Written questions by Baldwin.

Whether he plans to continue the children's hospice grant beyond March 2026.

The Government wants a society where every child receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the important contribution that children and young people’s hospices make to care and support for children and young people with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions, as well as to their families. NHS England has provided £26 million in revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26, through what was, until recently, known as the Children and Young people’s Hospice Grant. Integrated care boards will once again administer the funding to their respective children and young people’s hospices on behalf of NHS England. The majority of children and young people’s hospices should now have received their allocations, with the remaining few receiving theirs in the coming weeks. Funding arrangements for 2026/27 will be confirmed in due course.

With reference to paragraph 2.4 of the Spending Review Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June 2025, what the sickness absence rate was for NHS entities included in the NHS Productivity Plan as a percentage in each of the last five financial years.

Sickness absence rates are published monthly and are available on the NHS England Digital website, at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-ratesThe NHS Productivity Plan referenced includes all National Health Service hospital and community health services (HCHS), which is the same remit as the published sickness absence rates.The following table shows the average annual sickness absence rates across all HCHS in England for the last five financial years for which full-year data is available:Financial yearAnnual sickness absence rate from April to March2023/244.9%2022/234%2021/225.4%2020/214.7%2019/204.5% There are some indications that sickness absence across the economy remained high throughout 2023/24 and 2024/25, though data for individual sectors of the economy is limited. Sickness absence in the NHS, however, is lower at present compared to the heights of 2022/23.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the UK-US trade deal on the health and social care sectors.

The Department continues to work closely with United Kingdom pharmaceutical firms, life sciences trade associations, and other Government departments to assess the potential impact of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal on the health and social care sectors. The Government is clear that we will only ever sign trade agreements that align with the UK’s national interests, and that the National Health Service will never be on the table for any trade agreement.

With reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement published on 13 February 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that supplier requirements include statutory sick pay from day one in healthcare contracts.

The National Procurement Policy Statement states that contracting authorities should ensure that their suppliers are committed to providing high quality jobs, safe and healthy working conditions, fair pay, and opportunity and progression for their workers.Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum amount an employer is required to pay to their employee when they are sick, where the employee meets the qualifying conditions. Through the Employment Rights Bill, the Government is widening eligibility to the up to 1.3 million employees who are currently not entitled to SSP by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, so that SSP is paid from the first day of work missed due to sickness absence. We are also creating a single enforcement body, The Fair Work Agency, which will bring existing state enforcement functions together into one place, so employment rights are enforced more effectively and efficiently. This will include the enforcement of the right to SSP. These measures are part of our commitment to implement our Plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most.

Whether their Department offers its staff shared parental leave from their first working day.

Shared parental leave is not offered as standard from the first working day for the Department’s employees. The Civil Service Management Code states that shared parental leave may only be granted in accordance with statutory requirements governing eligibility for this category of leave. However, some staff could qualify for statutory shared parental leave on their first day of service with a particular Department because they already have service with another Department.The Department complies with the United Kingdom’s law, which dictates that employees and their partners, with whom they share primary responsibility for the child, must have been employed by their respective employer for at least 26 weeks continuously by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth or adoption.As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into place.

Whether he plans to bring forward hub and spoke dispensing legislation for pharmacies in 2025.

The Government is working towards introducing legislation to enable hub and spoke dispensing between different legal entities in 2025. This change will be enabled via amendments to both primary and secondary legislation, and is subject to the usual parliamentary processes.

What discussions he has had with representatives of hospices since the Autumn Budget 2024.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, we took necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances, enabling the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. These changes will be implemented in April 2025.The Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for hospices in England for next year in due course.

What discussions he has had with representatives of health charities since the Autumn Budget 2024.

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, meets regularly with external stakeholders on a variety of issues.

What meetings (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have had with the (i) British Dental Association and (ii) Association of Dental Groups since 5 July 2024.

Since 5 July 2024, the Government has had two meetings with the British Dental Association (BDA). My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met with the BDA in July, and I had a further meeting in August. I also met with the Association of Dental Groups in September 2024.