Written questions by White.

What steps he is taking to integrate (a) movement and (b) exercise into cancer rehabilitation.

To encourage movement, the National Health Service’s Better Health Campaign signposts people, including those living with long term conditions like cancer, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app and Couch to 5K.The NHS Cancer Programme, through local Cancer Alliances, is working to ensure physical activity is fully integrated across the whole cancer pathway, which includes opportunities within rehabilitation for people who have undergone treatment.We know that more can be done to support people living with and beyond cancer. The National Cancer Plan, due to be published later this year, will set out how we will seek to improve the experiences and outcomes for people at every stage of the cancer pathway, including after treatment.

What steps he is taking to improve access to insulin for people who need it.

We are aware of supply issues with a limited number of insulin products, some of which are affected globally, including the discontinuation of Levemir pens and cartridges. We are working intensively with manufacturers of alternative insulin products to help mitigate these issues, including expediting deliveries where possible and ensuring there are sufficient volumes of alternative products to support the market during this time. We have issued communications to National Health Service healthcare professionals, providing comprehensive management guidance and information to allow them to support their patients as well as advise on alternative recommended insulin products. We are continuing to closely monitor the insulin market to ensure access to insulin for patients who need it.The production of medicines is complex and highly regulated, and materials and processes must meet rigorous safety and quality standards. Medicine supply problems can occur for a number of reasons, for example due to manufacturing difficulties, regulatory problems, problems with the supply of raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or from issues which are related to the distribution of the product.While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, and issuing NHS communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including general practitioners and pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

What steps he is taking to reduce the number of mental health conditions among young people.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government is recruiting 8,500 mental health workers to help ease pressure on busy mental health services.The Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services, including reducing the number of children with mental health problems.The 2025 Spending Review and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan confirmed that we will fulfil our commitment to provide access to mental health support within schools in England by expanding mental health support teams to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30. This expansion will ensure that up to 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from trained education mental health practitioners in 2025/26.Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to the 24 Early Support Hubs to expand their services, and will take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services in 2025/26. This new funding will enable the supported hubs to deliver at least 10,000 additional mental health and wellbeing interventions, so that more children and young people are supported.

What funding his Department has allocated for the provision of insulin pumps for local services in the (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27 financial years.

Insulin pumps were recommended for certain groups of the type 1 diabetes population in 2008 via the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Technology Appraisal TA151.The National Health Service is legally obliged to fund and resource medicines and other treatments recommended by NICE’s Technology Appraisals, and commissioners are required to meet the costs. Local integrated care board leaders should already have plans in place, and budgets identified, to meet the needs of their populations who meet the recommended eligibility criteria of TA151, in accordance with the NHS Constitution.A national contribution is available to meet 75% of the additional costs of the requirements of NICE TA943 on hybrid closed loop (HCL) systems, as a funding variation was agreed with NICE. Insulin pumps are one of the components of HCL systems.

What steps he is taking to reduce waiting lists for ADHD treatment in Leeds North West constituency.

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is bringing together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support, with the report expected in the summer. For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan, and has released technical guidance to ICBs to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD waits data. The West Yorkshire ICB advises that it is taking steps to increase local capacity for ADHD assessments, including by having introduced new service standards and accreditation to ensure quality and consistency across its services. The ICB is also rolling out a new ADHD support offer, including a care navigator team working with individuals to understand their needs, suggest interventions, and connect them with appropriate services, so that people don’t need to wait for a formal diagnosis to access support and information.

Whether he plans to reinstate the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders scheme within the new infrastructure of the National Health Service.

The NHS Volunteer Responders programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response and then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the contribution of our much-valued volunteers. There are no plans to reinstate the scheme.Whilst the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service is ending, the NHS Volunteer recruitment portal is available, with 70 health and care organisations advertising opportunities. As the service grows, every National Health Service or voluntary organisation in health will be able to post opportunities and recruit volunteers to support their local communities, with a full launch of the service planned for later this year.There are also over 72,000 volunteers who continue to support NHS trusts directly in over 300 different volunteer roles, which are unaffected by the closure of the NHS Volunteer Responders programme.

What steps his Department is taking to help increase the diversity of GPs; and how those steps align with the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Government is committed to fostering a diverse workforce. It is vital that the National Health Service’s workforce represents the patients it serves, which is why we are actively encouraging better flexible working such as job-sharing and part-time hours.To reform the NHS and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of Government’s five long-term missions. We are listening to and co-designing the plan with the public and health and care staff. We want patients and staff to feel the difference in their daily lives. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again. We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.

What steps he is taking to help retain existing GPs in the workforce.

We are starting to see consistent growth in the general practice (GP) workforce. As of March 2025, there were 938 more full time equivalent doctors working in GPs compared to March 2024.Our commitment to growing the GP workforce includes addressing the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encouraging them to return to practice. We know that high workloads can be a key driver for GPs reducing their contracted hours or leaving the profession altogether. This is why we are tackling morale through drivers such as growing the workforce and reducing bureaucracy through our Red Tape Challenge, to improve job satisfaction and reduce the risk of burnout.

What steps she is taking to support workers at NHS England in Leeds with job losses; and how he plans to ensure the retention of talent and skills necessary to effectively deliver the future developments for the NHS.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recognises the talented, dedicated public servants working across the country, and at every level, of NHS England and the Department.The Government is committed to Leeds being the second headquarters for the Department and its role in supporting Leeds to be a leading centre in the United Kingdom for health technology and innovation.

Whether he is taking steps to regulate commercially available prostate specific antigen tests; and if he will produce clinical guidance to ensure the promotion of (a) clear and (b) evidence-based public health messaging on the (i) risk of prostate cancer and (ii) options for testing.

In January 2024, the UK National Screening Committee updated its information on paid-for private screening tests, and how they differ from National Health Service screening programmes.The updated guidance sets out the potential benefits and harms of all screening, including summarising some additional possible issues for people to think about if considering commercially offered health screening tests. These issues include that commercial companies often only offer a test, rather than an end-to-end screening pathway. If an individual then receives an abnormal finding, it is up to them to seek any advice, further investigation, or treatment.Furthermore, NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of the symptoms of prostate cancer, where there are opportunities to do so. NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme published guidance in April 2024 to support the implementation of good practice in the management of prostate cancer, which includes ensuring that the diagnostic pathways for prostate cancer were implemented from a primary care setting to a secondary care presentation.The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve all cancer services and outcomes for people living with cancer, including those with prostate cancer. The Department is investing £16 million into the Prostate Cancer UK-led TRANSFORM screening trial, which seeks to find better ways of detecting prostate cancer. This trial will compare the most promising tests that look for prostate cancer in men that do not have symptoms, and aims to address disparities in detection rates across different groups. As recently announced, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve cancer services across England, including for those living with prostate cancer.

If he will take steps to (a) correlate data between people (i) with mental health conditions and (ii) reported as perpetrators of domestic abuse and (b) share that data with police authorities.

We know that the proportion of domestic homicide reviews where mental health concerns have been identified has risen in recent years. It is important that all parts of the system, including health, policing and justice services, work together to deal with this and protect domestic abuse victims. Following recent discussions with the Home Office and NHS England, we are considering what options might be available to help achieve this.Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for the Government, we have a mission to halve this violence in a decade. We are working across Government to deliver a transformative approach to this, underpinned by a new strategy to be published later in 2025.

How many independent inquiries into maternity care have been conducted by NHS England in the last 20 years; what the key recommendations of those reviews were; and how many of those recommendations have been implemented.

There have been four independent inquiries into maternity and neonatal services provided at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2015, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published in 2020 and 2022, and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2022. There is also an on-going inquiry into maternity care provided at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, expected to publish in June 2026.These reviews have uncovered issues at both a local and national level related to failing to listen to women and families, staffing, failing to learn from errors, lack of leadership, compassionate care and teamworking.These inquiries jointly have approximately 130 recommendations aimed at various areas of the system. The Morecambe Bay report had 44 recommendations in total; 18 recommendations were specifically for the trust, all of which have been implemented, and 26 recommendations were aimed at the wider National Health Service, the majority of which have been addressed and implemented.The Ockenden review at Shrewsbury and Telford had three key asks for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, 15 immediate and essential actions to improve maternity care and safety across England and 60 local recommendations for the trust. The inquiry into East Kent had eight recommendations across four key action areas for NHS England, the Government and wider system and one additional recommendation for the trust itself. Most of the remaining recommendations, along with those from other reports, were addressed in NHS England’s Three-year Delivery Plan for maternity and neonatal services, published in 2023, which sets national measures to make care safer, more personalised and more equitable.

What steps he is taking to improve access to NHS dentistry in Leeds North West constituency.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Leeds North West constituency, this is NHS West Yorkshire ICB.ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.