Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 29 January (HL14010), what assessment they have made of the impact of the NHS Healthy Choices Quiz on improving the mental health of its users.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Healthy Choices Quiz was designed and built at every stage with user research and engagement with policy experts to ensure it is both accurate and effective in supporting people to make healthy changes in six areas: movement; eating; sleep; mental health; smoking; and alcohol consumption. As part of our campaign evaluation, the Quiz will be assessed to explore how many of those who completed the Quiz took action to improve their health, including their mental health.
At the end of the Quiz, people are sign-posted to appropriate help including Better Health - Every Mind Matters, NHS Talking Therapies, or directed to their general practice or 111. The Better Health - Every Mind Matters digital resources offer a range of simple, National Health Service-approved, self-care tips and tools that everyone can use and incorporate into daily routines to help manage common early-stage mental health concerns.
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 steps he is taking help improve addiction and mental health treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that people with co-occurring substance use and mental health needs do not receive the integrated, person-centred care they require and deserve. The Department and NHS England have recently published the Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Delivery framework, which is available at the following link:
This framework commits the Department and NHS England to delivering several national actions to improve delivery of integrated, person-centred care across drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services. The framework also includes recommended actions on how the health system can also work together to improve outcomes for those with co-occurring needs.
We also know that gambling can have a wide-ranging negative effect on health and inequalities and is associated with poor mental health and in severe cases suicide, as well as the knock-on impacts from gambling related debt. In April 2025, the statutory gambling levy came into effect to fund the research, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harm across Great Britain. In its first year, the levy has raised nearly £120 million, with 50% allocated to gambling harms treatment activity across Great Britain.
Lastly, rates of smoking continue to fall in the general population, although inequality remains, with higher rates of smoking in other groups such as people with a mental health condition or people in routine and manual work. Stop Smoking Services are effective in reaching high-prevalence groups. By targeting support in populations with greater need, we want to secure a smoke-free generation together, where no one is left behind.
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 data his Department holds on health outcomes for (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has access to data from several population health surveys, undertaken by other organisations or departments, which record the religion of respondents, and which include Sikh and Jewish as categories. These include:
- Health Survey for England;
- General Practice Patient Survey;
- Annual Population Survey; and
- Active Lives Survey.
The Department publishes some health outcomes data by religion, including for Sikh and Jewish populations, based on survey data. The Public Health Outcomes Framework includes, for example, a breakdown by religion for its indicators of smoking prevalence, the percentage of the population reporting a long-term musculoskeletal problem, and the percentage of adult social care users who have as much social contact as they would like. Further information on the smoking prevalence in adults, the percentage of the population reporting a long-term musculoskeletal problem, and the percentage of adult social care users who have as much social contact as they would like is avaiable, respectively, at the following three links:
In addition to survey data, the Department manages the National Drug and Alcohol Monitoring System and reports annual data on the religion of those entering drug and alcohol treatment services, with categories including Jewish and Sikh. Further information on substance misuse treatment for adults is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-treatment-for-adults-statistics-2023-to-2024
The Department also has access to published data on health outcomes by religion from other Government departments. These include reports from the Office for National Statistics on Religion and Health in England and Wales, based on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and Religion by housing, health, employment, and education, England and Wales, based on data from the 2021 Census. Both reports include data for Jewish and Sikh populations, and are avaiable, respectively, at the following two links:
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much the Scottish Government received in Barnett consequential funding from English funding to support stop smoking services in 2025-26.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
At Spending Reviews, devolved governments generally receive Barnett consequentials on changes in overall departmental settlements not on specific policies or programmes. Therefore, the UK Government cannot provide Barnett numbers on specific policy measures funded from within departmental settlements.
The Block Grant Transparency publication from October 2025 shows that the Scottish Government received an additional £930m for 2025/26 as a result of the additional funding for the Department for Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of public health funding in reducing rates of preventable illnesses in disadvantaged communities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Public Health Grant supports local authorities to deliver vital public health services that focus on reducing preventable illnesses through services such as smoking cessation, drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, health visiting, and sexual health clinics. Public Health Grant allocations are weighted heavily towards deprivation, with per capita funding for the most deprived local authority more than two times greater than that for the least deprived.
More than £13.4 billion will be consolidated into the Public Health Grant to local authorities, and a retained business rates arrangement with Greater Manchester local authorities, over the next three years beginning in 2026/27. This is a 5.6% total cash increase over the period, on top of 5.5% cash growth in 2025/26.
The National Health Service also funds important public health services, including national screening and immunisation programmes. In doing so, NHS England has regard to the need to reduce inequalities both in access to services and in health outcomes.
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 steps his Department is taking to promote heart awareness month.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome heart awareness month, which raises awareness about heart disease, promoting lifestyle changes for a healthy heart. The Department and NHS England regularly run health-related media campaigns targeting audiences to take preventative action.
Throughout January and February, we will be running the Healthy Choices Quiz campaign which supports people to prioritise health improvements and take proactive action on a range of behaviours, many of which support heart health.
The National Health Service website includes a Better Health section, offering advice and support to make small, achievable lifestyle changes, for example, increasing physical activity, losing weight, and help to quit smoking, all of which can significantly improve long-term health, including your heart health.
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) this year. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
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, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, whether his Department has conducted analysis of the drivers for the 121,506 hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2024-25; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of improved outpatient and secondary care management on reducing avoidable admissions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link:
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, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, how many of those admissions were readmissions within (a) 30 and (b) 90 days of initial hospitalisation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how learning from serious incidents involving accidental Clozapine withdrawal is being recorded and shared nationally across NHS mental health services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clozapine is used to treat people with schizophrenia in whom other medicines have not worked. It is also used to treat severe disturbances in the thoughts, emotions, and behaviour of people with Parkinson’s disease in whom other medicines have not worked.
The known side effects of clozapine are outlined in the product information, the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) for healthcare professionals, and the Patient Information Leaflet which is provided in each pack of the medicine. The SPC states that clozapine should be stopped in a number of clinical situations including after developing a low white blood cell count, fever above 38oC, high blood glucose, also known as hyperglycaemia, as well as jaundice or clinically relevant increases in liver enzymes. If clozapine is restarted it must be carefully titrated and monitoring requirements followed.
Inadvertent withdrawal of clozapine is an issue that is included in the National Health Service’s Time Critical Medicines Safety Improvement Programme, with further information avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/safer-use-of-time-critical-medicines-programme/
The programme is supporting over 50 NHS hospitals to improve the reliability of administration of Time Critical Medicines such as clozapine.
In July 2024 a thematic review of clozapine safety conducted in the North West of England was shared with the NHS England National Medication Safety Officer Network. This included a range of clozapine safety resources published online, such as:
- Managing the risks associated with patients prescribed clozapine, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/managing-the-risks-associated-with-patients-prescribed-clozapine/;
- Clinical considerations for patients prescribed clozapine, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/clinical-considerations-for-patients-prescribed-clozapine/;
- Managing constipation in people taking clozapine, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/managing-constipation-in-people-taking-clozapine/;
- Clozapine use in adults with swallowing difficulties, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/clozapine-use-in-adults-with-swallowing-difficulties/;
- Managing specific interactions with smoking, which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/managing-specific-interactions-with-smoking/; and
- Managing complexities of medication use across care boundaries, which includes a podcast on clozapine safety and which is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/managing-complexities-of-medication-use-across-care-boundaries/.
As with all medicines, the safety of clozapine is kept under continual review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) using a number of data sources. The MHRA is currently reviewing the blood monitoring requirements associated with clozapine.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people died from smoking in England in each year since 2021.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest estimates for smoking-attributable mortality in England are for the period 2017 to 2019. The Smoking Profile, produced by the Department, reports 191,903 smoking-attributable deaths of people aged 35 years old and over in the period 2017 to 2019 in England, which is just under 64,000 deaths each year. Further information on the Smoking Profile is available at the following link: