present. It is therefore not possible to state how many people have been referred to weight loss clinics within the last year.
NHS England continues to develop the NOA with the aim of ensuring it will provide a comprehensive picture of activity, access to services, and health outcomes of patients using weight management services across England.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how practices will be supported with increases in levels of workload arising from private sector activity, including ADHD, gender affirming care and weight management prescribing.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practice (GP) to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, which is the biggest cash increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP Contract in 2025/26 is greater than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole.
Since October 2024, we have funded primary care networks with an additional £160 million to recruit recently qualified GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Over 2,600 individual GPs have now been recruited, preventing them from graduating into unemployment. We have committed to training thousands more GPs across the country which will increase capacity and take the pressure off those currently working in the system.
The Government is committed to ensuring the GP workforce is sustainable, supported, and valued for the work they do. Good staff experience is crucial in ensuring the NHS is able to recruit and retain staff and its importance is recognised and illustrated in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan. In the spring we will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan, which will set out how we will deliver change to ensure that staff will be better treated, have better training, more fulfilling roles, and hope for the future, so they can achieve more.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence produces evidence-based guidance for health and care practitioners on best practice for a variety of conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. NHS England has also published service specifications that describe how clinical and medical care is offered to people with gender dysphoria.
GPs have access to a range of support from their integrated care boards and NHS England has developed a suite of implementation materials, delivery guidance and protocols, and has provided access to training resources to help GPs with weight management prescribing.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the anticipated cost of weight loss drugs to the NHS this year.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not hold an estimate for the anticipated cost of weight loss drugs to the National Health Service for this year or the next five years. Whilst there is data on total medicines budgets forecast up to 2028, in line with the Spending Review period, these budgets are not forecast down to the individual medicine level.
The Government does hold data on NHS spend on medicines used to treat obesity, including the newest medicines, GLP-1s. GLP-1s can be used to treat obesity or type 2 diabetes and it is not possible to separate data by usage. The data we hold is commercially confidential.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the anticipated cost of weight loss drugs to the NHS in each of the next five years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not hold an estimate for the anticipated cost of weight loss drugs to the National Health Service for this year or the next five years. Whilst there is data on total medicines budgets forecast up to 2028, in line with the Spending Review period, these budgets are not forecast down to the individual medicine level.
The Government does hold data on NHS spend on medicines used to treat obesity, including the newest medicines, GLP-1s. GLP-1s can be used to treat obesity or type 2 diabetes and it is not possible to separate data by usage. The data we hold is commercially confidential.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 reduce instances of type 2 diabetes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling preventable ill health, such as type 2 diabetes, head-on and at the earliest opportunity. Excess weight and obesity are key risk factors for type 2 diabetes and we are taking decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on the National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.
We have delivered on our commitment to restrict junk food advertising on television and online and are delivering a ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16 year olds. We are limiting volume price promotions such as “buy one get one free” on less healthy food and drink and have put in place a nationally standardised Behavioural Support for Obesity Prescribing service to ensure weight loss medicines are delivered safely and effectively. We will also double the number of patients able to access the NHS Digital Weight Management programme.
In addition, we continue to support the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP), which has offered support to over 2.4 million people who are at risk of type 2 diabetes since its establishment in 2016. The NHS DPP is highly effective and has been found to reduce attendee’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 37% compared to those who did not attend.
We continue to deliver the NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease prevention programme, which aims to detect those at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease aged between 40 and 74 years old.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with Dairy UK and other trade bodies on the potential impact of the revised Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) for the dairy supply chain.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.
As part of this, we are committed to updating the standards which underpin the advertising restrictions on television and online and the promotion restrictions in stores and their equivalent places online on ‘less healthy’ food and drink products. The Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) 2004/05 is plainly out of date and updating the standards will strengthen the restrictions by reflecting the latest dietary advice and more effectively target the products of most concern to childhood obesity.
The Government has met with a range of stakeholders over the past year to listen to their concerns, and officials met with Dairy UK in August 2025.
The Government remains committed to engaging relevant stakeholders and we will consult this year on the application of an updated NPM’s to the advertising and promotion restrictions to ensure they can feed in their views.