Written questions by Wilson.

What steps he is taking to encourage research into migraines and migraine treatment.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) into a range of conditions, including chronic migraine. The NIHR promotes participation in research through the Be Part of Research service, which features chronic migraine research studies seeking participants. Further information on the NIHR’s Be Part of Research service is available at the following link:https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/The NIHR also invites proposals for new research into the causes and treatment of conditions through its website, which is available at the following link:https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic

Whether he plans to increase funding for children's hospices.

Children and young people’s hospices do incredible work to support seriously ill children and their families and loved ones when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.We are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, was known as the Children’s Hospice Grant.I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children’s and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.This revenue funding is intended to be spent by hospices to provide high-quality care and support for the children and the families they care for, either in the hospice or in the community, including in children's homes. They can, for example, use this funding for providing respite care for children who have high health needs, by providing physiotherapy or occupational therapy, or by providing 24/7 nursing support for a child at the end of their life.We are also supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of existing stroke treatments.

The National Health Service is continuing to improve stroke services, but we recognise there is more to do.The National Stroke Service Model and the National service model for an integrated community stroke service set out an evidence-based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey.The NHS is committed to delivering thrombolysis to twice as many patients through the Thrombolysis in Acute Stroke Care (TASC) initiative. The TASC initiative unites stroke teams to use quality improvement methods to reduce delays and deliver faster, safer, more patient-centred care.

When he plans to implement the recommendations outlined in the Cumberlege Review with respect to the drug Primodos.

Our sympathies remain with those who believe they were harmed by hormone pregnancy tests, such as Primodos.Recommendation 4 of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, also known as the Cumberlege Review, specifically mentions hormone pregnancy tests, recommending that separate redress schemes be set up for each of the interventions examined by the Review, namely hormone pregnancy tests, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. As a follow up to this recommendation, the Patient Safety Commissioner was asked to investigate and provide advice on options for redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s recommendations.The Patient Safety Commissioner was not asked to look at Primodos as part of this work, because the available scientific evidence does not support a causal association between the use of hormone pregnancy tests such as Primodos and adverse outcomes in pregnancy. The Government is committed to reviewing any new scientific evidence which may come to light.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2025 to Question 39290 on Coronavirus: Drugs, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the potential use of PEMGARDA to help protect clinically vulnerable people against covid-19 in emergency situations.

Ministers and Department officials have regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a range of issues, including topics for new or updated guidance. Pemivibart, also known under the brand name Pemgarda, for use in the prophylaxis of COVID-19, does not have a marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for the relevant marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider the product for its benefits and risks in relation to quality, safety, and efficacy. In England, NICE evaluates all newly licenced medicines to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of Pemgarda seeks a licence from the MHRA, then NICE may consider it through its technology appraisal programme.

Whether his Department is taking steps to (a) help tackle high rates of Group B Strep infection and (b) improve access to (i) screening, (ii) diagnosis and (iii) treatment for Group B Strep infections in (A) Black and (B) Asian (1) women and (2) babies.

Practitioners are expected to take a risk-based approach to the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of group B streptococcus (GBS). Under current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, pregnant women who are known to carry GBS, or who have risk factors such as a previous baby with GBS infection or fever during labour, should be offered antibiotics during labour to help prevent early-onset infection in their baby. People from certain ethnic groups may be predisposed to health conditions which may affect their maternity outcomes, and a study led by the UK Health Security Agency did conclude that the rate of GBS was higher in those of black or Asian ethnicity. To improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of GBS infection, the Department is supporting a trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to determine whether routine testing for GBS for all women, either in late pregnancy or on admission for labour with point of care testing, reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis compared to the current approach of risk-based screening.Findings from the trial will be submitted to the Department and reviewed by the UK National Screening Committee to inform future decisions on national screening policy.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that statutory duties for safeguarding (a) children with special educational needs and disabilities and (b) other children are met, in the context of the NHS England model framework for integrated care boards.

NHS England has asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts in a letter on 1 April 2025, where ICBs were tasked with developing plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. This letter is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/NHS England is actively engaged with ICB executive leads for special educational needs and disability (SEND) across the system, to ensure that ICBs continue to ensure that statutory duties and accountabilities for children with SEND are met. We will be working with a range of partners and stakeholders to review the proposals to ensure that statutory duties, as laid out in legislation, continue to be met for children with SEND.NHS England is actively engaging with safeguarding professionals across the system, including those in local government, ICBs, and provider organisations, to ensure that safeguarding responsibilities are not compromised.This engagement is being supported by the NHS Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework 2024 and the National Safeguarding Steering Group ICB Safeguarding Protocols, which outline the roles, accountabilities, responsibilities, and expectations for safeguarding across NHS-funded care. NHS England is also setting up a joint working group with the Local Government Association to carefully consider issues relating to safeguarding.Ministers and the Department will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England to ensure ICBs continue to fulfil their functions effectively within the running costs cap and unlock the benefit of working at scale to deliver better care for their population.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the length of ambulance response times on outcomes for stroke patients.

No such assessment has been made. NHS England’s guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances.The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidence based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service models set out that high quality stroke care should include fast emergency response and better-informed ambulance service 999 calls, to reduce mortality and disability.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of including strokes as a Category 1 ambulance call.

No such assessment has been made. NHS England’s guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, including increasing the proportion of Category 2 calls, which are those calls classified as an “emergency” and which include serious time-sensitive incidents such as strokes. Calls are clinically navigated, validated, and triaged in ambulance control centres to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances.NHS England's Emergency Call Prioritisation Advisory Group determines the appropriate ambulance response for various clinical situations and triage codes, and works in conjunction with the Clinical Coding Review Group, and the National Ambulance Service Medical Director's group, to ensure clinical guidance is up-to-date and effective.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of a national roll out of the category 2 segmentation pilots run by (a) London Ambulance Service and (b) West Midlands Ambulance Service to prioritise the most urgent calls.

No such assessment has been made. NHS England guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances and patients that do not need a face-to-face response are transferred to services more appropriate to their needs.The NHS England 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance identified reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and reducing hospital handover delays as key improvement areas, with the expectation that ambulance services increase the proportion of Category 2 calls that are clinically navigated, validated and triaged in ambulance control centres.

If he will ensure that the National Cancer Plan includes vaccine treatments for brain tumours.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced that a National Cancer Plan for England will be published this year. The Prime Minister’s Health Mission sets the objective of building a National Health Service fit for the future, and an essential part of this is achieving our goal to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer.The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, and will apply to all cancer types, including brain tumours. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experiences and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years.The Department, NHS England, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are taking several steps to help improve outcomes for brain tumour patients. Research will be a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will continue to maximise the access to, and the impact of, clinical trials in diagnostics and treatments, building on the success of projects such as the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.The plan will also consider the ways that we can accelerate the uptake of innovative, life-saving treatments so all NHS patients can benefit. We will work closely with partners, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research, on this.

What steps he is taking to support people impacted by long covid in Twickenham constituency.

Commissioning, service provision and staffing of long COVID services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards.General practitioners (GPs) continue to act as the primary point of contact to ensure patients receive the appropriate advice and care. Patients experiencing symptoms of long COVID are advised to seek support from their GP in the usual way.A directory of public health, community, and voluntary sector resources has been developed and is available to local GPs and primary care partners. This directory enables healthcare professionals to signpost patients to a wide range of local support services that address the various impacts of long COVID. Further information on the support services available in the Twickenham constituency is available at the following link:https://www.kingstonandrichmond.nhs.uk/patients-and-families/patient-leaflets/long-covid-informationAt a national level, NHS England has also published commissioning guidance for post-COVID services, which sets out the principles of care for people with long COVID.Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.

What steps his Department is taking to support research into the causes of epilepsy.

The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR committed £31.5 million of funding to 28 epilepsy research projects in the five years from April 2019 to March 2024. Additionally, over this period, more than 5,000 people were enabled to participate in epilepsy research by the NIHR Clinical Research Network, now the NIHR Research Delivery Network.The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including epilepsy. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on epilepsy to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.The NIHR also works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation, which is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and includes the Medical Research Council, to fund research into epilepsy to improve treatments and prevent poor health outcomes for patients.The Medical Research Council spends approximately £3 million each year on epilepsy research, spanning discovery science and fundamental understanding of the disease through to new approaches for diagnosis and intervention

How many dental practices stopped accepting NHS patients in (a) Twickenham and (b) London in each year since 2019.

We do not hold data on the number of practices that have stopped accepting National Health Service patients. NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK website profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. This information is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the 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.

How much funding has been allocated to each integrated care board in England to provide for child and adolescent mental services for the next financial year.

It is for individual local commissioners to allocate funding to children and young people’s mental health services to meet the needs of their local populations and this information is not collected centrally. Integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2025/26 by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of results of the Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial, published in June 2024, by the National Institute for Health Research and King College London.

The Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, was a large school-based study of a cognitive behavioural therapy-based intervention led by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, using the DISCOVER intervention.The study found that the DISCOVER intervention was modestly clinically effective for reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms among 16 to 18 year olds. The study’s findings highlight that, given the importance of addressing mental health needs early in this adolescent population, additional research is warranted to explore this intervention.There are currently no national plans to scale up and roll out the DISCOVER workshop programme.We recognise the importance of early intervention. Nearly 500 National Health Service funded mental health support teams were operational in approximately 8,500, or 34% of, schools and colleges across England by the end of March 2024, covering 4.2 million, or 44% of, pupils or learners. These teams work with young people and parents to manage mild to moderate mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, while also assisting schools to develop a whole-school approach to positive mental health and wellbeing.Building on this, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school so that mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We will also roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.

If he will take steps to (a) scale up and (b) roll out the DISCOVER workshop programme led by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

The Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, was a large school-based study of a cognitive behavioural therapy-based intervention led by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, using the DISCOVER intervention.The study found that the DISCOVER intervention was modestly clinically effective for reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms among 16 to 18 year olds. The study’s findings highlight that, given the importance of addressing mental health needs early in this adolescent population, additional research is warranted to explore this intervention.There are currently no national plans to scale up and roll out the DISCOVER workshop programme.We recognise the importance of early intervention. Nearly 500 National Health Service funded mental health support teams were operational in approximately 8,500, or 34% of, schools and colleges across England by the end of March 2024, covering 4.2 million, or 44% of, pupils or learners. These teams work with young people and parents to manage mild to moderate mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, while also assisting schools to develop a whole-school approach to positive mental health and wellbeing.Building on this, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school so that mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We will also roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.

If he will commission a survey of the mental health of children and young people in 2025.

Although there are no plans at present to commission further follow up waves to the 2017 Mental Health of Children and Young People in England survey, the Department recognises its importance. We will publish any such plans in due course.

What funding he plans to provide for child and adolescent mental health services in the next financial year.

Priorities and spending for the next financial year will be set out in the NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26, which is due to be published shortly. It will then be for integrated care boards, in line with the national guidance, to make their own decisions on allocations to services in their areas, including child and adolescent mental health services.

When he plans to publish his Department's final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

The final myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), delivery plan is a priority for the Department, and we aim to publish it in March 2025. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, b...