Written questions by Blackman.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Part IX medical devices process on (a) supplier confidence and (b) future investment in the UK medical devices market; and what steps he is taking to (a) improve and (b) reduce the time taken for that process.

As part of our development work on Part IX of the Drug Tariff reforms, we have undertaken detailed assessment of the impacts on the market and suppliers. We have worked closely with industry and the joint Department and Industry Drug Tarff Committee to ensure we understand the likely impact. The reforms are designed to support innovation while also addressing unwarranted price variation for similar products. The new enhanced assessment process will allow comparison between products based on their merits, which will increase transparency and competition and, by extension, patient choice. This approach is intended to encourage new innovative products and small and medium-sized businesses to enter the market. Suppliers may also, for the first time, apply to list products temporarily for up to two years to allow them to generate evidence to support a longer-term listing. Through temporary listings, the Department is ensuring early National Health Service access to innovative products, providing a clear and transparent route to market.To improve the listing process, we are introducing a robust assessment framework for products, including independent clinical advisory panels supported by patient representatives. An updated application form is being introduced to streamline the process, and the NHS Business Services Authority is recruiting additional resources for renewals. We are engaging with industry throughout the process, with opportunities to collaborate on any changes during the post-action review after each category is reviewed. This review will enable us to understand if the new process operates in the way that is expected and to make any adjustments as needed. It will also review process steps to ensure its as optimal for industry as possible.

When he expects the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to receive Royal Assent.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has completed its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and Committee Stage will take place as soon as parliamentary time allows. We expect the bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 prohibits the advertisement and sponsorship of tobacco products. It is the Government’s position that heated tobacco advertising is already prohibited under this legislation. To ensure clarity on the scope of legislation and to ensure it covers all current and future tobacco products, we are updating the definition of a “tobacco product” to include the wording “or consumed in any other way”. As currently drafted, the bill will bring this into force two months after Royal Assent.

What his planned timetable is for banning heated tobacco adverts following the Royal Assent of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward that ban.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has completed its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and Committee Stage will take place as soon as parliamentary time allows. We expect the bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 prohibits the advertisement and sponsorship of tobacco products. It is the Government’s position that heated tobacco advertising is already prohibited under this legislation. To ensure clarity on the scope of legislation and to ensure it covers all current and future tobacco products, we are updating the definition of a “tobacco product” to include the wording “or consumed in any other way”. As currently drafted, the bill will bring this into force two months after Royal Assent.

How many people have (a) been screened, (b) been diagnosed with lung cancer and (c) had an incidental finding of emphysema through the Targeted Lung Health Check programme since its launch in 2019.

The Lung Cancer Screening Programme is a National Health Service screening programme designed to identify cancers at an earlier stage. It is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 to 74 years old.From the programme’s start to April 2025, data from NHS England shows that 1,268,938 lung health checks have been attended in England. As a result of this, 7,462 cases of lung cancer have been diagnosed, and there have been 100,845 incidental findings of emphysema.

What estimate he has made of the cost of the recommended NHS pay awards.

Last year’s pay awards for NHS staff were among the biggest across the public sector. This year, we have announced above inflation, fully funded pay increases across all staff groups for a second year in a row. These thoroughly deserved pay rises demonstrate how this Government wants to work with staff in our shared ambition to rebuild the NHS. We have been able to fully fund these pay award thanks to the reforms we’ve made, including cuts to bureaucratic duplication and central running costs.

How many babies were born with conditions not picked up during screening tests in each of the last ten years for which data is available.

The information requested is not held centrally. There is no specific field in the Maternity Services Dataset (MSDS) to capture screening results. Screening tests offered during pregnancy can be captured in MSDS via SNOMED codes, however information relating to screenings tests is not routinely collected or published. Therefore, data recorded in the MSDS via SNOMED codes is currently unlikely to cover screening test results, and mainly either describes whether the screening test was offered or took place, or whether it is entirely absent. Everyone who is eligible is invited to undertake antenatal screening during pregnancy. However, the offer relies on informed consent. Some parents may choose not to undertake screening tests. The current opt in rate is relatively high at around 70%.No screening test is 100% accurate and they can have false positive and false negative results. In England, any laboratory undertaking screening tests as part of the National Health Service’s antenatal and newborn screening programmes is required to adhere to rigorous testing processes in line with individual screening programme handbooks and must also be accredited by the UK Accreditation Service to the International Organization for Standardization’s requirements for quality and competence in medical laboratories, ISO 15189:2022, with further information available at the following link:https://www.iso.org/standard/76677.htmlThe UK National Screening Committee keeps all screening programmes under review. Work is ongoing to look at tests that could be included in antenatal screening programmes to increase detection or reduce the need for further invasive diagnostic tests.

What plans his Department has to improve survival rates for bowel cancer.

We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so more patients survive, including those with bowel cancer. As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people, including those with bowel cancer, getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months. We have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with lower gastrointestinal cancers cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

What steps he plans to take to reduce the number of people with lower gastrointestinal cancers waiting beyond 62 days from urgent referral for their first definitive treatment.

We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so more patients survive, including those with bowel cancer. As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis and treatment, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.Our reforms to cancer care will see more than 100,000 people, including those with bowel cancer, getting diagnosed faster, and thousands more starting treatment within two months. We have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with lower gastrointestinal cancers cancers, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the work of the Lung Health Check programme at the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

NHS England is aware of the interesting data originating from Hull, which demonstrates that an appreciable number of people can be identified as having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through a targeted approach to those that have been through lung cancer screening. This work is informing policy considerations.

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease's 2025 annual report on Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

NHS England is aware of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease that sits among other welcome approaches to improving care and outcomes for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). NHS England clinical policy for people with COPD is largely formed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and professional society recommendations such as from the British Thoracic Society and Primary Care Respiratory Society. Broader initiatives and evidence may be considered where appropriate.

What the allocated budget is for the smokefree pregnancy incentive scheme for the year 2025-26.

The National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme has a budget of £5.8 million for the financial year 2025/26, with future settlements being considered as part of the Spending Review process.

What steps he is taking to support the move toward patient self-referral for community audiology services as a default pathway in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.

The current community audiology service in Harrow East requires a referral from a healthcare professional to access the service. The North West London Integrated Care Board is examining how this service could be developed, in the light of recent guidance around increasing self-referral to services such as audiology, in a manner that meets the needs of the population and which fits sustainably within the funding available for this service.

How many human embryos were discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available; and what uses discarded embryos are put to.

The following table, provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), shows the number of human embryos discarded in each of the last ten years for which information is available:YearEmbryos discarded2022160,2852021172,6652020137,2962019173,1302018177,7652017175,6162016174,3272015175,4782014176,6612013170,654Source: HFEA.Notes:the data is as recorded by the HFEA on 16 October 2024, so these figures reflect the data on this day and are likely to change over time;data for 2019 to 2022 is preliminary and quality assurance processes with clinics have not yet completed. There is no further information collected by the HFEA after an embryo is discarded.

What information his Department holds on the success rate of IVF is in each of the last ten years for which information is available.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual reports on their website which include success rates of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The following table shows the success rate of IVF in each of the last ten years for which information is available:Year of treatmentBirth rate per embryo transferred202223%202123%202024%201924%201823%201723%201622%201521%201420%201319%Source: HFEA annual report on fertility treatment and the HFEA dashboard.Notes:live births for 2019 to 2022 are preliminary and quality assurance processes with clinics have not yet completed; anddata excludes embryos that have been previously frozen.

What information his Department holds on the health outcomes for children born by IVF.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that its expert Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee monitors new studies relating to health outcomes in children conceived by IVF. They last discussed this topic in February 2025, and the associated paper and minutes can be found on the HFEA website, at the following link:https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-authority-committees-and-panels/scientific-and-clinical-advances-advisory-committee-scaac/HFEA Register data is used in research studies which look at the effects of IVF on the health of children born, with further information about these studies, including details of current and previous projects, available on the HFEA website at the following link:https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/data-research/

What steps he is taking to ensure that community-based ear wax removal services are made available to patients in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal. When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.

What steps his Department is taking to tackle tobacco bundle packs; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of prohibiting the promotion of these bundles.

The Department has not made an assessment on the potential merits of prohibiting the sale of bundles, consisting of hand rolling tobacco, cigarette papers, and filters, being sold together at a discount.The Tobacco and Vapes Bill gives my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care powers to regulate the features of all tobacco products, including their size and shape, as well as the number of individual products contained in an individual packet. The bill also widens this power to cover tobacco related devices, herbal smoking products, and cigarette papers. The bill gives my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to make, via regulations, prohibitions, requirements, and limitations on the supply of these products. This power would cover bundles of products that are sold in a package together.Tobacco taxation is a matter for HM Treasury. As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, duty rates on all tobacco products were increased, in line with the tobacco duty escalator, by 2% above Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation. The duty rate on hand-rolling tobacco was increased by a further 10% to 12% above RPI inflation, to reduce the gap with duty on cigarettes. These changes came into effect on 30 October 2024. High and increasing rates of tobacco duty are proven to incentivise those who currently smoke either to quit or to smoke less, and support public finances.

With reference to the National Prostate Cancer Audit's report entitled NPCA State of the Nation Report 2024, published in January 2025, if he will take steps to tackle inequalities in accessing NICE-recommended treatments following advanced prostate cancer diagnosis for (a) black men and (b) men from areas of socio-economic deprivation.

Making improvements across different cancer types, including prostate cancer, is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the National Health Service’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men.We have also asked the National Screening Committee to review the evidence for prostate cancer screening, including for high-risk groups like black men.As part of our wider strategy on early diagnosis, we are directly targeting our activity at areas we know will make a difference. This includes awareness raising campaigns such as the NHS Help Us, Help You campaign, to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and encourage people to get checked.The NHS England Cancer Programme also commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients, including those with prostate cancer.Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve access to treatments and outcomes for all tumour types, including prostate cancer. We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be. We will provide updates on this in due course.We need to tackle the inequalities that people from different groups face, which will be part of the National Cancer Plan as we look at addressing all barriers to providing cancer care across prevention, diagnosis, screening and treatment.

What steps he is taking to help tackle health inequalities in prostate cancer.

Making improvements across different cancer types, including prostate cancer, is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the National Health Service’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men.We have also asked the National Screening Committee to review the evidence for prostate cancer screening, including for high-risk groups like black men.As part of our wider strategy on early diagnosis, we are directly targeting our activity at areas we know will make a difference. This includes awareness raising campaigns such as the NHS Help Us, Help You campaign, to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and encourage people to get checked.The NHS England Cancer Programme also commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients, including those with prostate cancer.Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve access to treatments and outcomes for all tumour types, including prostate cancer. We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be. We will provide updates on this in due course.We need to tackle the inequalities that people from different groups face, which will be part of the National Cancer Plan as we look at addressing all barriers to providing cancer care across prevention, diagnosis, screening and treatment.

What funding his Department is providing to support the implementation of ongoing and holistic post-release support for prison leavers with severe mental health issues.

The NHS RECONNECT service supports people leaving prison with identified health needs to make the transition to community-based services, including mental health services, which are funded by local health and care systems.