Written questions by Anderson.

What funding his Department has provided for supervised tooth brushing in early years settings in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

Funding for 2025/26 has been allocated at upper tier local authority level. For Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council this was £61,842.36 for supervised toothbrushing in early years settings. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-grants-to-local-authorities-2025-to-2026

What estimate he has made of the potential return on funding for the the supervised brushing scheme in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

Supervised toothbrushing is an evidence-based intervention. The most recent assessment suggests that supervised toothbrushing schemes have a five-year return on investment of £3.06 for every £1 spent where the rate of decayed, missing due to decay, and filled teeth is two or greater. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-the-oral-health-of-children-cost-effective-commissioning

What estimate he has made of the number of 3-5 year olds who will join the supervised toothbrushing scheme in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in each of the next five years.

The requested information is held at upper tier local authority rather than at constituency level. The national supervised toothbrushing programme targets 1,830 people aged between three- and five- years old living in the 20% most deprived Lower Super Output Areas of Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council (ONS Indices of Multiple Deprivation mid-2020 population estimates). The final number of children participating in schemes will be determined by rates of local participation at individual settings.

What baseline data his Department holds on the number of hospital tooth extractions among 5-9 year olds in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) publishes annual official statistics on tooth extractions, which include five- to nine-year-olds, that take place in a National Health Service hospital setting in England. The following table shows the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for all tooth extractions and for tooth extraction with dental caries, also known as tooth decay, as the primary diagnosis code, for the 2023/24 financial year, for children aged five to nine years who reside in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes: All tooth extractionsTooth decay-related tooth extractionsBuckinghamshire11595Milton Keynes4035Source: OHID’s annual statistics on tooth extractions for zero to 19 year olds that take place in an NHS hospital setting in England, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hospital-based-tooth-extractions-in-0-to-19-year-olds Notes:Buckinghamshire refers to the local authority, Buckinghamshire Council;Milton Keynes refers to Milton Keynes lower tier local authority, Milton Keynes City Council;al sub-national FCE counts are rounded to the nearest five as per NHS Digital’s disclosure controls;figures show the number of FCEs, not the number of individual children who received these treatments, and therefore one child may have had more than one FCE; anda quality note on the data is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-tooth-extractions-in-hospital-methods-and-data-quality/data-quality-and-disclosure-control-for-hospital-based-tooth-extraction-data

How many and what proportion of the 23 million (a) toothbrushes and (b) toothpastes will be provided to early years settings in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

The information is not available at constituency level. In 2025/26, Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council have received 5,544 toothbrushes for use in early years settings, 4,812 toothpastes and 3,660 toothbrushes for children to take home. This equates to a proportion of 0.3% of the total allocation of products from our partnership with Colgate-Palmolive for this year. Product allocations are based on the number of 3-to-5-year children living in the 20% most deprived areas in England. Allocation of products for subsequent years will be confirmed in partnership with the councils and Colgate-Palmolive.

What the average reduction in waiting time achieved through the Advice and Guidance scheme was for patients registered with GP practices in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in April 2025.

No assessment has been made of the average reduction in waiting time as a result of Advice and Guidance in April 2025 for patients in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

What proportion of GP practices had signed up to the Advice and Guidance scheme by 30 April 2025 in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

The specific information requested is not held centrally by the Department as it is held at individual integrated care board (ICB) level. Buckingham and Bletchley constituency is served by two different ICBs, namely Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & West Berkshire ICB and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB.

What resources his Department has provided to facilitate the participation by GP practices in the Advice and Guidance scheme in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency since 1 April 2025.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) were instructed to invite all general practices to participate in the enhanced service specification for General Practice Requests for Advice and Guidance (A&G) 2025/26, which sees practices entitled to claim a £20 fee per request for pre-referral advice and guidance, no later than 13 May 2025. The Government has made £80 million available to fund up to four million A&G requests so general practitioners (GPs) can access advice ahead of making a referral, recognising the importance of their role in ensuring patient care takes place in the most appropriate setting.NHS England has developed supporting resources to aid continued use of A&G, including a toolkit with guidance for GPs as well as for commissioners and secondary care clinical teams, and an operational delivery framework which sets a roadmap for ICBs to expand and improve their use of A&G across seven themes and with a set of minimum standards for best practice.

How many patients will be evacuated under the Gaza Medical Evacuation Scheme; and what his planned timetable is for those evacuations.

I refer the Hon. Members to My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s Written Statement to the House on 1 September 2025, available at the following link:https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-09-01/hcws899

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that new mental health staff are deployed in areas of greatest demand in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government is recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers to help ease pressure on busy mental health services across the NHS, including in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. More than 6,700 extra mental health workers have been employed since July, as per the latest data.We are working with NHS England to deliver a refreshed workforce plan, which will revolve around the three shifts to deliver our 10-Year Health Plan: moving more care from hospitals to communities; making better use of technology in health and care; and focusing on preventing sickness, not just treating it.Responsibility for the onward commissioning of mental health services sits with integrated care boards (ICB). It is the role of local ICB decision-makers to consider the implications of mental health services, specific to each geography and including the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and local authorities.

Whether his Department has made an estimate of the NHS dental workforce that will be required in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in each of the next five years.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan and will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.

What his planned timetable is for ensuring that all NHS Trusts are digitally interoperable with MedTech Compass, in the context of the operation of the Innovator Passport scheme.

We are committed to ensuring that patients benefit from safe and effective innovations more quickly, that National Health Service organisations are supported to make informed, value-based decisions on medical technology, and that we put in place a low-friction procurement environment to support the medical technology (MedTech) industry, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom.To support this, we’re developing a digital product comparison platform called MedTech Compass. It will align with the new NHS Innovator Passport, making key information visible in one place, in order to avoid suppliers having to submit the same data to every NHS trust.The current regulatory regime ensures that all medical devices placed in the market are safe, and MedTech Compass will only display products with Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approval.The initial development phase of MedTech Compass, to test design concepts, will complete early next year and the findings of this phase will inform the specifics around how the system will operate.An evaluation plan and metrics will be considered as part of the MedTech Compass development process, which may include measuring the time taken to adoption and other metrics informed by the initial development phase learnings.

What steps his Department plans to take to evaluate the potential impact of the Innovator Passport scheme on the average time taken for new health technologies to reach routine NHS use.

We are committed to ensuring that patients benefit from safe and effective innovations more quickly, that National Health Service organisations are supported to make informed, value-based decisions on medical technology, and that we put in place a low-friction procurement environment to support the medical technology (MedTech) industry, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom.To support this, we’re developing a digital product comparison platform called MedTech Compass. It will align with the new NHS Innovator Passport, making key information visible in one place, in order to avoid suppliers having to submit the same data to every NHS trust.The current regulatory regime ensures that all medical devices placed in the market are safe, and MedTech Compass will only display products with Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approval.The initial development phase of MedTech Compass, to test design concepts, will complete early next year and the findings of this phase will inform the specifics around how the system will operate.An evaluation plan and metrics will be considered as part of the MedTech Compass development process, which may include measuring the time taken to adoption and other metrics informed by the initial development phase learnings.

Whether his Department has established (a) regulatory oversight and (b) quality assurance processes to ensure that innovations distributed under the Innovator Passport meet (i) safety and (ii) effectiveness standards in all adopting NHS trusts.

We are committed to ensuring that patients benefit from safe and effective innovations more quickly, that National Health Service organisations are supported to make informed, value-based decisions on medical technology, and that we put in place a low-friction procurement environment to support the medical technology (MedTech) industry, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom.To support this, we’re developing a digital product comparison platform called MedTech Compass. It will align with the new NHS Innovator Passport, making key information visible in one place, in order to avoid suppliers having to submit the same data to every NHS trust.The current regulatory regime ensures that all medical devices placed in the market are safe, and MedTech Compass will only display products with Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approval.The initial development phase of MedTech Compass, to test design concepts, will complete early next year and the findings of this phase will inform the specifics around how the system will operate.An evaluation plan and metrics will be considered as part of the MedTech Compass development process, which may include measuring the time taken to adoption and other metrics informed by the initial development phase learnings.

What guidance his Department plans to develop to help support life sciences SMEs to prepare evidence dossiers that will be compatible with Innovator Passport standards to enable rapid access to NHS procurement.

The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing procurement friction to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The development of the Innovator Passport will include close engagement with industry, including SMEs, to ensure that the approach taken and the implementation reflects the needs of SMEs, including the provision of clear guidance and ongoing support. To support this, the Department is developing a digital product comparison platform called MedTech Compass which will align with the new National Health Service Innovator Passport and provide improved visibility of the products available from SMEs. The Department is also launching Value Based Procurement Standard Guidance early next year, to provide a consistent and transparent approach to assessing medical technology. The guidance includes a bank of questions and model answers which outline the types of evidence that should be provided by bidders, and followed close engagement with industry to develop.

What estimate his Department has made of the number of people from groups that have previously been less likely to have had cervical screening who will be offered self-sampling kits under the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in its first year in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire.

This information is not held at the requested geographical level.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of self-sampling on levels of uptake for cervical screening among (a) socioeconomic and (b) ethnic groups.

The Department undertook an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) into the introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling in under-screened populations, which will be published shortly. The findings of this EQIA, which considered national and international evidence, suggest that there is potential for HPV self-sampling for under-screened groups to improve participation in cervical screening by reducing some of the barriers to participation experienced by people with different protected characteristics, leading to improved participation and ultimately preventing more cervical cancers and associated deaths.The self-testing kits which detect HPV, which is a group of viruses that can lead to cervical cancer, allow women to carry out this testing in the privacy and convenience of their own homes.The programme specifically targets those groups consistently missing vital appointments, with younger women, ethnic minority communities facing cultural hurdles, people with a disability, and LGBT+ people all set to benefit.

What discussions he has had with NHS England on the steps it plans to take to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of self-sampling for cervical screening compared with clinician-taken samples.

The Department is guided on screening policy by the UK National Screening Committee. The committee is working with National Institute for Health and Care Research and NHS England to develop an In Service Evaluation that will evaluate the clinical effectiveness of self-sampling for cervical screening compared with clinician-taken samples, as well as looking at how self-sampling would impact the routine cervical screening programme if offered to all eligible women.From January 2026, screening providers in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England will be able to offer self-sampling kits to women if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation.Self-sampling will help detect high-risk human papillomavirus, prevent cancer, and save lives in those who currently do not access clinician led screening. However, for those attending clinician testing, a shift to self-sampling might result in a programme that is not yet proven to be of equal efficacy. Further studies to consider whether self-sampling could be used across the whole population are being developed.

What his Department's timetable is for the national rollout of self-sampling kits to people who have previously been less likely to have had cervical screening under the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.

NHS England will roll out human papillomavirus self-sampling from early 2026.

Whether his Department has set specific targets for the number of (a) self-sampling cervical screening tests distributed and (b) samples received from self-sampling cervical screening tests among different (i) socioeconomic and (ii) ethnic groups.

Target setting is currently under consideration by NHS England.