Written questions by Evans.

When he expects the outstanding (a) remedial pension savings statements and (b) remedial service statements to be delivered.

We have commissioned the independent Chair of the NHS Pension Scheme Pension Board to lead an urgent and targeted review of the NHS Business Service Authority’s (NHS BSA) revised plans for the delivery of the McCloud remedy for NHS Pension Scheme members. This will provide an additional level of scrutiny and assurance of the NHS BSA’s delivery plan for the remaining statements. A further Written Ministerial Statement will confirm the new timetable once the review has reported.

With reference to the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing the share of expenditure on hospital care on his Department's goal for 92 percent of patients to be treated within 18 weeks by 2029.

The Elective Reform Plan (ERP) sets out the reform and productivity efforts needed to achieve the target that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by 2029. The ERP includes several efforts which will see care delivered differently. This includes addressing the challenges in diagnostic waiting times, providing the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests that are needed to reduce elective and cancer waits. We will upgrade the NHS App, so patients can book and rearrange appointments, choose which hospital to be treated at, receive test results, and choose if they want to be seen in person or remotely.The 10-Year Health Plan set out how we will take that further. At present, roughly 80% of all elective care does not require admitted treatment but takes place in outpatient settings, mostly in hospitals. By 2035, two thirds of this care will take place digitally or in the community closer to home, with patients able to access the best of their local hospital in a much more responsive way, such as via a local neighbourhood health centre or at home via digital channels. This will deliver more timely, efficient, and flexible care, which is better for patients and will mean we reduce the numbers joining the waiting lists in the first place.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the delays in issuing (a) remedial pension savings statements and (b) remedial service statements on patient care.

The delays related to remediable service statements should have no direct impact on patient care. The members facing immediate financial consequences from their remedy benefit choice are retired members of the NHS Pension Scheme.We understand from regular conversations with staff representatives that the highest-earning NHS Pension Scheme members have expressed concerns about predicting the tax consequences of taking on overtime prior to receiving a remedial pension savings statement (RPSS). Whilst no assessment has been made of the potential impact of RPSS delays specifically on patient care, there is no clear evidence from National Health Service payroll data that the annual allowance pension tax regime, to which RPSS’ relate, constrains the activity of the consultant workforce in aggregate. A range of factors may influence personal decisions around intentions to take on extra work, making it difficult to measure the unique impact of tax measures or statement delays.From 6 April 2023, the standard annual allowance threshold increased from £40,000 to £60,000, giving individuals scope for greater tax-free pension growth. The tapered annual allowance further restricts the amount of tax-free pension saving available to the very wealthiest in society. The taper applies when taxable earnings reach £200,000.Where NHS Pension Scheme members do incur annual allowance pension tax charges, these do not have to be met in the current tax year. The NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility through which individuals can ask the scheme to pay the tax on their behalf in exchange for a fair reduction in the generous pension benefits paid at retirement.The NHS Business Services Authority is continuing work to deliver outstanding statements as quickly as possible, and a process is in place for members to self-identify for a prioritised statement.

With reference to p.98 of the document entitled Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 3 July 2025, if he will list the training requirements identified as (a) irritating staff and (b) adding unnecessary burdens staff's working days.

The 10-Year Health Plan set out an action to review the amount of statutory and mandatory training that healthcare professionals are required to undertake. This follows a large national engagement exercise with members of the public and health and care staff. As part of this engagement, members of staff shared their poor experiences of mandatory training, citing that the training can be, repetitive or irrelevant to their role and takes them away from treating patients.The exact amount of statutory and mandatory training completed varies, depending on which organisation they work for, their role or roles, and the frequency of their movement between organisations, for instance resident doctors rotating between organisations may have to repeat some of the training.On average, it is estimated that nationally defined statutory and mandatory training takes up to eight hours or one day per person per year, and locally mandated training will add to this. This considerable investment of time must be balanced against the fact that this training is both important, for instance safety training and emergency preparedness training, and often required by law.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the information sharing duties in the (a) Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and (b) Crime and Policing Bill on GPs.

The Government is committed to improving information sharing across services to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and the Home Office on their respective information sharing proposals, which are included in Department for Education’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill. The information sharing proposals aim to establish a clear and consistent process to share information. To support the formulation and test the feasibility of these proposals, we have engaged with health stakeholders, including general practitioners, though a variety of forums. We will continue to engage with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the use of the single unique identifier, the information sharing duty, and the child sexual abuse mandatory reporting duty. The Department for Education has published an impact assessment on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessmentsThe Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have published an impact assessment on the Crime and Policing Bill, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-impact-assessmentsWe will continue to support the departments leading on the respective bills to review and update these documents, once the bills have completed their passages through the House of Lords.

With reference to the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people who need one will be able to get a same-day GP appointment.

Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a general practitioner (GP). The 8:00am scramble will end, we will train more doctors, and we will guarantee digital consultations within 24 hours. We have delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 1,900 individual GPs into primary care networks across England, which has expanded capacity, and will help to make same-day appointments more available to the patients that need them. The new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 practices across England, enabling more appointments and supporting same-day access.

Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the recovery pathways for the care of patients who have had a sudden cardiac arrest not related to myocardial infarction.

A cardiac arrest is caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, which occurs when the heart isn’t working properly and causes the heart to stop beating. Each year approximately 30,000 people receive resuscitation for an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the United Kingdom.Only one in 10 people that have a cardiac arrest survive to go home from hospital. Fast and effective action will help save the lives of people suffering a cardiac arrest, as the chances of survival from a cardiac arrest that occurs out of hospital doubles if the person receives immediate resuscitation or a high energy shock to the heart, known as defibrillation.The National Health Service committed to improving community first response and building defibrillator networks to help save 4,000 lives by 2028. This is being supported by educating the general public, including young people of school age, about how to recognise and respond to an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.NHS England is also working with partners such as the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to harness new technology and ensure the public and emergency services are able to rapidly locate this life saving equipment in an emergency.Patients who survive cardiac arrest and their families are supported through referral to local NHS services, and this will include rehabilitation such as cardiac and neurological rehabilitation and mental health services for psychological support.There are different pathways for cardiac arrest survivors, depending on the severity of the damage caused by the cardiac arrest. For people being discharged from secondary care and those with ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, cardiac rehabilitation services are available in every region.In December 2024, to support local systems to commission high quality cardiac rehabilitation, NHS England published Commissioning standards for cardiac rehabilitation, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/commissioning-standards-for-cardiovascular-rehabilitation/These standards of care complement the British Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation’s Standards and Core Components document, published in 2023, to support the delivery of high-quality care and adherence to evidenced-based practice. Further information on the British Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation’s Standards and Core Components document is available at the following link:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/66cc563eecc7a22020c7da6c/t/66ffa8f20aef5d0b272c6b0e/1728030962905/BACPR+Standards+and+Core+Components+2023.pdfThe national audit for cardiac rehabilitation assesses practices against these standards of care and publishes the results annually, with the 2024 report available at the following link:https://www.cardiacrehabilitation.org.uk/site/docs/NCP_CR%20Certification_Report_2024_Final.pdfNHS England is committed to improving support for cardiac arrest survivor. NHS England has provided additional funding to all ICBs to increase the provision of cardiac rehabilitation across England, where clinically indicated patients can access cardiac rehabilitation following cardiac arrest.For patients with more complex needs it may be appropriate for them to be referred to Level 1 or 2 inpatient specialist services for short term post-acute rehabilitation, which may be followed by specialist rehabilitation in the community as appropriate.Patients and their families may also be signposted to appropriate charities such as the BHF’s Cardiac arrest webpage and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK’s website, with further information available on both, respectively, at the following two links:https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/conditions/cardiac-arresthttps://suddencardiacarrestuk.org/

With reference to 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish a list of regulatory bodies he plans to merge or abolish.

The 10 Year Health Plan refers to bodies that are being abolished or merged. None of these are regulatory bodies, such as the Care Quality Commission, instead they perform other functions.As part of the 10 Year Health Plan, we are cutting the number of organisations, bodies and entities overwhelming the National Health Service system and taking focus away from basics of patient care.The changes we are making will improve quality and safety by making it clear where responsibility and accountability sits at all levels of the system, and making it easier for staff, patients, and users to directly feed into the system to improve quality of care.However, the 10 Year Health Plan and the Dash Review detail several other organisations that are planned to be abolished or have their functions transferred. These organisations are mentioned in the relevant publications and there are no additional plans to publish a list. The organisations which are impacted are:- NHS England;- the Health Services Safety Investigations Body;- the National Guardian’s Office;- Healthwatch England;- local Healthwatch organisations; and- Commissioning Support Units.

What the underspend was in the additional roles reimbursement scheme in each year since it was launched.

The table attached provides a funding and spending summary for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, from 2019/20 to 2024/25.

Whether the underspend in the additional roles reimbursement scheme has been reallocated.

The table attached provides a funding and spending summary for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, from 2019/20 to 2024/25.

With reference to 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published 3 July 2025, how the planned multi-neighbourhood providers covering large geographical areas will improve local continuity of healthcare.

The 10 Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service that moves care closer to home. The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.We will bring together teams of professionals closer to people’s home, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, and more, to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community and improve local continuity of healthcare. We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that meets the needs of local populations.Multi-neighbourhood providers will facilitate the development of neighbourhood teams, improving access for local populations and supporting the continuity of care for patients in a Neighbourhood Health Service. These providers will cover populations of approximately 250,000 people, to unlock the advantages and efficiencies possible from greater scale, working across all general practices and small neighbourhood providers in their footprint. The introduction of the Single Patient Record will support this way of working, giving neighbourhood clinicians secure access to a patient’s medical records to ensure seamless care across services.

What recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the Kinship Allowance Pilot Scheme; and when that scheme will begin.

The department is ensuring that a fair and transparent process is used to identify which local authorities are best placed to deliver the Kinship Allowance Pilot, through a published expression of interest process. The application window for the expression of interest has now closed.The department has communicated clear guidance on this process to local authorities through webinars, published expression of interest guidance and a two-week clarification window, following the launch of the expression of interest application window.The Pilot will launch this autumn, following the announcement of successful pilot local authorities in September.

What steps he is taking to ensure that decision making about the return of the BCSSS investment reserve can be made as swiftly as possible.

I met the BCSSS Trustees on 22 April, 11 June and 22 July and confirmed the Government’s commitment to considering their proposals regarding the reserve and the future of the scheme. DESNZ will now engage HM Treasury with a view to agreeing a way forward on the transfer of the reserve to members. I am aiming to reach agreement on an outcome that can be implemented later this year which will benefit scheme members.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 61898 on Railways: Midlands, whether any funding announced in the Spending Review 2025 has been allocated to support Network Rail's work to develop a business case for later phases of the Midlands Rail Hub between Birmingham and destinations in Leicestershire.

The first phase of Midlands Rail Hub (‘Western’ scope) would enable additional trains each hour between Birmingham and South Wales and the South West, and on Birmingham’s Cross City Line. This includes extending Chiltern services from Moor Street to Snow Hill station by improving connectivity across the region. The costs and delivery timescales for later phases are subject to further development work and subsequent investment decisions.

Whether the (a) cost of abolishing NHS England and (b) resulting redundancy package will be paid for from his Department’s settlement at the Spending Review 2025.

We have recently announced the Spending Review settlement, which provides an additional £29 billion of annual day-to-day spending in real terms by 2028/2029 compared to 2023/2024. Ahead of asking the National Health Service to commence a multi-year planning round, we are now carefully reviewing how the settlement is prioritised, including making provision for redundancy costs. At this stage, it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while transition planning is ongoing.While there will be some upfront costs, we expect the reform to eliminate duplication and drive a smaller centre, based in a single organisation, that will generate significant savings in the long run, which can be diverted to the front line.

With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, if he will publish his Department’s assumptions of NHS productivity increases for the reduction in projected staff numbers in 2035 compared to the 2023 Long-Term Workforce Plan.

We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The plan will set out the workforce needed to deliver the transformed service, and the key assumptions used in determining that workforce. That plan will set out assumptions about productivity used in determining projected staff numbers.The approach set out in our 10-Year Health plan means that we will need a very different kind of workforce strategy. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, our new 10 Year Workforce Plan will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed, and what skills should they have?’

What steps she is taking to ensure that local leaders work across county borders to ensure the (a) development and (b) sustainability of cross-border public transport services.

With regard to bus services, Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) already work closely together when tendering routes that cross shared boundaries, and in delivering their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP). There are also requirements set out in the Transport Act 2000 for LTAs to take account of the effect of an Enhanced Partnership on neighbouring areas, and for policies on bus services in neighbouring LTA areas to be considered when developing their franchising arrangements.The government has updated its bus franchising guidance to LTAs to make clear that they should consider cross-boundary services during any franchising assessment process. This includes as part of the commercial case, where they should set out how they intend to facilitate cross-boundary services to deliver relevant BSIP outcomes and targets in both authorities’ areas.The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December which puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders. This Bill is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including services that cross local authority boundaries. With regard to rail, Great British Rail (GBR) will be organised to work collaboratively with devolved leaders and local stakeholders to ensure rail services meet local needs. All tiers of local government in England will benefit from empowered local GBR business units that are outward-facing and engage with local authorities on their priorities and Local Transport Plans. Through the government’s devolution agenda, Mayoral Strategic Authorities are increasingly serving rural areas. Mayors will have a role in the design of their local rail services. They will also have the power to create unified and integrated transport systems enabling local leaders to create transport networks that deliver for their areas. A single directing mind is essential to ensuring the railway serves passenger and freight interests nationally. It is also vital that mayors have the power to integrate local railways with other transport modes. Later this year, we will publish the Integrated National Transport Strategy and set the vision for transport in England, putting people at the heart of how we plan, build and operate transport. The Strategy will aim to make public transport a more attractive option when people choose to travel and equip local leaders to make the right decisions for their areas. We want to address fragmentation and inefficiency across the transport system to ensure that public, private and third sector partners can work together to provide reliable transport services, including for cross-border journeys.

What steps she is taking to provide funding for public transport in Leicestershire.

This Government is committed to supporting public transport across the country. That is why we have confirmed £955 million for 2025/26 to support and improve bus services in England outside London. On our trains, the planned Great British Railways will have a relentless focus on driving up standards for passengers, including simpler fares and ticketing. The Government is providing £8.1 million to Leicestershire County Council in 2025/26 that the council can use to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities. We are also providing Leicestershire County Council with £12.3 million for 2025/26, and a total of £73.9 million from 2026/27 to 2029/30, in Local Transport Grant, which the council can use for maintenance and enhancements of its local transport network.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61897 on Responsible Dog Ownership Working Group, who the members of the taskforce are; which members are leading on each of the four themes; and when he expects the taskforce to report their findings to Government.

The Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce is convened by Defra officials, and the membership is made up of representatives from animal welfare organisations, local authorities, the police and Welsh government. Each of these groups is represented on the four subgroups that lead on the key themes. The taskforce will report their findings in due course.

Whether she plans to launch a campaign to increase pension credit uptake before winter 2025-2026.

The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are entitled. That is why since Autumn 2024 we have been running the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign. The Department’s campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit has continued in numerous stages between January and July 2025 and has included radio, print and social media adverts as well as continuing work with stakeholders. We plan to continue promotional activity from Autumn through to the end of the financial year with the campaign aimed at eligible pensioners who are not yet claiming, and their friends and family, as we work to increase the take up of Pension Credit.