Written questions by Johnson.

If he will consider making resident doctors subject to legislation preventing strike action.

The Department has no plans to pursue legislative measures to prevent strike action by any National Health Service workforce group.

When he plans to publish the HIV action plan.

The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and is developing the new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish this year.

When he plans to publish the revised NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The approach set out in our 10-Year Health plan means we will need a very different kind of workforce strategy. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, our new 10 Year Workforce Plan will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed, and what skills should they have?’

With reference to the press release entitled Boost to mental health services from thousands of extra staff, published on 27 June 2025, where the dedicated mental health emergency departments will be located.

The announced expansion of crisis assessment centres, also referred to as mental health emergency departments, builds on a number of early implementer sites that have been established in recent years by local health systems to provide a dedicated therapeutic alternative to emergency departments for individuals in a mental health crisis. Locations for the new centres are being identified through a capital allocation process, involving expressions of interest from integrated care boards and regionally and nationally coordinated assessments of local need, existing provision, and system readiness. The new centres will typically serve multiple emergency departments and will be accessible via NHS 111, ambulance conveyance, walk-in, or referral pathways.

When he plans to publish the national maternity and neonatal action plan.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, and the establishment of a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.The investigation will produce, by December 2025, one clear set of national recommendations to achieve high quality, safe care across maternity and neonatal services, and will ensure that women and families are listened to.The taskforce will then develop a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. The timing for the publication of the action plan will be announced in due course. In the meantime, work continues to implement the actions set out in NHS England’s Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also announced some immediate actions to boost accountability and safety as part of the Government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future. This includes measures to hold the system to account, a system to better identify safety concerns, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.

On what dates he has met the British Medical Association to discuss resident doctors (a) pay and (b) terms and conditions in 2025.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met with the British Medical Association to discuss these issues a number of times. The dates and details of these meetings can be found in Department transparency returns, in the usual way.

How many of the newly qualified GPs recruited since October 2024 trained in the United Kingdom.

The Department does not hold the requested information as workforce and recruitment decisions are made locally by practices and primary care networks. As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is up to general practices to determine how they run their operations.As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across the Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training. We will also prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for specialty training.

What discussions he has had with the Leader of the House of Lords on the commencement date for the Committee stage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

Ministers and officials from the Department are regularly in touch with their counterparts across Government. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has had its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and the Committee stage will take place when parliamentary time allows. We expect the bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.

What assessment he has made of the (a) efficiency and (b) productivity of the MHRA.

The Department and its ministers regularly hold assurance meetings with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess its efficiency and productivity. Under the Government, the MHRA has cleared all backlogs, and statutory performance targets are now being met.As part of the MHRA’s ongoing commitment to greater transparency in service delivery, the agency began publishing monthly performance data externally on clinical trials and medicines licenses in April 2023 and extended this to reflect reporting of performance against all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from March 2025. This enhanced reporting provides detailed insights into progress against KPIs and processing times. It enables stakeholders, customers, and partners to plan with greater certainty by offering clear visibility into the performance of key functions, including licensing and clinical trials applications, inspections, batch release, and safety signals. These improvements support more informed engagement and planning across the sector.As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the MHRA will build on this to develop a more pro-innovation approach to regulation, while maintaining safety, ensuring that the United Kingdom remains one of the best places in the world to develop and launch new products, with an international reputation for safety and quality.

What steps he is taking to ensure that single sex (a) living accommodation, (b) bathroom and (c) changing facilities for service personnel are compliant with the law.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) welcomes the Supreme Court's ruling and the clarity that it brings for women and service providers. The MOD is undertaking a review of its internal policies to ensure compliance with the ruling; this includes living accommodation, ablutions, changing facilities, and single-sex spaces. We will be guided by the revised Equality and Human Rights Commission Code of Practice when it becomes available.

Whether he has made and estimate of the total cost of providing personalised coaching to each member of NHS staff.

No estimate has been made. As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will introduce new ‘skills escalators’ for staff. These will give staff a trajectory for clear career progression, with increasing autonomy.By 2035, every single member of National Health Service staff will have their own personalised career coaching and development plan, to help them acquire new skills and practice at the top of their professional capability.Further details on this will be set out in our 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year.

What funding has been allocated to Healthy Start for 2026-27.

The Spending Review on 11 June 2025 set total departmental budgets for day-to-day spending from 2026/27 until 2028/29. Departments must now allocate these budgets to portfolios, programmes, and projects. As such, the budget allocated to Healthy Start for 2026/27 is still to be determined. Healthy Start is a demand-led, statutory scheme and aims to support those in greatest need. We recently announced in Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan that we will uplift the value of weekly payments by 10%, boosting the ability to buy healthy food for those families who need it most. From April 2026, pregnant women and children aged over one and under four years old will each receive £4.65 per week, up from £4.25, and children under one years old will receive £9.30 per week, up from £8.50.

With reference to page 12 of his Department's policy paper entitled Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England, published in July 2025, whether it remains his policy to abolish NHS England.

Yes, as announced on 13 March, NHS England will be brought into the Department to form a new joint centre. The necessary work to formally abolish NHS England is underway.NHS England will continue to undertake its statutory functions, working with the new executive during the transition, until parliamentary time allows for the necessary legislative changes to be made.

What his target date is for 92% of patients to begin elective treatment within 18 weeks.

As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to delivering the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.

How many and what proportion of emergency departments were co-located with urgent treatment centres in the most recent period for which data is available.

There are currently 86, which is approximately half, type 1 accident and emergency units with a co-located urgent treatment centre (UTC).Further co-located UTCs will be built as a result of the capital funding provided as part of our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26.

How many newly qualified nurses there have been in 2025.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes information on the number of United Kingdom trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England.The latest data available, from the Nursing and Midwifery Council March 2025 Annual Data Report, shows that 29,210 nurses joined the register in England for the first time, 19,670 of which obtained their nursing qualification in the UK.

With reference to page 10 of the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether he plans to introduce tie-ins for dentists (a) beginning training after September 2025, (b) already in training and (c) already qualified.

We believe that working in the National Health Service will give dental graduates the best start to their careers, by giving them the broadest range of experience, great support from strong teams of dental professionals, and the most comprehensive training.It costs £200,000 of taxpayer’s money to train a dentist. We believe it is right and fair to taxpayers to expect graduate dentists to invest their skills and expertise in the NHS for at least some amount of time.We will consult with the sector on the detail of introducing this change.

With reference to his Department's publication, Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish the new employment contracts which will allow GPs to (a) work over a larger geographies and (b) lead new neighbourhood providers.

On 3 July 2025, we published the 10-Year Health Plan for England, which announced the plan to introduce two new contracts, for neighbourhood providers and multi-neighbourhood providers, which will encourage general practitioners to work over larger geographies. We will begin make these new contracts available in 2026. Further details will be provided in due course.

When he expects negotiations on a new dental contract to conclude.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, but we need to take the time to get this right. There are no perfect payment models and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession.We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for National Health Service dental patients.As a first step to reforming the dental contract, we are consulting on a package of changes to improve access to, and improve the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver improved care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. Further information on the consultation is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reformsThe consultation was launched on 8 July and will close on 19 August 2025.

With reference to his Department's publication, Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July 2025, how many additional GPs will be trained in each of the next 10 years.

We have committed to training thousands more general practitioners (GPs) across the country, which will increase capacity, end the 8:00am scramble, and take the pressure off those currently working in the system.We will publish a 10-Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10-Year Workforce Plan will ensure that 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.Further details on training places will be confirmed in due course.