Written questions by Morgan.

What steps he is taking to increase the use of call-before-you-convey by ambulance services and hospital trusts.

In the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/2026, ambulance services have been focusing on delivering a range of practical actions to improve performance in 2025/26, including; improving ambulance ‘hear and treat’ service rates with increasing the proportion of Category 2 ambulance incidents where an ambulance clinician provides advice and treatment over the phone; andreducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances by ensuring all Category 3 and 4 calls are clinically navigated, validated, and where appropriate, triaged in ambulance control centres, or in single points of access. All ambulance services have implemented call before you convey arrangements, to ensure crews can access senior clinical advice on scene and convey patients to an emergency department only where it is clinically appropriate. We are also expanding access to urgent community care services to support the reduction of unnecessary emergency department attendances and hospital admissions.

What assessment he has made of trends in the number of year-on-year changes to hospital handover delays in (a) Shropshire (b) West Midlands and (c) England.

Shropshire is primarily served by the West Midlands Ambulance Service, along with the wider West Midlands region, where in January 2026 average hospital handovers took one hour, 20 minutes and 15 seconds, which is worse than the same period the year before.For England overall, the most recent National Health Service performance figures show that average ambulance handover delays have improved, falling to 37 minutes 39 seconds from 40 minutes 23 seconds, an improvement of over two and a half minutes from the same period last year.From 2023, NHS England has published data on hospital handover delays at acute and ambulance trust level. There is no published data on individual hospital handover times publicly available, so the Deptartment is unable to list the longest hospital handover times recorded. However, the 90th centile of handovers times are published monthly. The data can be found at the following two links:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mi-nhse-ambulance-handover-times-by-acute-trusthttps://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-quality-indicators-data-2025-26/

If he will list the longest hospital handover time recorded in each ambulance service area of England in each January of the past five years.

Shropshire is primarily served by the West Midlands Ambulance Service, along with the wider West Midlands region, where in January 2026 average hospital handovers took one hour, 20 minutes and 15 seconds, which is worse than the same period the year before.For England overall, the most recent National Health Service performance figures show that average ambulance handover delays have improved, falling to 37 minutes 39 seconds from 40 minutes 23 seconds, an improvement of over two and a half minutes from the same period last year.From 2023, NHS England has published data on hospital handover delays at acute and ambulance trust level. There is no published data on individual hospital handover times publicly available, so the Deptartment is unable to list the longest hospital handover times recorded. However, the 90th centile of handovers times are published monthly. The data can be found at the following two links:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mi-nhse-ambulance-handover-times-by-acute-trusthttps://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-quality-indicators-data-2025-26/

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of ambulance station closures on ambulance response times in (a) Shropshire (b) rural areas and (c) England.

No specific assessment has been made. Responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioner. The West Midlands Ambulance Service have two hubs in Shropshire and no current plans to change that.Integrated care boards are best placed to work with and consult local health and care organisations, local authorities and local stakeholders to decide how to best deliver and meet their local population care needs and national targets for ambulance response times. The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of corridor care on NHS workforce numbers.

Whilst no assessment has been made, the health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority. NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive, including access to high quality health and wellbeing support. We recognise that periods of high demand can leave NHS staff feeling overworked and unsupported. The government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, including new staff standards focused on improving retention, flexible working and staff health and wellbeing.Corridor care refers to care delivered in non-designated clinical areas and is not an acceptable standard of care. We are committed to eliminating corridor care before the end of this Parliament.On 3 March 2026, NHS England wrote to NHS organisations, including trusts and integrated care boards, setting out a clear definition of corridor care and the additional actions required to eliminate it. This introduction of a clear national definition will enable trusts to collect and report consistent and validated data on corridor care, supporting transparency and system improvement. Subject to data quality, this information will be published monthly on the NHS England website from May 2026.Where corridor care cannot be avoided, updated national guidance has been issued to ensure patient safety, dignity and privacy are protected and to reduce impacts on patients and staff.

What steps he is taking to help facilitate compliant data sharing between organisations involved in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.

In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England.The NNHIP is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health: the National Health Service; local government; social care providers; other statutory and non-statutory organisations; and the voluntary sector.We are working closely with the relevant transformation teams to strengthen data‑sharing arrangements across the programme. Sites are already exchanging learning on effective local approaches, and we are jointly developing practical guidance to support safe and consistent data sharing while wider national solutions are progressed.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Dementia Assessment Services in Shropshire.

No central assessment has been made of the adequacy of Dementia Assessment Services in Shropshire. The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards and ensuring they are responsive to the needs of local communities.However, NHS England does collect and publish data about people with dementia at each general practice (GP) in England, including those in Shropshire, to enable National Health Service GPs and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.GPs also provide a count of patients up to the end of the reporting period who have received an assessment for dementia and who have received or declined an initial memory assessment, a referral to a memory clinic, a care plan, a care plan review, and/or a medication review.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of care for people who have received dementia diagnoses, in the context of the contribution of (a) continued activity and (b) social engagement for slowing the progression of dementia.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). Therefore no central assessment has been made of the adequacy of care for people who have received dementia diagnoses in the context of the contribution of continued activity and social engagement for slowing the progression of dementia. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and oversee the quality of the services they commission.We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of moving data controller responsibilities from GPs to (a) NHS and (b) government bodies.

As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we will build on our programme of national public engagement on the use of health data and work with the system, including clinical staff, to move towards national and regional models of decision making for access to all National Health Service data for secondary uses, for instance data used for purposes beyond an individual’s care, for example planning NHS services and research. We will use a combination of policy and legislative change to implement this and speed up secure access to this data. This may result in changes to data controllership responsibilities for secondary uses of data.General practices (GPs) would remain data controllers for data in GP records for an individual’s care.

What guidance he has issued to (a) public (b) private and (c) voluntary organisations involved in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme on best practice data sharing.

In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England.The NNHIP is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health: the National Health Service; local government; social care providers; other statutory and non-statutory organisations; and the voluntary sector.We are working closely with the relevant transformation teams to strengthen data‑sharing arrangements across the programme. Sites are already exchanging learning on effective local approaches, and we are jointly developing practical guidance to support safe and consistent data sharing while wider national solutions are progressed.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with dementia are able to access a timely diagnosis.

We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. The estimated dementia diagnosis rate for patients aged 65 years old and over at the end of January 2026 was 66.1%.To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and takes informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.We will deliver the first ever Modern Service framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. The Modern Service framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.

What estimate he has made of the potential cost to (a) GP practices (b) integrated care boards and (c) NHS trusts of participating in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.

Participation in the programme is voluntary, and sites are sponsored locally by their integrated care board and local authority chief executive officers to help accelerate progress in delivering neighbourhood health. Sites have received nationally funded support, including coaching, analytical and evaluation input, and access to national convening and communities of practice. The costs of delivering neighbourhood health will vary between places, and as sites have only been participating for a short period, a clearer picture of local delivery costs will emerge over time with further analytical support.

How much funding his Department has provided to community pharmacies through retained margin in the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in real terms accounting for inflation in each year since 2016.

The following table shows the nominal and real terms funding through retained margin as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) each year since 2015/16:YearNominal valueGross domestic product deflator at December 2025Real terms value 2025/26 prices2015/16£800,000,00072.46£1020,000,0002016/17£800,000,00073.91£1009,000,0002017/18£800,000,00074.85£1001,000,0002018/19£800,000,00076.55£988,000,0002019/20£800,000,00078.57£971,000,0002020/21£800,000,00082.68£939,000,0002021/22£800,000,00082.87£937,000,0002022/23£800,000,00088.70£890,000,0002023/24£800,000,00093.38£853,000,0002024/25£850,000,00097.14£874,000,0002025/26£900,000,000100£900,000,000Notes:for 2022/23 and 2023/24, an additional £50 million in funding was provided via writing off over-delivery; andfor 2025/26, an additional £193 million in funding was provided via writing off over-delivery.The Department, along with Community Pharmacy England, assess the medicines margin retained through a quarterly ‘medicines margin survey’. Where the medicine margin survey shows under or over delivery against the funding provided, then adjustments are made to reimbursement prices to bring it line with the allowed medicine margin as per CPCF.

What steps he is taking to ensure the timely delivery of cataract surgery for patients in Shropshire.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and modernisation efforts needed to reach the 92% standard by March 2029. We have set a national ambition that by March 2026, 65% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum five percentage point improvement on current performance over that period.In December 2025, 70.2% of patients on the elective waiting list nationally, and 79% of patients in the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, were waiting under 18 weeks for ophthalmology services. Since the Government came into office, the elective waiting list in England has now been cut by 330,417. This is despite 31.7 million referrals onto the waiting list.We know further progress is needed to return to the constitutional standard. In September 2025, we announced an “online hospital”, via NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. It will connect patients with clinicians across the country through secure, online appointments accessed through the NHS App.

Whether he has issued guidance to integrated care boards regarding the management of waiting lists for private providers of NHS procedures.

The Department has not issued specific guidance to integrated care boards regarding the management of waiting lists for private providers of National Health Service procedures. The Department has published rules on referral to treatment consultant-led pathways which applies to all providers of NHS care, and which can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-start-consultant-led-treatment-within-18-weeks/referral-to-treatment-consultant-led-waiting-times-rules-suite-october-2022

How many planned cataract surgeries have been delayed in each of the past 12 months due to integrated care boards not having enough money in their financial-year budget to pay the private providers delivering the procedures.

The Department does not hold this data.Integrated care boards have existing contractual powers to manage activity by providers, which were enhanced in 2025/26 with central support for setting and managing activity. Commissioners’ use of these powers support systems to live within their means and deploy better financial discipline than previous years where systems have overspent. As these powers are exercised by local systems, no national assessment has been made.We expect the use of activity management provisions by local systems to support efforts achieving the goal of at least 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment by March 2026 whilst living within financial budgets set for 2025/26.

What steps he is taking to (a) minimise disruption caused by delays to the supply of bone cement and (b) ensure the availability of adequate supplies of bone cement in the future.

The Department is working closely with NHS England, professional bodies and industry partners and have implemented a range of measures to resolve the shortage of bone cement.The National Health Service has secured stock of an alternative bone cement product, which is now in the United Kingdom for onward distribution. There is sufficient supply to confidently resume elective procedures, and further deliveries are planned in the coming weeks.The NHS also issued immediate guidance to hospitals to ensure that trauma and urgent care could continue safely.We will keep our horizon-scanning processes under review and work specifically to identify future potential risks and safeguard continuity of future bone cement supplies.The Department has held regular discussions with NHS England on the supply position, operational impact, and plans to secure alternative products, including through established incident coordination structures.

What discussions he has had with NHS England on delays to the supply of Heraeus bone cement.

The Department is working closely with NHS England, professional bodies and industry partners and have implemented a range of measures to resolve the shortage of bone cement.The National Health Service has secured stock of an alternative bone cement product, which is now in the United Kingdom for onward distribution. There is sufficient supply to confidently resume elective procedures, and further deliveries are planned in the coming weeks.The NHS also issued immediate guidance to hospitals to ensure that trauma and urgent care could continue safely.We will keep our horizon-scanning processes under review and work specifically to identify future potential risks and safeguard continuity of future bone cement supplies.The Department has held regular discussions with NHS England on the supply position, operational impact, and plans to secure alternative products, including through established incident coordination structures.

What dedicated funding he is providing to (a) primary care networks and (b) integrated care boards for the development of integrated neighbourhood teams.

Both integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will design Neighbourhood Health Services that reflect the needs of their local populations as part of their wider responsibilities within their funding allocations. Nationally, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling Neighbourhood Health.Funding for primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams is included within ICBs overall allocations. Additional funding has also been provided to support the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which was launched in 2025 in 43 places. Work is underway to consider the future direction of the programme, informed by the learning and feedback from wave 1.

Whether the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme will be continuing beyond March 2026.

Both integrated care boards (ICBs) and local health systems will design Neighbourhood Health Services that reflect the needs of their local populations as part of their wider responsibilities within their funding allocations. Nationally, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling Neighbourhood Health.Funding for primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams is included within ICBs overall allocations. Additional funding has also been provided to support the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which was launched in 2025 in 43 places. Work is underway to consider the future direction of the programme, informed by the learning and feedback from wave 1.