Written questions by Davies.

What steps he is taking to ensure Parkinson's services in Integrated Care Systems meet the requirements of the neurology service specifications.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s disease can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. One of these neurological centres is based at the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.The service specification for neurology, which is in the process of being updated and published later this year, sets out the requirements for specialised neurology services, as well as the expectations of non-specialised neurology services, to support a system-wide approach.Service specifications must be included in all future provider contracts for specialised services. This is agreed in jointly signed delegation agreements between integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional teams. ICBs are responsible for monitoring provider compliance with service specifications and may periodically carry out more detailed compliance exercises with providers, as a means of ensuring and improving the quality of care.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2025 to Question 32628 on Parkinson's Disease: Medical Treatments, what steps he is taking to improve access to treatment for people with (a) advanced and (b) complex Parkinson's.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s disease can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. One of these neurological centres is based at the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.The service specification for neurology, which is in the process of being updated and published later this year, sets out the requirements for specialised neurology services, as well as the expectations of non-specialised neurology services, to support a system-wide approach.Service specifications must be included in all future provider contracts for specialised services. This is agreed in jointly signed delegation agreements between integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional teams. ICBs are responsible for monitoring provider compliance with service specifications and may periodically carry out more detailed compliance exercises with providers, as a means of ensuring and improving the quality of care.

What steps he is taking to hold integrated care boards to account for meeting their statutory duty and implementing policy frameworks on children’s palliative care.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including for children and young people, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year, and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.

Whether he plans to publish a Sexual Health Action Plan.

We are committed to improving sexual heath in England, and the Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are working together to develop a new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. A key objective of the new plan will be to stabilise and support wider sexual health system enablers.To help improve local authority commissioned sexual and reproductive health services, in 2025/26 we are increasing funding through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.We continue to support the delivery of local sexual health services, by providing guidance and data to support local decision makers. In October 2024, the UKHSA published the STI Prioritisation Framework, which, combined with ongoing support from the UKHSA, will enable local systems to identify which combination of interventions to focus on for which populations, informed by the local situation.

If he will meet young people with cancer to discuss their experiences.

NHS England and other local health organisations publish information on the signs and symptoms of cancers that are most common in children and young people.However, the Department recognises there is more to be done to improve outcomes and experience for children and young people with cancer. We also know that children's experiences of cancer are not uniform, and that there are inequalities in care and outcomes between different groups.That is why we have relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce which will identify improvements for children across four key areas: early detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience.The Department is committed to ensuring the experiences of young cancer patients are reflected in our work. We are working with Taskforce members to assemble a Patient Experience Panel, made up of young people with lived experience of cancer and their families, which will feed directly into the work of the Taskforce.The Taskforce will play a key role in ensuring that children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the national cancer plan, which will examine how to reduce inequalities faced by different patient groups. Alongside the relaunch of the Taskforce, we have launched a Call for Evidence, in which the views of people across the country will inform our plan to improve cancer care. Those who wish to share their views can do so by 29 April 2025 on the new online platform, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan

Whether the Government collects data on how many young people with cancer were diagnosed in A&E.

The National Disease Registration Service in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England. Data is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrsThe most recent published data on registrations of cancer in young people is in the Accredited Official Statistics on Cancer Registrations covering 2022, which is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2022Young people, those aged zero to 24 years old, are diagnosed with types of cancer that are only stageable in half of all cases. Of those diagnoses which are stageable, the proportion of diagnoses with a valid recorded stage that are diagnosed at stage 1 is 35%. Of those diagnoses which are stageable, the proportion of diagnoses with a valid recorded stage that are diagnosed at stage 2 is 26%.The most recent published data on how young people presented with cancer is in the Rapid Cancer Registration Data set. The most recent complete year for which data is available is 2023. Further information is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-sets/rcrdApproximately 39% of young people first present in hospital as an emergency presentation.Some of the most common cancers diagnosed in young people, like brain tumours, have very significant symptoms associated with them, and in these cases the recommended course of action is to attend accident and emergency rather than following a managed pathway.

Whether his Department collects data on how many young people with cancer were diagnosed at stage (a) one and (b) two.

The National Disease Registration Service in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England. Data is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrsThe most recent published data on registrations of cancer in young people is in the Accredited Official Statistics on Cancer Registrations covering 2022, which is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2022Young people, those aged zero to 24 years old, are diagnosed with types of cancer that are only stageable in half of all cases. Of those diagnoses which are stageable, the proportion of diagnoses with a valid recorded stage that are diagnosed at stage 1 is 35%. Of those diagnoses which are stageable, the proportion of diagnoses with a valid recorded stage that are diagnosed at stage 2 is 26%.The most recent published data on how young people presented with cancer is in the Rapid Cancer Registration Data set. The most recent complete year for which data is available is 2023. Further information is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-sets/rcrdApproximately 39% of young people first present in hospital as an emergency presentation.Some of the most common cancers diagnosed in young people, like brain tumours, have very significant symptoms associated with them, and in these cases the recommended course of action is to attend accident and emergency rather than following a managed pathway.

How many and what proportion of young people with cancer were entered into clinical trials in March 2025.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) does not currently hold data on the number of young people with cancer enrolled into clinical trials in March 2025 as this time period is still ongoing.Department-funded NIHR research and infrastructure is enabling clinical trial participation for children and young people with cancer. Through the NIHR, the Department also jointly funds the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Paediatric Cancer Network with Cancer Research UK and the Little Princess Trust, which brings together clinicians and translational scientists to run early phase clinical trials for children and young people with cancer.

What steps he is taking help support community organizations to tackle HIV stigma.

The Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing a new HIV Action Plan, which will include an objective on tackling stigma. The Terrence Higgins Trust, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the National AIDS Trust have been undertaking external stakeholder engagement within the community and voluntary sector to feed into the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year.The Department is investing over £5.5 million from 2021 to 2026 to deliver the national HIV prevention programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE). HPE aims to reduce the stigma around HIV testing, through National HIV Testing Week, during which we dispatch over 20,000 HIV testing kits in England. HPE also hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024, which brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and affected individuals to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies.The UKHSA continues to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, through the Positive Voices survey, most recently published in 2024.Officials in the Department continue to meet with counterparts from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to share information to help end new HIV transmissions by 2030.

Whether he is taking steps to measure the effectiveness of the steps his Department is taking to reduce HIV stigma.

The Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing a new HIV Action Plan, which will include an objective on tackling stigma. The Terrence Higgins Trust, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the National AIDS Trust have been undertaking external stakeholder engagement within the community and voluntary sector to feed into the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year.The Department is investing over £5.5 million from 2021 to 2026 to deliver the national HIV prevention programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE). HPE aims to reduce the stigma around HIV testing, through National HIV Testing Week, during which we dispatch over 20,000 HIV testing kits in England. HPE also hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024, which brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and affected individuals to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies.The UKHSA continues to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, through the Positive Voices survey, most recently published in 2024.Officials in the Department continue to meet with counterparts from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to share information to help end new HIV transmissions by 2030.

Whether the national cancer plan will help to tackle inequalities for young people with cancer.

NHS England and other local health organisations publish information on the signs and symptoms of cancers that are most common in children and young people.However, the Department recognises there is more to be done to improve outcomes and experience for children and young people with cancer. We also know that children's experiences of cancer are not uniform, and that there are inequalities in care and outcomes between different groups.That is why we have relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce which will identify improvements for children across four key areas: early detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience.The Department is committed to ensuring the experiences of young cancer patients are reflected in our work. We are working with Taskforce members to assemble a Patient Experience Panel, made up of young people with lived experience of cancer and their families, which will feed directly into the work of the Taskforce.The Taskforce will play a key role in ensuring that children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the national cancer plan, which will examine how to reduce inequalities faced by different patient groups. Alongside the relaunch of the Taskforce, we have launched a Call for Evidence, in which the views of people across the country will inform our plan to improve cancer care. Those who wish to share their views can do so by 29 April 2025 on the new online platform, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan

What steps he is taking with his counterparts in other countries to share best practice for reducing HIV stigma.

The Department, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing a new HIV Action Plan, which will include an objective on tackling stigma. The Terrence Higgins Trust, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the National AIDS Trust have been undertaking external stakeholder engagement within the community and voluntary sector to feed into the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year.The Department is investing over £5.5 million from 2021 to 2026 to deliver the national HIV prevention programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE). HPE aims to reduce the stigma around HIV testing, through National HIV Testing Week, during which we dispatch over 20,000 HIV testing kits in England. HPE also hosted a HIV Stigma Symposium in March 2024, which brought together approximately 100 community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and affected individuals to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies.The UKHSA continues to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, through the Positive Voices survey, most recently published in 2024.Officials in the Department continue to meet with counterparts from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to share information to help end new HIV transmissions by 2030.

What steps his Department is taking to help increase awareness of the symptoms of cancer amongst young people.

NHS England and other local health organisations publish information on the signs and symptoms of cancers that are most common in children and young people.However, the Department recognises there is more to be done to improve outcomes and experience for children and young people with cancer. We also know that children's experiences of cancer are not uniform, and that there are inequalities in care and outcomes between different groups.That is why we have relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce which will identify improvements for children across four key areas: early detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience.The Department is committed to ensuring the experiences of young cancer patients are reflected in our work. We are working with Taskforce members to assemble a Patient Experience Panel, made up of young people with lived experience of cancer and their families, which will feed directly into the work of the Taskforce.The Taskforce will play a key role in ensuring that children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the national cancer plan, which will examine how to reduce inequalities faced by different patient groups. Alongside the relaunch of the Taskforce, we have launched a Call for Evidence, in which the views of people across the country will inform our plan to improve cancer care. Those who wish to share their views can do so by 29 April 2025 on the new online platform, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the uplift in the Public Health Grant is allocated effectively by local authorities to tackle the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections in England.

Dedicated local sexual health services play a key public health role in the diagnosis, early treatment, and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Individual local authorities, funded through a ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG), are responsible for commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations, including providing open-access sexual health testing and treatment services.In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.We continue to support the delivery of local sexual health services, including addressing rates of STIs, by providing guidance and data to support local decision makers. In October 2024, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published the STI Prioritisation Framework, which, combined with ongoing support from the UKHSA, will enable local systems to identify which combination of interventions to focus on for which populations, informed by the local situation.The Department is also investing over £6 million to deliver a National HIV Prevention Programme between 2021 to 2026 to raise awareness of HIV, and STI testing and prevention strategies. Also, the Department, the UKHSA, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. A key objective of the plan will be to stabilise and support system enablers, including the wider sexual and reproductive health system.

What steps his Department is taking to tackle increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections in England; and whether he plans to allocate public health funding to this.

Dedicated local sexual health services play a key public health role in the diagnosis, early treatment, and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Individual local authorities, funded through a ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG), are responsible for commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations, including providing open-access sexual health testing and treatment services.In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.We continue to support the delivery of local sexual health services, including addressing rates of STIs, by providing guidance and data to support local decision makers. In October 2024, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published the STI Prioritisation Framework, which, combined with ongoing support from the UKHSA, will enable local systems to identify which combination of interventions to focus on for which populations, informed by the local situation.The Department is also investing over £6 million to deliver a National HIV Prevention Programme between 2021 to 2026 to raise awareness of HIV, and STI testing and prevention strategies. Also, the Department, the UKHSA, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. A key objective of the plan will be to stabilise and support system enablers, including the wider sexual and reproductive health system.

Whether he plans to provide funding for the additional (a) diagnostics and (b) treatment arising from the detection of early-stage lung cancer through the national lung cancer screening programme.

Funding for national lung screening is set by NHS England. The Department has set stretching targets for the National Health Service to improve cancer performance next year, and the Spending Review prioritised investment into the health service, with a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department over this year and next. Departmental settlements for future years will be set out in due course, following the conclusion of phase two of the Spending Review in late spring 2025. We will get the NHS diagnosing cancer earlier, including lung cancer, and treating it faster, so more patients survive. As a first step we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government to ensure earlier diagnoses and faster treatment for those who need it most. We will address diagnostic waiting times, providing the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests that are needed to reduce cancer waits. The NHS will also maximise the pace of the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.

How much funding his Department plans to provide for smoking cessation programmes in the 2025-26 financial year.

The Government is providing £70 million of additional funding for local authority-led Stop Smoking Services in England in 2025/26. We will invest £10 million of new funding in 2025/26 to support Trading Standards to tackle underage and illicit tobacco and vape sales, and to support the implementation of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The Government is also investing over £100 million over five years to boost HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force’s enforcement capabilities to tackle illicit tobacco, supporting the Illicit Tobacco Strategy. Decisions on other smoking cessation programmes will be announced in due course.

How much funding he plans to provide for the national lung cancer screening programme in each the next three years; and on what evidential basis his Department has determined that level of funding.

Funding for national lung screening is set by NHS England. The Department has set stretching targets for the National Health Service to improve cancer performance next year, and the Spending Review prioritised investment into the health service, with a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department over this year and next. Departmental settlements for future years will be set out in due course, following the conclusion of phase two of the Spending Review in late spring 2025. We will get the NHS diagnosing cancer earlier, including lung cancer, and treating it faster, so more patients survive. As a first step we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government to ensure earlier diagnoses and faster treatment for those who need it most. We will address diagnostic waiting times, providing the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests that are needed to reduce cancer waits. The NHS will also maximise the pace of the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that patients with Parkinson receive regular consultations.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across several specialities, including neurology.We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and treatment to prevention. A central and core 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.There are several initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP). The GIRFT National Specialty Report made recommendations designed to improve services nationally and to support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country. The report highlighted differences in how services are delivered and provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally. In addition, the NTP has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home. Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, most people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 neurology centres across England. Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) timely adjustments of medications and (b) access to treatments for people with Parkinson's.

Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients, taking into account best prescribing practice and the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards. They are also expected to take account of appropriate national guidance on clinical and cost effectiveness, and are accountable for their prescribing decisions, both professionally and to their service commissioners.Timely adjustment and optimisation of medicines are important to ensure patients are receiving the most clinically appropriate and effective treatment to support their health and wellbeing. It is also critical in underpinning the six rights of safe medicines management: the right person; right medicine; right route; right dose; right time; and right to decline.The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for translating evidence into authoritative guidance for the health and care system on best practice. The NICE has produced guidance on the management of Parkinson’s disease, which includes recommendations on pharmacological management, including the timing of medicine administration. The NICE has also developed a Quality Standard for Parkinson’s disease that states that adults with Parkinson's disease who are in hospital, or a care home, should take levodopa within 30 minutes of their individually prescribed administration time. Clinicians are expected to take relevant national guidance fully into account when making clinical decisions regarding their patients, including the adjustment of medications.The Department is aware of supply constraints with one supplier of amantadine 100 milligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department has also been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10 millilitre pre-filled syringes from April 2025. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients and management guidance has been issued to the National Health Service.