Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
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 increase standards in and ensure effective regulation of the cosmetic surgery sector.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 7 August 2025, the Government announced its plans to introduce measures to improve the safety of the cosmetics sector. This included prioritising the introduction of legal restrictions which will ensure that the highest risk cosmetic procedures are brought into Care Quality Commission regulation and can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals.
In addition, the Government also committed to legislating to introduce a licensing scheme in England for lower risk procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022. Under this scheme, which will be operated by local authorities, practitioners will be required to obtain a licence to perform specified cosmetic procedures, and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed. To protect children and young people, the Government is also committed to mandating age restrictions for cosmetic procedures.
The proposals will be taken forward through secondary legislation and therefore subject to the parliamentary process before the legal restrictions, or licensing regulations, can be introduced. We are now working with stakeholders to develop detailed plans and intend to consult on proposals for restrictions around the performance of the highest risk procedures in the spring.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department has made any assessment of the merits of introducing national tracking of looked-after children and previously looked-after children on health waiting lists.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There is currently no national tracking of looked-after children or previously looked-after children on health waiting lists and the department has not assessed the merits of such a measure.
All local authorities and healthcare partners have a responsibility to promote the health and wellbeing of all looked-after children. This is outlined within the ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ statutory guidance.
The local authority must ensure that every child whom it looks after has an up to date individual health plan. Health plans are based on individual health assessments carried out by a registered medical practitioner. They describe how identified needs will be addressed to improve health outcomes. Health assessments should take place at least every six months for children under five and at least every 12 months for children five and over.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to conduct a post-implementation review of the potential impact of the early waves of deployment of Mental Health Support Teams on schools.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to conduct a post-implementation review of the potential impact of the early waves of deployment of Mental Health Support Teams on schools.
In July 2025, the National Children’s Bureau published an independent Mental Health Support Teams evaluation report, Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme. The impacts and other details are set out in the report, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England holds data on the number of (i) current and (ii) previously looked-after children on waiting lists for (a) mental health services and (b) neurodevelopmental assessments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England holds data on the number of current looked-after children accessing or waiting for contact with secondary mental health services. We can identify individuals waiting for neurodevelopmental, autism, or mental health assessment via the indicated primary reason for referral or type of team they were referred to.
NHS England does not hold specific data on the number of previously looked after children. If an individual is no longer a looked-after child, this would not be held within the dataset.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services referral times in Slough.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of access to child and adolescent mental health services for children in the Slough constituency. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including for children and young people’s mental health services in the Slough constituency.
As prioritised in our Medium-Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist mental health support, tackling regional disparities, and expanding access, thereby making services more productive so children and young people spend less time waiting for the treatment they need.
We are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. As part of this, we are investing an additional £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating. An additional 900,000 children and young people had access by this spring, which means that 60% of all pupils will have access to this early support at school, up from 44% in spring 2024.
More widely, we are, rolling out Young Futures Hubs. The Government’s first 50 Young Futures Hubs will bring together services at a local level to support children and young people, helping to ensure that young people can access early advice and wellbeing intervention. We will work to ensure there is no wrong door for young people who need support with their mental health.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed the adequacy of children's access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Slough constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of access to child and adolescent mental health services for children in the Slough constituency. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including for children and young people’s mental health services in the Slough constituency.
As prioritised in our Medium-Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist mental health support, tackling regional disparities, and expanding access, thereby making services more productive so children and young people spend less time waiting for the treatment they need.
We are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. As part of this, we are investing an additional £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating. An additional 900,000 children and young people had access by this spring, which means that 60% of all pupils will have access to this early support at school, up from 44% in spring 2024.
More widely, we are, rolling out Young Futures Hubs. The Government’s first 50 Young Futures Hubs will bring together services at a local level to support children and young people, helping to ensure that young people can access early advice and wellbeing intervention. We will work to ensure there is no wrong door for young people who need support with their mental health.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of interim support available to children waiting for access to CAMHS support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of access to child and adolescent mental health services for children in the Slough constituency. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including for children and young people’s mental health services in the Slough constituency.
As prioritised in our Medium-Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist mental health support, tackling regional disparities, and expanding access, thereby making services more productive so children and young people spend less time waiting for the treatment they need.
We are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. As part of this, we are investing an additional £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating. An additional 900,000 children and young people had access by this spring, which means that 60% of all pupils will have access to this early support at school, up from 44% in spring 2024.
More widely, we are, rolling out Young Futures Hubs. The Government’s first 50 Young Futures Hubs will bring together services at a local level to support children and young people, helping to ensure that young people can access early advice and wellbeing intervention. We will work to ensure there is no wrong door for young people who need support with their mental health.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure schools tackle gender-specific online harm.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The updated relationships, sex and health education guidance ensures that, from September 2026, schools will address gender‑based online harms including from pornography, deepfakes, sextortion and misogynistic content. It places new emphasis on challenging misogyny and supporting pupils to recognise and report harmful behaviours and to understand the impact of harmful online influencers.
In December 2025, the government published a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. We want to protect young people and drive forward education on healthy relationships. We will invest £11 million to pilot the best interventions in schools over the next three years.
‘Keeping children safe in education’, the statutory safeguarding guidance which schools must have regard to, has been strengthened significantly in recent years to reflect evolving online risks. Online safety is embedded throughout, making clear the importance of ensuring a whole school approach to keeping children safe both online and offline.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing partial refunds for overlapping immigration health surcharges in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK and are able to demonstrate evidence of financial harm as a result.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.
Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.
The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the immigration health surcharge refund policy to allow for partial refunds to be made for periods of overlapping payments in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.
Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.
The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.