Written questions by McMurdock.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, whether the People’s Panel will be a single group.

Yes, the People’s Panel will consist of a single group of 100 to 120 individuals, selected via civic lottery to ensure a representative sample of the public.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Pharmacy First scheme in reducing avoidable attendances to accident and emergency departments.

The Department does not hold data on the number of avoidable attendances to accident and emergency departments have been prevented by Pharmacy First. Pharmacy First is a complex service that links to multiple parts of the healthcare system. The service aims to offer eligible patients a complete episode of care in the pharmacy setting and to receive treatment for seven common health conditions releasing pressure on general practice appointments and the wider National Health Service. Since the service launched, there have been over 4.8 million consultations, with over 3.6 million consultations resulting in supply medicines.

What steps he is taking to improve public awareness of alternative urgent care services, such as a) community pharmacies, b) urgent treatment centres and c) NHS 111.

The Department and NHS England have launched national campaigns to raise awareness of urgent National Health Services. The Pharmacy First campaign, from October 2025 to January 2026, encouraged people to seek treatment for seven common conditions at pharmacies, helping to relieve pressure on general practice over winter. It used various media channels, including television, radio, outdoor adverts, social media, and online platforms. The NHS 111 campaign, from November 2025 to March 2026, promoted the use of the 111 service for urgent medical needs, directing people to suitable care options, including urgent treatment centres and mental health support, through similar advertising channels. Government and NHS online resources also signpost people to the most appropriate urgent care services.

What assessment he has made of the impact of levels of access to GP appointments in influencing patients’ decisions to attend accident and emergency departments for non-emergency conditions.

National Health Service guidance is clear that patients should only attend accident and emergency (A&E) for emergencies that cannot be dealt with by a patient’s general practice (GP), NHS 111, or walk-in centres. GPs are independent contractors to the National Health Service and are required to provide care during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. Evidence suggests that when practices are closed, patients are more likely to seek care elsewhere. The 2025 GP Patient Survey found that 23.4% of respondents reported attending A&E when they wanted care or advice from a healthcare professional and their GP was closed. Though the survey does not qualify whether the attendance was due to urgent or non-urgent care being needed. The Office for National Statistics’ Health Insight Survey shows that the proportion of patients who find it easy to access their GP has increased significantly, from 60.9% in July 2024 to nearly 77% more recently. As part of efforts to improve access, from 1 October GPs were required to make online services available throughout core hours. For the first time, the Office for National Statistics’ data shows that more patients surveyed are now contacting their GP online than by telephone, with 44.6% contacting practices online compared with 38.9% by phone. There has also been a 17.9%, or 1.3 million, increase in online consultation submissions in January 2026 compared to December 2025. This expansion of access routes is intended to make it easier for patients to receive timely advice and care from GPs, supporting appropriate use of urgent and emergency services The 2026/27 GP Contract also makes it explicit that any requests identified as clinically urgent, as determined by the GP, must be dealt with on the same day.Out of hours services are those provided outside of these core hours, from 18:30 to 08:00 on weekdays, all weekends and on bank holidays. Practices may provide out of hours services or opt out of providing these with their commissioner’s approval.Where a practice has opted out of delivering these services, the commissioner, such as an integrated care board, must commission the services from an alternative provider for that practice’s registered patients.Last year we invested £80 million in Advice and Guidance. We are now embedding this money in core contract funding. As a result, since April 2025, we have avoided 1.3 million patients ending up on a waiting list.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, what criteria will be used to ensure that the membership of the People’s Panel reflects the (a) demographic composition and (b) geographical distribution of the UK.

I refer to my response to PQ 120739.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, whether the names of organisations responsible for recruiting or facilitating the People’s Panel will be published.

As per my response to PQ 119980, the People’s Panel is being delivered in partnership with Ipsos UK and their partners at the Sortition Foundation.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, whether participation in the people’s panel will require participants to (a) use and (b) test a digital identity system.

The People’s Panel will debate how a digital ID can work for everyone. As part of this process, participants will engage with what a digital ID might look like to meet the guiding principles of trusted, useful and inclusive.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, how views expressed by the people’s panel will be weighted relative to responses received through the wider consultation.

I refer to my response to PQ 120742.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, whether any external contractors and consultancies have been engaged to recruit, manage and facilitate the people’s panel.

As per my response to PQ 119980, the People’s Panel is being delivered in partnership with Ipsos UK.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, what procurement process was used to appoint contractors involved in delivering the people’s panel.

As per my response to PQ 119980, the People’s Panel is being delivered in partnership with Ipsos UK and their partners at the Sortition Foundation. This is part of a GCS call-off contract.

Whether he has held discussions with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust on potential factors that contributed to bed occupancy rates at the Trust between October and December 2025.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not held discussions with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust on potential factors that contributed to bed occupancy rates at the trust between October and December 2025. However, in line with normal practice, NHS England regional teams hold discussions with the trust on performance, including bed occupancy rates. We started planning earlier and have taken more action than in previous years to prepare for winter pressures. We closely monitored the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over winter months, providing additional support to services across the country as needed.As set out in the Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, the NHS is focused on improvements that has seen the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care performance during winter including:expanding access to urgent care in primary, community, and mental health settings, which includes increasing the number of people supported by Urgent Community Response teams and treated in virtual wards;improving hospital flow through accident and emergency departments, with a focus on reducing the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours and making progress towards eliminating corridor care;reducing the average length of stay for patients requiring an overnight emergency admission by at least 0.4 days, returning closer to pre-pandemic levels; andagreeing local pathway profiles to support discharge capacity planning and eliminate internal discharge delays of more than 48 hours in all settings.

What steps is he taking to help ensure there are sufficient a) prosecutors, b) defence barristers and c) court staff to increase the number of Crown Court trials.

The Deputy Prime Minister has announced that the Crown Court in England and Wales will be funded to hear as many cases as possible next year to speed up justice for victims. We are working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that there are sufficient prosecutors, and funding has been provided for this.We are taking significant action to support defence barristers and the wider criminal defence profession. In December 2025, we announced additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates, and a commitment to work with the profession to match-fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages to open a career at the Criminal Bar to even more young people from across society. The support for advocates is on top of up to £92 million per year in additional investment, announced in December 2024, we have implemented for criminal legal aid solicitors, which built on a £24 million per year investment in criminal solicitors earlier in the Parliament. This investment reflects the valuable role of criminal defence and will help them to continue to make sure justice is served.An increase in Crown Court staff to support additional sitting days is funded and factored into HMCTS’ workforce planning, and recruitment for these roles is already progressing in each region.

What discussions she has had with the Home Office regarding the collection of detailed data on freight crime and its hotspots.

The Department for Transport holds regular discussions with the Home Office regarding freight crime and where it occurs. Most recently, on 25 February, the Minister for Policing and Crime and I hosted a freight roundtable with representatives from the haulage sector, trade bodies and police in attendance. We heard directly from the sector on their concerns relating to freight crime. The Home Office have engaged with police forces on how to make freight crime more visible within the police recorded crime statistics. A freight crime recording flag has been developed and is currently being piloted in two police forces. The results of the pilot will be assessed soon, any changes necessary will be made and, if successful, the flag will be rolled out across all forces in due course for mandatory collection.

Pursuant to Answer of 9 March 2026 to Question 115668, what estimate he has made of the number of additional patients who will need to be treated within four hours in order to meet his target.

NHS England publishes data on the number of patients admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours in accident and emergency (A&E) departments on a monthly basis. The information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2025-26/March 2026 data will be published in April. However, in March 2025, there were 2.4 million total A&E attendances, and four hour performance was 75%. In order to meet 78% in March 2025, approximately 72,000 additional patients would have needed to wait less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer, or discharge.The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and beyond. We are aiming for 78% of patients to be seen in in four hours this year, meaning over 800,000 people will receive more timely care.We are investing £250 million into expanding same day and urgent care services, helping avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.

What recent assessment he has made of the waiting times for the provision of disability equipment, such as a) wheelchairs, b) hoists and c) grab rails.

Not all of the data requested is held centrally. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, and responsibility for providing equipment and wheelchairs to disabled people typically falls to local authorities and the National Health Service.Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to make arrangements for the provision of community equipment for disabled people in their area. Responsibility for managing the market for these services, including commissioning and oversight of delivery, rests with local authorities. The NHS is responsible for providing wheelchairs for people with longer-term, complex needs.The Medium Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, requires that from 2026/27 all ICBs and community health services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all community health services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. These targets will guide systems to reduce longest waits.NHS England is supporting ICBs to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets.Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required.In Quarter 3 of 2025/26, the proportion of patients whose episode of care was closed in the reporting period and prescribed equipment was delivered within 18 weeks or less was 79% for children, up from 77.7% in Quarter 2, and 83.1% for adults, down from 84.1% in Quarter 2. The following publications and data sources provide some relevant information about disability equipment, but this is not a complete picture. Firstly, the Acute discharge situation report: technical specification, regarding equipment and associated training not yet delivered, for pathways one to three. The patient requires equipment in order to allow them to be discharged. This has been requested by the care transfer hub but not yet provided, or further training for formal or informal carers is required before it can be safely used. This publication is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/acute-discharge-situation-report-technical-specification/#annex-c-reason-for-discharge-delay Secondly, the Intermediate care data collection – technical guidance, where intermediate care is a collective term for short-term interventions that aim to maximise people’s independence and quality of life following or during a period of illness. It includes ‘step-down’ services after discharge from an episode of acute care to support recovery and ‘step-up’ services to avoid admission to hospital. Intermediate care commonly involves rehabilitation, reablement, and recovery support, and can be provided in a person’s home or in a community bedded setting. This publication is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/intermediate-care-data-collection-technical-guidance/

What data his Department holds on the number of people currently waiting for disability equipment through a) local authority or b) NHS community services.

Not all of the data requested is held centrally. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, and responsibility for providing equipment and wheelchairs to disabled people typically falls to local authorities and the National Health Service.Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to make arrangements for the provision of community equipment for disabled people in their area. Responsibility for managing the market for these services, including commissioning and oversight of delivery, rests with local authorities. The NHS is responsible for providing wheelchairs for people with longer-term, complex needs.The Medium Term Planning Framework, published in October 2025, requires that from 2026/27 all ICBs and community health services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all community health services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. These targets will guide systems to reduce longest waits.NHS England is supporting ICBs to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets.Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required.In Quarter 3 of 2025/26, the proportion of patients whose episode of care was closed in the reporting period and prescribed equipment was delivered within 18 weeks or less was 79% for children, up from 77.7% in Quarter 2, and 83.1% for adults, down from 84.1% in Quarter 2. The following publications and data sources provide some relevant information about disability equipment, but this is not a complete picture. Firstly, the Acute discharge situation report: technical specification, regarding equipment and associated training not yet delivered, for pathways one to three. The patient requires equipment in order to allow them to be discharged. This has been requested by the care transfer hub but not yet provided, or further training for formal or informal carers is required before it can be safely used. This publication is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/acute-discharge-situation-report-technical-specification/#annex-c-reason-for-discharge-delay Secondly, the Intermediate care data collection – technical guidance, where intermediate care is a collective term for short-term interventions that aim to maximise people’s independence and quality of life following or during a period of illness. It includes ‘step-down’ services after discharge from an episode of acute care to support recovery and ‘step-up’ services to avoid admission to hospital. Intermediate care commonly involves rehabilitation, reablement, and recovery support, and can be provided in a person’s home or in a community bedded setting. This publication is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/intermediate-care-data-collection-technical-guidance/

What estimate he has made of the number of available courtrooms currently sitting in the Crown Court estate, and whether additional courtrooms could be brought into use.

In January 2026 there were 508 Crown courtrooms available for use in the court estate.In respect of whether additional courtrooms can be brought into use, Harrow Crown Court which has been closed since August 2023, will reopen in April following significant roof replacement works, bringing back into operation an eight-courtroom building. Two temporary Crown courtrooms at Willesden Magistrates’ Court, used as a contingency for Harrow, will revert back to magistrates’ courtrooms. Additionally, the City of London Law Courts is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2027, providing eight additional Crown courtrooms.We continue to keep the court estate under regular review to ensure it aligns with operational priorities.

What plans he has to expand the number of judges authorised to sit in the Crown Court to address the backlog in criminal cases.

We have ambitious but realistic recruitment plans for judges for the Crown Court. In January 2026, recruitment for Circuit Judges, including 45 in Crime, commenced. We are expecting a positive outcome from the 2024/25 Recorder recruitment exercise for 70 judges, most of whom work in Crime. More recruitment for both salaried and fee-paid Judges is planned for 2026/27.The authorisation and deployment of judges is a matter for the judiciary. High Court Judges contribute sitting days in Crown, as do some District Judges (Magistrates Court), with the appropriate authorisation. Judges sitting in retirement are also used in Crown.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, what weight will be given to the discussions of the People’s Panel.

The consultation will be open until 5 May 2026. The People’s Panel will convene throughout May and June to hear expert evidence, concluding their work on 21 June 2026. Outputs from the People’s Panel will be weighed alongside the broader consultation feedback to inform the design and delivery of the voluntary digital ID system.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Government launches consultation on making public services quicker, easier and more secure to access with digital ID, published on 10 March 2026, how many people will be on the People’s Panel.

Participants will be recruited through a process called sortition. This is a random postcode lottery. It is a way of selecting individuals to take part in deliberative processes, where everyone is given an equal chance to be invited. No individual can buy their way in or simply turn up at the event. All participants must be 18 or over to join the People’s Panel.Our partners at the Sortition Foundation manage this process. Sortition Foundation will mail out to thousands of households, at random, to invite members of the public to take part. Over 100 people will be selected to participate in the People’s Panel on Digital ID.