Written questions by Slade.

If he will take steps to offer routine mammography through the NHS for men who (a) have a personal history of breast cancer and (b) who are otherwise at high risk of developing breast cancer.

Men who have had breast cancer themselves should be followed up by the clinical services who cared for them while they had breast cancer. General practitioners (GPs) can refer symptomatic men for tests and scans at a breast clinic including a chest examination, mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. In addition, GPs can refer men to a genetics clinic for assessment if they think someone is at increased risk. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-men/tests-and-next-steps-for-breast-cancer-in-men/ The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has never been asked to examine breast screening for men at high risk. Any person or organisation can submit a proposal for a new screening topic during the UK NSC’s three-month open call process, which will next run from 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing the gluten-free subsidy card scheme operating in Wales across England.

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of introducing the gluten-free (GF) subsidy card scheme used in Wales across England.In the UK, health is a largely devolved matter and local health arrangements such as the Welsh GF subsidy card are a matter for the devolved administrations. The devolved nations make their own decisions on GF prescription and other charges and may choose to spend proportionately more of their budget on the provision of gluten free food against other competing priorities.The national prescribing position in England is that gluten-free bread and mixes can be provided to coeliac patients on National Health Service prescription and a wide range of these items are listed in Part XV of the Drug Tariff. However, local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) can restrict or end the prescribing of GF food locally. ICBs are autonomous bodies and as such they retain the right to make prescribing policies that meet the needs of their local population within their allocated resource.Targeted financial support schemes have been shown to introduce additional complexity for patients and the NHS. Similar schemes piloted at a local level for gluten free food were discontinued due to lack of patient engagement and the administrative burden involved.

If he will take steps to issue neighbourhood health guidelines for maternal services.

While there are currently no plans to issues guidelines specifically for maternal services, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, and involve National Health Service, local authority, and voluntary sector services.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the removal of ringfenced funding for maternity services on (a) numbers of NHS midwives, (b) maternal safety and (c) infant safety.

The Government has instructed the National Health Service to improve maternity services, as part of a drive to improve quality, as a priority in the Medium‑Term Planning Framework.While the ring-fenced funding for maternity services has been removed, the same level of funding is being delivered. This is to allow local healthcare system leaders more autonomy to meet the needs of their local population. The Government will continue to monitor integrated care board investment in maternity services.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2026 to Question 109011 on Kidney Diseases: Health Services, when he plans to bring forward a Modern Service Framework for kidney disease.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs). The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82544 on Respiratory System: Health Services, if he will outline a timeline he expects to bring forward a Modern Service Framework for respiratory health.

Modern service frameworks (MSFs) will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of MSFs, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

What steps he is taking to improve the transition for NHS patients between paediatric and adult care in the NHS.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This includes ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government aims to support children and young people as they navigate the National Health Service, ensuring they feel comfortable and confident in managing their own health and care from 16 years old where appropriate. This includes supporting young people as they move from child to adolescent and adult services, making sure that care is developmentally appropriate throughout. NHS England has developed guidance for integrated care boards and healthcare providers to aid the design of transition pathways that improve health outcomes for all young people. This guidance will be published in due course.

What steps he is taking to improve treatment for patients with Pectus Excavatum.

There are a number of non-surgical management options to support people diagnosed with a pectus deformity, including posture and exercise programmes, bracing, and psychological support.For surgical treatments, NHS England reviewed the evidence to treat pectus excavatum in patients and issued an interim clinical commissioning urgent policy statement published in April 2023. NHS England concluded that there is enough evidence to make surgical treatment available as a routine commissioning treatment option for patients of all ages with pectus excavatum resulting in very severe physiological symptoms. The criteria for surgery can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/PRN00394-interim-clinical-commissioning-urgent-policy-statement-pectus-surgery.pdf

What plans he has for future NHS staff pay negotiations in terms of (a) groups who will be involved and (b) when such negotiations will take place.

The Government remitted the independent pay review bodies (PRBs) in respect of National Health Service staff on 22 July, which formally began the 2026/27 pay round. This was over two months earlier than last year.The Pay Review Bodies (PRBs) are independent advisory bodies made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them from a range of stakeholders, including Government and trade unions to make recommendations on headline pay for their remit groups. It is for individual trade unions to decide whether to engage with the PRB process, but we encourage them to do so in order for the PRBs to have the full breadth of evidence available when forming their recommendations.The PRBs base their recommendations to the Government on a range of factors including the economic context, cost of living, recruitment and retention, morale, and motivation of NHS staff.The Government carefully considers the independent PRBs’ recommendations once received. Ministers are not obligated to accept these, although the Government did accept the recommendations on headline pay in full for 2024/25 and 2025/26.As my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, stated on 15 December, the Government is open to discussing multi-year pay deals with trade unions if we can bridge the gap between affordability and expectation.

Whether his Department is taking steps to deliver the outstanding recommendations from Sir Stephen Bubb's report for the Public Accounts Select Committee, entitled Care services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, published On 23 March 2015.

Care services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour was published for the Public Accounts Select Committee in 2015, under a previous administration. The Government is committed to reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health inpatient settings and ensuring they receive the right support in the community which aligns with the recommendations set out in the report.Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out to make three big shifts towards more preventative, digitally-enabled care, with more holistic, on-going support in the community to tackle health inequalities, including for disabled people. Our 2025 Mental Health Act will limit the scope to detain people with a learning disability and autistic people so that they can only be detained for treatment in a mental health hospital if they have a co-occurring mental disorder that requires hospital treatment. The act will also introduce measures to improve community support for people with a learning disability and autistic people by putting Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews and Dynamic Support Registers on a statutory footing and placing certain duties on integrated care boards and local authorities when exercising existing commissioning duties.The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework 2026/27 to 2028/9 maintains a focus on improving mental health and learning disability care with an explicit objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people year-on-year.

What steps he is taking to help close the gap in average life expectancy between those with a learning disability and those living without a learning disability.

We recognise the unacceptable health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability. We do not have comprehensive data on the life expectancy of people with a learning disability, broken down by gender and age, although we do have crucial insights into life and health outcomes which support service improvements.in July 2025 NHS Digital published data on the mortality and life expectancy of people with a learning disability and autism which showed that people with a learning disability have a life expectancy at birth of 59.5 years old, compared to the general population life expectancy at birth of 81.4 years old, a difference of 21.9 years. These figures are based on data from April 2022 to March 2023, with further information avaiable at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/supplementary-information/2025/learning-disabilities-and-autism---mortality-and-life-expectancy-2022-23Significant action is underway to improve access to and the quality of care for people with a learning disability, and to achieve the critical prevention shift set out in our 10-Year Health Plan. This includes mandatory training for health and social care staff, improving identification on the general practice learning disability register and uptake of annual health checks, and rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag to ensure that care is tailored appropriately. The national Core20Plus5 approach also guides action to tackle health inequalities at a system level, and NHS England expects learning disability to be identified as a priority cohort at a local level.Furthermore, each integrated care board (ICB) must have an executive lead for learning disability and autism who will support the board in addressing health inequalities, support access to care across all health services, and improve overall health outcomes.  Each ICB must also consider and demonstrate how they will reduce inequalities for people with a learning disability within their five‑year strategic plans under the Medium-Term Planning Framework. The Medium-Term Planning Framework is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/medium-term-planning-framework-delivering-change-together-2026-27-to-2028-29/

How many and what proportion of adults with a learning disability are registered on the learning disability register in (a) England (b) each region of England.

Work is currently underway in NHS England to encourage children and young people to join the learning disability register at the age of 14 years old, and to support people who do not have a confirmed learning disability diagnosis to access the register and appropriate services.NHS England has published guidance to support general practitioners (GPs) in identifying people with a learning disability. People with a learning disability are identified using specific codes within a patient record which are then grouped into a ‘code cluster’. Further information on the guidance is avaiable at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/improving-identification-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-guidance-for-general-practice.pdfThe learning disability register code cluster includes conditions and diagnoses that are highly likely to indicate that a person has a learning disability. Code cluster contents are dynamic and are updated regularly to account for new content. The latest cluster contents can be found in the Primary Care Domain Reference Set Portal, with further information available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/quality-and-outcomes-framework-qof/quality-and-outcome-framework-qof-business-rules/primary-care-domain-reference-set-portalIn addition, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recently wrote to GPs, emphasising the importance of the learning disability register and providing high quality annual health checks.As part of efforts to monitor uptake, NHS England data shows that, as of October 2025, there were 343,520 people aged 14 years old and over with a learning disability on the learning disability register in England. The following table shows the number of people on the learning disability register in each region of England:RegionRegister size age 14 years old and overLondon46,823South West35,950South East50,528Midlands67,118East of England38,983North West43,676North East and Yorkshire60,442Source: NHS England published data on the Learning Disability Health Check Scheme for October 2025, a copy of which is attached.

How many and what proportion of adults with a learning disability in England have a regular annual health check by a GP.

The Department does not hold data relating to what proportion of adults with a learning disability in England have a regular annual health check with a general practitioner.NHS England is required to offer to all primary medical services contractors the opportunity to enter into arrangements under the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Services (DES) Scheme. Integrated care boards (ICBs), as commissioners of primary care services, are responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient provision of these services to meet the needs of their patient population.As part of the Network Contract DES Learning Disabilities Health Check Scheme, primary services contractors are required to identify registered patients aged 14 years old or over who have learning disabilities and to record this on a learning disabilities register. Contractors are required to offer annual health checks to these patients.

What the life expectancy is of (a) women and (b) men of working age with a learning disability; and how does this compare with the life expectancy of people without a learning disability.

We recognise the unacceptable health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability. We do not have comprehensive data on the life expectancy of people with a learning disability, broken down by gender and age, although we do have crucial insights into life and health outcomes which support service improvements.in July 2025 NHS Digital published data on the mortality and life expectancy of people with a learning disability and autism which showed that people with a learning disability have a life expectancy at birth of 59.5 years old, compared to the general population life expectancy at birth of 81.4 years old, a difference of 21.9 years. These figures are based on data from April 2022 to March 2023, with further information available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/supplementary-information/2025/learning-disabilities-and-autism---mortality-and-life-expectancy-2022-23Significant action is underway to improve access to and the quality of care for people with a learning disability, and to achieve the critical prevention shift set out in our 10-Year Health Plan. This includes mandatory training for health and social care staff, improving identification on the general practice learning disability register and uptake of annual health checks, and rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag to ensure that care is tailored appropriately. The national Core20Plus5 approach also guides action to tackle health inequalities at a system level, and NHS England expects learning disability to be identified as a priority cohort at a local level.Furthermore, each integrated care board (ICB) must have an executive lead for learning disability and autism who will support the board in addressing health inequalities, support access to care across all health services, and improve overall health outcomes.  Each ICB must also consider and demonstrate how they will reduce inequalities for people with a learning disability within their five‑year strategic plans under the Medium-Term Planning Framework. The Medium-Term Planning Framework is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/medium-term-planning-framework-delivering-change-together-2026-27-to-2028-29/

Whether he plans to help increase the uptake of registration on the learning disability register.

Work is currently underway in NHS England to encourage children and young people to join the learning disability register at the age of 14 years old, and to support people who do not have a confirmed learning disability diagnosis to access the register and appropriate services.NHS England has published guidance to support general practitioners (GPs) in identifying people with a learning disability. People with a learning disability are identified using specific codes within a patient record which are then grouped into a ‘code cluster’. Further information on the guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/improving-identification-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-guidance-for-general-practice.pdfThe learning disability register code cluster includes conditions and diagnoses that are highly likely to indicate that a person has a learning disability. Code cluster contents are dynamic and are updated regularly to account for new content. The latest cluster contents can be found in the Primary Care Domain Reference Set Portal, with further information available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/quality-and-outcomes-framework-qof/quality-and-outcome-framework-qof-business-rules/primary-care-domain-reference-set-portalIn addition, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recently wrote to GPs, emphasising the importance of the learning disability register and providing high quality annual health checks.As part of efforts to monitor uptake, NHS England data shows that, as of October 2025, there were 343,520 people aged 14 years old and over with a learning disability on the learning disability register in England. The following table shows the number of people on the learning disability register in each region of England:RegionRegister size age 14 years old and overLondon46,823South West35,950South East50,528Midlands67,118East of England38,983North West43,676North East and Yorkshire60,442Source: NHS England published data on the Learning Disability Health Check Scheme for October 2025, a copy of which is attached.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of junk food advertising on childhood obesity.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England, we are taking decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. We have implemented United Kingdom-wide restrictions on advertising of less healthy food and drink on television and online which we estimate will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets each year and deliver health benefits of approximately £2 billion. We have also committed to updating the standards that underpin the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink to reflect the latest dietary advice and strengthen the restrictions by more effectively targeting the products of most concern to childhood obesity.An impact assessment on the advertising restrictions of less healthy food and drink on television and online is published on the GOV.UK website.

What steps he is taking to reduce the consumption of junk food by children.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, we are taking decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. As part of this, the Government has announced an ambitious programme aimed at improving the healthiness of the food environment. In December 2024, the Government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework for local government. As part of this, local authorities were given the stronger, clearer powers they have told us they need to block new fast-food outlets near schools.On 1 October 2025, we implemented restrictions on volume price promotions for less healthy food and drinks, such as three for two offers, in stores and their online equivalents and United Kingdom-wide restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink on television and online came into force on 5 January 2026.We have also consulted on banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old and announced changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in the Autumn Budget to deliver greater health benefits to children.We announced in the 10-Year Health Plan that, in a world-first, we will introduce mandatory healthier food sales reporting for large food businesses and set new targets to increase the healthiness of sales. We will also strengthen the existing advertising and promotions restrictions by consulting on applying an updated definition of ‘less healthy food and drink’.

Whether he plans to ensure Mental Health Support Teams in schools are trained in Speech and Language therapy.

We currently have no plans to train the education mental health practitioners, who are the primary workforce of mental health support teams (MHSTs), in speech and language therapy. We are expanding MHSTs in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029, and 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from MHSTs in 2025/26. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can now also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is going into its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.

Whether he has made an assessment with Secretary of State for Education of the potential impact of amending Schedule 17, Part 1, Paragraph 12(b) of The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable schools to obtain new adrenaline nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic reactions on children with allergies .

Officials at the Department are in the early stages of considering if potential amendments to Schedule 17 of the Human Medicines Regulations (HMRs) 2012 are required.Should amendments to the HMRs be required, the Government will conduct a public consultation to ensure that the views of stakeholders are carefully considered, prior to any changes being made.

Whether he has made an assessment with the Home Secretary of the potential merits of funding a wider rollout of long-acting Injectable Buprenorphine as a treatment option for people using opioids in Dorset.

The Department supports the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine as an option for those undergoing Opioid Substitution Treatment. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services according to local need, and this includes the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine.In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing Dorset Council with £1,469,140 to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The Department encourages local authorities to prioritise resourcing long-acting injectable buprenorphine prescribing from this additional funding if current provision is not adequate.The Department is currently doing more analysis to understand cost-effectiveness and develop clinical guidance, and to scope out how best to expand access to long-acting injectable buprenorphine further.