Every parliamentary written question tabled by Helen Morgan this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 141–160 of 1,095 · this parliament
Whether his Department holds guidance on histopathological examination of retained placenta to identify undiagnosed placenta accreta spectrum disorder.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
(a) what criteria a hospital must meet to be designated as an accredited specialist centre for placenta accreta spectrum disorder and (b) what assessment process is used to verify compliance with those criteria.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
If he will publish the referral network map for specialist centres for placenta accreta spectrum disorder.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
What steps he is taking to address regional differences in funding for patients trying to conceive through IVF, in the context of NICE guidelines on offering people under 40 up to three full cycles of IVF.
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population.On 31 March, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated fertility guideline, which recommends that women under 40 years old who meet the clinical eligibility criteria should be offered up to three full cycles of in vitro fertilisation.We expect ICBs to consider and reflect the updated NICE fertility guideline in their commissioning decisions, and we are working with NHS England to support greater consistency in provision.
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consider reclassifying insects from the farmed livestock classification under Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, Article 3(6), to enable insect bioconversion for waste treatment.
There are no plans to review Article 3(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 that defines insects as farmed animals and therefore restricts their use in insect bioconversion for waste treatment. This is because catering waste cannot be fed to farmed animals. This position is set out in Defra’s animal by-products policy guidance: Supplying and using animal by-products as farm animal feed - GOV.UK.
When he will publish the legal text for the UK-US pharmaceuticals deal.
The full text of the UK-US pharmaceutical agreement is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-us-arrangement-on-pharmaceutical-trade-and-pricing/arrangement-between-the-united-states-of-america-and-the-united-kingdom-on-pharmaceutical-pricing-html
How much money she has committed to the (a) Safety National Programme and (b) Small Schemes National Programme elements RIS3.
RIS3 included for the first time a set of four National Programmes, which are a new way for National Highways to deliver defined outputs that support RIS3 objectives, where these are not funded in other programmes. Details of the funding for each National Programme will be confirmed in National Highways’ Delivery Plan for 2026-31, which is expected to be published in the summer.
What assessment he has made of the role of battery storage in reducing the UK's reliance on international energy markets.
Batteries help balance the electricity system at lower cost and maximise the output from intermittent renewable generation, which helps reduce our reliance on gas and thus international energy markets.As of March 2027, there is 7.2GW of grid-scale battery storage on the GB grid. S The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan set out an ambition for 23-27 GW of grid-scale batteries connected by 2030. We are therefore already making significant strides towards reducing our dependence on gas.
Pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2026 to question 121915, which sites have been affected by temporary suspension of cadet activity; and when the closures of those sites began.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
What the average waiting time is for an application for a controlled drug licence to be decided.
The Home Office Drug and Firearms Licensing Unit (DFLU) considers applications for premises and company specific controlled drug licences. All applications are considered individually and on their merits, after undertaking a physical site visit- if one is needed- and reviewing the evidence submitted to support an application.Application processing times can vary considerably depending on whether a site visit is needed or if the application can be decided with a paper-based review. Other factors, including site location and resourcing, company availability, timeliness of the submission of any additional information requested will also be relevant. On this basis, we do not publish average processing times as a statistical average may not be representative of the customer journey.Operational pressures in DFLU have meant that there are currently higher caseloads than we would wish, which has resulted in extended lead times for consideration of some applications at this time.
What steps he is taking with local optometrists to support eye care services within neighbourhood health systems.
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
What steps his Department is taking to work with local optometrists to ensure that neighbourhood‑level eye care services are supported.
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of optometrists on neighbourhood‑level health planning; and whether he considered including optometrists as a listed provider in the Neighbourhood Health Framework.
The Neighbourhood Health Framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of Neighbourhood Health Services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as integrated care boards and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework, including in relation to optometry.
What criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the Neighbourhood Health Framework.
The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of neighbourhood health services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework.General practice, primary care, pharmacies, mental health providers, community health services, social care services, local authorities, and civil society partners are included, to deliver the ambition to shift care from hospital to communities, improve access, and provide proactive, holistic care for people with complex needs.This is not an exhaustive list of all possible providers of neighbourhood health services but illustrates the types of providers with whom we are actively working.No specific criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the framework. The framework does not prevent other providers from being part of neighbourhood health services.
What assessment he has made of the potential impact of hospital handover delays on the budgets of ambulance trusts.
No specific assessment has been made. The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, recognises handover delays as a system wide responsibility and effective collaboration between ambulance services, acute trusts, integrated care boards, and others is required to reduce ambulance handover times toward the 15-minute standard. NHS England continues to monitor average hospital handover times, sharing data with regions to support focussed discussions and identify improvement actions with those trusts not achieving handovers within 45 minutes.
What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the level of volatility in the prices of petrol and diesel on the budgets of hospital trusts and ambulance trusts.
We will be carefully monitoring the impact of the current volatility in fuel prices on the National Health Service, with a view to managing it as part of usual in-year financial management of risk. The impact on fuel prices will be felt by all organisations who rely on fuel for transport, including the indirect potential impact on the cost of deliveries, and direct costs on the NHS fleet which consists of over 20,000 vehicles travelling over 460 million miles every year. The impact is likely to vary, for example as part of the NHS Net Zero travel and transport strategy, a number of ambulance trusts are trialling zero-emission response vehicles.
What arrangements NHS England has made to ensure that patients retain the statutory right to choose a provider where a mandatory Single Point of Access triage process operates; and what guidance has been issued to Integrated Care Boards on preserving patient choice rights within mandatory Single Point of Access pathways from 1 April 2026.
The policy intention for Advice and Guidance (A&G) and the Elective Single Point of Access (SPoA) model is fully compatible with NHS England’s Patient Choice Guidance, published December 2023. Patients must continue to be offered a choice of provider at the appropriate point in the pathway, and local pathways should be designed to ensure that choice rights operate in practice.The purpose of A&G is to support decision‑making, reduce unnecessary referrals, and deliver more care closer to home. SPoA acts as a single ‘front door’ to support clinical triage to the most appropriate service or outcome, meaning timelier, more joined-up care for patients, without altering patients’ statutory right to choice.NHS England has published system guidance The Elective Single Point of Access: Technical Guidance for 2026/27, which specifies that patients must continue to be offered choice of provider and team at the appropriate point in the pathway when they can make an informed choice. An elective SPoA diagram showing touchpoints of choice is included in the technical guidance annex.
Whether NHS England has engaged formally with the General Medical Council about the interaction between mandatory pre-referral Advice and Guidance requirements and the professional duty of GPs under General Medical Council guidance to refer patients to specialist care when it is in their best interests to do so; and whether a joint risk assessment or patient safety review has been carried out to ensure GPs are not placed in conflict between their contractual and professional obligations.
In early 2026, we concluded the consultation on the changes to the GP Contract for 2026/27. As part of this process, we expanded the consultation to engage with a wider set of primary care stakeholders, these were the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner’s Committee England, the Royal College of General Practitioners, National Voices, the Institute of General Practice Management, Healthwatch England, the NHS Confederation, and the National Association of Primary Care. The Department has not engaged formally with the General Medical Council (GMC) regarding the interaction between the 2026/27 contractual changes and the professional duties set out in GMC guidance. No formal joint risk assessment or joint patient safety review has been undertaken. However, the Department and NHS England considered the potential risks, benefits, and wider impact of the policy changes as part of standard policy-development processes. The 2026/27 GP Contract embeds the current Advice and Guidance (A&G) enhanced service funding into core practice funding. The contract does not mandate the use of A&G in all circumstances. Instead, practices are expected to use A&G prior to or in place of a planned care referral, where clinically appropriate, and to follow locally agreed referral pathways. This reflects longstanding planned‑care referral practice and does not alter existing legal or professional accountability frameworks for general practitioners (GPs). GPs, and other primary care referrers, remain professionally accountable for making appropriate clinical decisions, including referring patients to specialist care when it is in the patient’s best interests. The use of A&G does not override those responsibilities or place GPs in conflict between contractual and professional obligations. NHS England continues to support clinicians through guidance, pathway design, and local governance arrangements to ensure A&G is used safely, proportionately, and in a way that preserves clear clinical accountability.
If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the consistency of the mandatory Single Point of Access triage process with NHS England's Jess's Rule guidance; and what safeguards are in place to ensure that a mandatory Single Point of Access triage process does not return to primary care a patient whom a GP has referred in accordance with that guidance.
The Single Point of Access (SPoA) triage process is consistent with Jess’s Rule.Jess’s Rule is an NHS England patient safety initiative for primary care. It is designed for general practitioners (GPs) and supports them to reconsider a patient’s presentation and/or diagnosis where the patient has attended a GP three or more times and symptoms have escalated, or the diagnosis is uncertain.Jess’s Rule can be used to support a GP’s decision on an appropriate referral within the SPoA model. SPoA will provide a more efficient approach to triaging patients, with all appropriate requests and referrals, excluding urgent suspect cancer, flowing through a single ‘front door’. SPoA supports clinical triage to the most appropriate service or outcome, meaning timelier, more joined-up care for patients. Patients will still have a choice about where they receive care.Safeguards within the SPoA model include senior clinical oversight of triage decisions and the ability for primary care clinicians to re‑escalate concerns where symptoms persist, worsen, or remain unexplained. These arrangements aim to ensure patients who require specialist assessment are not inappropriately managed in the community, and that shared clinical judgement remains central to decision‑making.
What quality assurance arrangements NHS England has put in place for mandatory Single Point of Access triage decisions from 1 April 2026; what monitoring will be conducted of triage outcomes by specialty and provider; and how GPs and patients will be able to escalate concerns about triage decisions that they consider clinically inappropriate.
We're setting the Advice and Guidance (A&G) clock start so it's the same as outpatient referrals, ensuring no patient will have to wait longer for an appointment as a result of A&G As set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework, the National Health Service will move toward delivering care through a ‘Single Point of Access’ (SPoA) for all appropriate requests and referrals, excluding for urgent suspected cancer. Under the new SPoA model, if a patient needs treatment, their Referral to Treatment (RTT) clock start date will be calculated from the date the Advice and Guidance (A&G) request or referral was received by the SPoA. This is instead of the current process for A&G, where the clock start date is the date that the request or referral is converted to a treatment pathway. This will ensure that patients' waiting times are accurately reflected. In February 2026, NHS England issued The Elective Single Point of Access: Technical Guidance for 2026/27 to integrated care boards. This provides guidance on RTT rules and quality assurance arrangements, and advice on establishing leadership and governance structures that ensure SPoA outcomes are assessed regularly. The SPoA will be supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service, which will enable NHS England to collect data on triage outcomes.SPoA is designed to promote clinical collaboration between primary care referrers and secondary care clinicians, including by facilitating two-way communication and shared decision making. General practitioners (GPs) can re-submit a referral following a SPoA triage outcome if they have concerns about the clinical decision. Escalation routes for concerns about triage decisions will continue to operate through locally agreed referral pathways and communication processes for GPs and patients, supported by improvements to the NHS e-Referral Service. Where patients have concerns regarding outcomes, local Patient Advice and Liaison Service teams can provide advice and support.