Written questions by Dillon.

What steps he is taking to ensure that rural dispensing GP practices in Newbury have a sufficient supply of aspirin.

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand.The Department is aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin tablets due to manufacturing issues and knock-on increased demand. The issues have been addressed, and we are working with suppliers to aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible, with stock regularly being made available for pharmacies to order. Guidance has been issued to healthcare professionals with management advice to consider until the supply issue fully resolves.We are working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors, to ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals irrespective of where they are in the country.The Department will continue to monitor the situation and expects supplies to return to normal over the coming weeks.

What support he is providing to dispensing GP practices in Newbury to help prevent shortages of aspirin.

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand.The Department is aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin tablets due to manufacturing issues and knock-on increased demand. The issues have been addressed, and we are working with suppliers to aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible, with stock regularly being made available for pharmacies to order. Guidance has been issued to healthcare professionals with management advice to consider until the supply issue fully resolves.We are working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors, to ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals irrespective of where they are in the country.The Department will continue to monitor the situation and expects supplies to return to normal over the coming weeks.

What steps he is taking to simplify the navigation of care pathways for patients and general practitioners.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out that the NHS App will also allow patients to book appointments, communicate with professionals, receive advice, draft or view their care plan, and self-refer to local tests and services. These developments will streamline how patients move through the system and support clearer navigation of their care. We are also improving digital access in general practices (GPs), including online request routes, modernising triage models, and strengthening care navigations. GPs are responsible for their own clinical knowledge and advising patients on the most appropriate care pathways. To support this, we are delivering the recommendations of the Red Tape Challenge to remove unnecessary administrative burdens between primary and secondary care. The new Advice and Guidance scheme gives GPs specialist advice, reducing unnecessary referrals and helping patients reach the right care first time.

What steps he is taking to improve timely access to general practice appointments.

We are committed to improving timely access to general practice appointments. Last year, we delivered 6.8 million more appointments in general practices. Since October 2024, we have invested £160 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) to support the recruitment of over 2,000 general practitioners (GPs), exceeding our initial target of 1,000. For the 2026/27 GP Contract, we’re investing an additional £485 million into GPs, removing restrictions to allow primary care networks to hire more GPs via ARRS, and introducing a practice-level reimbursement scheme which will be available to practices to hire additional GPs, or fund additional sessions with existing GPs to improve access in GPs which aims to strengthen capacity, access, and improve patient satisfaction. NHS England published the Medium‑Term Planning Framework in October, setting a new requirement for all urgent appointments to be delivered on the same day, ensuring that patients needing urgent care are prioritised. Building on this, the 2026/27 GP Contract makes it explicit that any requests identified as clinically urgent, as determined by the GPs, must be dealt with on the same day Patient satisfaction is already rising after a decade of decline. Office for National Statistics data from January 2026 shows that 76.8% of patients reported it was “easy” to contact their GP, up from 60.9% in July 2024.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of data published by NHS England on waiting times for children and young people to begin community eating disorder treatment.

The Government keeps data published by NHS England on waiting times for children and young people’s community eating disorder services under close review.We recognise that demand for services has increased and that performance varies across the country. That is why we are reforming eating disorder services so that children and young people can access timely, effective support when they need it, rather than after their condition has escalated.This shift towards prevention and stronger community-based support underpins the new National Health Service guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services. The Government is also recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across the NHS to increase capacity and reduce unwarranted variation in waiting times.We will continue to work with NHS England and the integrated care boards to improve performance against national access standards and ensure children and young people can access high-quality care regardless of where they live.

Whether his Department plans to engage key stakeholders on the assumptions underpinning workforce modelling in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out action to create a National Health Service workforce able to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. It is important we do this in a robust and joined up way. We are therefore engaging extensively with partners to ensure this plan delivers for staff and patients.A formal call for evidence took place between 25 September and 7 November 2025, which provided stakeholders with the opportunity to contribute directly to the plan’s development. This was part of an ongoing and extensive programme of engagement, including several roundtables and an event hosted last year by ministers, which was attended by nearly one hundred representatives of partner organisations.Insight from this engagement has informed the development of assumptions underpinning the plan’s modelling, which will also be subject to independent scrutiny from external experts.

What progress is being made towards meeting the 18-week referral-to-treatment standard, as set out in the Elective Recovery Plan.

NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 set a target that, by the end of March 2026, 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks.To achieve this, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce and have already made significant progress. As of December 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 330,000 since the Government came into office. This is despite 31.7 million referrals onto the waiting list. Performance against the referral to treatment standard had improved by 2.7% over the same period, reaching 61.5%.This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marked a vital first step towards delivering the constitutional standard.

What steps he is taking to establish a national delivery model for NHS-commissioned clinical services for pupils in schools.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. The National Health Service is responsible for meeting the health needs of children and young people diagnosed with an illness or medical condition, including long term conditions.On 5 February 2026, NHS England published ‘Standardising community health services – core component descriptions’ to support integrated care boards’ strategic commissioning of Community Health Services. This guidance sets out the core components and responsibilities of a special school nursing service and community children's nursing service, including the roles of these services in supporting children with medical conditions to access education settings. The document is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/standardising-community-health-services-core-component-descriptions/

What recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 in addressing online content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions relating to eating disorders.

The Government recognises the serious harm caused by online content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions relating to eating disorders.The Online Safety Act 2023 makes platforms legally responsible for keeping people, especially children, safe online. All providers must mitigate the risks of illegal harm, including encouraging serious self-harm, on their services. Services likely to be accessed by children must also take steps to mitigate risks to children, including exposure to content relating to eating disorders.Ofcom is responsible for ensuring that services uphold these duties. Its ‘Small But Risky Services Taskforce’ focuses on smaller platforms that host or promote the most acute harms, including self-harm and eating disorder content. These services are identified not by their size, but by the disproportionate level of harm they may present to UK users. The Taskforce has already engaged extensively with high-risk services associated with eating disorders and has assessed over 20 services relating to this harm, with over half identified as high-risk for eating disorder content.The Department continues to work across Government to ensure that online safety measures support wider public health objectives and protect children and young people from harmful content.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the performance of AJM Healthcare in delivering wheelchair services to the NHS.

The safety of all patients, whether they are treated in the National Health Service or the independent sector, is a top priority for the Government. There are a range of providers of NHS wheelchair services across England. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for monitoring service provision and effectively managing contracts with their commissioned providers.NHS England are aware there have been a number of separate complaints about the quality of services provided by AJM Healthcare, which are being dealt with on an individual basis by the Ombudsman’s office. NHS England supports ICBs to make improvements and commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services. Actions taken include:- establishing a national wheelchair dataset, where data has been collected quarterly from ICBs, formerly clinical commissioning groups, since July 2015 and which supports the drive for improvements in wheelchair services. This data looks at waiting times across the pathway to enable targeted action if improvement is required. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/national-wheelchair/- the Wheelchair Quality Framework, which was published on the 9 April 2025, and which was co-produced with key stakeholders, including Whizz Kids. The framework sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets, with further information available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/- personal wheelchair budgets, with NHS England having introduced personal wheelchair budgets, including in legal rights, in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided, with further information available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/guidance-on-the-legal-rights-to-have-personal-health-budgets-and-personal-wheelchair-budgets/

If he will make it his policy to end the use of body mass index as a criterion for determining eligibility for joint replacement surgery.

It is the responsibility of individual integrated care boards to determine clinical commissioning policies for their local areas, including eligibility for joint replacement surgery.As with all surgery, body mass index (BMI) should be considered as part of a holistic, personalised perioperative evaluation of the risks versus the clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. BMI should not be considered in isolation as a barrier to surgery.As part of the NHS Elective Reform Plan, the Government has committed to expanding access to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme for patients waiting for hip and knee replacements. This will help optimise patients for their surgery, potentially leading to a reduced length of hospital stay and minimising their risk of post-operative complications.

Whether he plans to implement Hospice UK’s four-point plan for fair hospice funding.

Hospice UK’s four-point plan highlights key challenges faced by the hospice sector. We are addressing these concerns through wider reforms. The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable integrated care boards (ICBs) to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. Contracting and commissioning arrangements will be considered as part of this work. We recognise there is currently a mix of contracting models across the hospice sector, and by supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant-based and block-contract models and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.As part of the MSF’s development, we have invited colleagues from a range of organisations, including Hospice UK, to engage in this process. It would not be right to pre-empt exactly what will be in the final MSF at this time, as we develop it with our palliative care and end-of-life care stakeholders.Additionally, the Government has also invested significantly in the hospice sector, including £125 million of capital funding for adult and children and young people’s hospices in 2024/25 and 2025/26, with a further approximately £80 million of revenue funding support for children and young people’s hospices over the next three years in England.

Whether his Department plans to introduce a public health campaign on air pollution.

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government will take action to reduce exposure to harmful emissions, including commitments to increase public understanding of air pollution and to enhance communication of air quality information.The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with partners across the Government and the health system to ensure that the public has access to clear, evidence-based information. This includes working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deliver commitments in the Environmental Improvement Plan, helping to ensure that air quality becomes part of everyday public conversations.

If he will establish an inquiry into delays in the NHS providing (a) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and (b) any other services related to children's mental health.

We recognise that many children and young people are currently experiencing significant delays in accessing mental health support and we are taking action to address this, as committed to in the 10-Year Health Plan. This includes providing mental health support for almost one million more young people in school this year and an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down. 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 an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of this Parliament. Almost 8,000 of these workers have been recruited since July 2024, which will help to ease pressure on busy mental health services. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan later this year to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places to care for patients when they need it. Additionally, we are also accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools to achieve full national coverage by 2029. This includes investing £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff, so that they can offer more support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence, and disordered eating.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of repealing section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948.

The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last ten years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.Although forecasts remain uncertain, it is likely that the costs of clinical negligence will continue to grow substantially. The Government Actuary’s Department forecasts that annual payments for compensation and legal costs will increase from £3 billion in 2024/25 to £4.1 billion by 2029/30.As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office report.We welcome the report by the National Audit Office. The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps in due course.

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle health disparities amongst people who live in the most deprived areas.

It is a priority for the Government is to increase the amount of time people spend in good health and prevent premature deaths, with a vision of ensuring that all individuals, regardless of background or location, live longer, healthier lives. Our 10-Year Health Plan for the National Health Service in England sets out a reimagined service designed to tackle inequalities in both access and outcomes, as well as to give everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, the means to engage with it on their own terms. Delivering the plan is a cross-Government effort.For example, we know that the Carr-Hill formula is considered outdated, and evidence suggests that general practices (GPs) serving in deprived parts of England receive on average 9.8% less funding per needs-adjusted patient than those in less deprived communities, despite having greater health needs and significantly higher patient-to-GP ratios. This is why we are currently reviewing the formula to ensure that resources are targeted where they are most needed.We also recognise that much of what determines of health and wellbeing in influenced by factors other than health services. Recent cross-Government action has included the introduction of Awaab’s Law and reform of the Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sector, the English Devolution Bill, and a new statutory heath inequalities duty for strategic authorities.

What steps he is taking to address rising legal costs associated with clinical negligence claims.

The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last ten years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.Although forecasts remain uncertain, it is likely that the costs of clinical negligence will continue to grow substantially. The Government Actuary’s Department forecasts that annual payments for compensation and legal costs will increase from £3 billion in 2024/25 to £4.1 billion by 2029/30.As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office report.We welcome the report by the National Audit Office. The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps in due course.

What progress his Department has made in developing independently verified, modelled projections of the number of NHS staff required to meet future population demand, as set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

We have committed to publishing regular workforce planning. This will start with the 10 Year Workforce Plan, which will include updated workforce modelling and its underlying assumptions when published in spring 2026. The updated workforce modelling will be supported by independent external scrutiny to assess and test it.

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to provide support for women who are disproportionately affected by long-term health conditions like arthritis.

The Government is committed to supporting women with long-term conditions like arthritis. Through the 10-Year Health Plan’s three big shifts, we will ensure more tests are delivered in the community, improved working between services, and greater use of technology to support women managing their long-term conditions. Delivering these shifts will be a cross-Government effort.We are renewing the women’s health strategy, to tackle enduring challenges and build on vital progress in women’s health.For those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including women with arthritis, we are working to deliver the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, which are the highest of all community waits, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.

When he plans to announce the next phase of the National Service Frameworks.

Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.