Written questions by McKenna.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS weight management services support long-term weight maintenance.

Awaiting answer.

What plans his Department has to establish a national deployment pathway for ambient voice technology, to move beyond repeated local pilots towards system-wide adoption across the NHS.

Awaiting answer.

Whether his Department plans to publish data on the performance of local obesity services, including service coverage, waiting times, and patient outcomes split by age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status.

Awaiting answer.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that ambient voice technology used in the NHS captures structured, coded clinical data at the point of care rather than unstructured free-text notes; what criteria his Department uses to determine which suppliers are eligible for reimbursement under clinical AI scribing programmes; and whether AI scribing tools embedded within wider electronic patient record contracts are required to meet the same governance and registry standards as dedicated ambient voice technology suppliers listed on the NHS England Ambient Voice Technology Supplier Registry.

Awaiting answer.

What safeguards his Department has put in place to protect patients being transported to hospital by private patient transport companies on behalf of local NHS integrated care boards.

Health and social care service providers that carry out a regulated activity in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Providers of ambulance and other transport services usually need to register for the regulated activity ‘Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely’. CQC registration for providers of ambulance and other transport services requires a stringent assessment of suitability to deliver safe and high quality care, and registered organisations have ongoing monitoring and assessments. The CQC can take enforcement action against providers that are carrying out regulated activity without registration.

If he will make an assessment of the the approval process of (a) high tariff drugs (b) the use of Obinutuzumab in patients with lupus who have experienced severe infusion reactions with rituximab.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that makes recommendations on whether new licensed medicines, including high cost medicines, should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England, based on the evidence of their costs and benefits. The NICE aims, wherever possible, to publish guidance close to the time of licensing, and the NHS in England is required to fund NICE recommended medicines, normally within three months of final guidance. The NICE is in the early stages of evaluating obinutuzumab with immunosuppressive therapies for treating lupus nephritis. Its independent committee will meet to consider the evidence on 10 December 2025, and the NICE currently expects to publish final guidance in March 2026. The evaluation is currently on track to be published within 90 days of marketing authorisation.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the timely approval of high-tariff drugs for use in (a) specialised commissioning and (b) repurposed treatments.

To market a medicine in the United Kingdom, a company must secure a marketing authorisation or ‘licence’ from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Newly-licensed medicines, including licence extensions for existing medicines, are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service in England on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims wherever possible to issue guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund drugs recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.NHS England may also develop a national clinical commissioning policy to confirm whether a specific treatment which has not been appraised by NICE should be routinely available to eligible patients in the NHS in England. A policy can only be developed if the medicine is used within prescribed specialised services, namely services for which NHS England is the accountable commissioner. NHS England develops clinical commissioning policies in line with published methods and eligibility criteria. National clinical policies are based on the available research evidence and may be subject to a process of funding prioritisation, depending on the cost of the treatment concerned. More information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-clinical-policies/

What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the Integrated National Transport Strategy.

Ministers and senior officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Transport have a range of discussions about policy issues of interest to both Departments. We expect to work closely together to ensure that health can be appropriately considered within the Integrated National Transport Strategy as it develops.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of delivering universal fracture liaison services by 2030 on (a) patients and (b) the NHS; and what the annual cost to the public purse will be of delivering this.

The Government and NHS England support the clinical case for services which help to prevent fragility fractures and support the patients who sustain them. According to the Fracture Liaison Service Database 2022, at least 60 Trusts in England had access to a Fracture Liaison Service. This government is committed to ending the postcode lottery for access to these important preventative services, and the Department is working closely with NHS England to explore a range of options to provide better quality and access, including ways to best support local systems. Costs and benefits will be assessed, as these options are considered, taking into consideration the evidence gathered from the 60 services already in operation in England.

What steps he is taking to shift care from hospitals into the community.

It is vital to move services from hospital to community. The Chancellor made funding available for 380,000 more talking therapies for patients and put in place a £26 million capital investment scheme for mental health crisis centres. A lot of work has bee...

With reference to the £10 million allocated to the MHRA in March 2023, what progress has been made on accelerating routes for bringing innovative medical products developed onto the market.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) greatly welcomed the £10 million of funding announced by HM Treasury in March 2023, which has enabled the MHRA to make progress on the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP).The ILAP h...