Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 25 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve safeguards to prevent (a) people and (b) companies acting as proxies for foreign donations.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As pledged in our manifesto, we are strengthening the rules around donations to political parties. We have published our ‘Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections’ which sets out a number of reforms we are making to strengthen rules on political donations, responding to the threat of foreign interference. These include “Know Your Donor” requirements for recipients of donations, tighter controls on company and unincorporated association donations, and enhanced transparency requirements for all donors to political parties.
The reforms aim to close loopholes and enhance due diligence, while preserving the ability of genuine donors to support democracy.
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, how many and what proportion of people had a personal health budget in each of the year since 2012.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not available in the format requested, as national personal health budget data prior to 2019 is not held. The following table shows the uptake of personal health budgets in England by the end of Quarter 4 in each financial year from 2019/20 to 2024/25:
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
89,953 | Not available | 124,964 | 175,859 | 188,489 | 182,360 |
Source: NHS England Digital, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/personal-health-budgets
The data under each financial year is cumulative in-year data, and for each financial year the figure shown is the number of people who had received a personal health budget in England by the end of Quarter 4.
2019/20 only includes cumulative data up to Quarter 3 due to COVID-19. No cumulative data was published up to Quarter 4 2020/21 due to COVID-19.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish his Department’s assumptions of NHS productivity increases for the reduction in projected staff numbers in 2035 compared to the 2023 Long-Term Workforce Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The plan will set out the workforce needed to deliver the transformed service, and the key assumptions used in determining that workforce. That plan will set out assumptions about productivity used in determining projected staff numbers.
The approach set out in our 10-Year Health plan means that we will need a very different kind of workforce strategy. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, our new 10 Year Workforce Plan will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed, and what skills should they have?’
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 plans he has to support the continued delivery of SOS buses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supportive of the work of volunteer initiatives, such as SOS buses. Voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs) play a vital role in supporting communities up and down the country with a huge variety of issues. However, I recognise that the last few years have created a difficult environment for VCSEs, due to a number of challenges including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living, and many are seeing increased financial pressures.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is supporting VCSEs with their financial sustainability, including through the delivery of a number of grant programmes, growing other sources of funding such as the social investment market, and supporting the viability of local government contracts. There are a number of ways in which organisations can find available funding opportunities, including:
The Government has made it a priority to reset the relationship with civil society and build a new partnership to harness its full potential by developing a Civil Society Covenant.
Further, if local healthcare commissioners judge that SOS buses would help meet the healthcare needs of their respective populations, they can choose to commission those services.
Such a decision would be taken at the local level as integrated care boards across England are responsible for managing the National Health Service budget and arranging NHS healthcare services which meet the needs of their respective populations.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of potential impacts of the decriminalisation of abortion on (1) clinical safeguards, (2) informed consent procedures, (3) access to alternative support services, and (4) the protection of vulnerable women.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion for a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The bill will now continue its progress through Parliament.
Informed consent is separate from the requirements set by the Abortion Act for two doctors to certify that a woman meets the grounds for abortion. Consent to treatment means a person must give permission before they receive any type of medical treatment, test, or examination. For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision. These principles will continue to apply irrespective of whether abortion is decriminalised.
As part of standards set by the Care Quality Commission, abortion services must be able to prove that they have processes in place to ensure that all women and girls are seeking services voluntarily. It will also remain a requirement for an abortion service, as laid out in the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures, that staff should be able to identify those who require more support than can be provided in the routine abortion service setting, for example young women, those with a pre-existing mental health condition, those who are subject to sexual violence or poor social support, or where there is evidence of coercion.
Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and abortion providers are required to have effective arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults accessing their services. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained to recognise the signs of potential abuse and coercion and know how to respond. In addition, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published national safeguarding guidance for under-18 year olds accessing early medical abortion services, which aims to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded in all services. We expect all providers to have due regard to this guidance.
The Department is continuing to monitor abortion related amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill and will consider whether current arrangements are sufficient or if additional guidance is needed.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what they are taking to ensure that women considering abortion are provided with comprehensive information on all available options, including parenting, adoption, and perinatal palliative care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women seeking abortion services must be given impartial, accurate, and evidence-based information so that they are able to make an informed choice about their preferred course of action.
The National Health Service website provides factual information on abortion, including directing people seeking impartial information and support to their general practice or to regulated organisations such as Brook, for under 25 year olds, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, MSI Reproductive Health Choices UK, and National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service. All the main abortion providers offer pregnancy counselling, which includes advice on options such as parenting and adoption.
Following a diagnosis of fetal anomaly, women and their partners must receive appropriate counselling and support. At no stage should there be a bias towards abortion. All staff involved in the care of a woman or couple facing a possible termination of pregnancy must adopt a nondirective, non-judgemental, and supportive approach. It should not be assumed that a woman will choose to have a termination, and a decision to continue with the pregnancy must be fully supported. In addition, the charity Antenatal Results and Choices offers information and support for people who have received a diagnosis after antenatal screening.
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, how many people in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England work in communications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the end of June 2025, the Department had 90 full-time equivalent staff working in the Communications Directorate.
In NHS England, there are 328.8 full-time equivalent staff sitting under Communications in the Strategy Directorate. These individuals cover a wide range of communication roles and support functions, including business operations, system and stakeholder engagement, events and visit teams, and Parliamentary briefing and Freedom of Information management. There are a further six members of staff, who work in ‘Communications’ or ‘Comms’ teams in the wider business, which includes individuals working in Freedom of Information management and Parliamentary business.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the inclusion of Oxford University Hospitals Trust in the rapid review of NHS maternity services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The investigation will carry out rapid reviews of up to ten trusts with specific issues. The process of determining which trusts to review is ongoing, and once decided, they will be announced as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 267 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, whether they will provide a breakdown of the aggregate proposed £132,940,000 support to overseas territories in 2025–26 by individual overseas territory.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
As per programme management best practice, Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations for individual Overseas Territories evolve during the financial year in line with their changing priorities. Current proposed allocations (which may be subject to further change) total £132.7 million:
Montserrat: £64.3 million
St Helena and Tristan da Cunha: £56.3 million
The Pitcairn Islands: £5.6 million
Further ODA amounts will be allocated throughout the year via cross-Territory programmes, including the Blue Belt initiative.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the legal protections of unborn children in the event that abortion is decriminalised through the repeal of sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929; and whether any alternative legal provisions would remain in place to provide protection to unborn children.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Existing criminal offences relating to fetuses are contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929.
The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion for a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The Government has no plans to change these.