Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that agency care workers receive appropriate and accredited training to meet the needs of vulnerable service users.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.
Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.
It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.
To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what vetting procedures are in place to ensure care agencies providing non UK workers in the care industry ensure the safety of patients before allowing workers to commence a caring role.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Care agencies who carry out a regulated activity must be registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and are expected to comply with relevant regulations. Where a care agency does not carry out a regulated activity but supplies workers to a regulated care provider, the legal duty to comply with CQC regulations sits with the registered provider using the agency and the registered manager.
Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 sets out that it is the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role. Further information on Regulation 19 is avaiable at the following link:
Registered providers are also expected to comply with Regulation 18: Staffing, which sets out a provider’s responsibility to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff. Further information on Regulation 18 is avaiable at the following link:
The CQC can assess compliance with these regulations through assessment and monitoring activity. Where a breach of regulation or non-compliance is identified, the CQC can take regulatory action.
An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check must be undertaken prior to the recruitment of all care workers. In line with the CQC guidance for DBS checks, staff working with vulnerable adults can only start work before a DBS certificate is received if they have had a DBS Adult First Check, are appropriately supervised, and do not escort people away from the premises unless accompanied by someone with a DBS check.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve early interventions in cases of childhood neglect.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is driving major children’s social care reforms to strengthen and improve early intervention, including in cases of childhood neglect. These reforms are backed by £2.4 billion investment, robust statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’, and support for teachers, social workers and all safeguarding professionals to spot the signs of abuse and neglect more quickly.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will require local authorities and safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams, enhance schools’ role in safeguarding partnership arrangements and introduce provisions that empower my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to introduce a consistent identifier for children.
In addition, our Best Start Family Hubs will provide welcoming spaces that connect families to health, education, housing and parenting support, helping identify those who need more intensive help from family support and multi-agency child protection.
Our plans to establish a Child Protection Authority in England will also bring further focus to children who are experiencing or likely to experience significant harm, including neglect.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2025 to Question 44226 on Pest Control: Birmingham, whether he has made a recent assessment of the risks to (a) public health from the continued bin strike and (b) to agency workers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Director of Public Health for Birmingham maintains an overview of the potential public health impacts associated with uncollected waste as a result of any disruption to waste services and would lead on initiating and conducting a public health risk assessment. If requested, the UK Health Security Agency can provide health protection advice to any risk assessment, along with other key agencies.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 public health risks arising from the withdrawal of waste collection services in Birmingham following the decision by agency refuse workers to take industrial action from 1 December 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Director of Public Health for Birmingham continues to monitor the situation locally, including any public health risks from uncollected waste. The UK Health Security Agency, working closely with relevant partner organisations, would contribute to any risk assessment and provide health protection advice and support as requested.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 eligible for winter flu vaccinations received them in 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes provisional vaccine uptake data throughout the flu season. Weekly national level data for general practice (GP) patients is available from October to January, at the following link:
Monthly national and regional level data for GP patients, school-aged children, and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) is available from October to January. The latest monthly data for the 2025 to 2026 season includes all vaccinations given between 1 September to 30 November 2025, and is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
Up to 4 January 2026, over 18 million people eligible for the national programme had been vaccinated so far this season.
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, what assessment he has made of the take up of flu vaccinations so far this year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes provisional vaccine uptake data throughout the flu season. Weekly national level data for general practice (GP) patients is available from October to January, at the following link:
Monthly national and regional level data for GP patients, school-aged children, and frontline healthcare workers is available from October to January. The first monthly data for the 2025 to 2026 season includes all vaccinations given between 1 September to 31 October 2025, and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
Compared with the equivalent time period last season, from 2024 to 2025, influenza vaccine uptake is higher in two and three year olds, school-aged children, pregnant women, and frontline healthcare workers, and for those who are aged 65 years old and over and those in clinical at-risk groups, uptake is comparable, with a less than a 1% difference.
Final end of season data is published in the annual reports in late spring, with data available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
Annual reports contain final end of season data from multiple previous seasons.
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 assessment his Department has made of the uptake of the Flu Jab in Autumn 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes provisional vaccine uptake data throughout the flu season. Weekly national level data for general practice (GP) patients is available from October to January and can be found at the following link:
Provisional monthly national, regional, and local level data for GP patients, school-aged children, and frontline healthcare workers is available throughout the season. The first monthly data for the 2025 to 2026 season includes all vaccinations given between 1 September to 31 October 2025 and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
Compared with the equivalent time period last season, 2024 to 2025, influenza vaccine uptake is higher in two and three years olds, school-aged children, pregnant women, and frontline healthcare worker, and for those aged 65 years old and over and those in clinical at-risk groups, uptake is comparable, with less than a 1% difference. Final end of season data is published in the annual reports in late spring, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures.
Annual reports contain final end-of-season data from multiple previous seasons.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
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 (a) improve recognition of topical steroid withdrawal and (b) ensure that NHS clinicians are able to diagnose that condition accurately.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has reviewed topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) reactions and first communicated about these reactions in September 2021 through our Drug Safety Update (DSU), which is widely disseminated among health care professionals. This communication can be found at the following link:
The MHRA had continued to monitor reports of TSW reactions and undertook a further review in 2024, resulting in an additional DSU publication which can be found at the following link:
During this review advice was sought from dermatologists, the National Eczema Society, and the Commission on Human Medicines. Consequently, the MHRA took forward a number of actions including ensuring there are updated warnings in the product information that is supplied with the creams, and the inclusion of information regarding the potency of topical steroids on the packaging. The British National Formulary (BNF) has updated their topical steroids potency information in line with the outcomes of the MHRA review. BNF treatment summary for topical corticosteroids, including information on withdrawal reactions, can be found at the following link:
https://bnf.nice.org.uk/treatment-summaries/topical-corticosteroids/
Furthermore, the MHRA engaged with the British Association of Dermatologists who have released an updated statement that can be found at the following link:
https://cdn.bad.org.uk/uploads/2024/02/22095550/Topical-Steroid-Withdrawal-Joint-Statement.pdf
Following these discussions, the British Association of Dermatologists has formed a Topical Steroid Withdrawal Working Party Group in collaboration with National Eczema Society, Scratch That, Primary Care Dermatology Society, and the British Dermatological Nursing Group. A Topical Steroid Withdrawal Joint Statement from the Topical Steroid Withdrawal Working Party Group is available at the following link:
https://www.bad.org.uk/topical-steroid-withdrawal-joint-statement
The objective of the TSW Working Party Group is to develop an expert consensus guidance on supporting people with concerns about TSW, including a Patient Information Leaflet, and any revision to the above joint statement, as appropriate.
The MHRA acknowledges that more high-quality research would enhance the understanding of TSW reactions, including what causes them and how to accurately diagnose and manage them. To make good decisions about what research to fund, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) needs a balanced picture about which questions most urgently need answering. To achieve this, they ask patients, carers, clinicians, healthcare workers, service managers, and researchers for research topics. Any member of the public can submit suggestions via the NIHR website at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
In the meantime, the MHRA continues to monitor reports of TSW reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme, which encourages anyone to report if they suspect an adverse reaction to a medical product or products. Access to the Yellow Card reporting site can be found at the following link:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/
In addition to Yellow Card Scheme, the MHRA receives adverse event reports from pharmaceutical companies who collect data from healthcare professionals and patients, as well as cases from published literature and other sources.
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 assessment they have made of trends in the uptake of flu vaccinations both regionally and nationally, and what steps they are taking to promote this uptake.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
For England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes provisional vaccine uptake data throughout the flu season. Weekly national level data for general practice (GP) patients is available from October to January on the GOV.UK website.
Monthly national and regional level data for GP patients, school-aged children, and frontline healthcare workers is available from October to January. Monthly data for this season was published on 27 November 2025 and included all vaccinations given between 1 September to 31 October 2025. Final end of season data is published in the annual reports in late spring, with the monthly and annual data available on the GOV.UK website.
The Department is working with the UKHSA and NHS England to encourage flu vaccine uptake via the national ‘Stay Strong. Get Vaccinated’ campaign. Marketing activity is currently running across television, video on demand, radio, outdoor advertising, and social channels. This is complemented by mainstream, regional, and specialist, highly targeted media and stakeholder channels to engage priority cohorts. The media plans include weekly a winter bulletin, highlighting the uptake and importance of the flu vaccination. Campaign messaging is supported by a comprehensive suite of information materials and guidance, ensuring healthcare professionals are empowered to guide patients, and the public can make an informed choice.