Written questions by Franklin.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) lowering the minimum age for routine breast screening to 40 and (b) offering annual screening on (i) early detection rates, (ii) patient o

Awaiting answer.

What steps his Department is taking to improve early and equitable access to diagnosis and treatment for people living with ataxia.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, including rare ataxias, under the UK Rare Diseases Framework. We published the fifth annual England action plan in February 2026, where we report on the steps we have t...

What progress has been made towards delivering the Government's commitment to provide universal access to Fracture Liaison Services by 2030; and when he plans to publish a timetable setting out the

Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.Integrated care boards (ICBs) remain well placed to make decisions according to local need.The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy sets an expe...

When he plans to publish the implementation plan for delivering the Government's commitment to provide universal access to Fracture Liaison Services across England by 2030.

Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.Integrated care boards (ICBs) remain well placed to make decisions according to local need.The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy sets an expe...

What consideration he has given to (a) introducing safeguards and (b) reviewing legislation relating to the circumcision of infants and minors for non-medical reasons.

Departmental officials will be engaging with stakeholders, particularly in Muslim and Jewish communities, regarding non-statutory measures to improve patient safety relating to the circumcision of male infants and minors for non-medical reasons.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that strategic commissioners, including Surrey Heartlands and NHS Sussex, have the commissioning flexibility and tools required to attract new NHS dent

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry and orthodontic services, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Guildford constituency, this is the Surrey Hear...

What steps his Department is taking to reduce the gap in healthy life expectancy between the country’s most and least deprived communities.

The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambitious commitment to halve the healthy life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest regions. We know that reducing the gap will require action on challenges that are more prevalent in areas with ...

If he will set out the contractual requirements that apply to independent sector providers delivering NHS-funded cataract surgery, including whether they are required to accept an appropriate case mix rather than lower-complexity patients.

Independent sector providers are commissioned and managed by integrated care boards (ICBs) under the terms of the NHS Standard Contract which applies the same standards of oversight and regulation as are applied to National Health Service providers.In the 10-Year Health Plan for England, we set out we would not tolerate ‘gaming’ the national payment tariff to cherry pick the simplest, most profitable cases. ICBs are expected to monitor this, and act decisively where they identify problems as part of a wider duty to safeguard and ensure value for taxpayer money.

What steps he is taking to support community pharmacies to improve accessibility for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or living with dual sensory loss; and whether he is taking steps to support the provision of reasonable adjustments, including hearing loops, to ensure patients can safely access advice and treatment.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring community pharmacy services are safe and accessible to all patients, including those with sensory impairments. In addition to legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998, pharmacy businesses have a duty to comply with the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) standards for registered pharmacy premises. This requires pharmacies to provide an environment that is safe and accessible for all, taking reasonable steps to remove barriers for patients with disabilities. These standards emphasise the need for pharmacies to make adjustments to facilities and services, such as providing accessible entrances, hearing loops, and assistance for individuals with mobility or sensory challenges. To support community pharmacies in meeting their legal duties, the GPhC has issued equality guidance for pharmacies, which outlines best practices for supporting patients with a range of needs. NHS England is also rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a disabled patient and the reasonable adjustments to care and treatment that they need, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably. This is being rolled out nationally across all healthcare settings and will help community pharmacies spot when a patient may need extra support.

What assessment he has made of regional variation in access to children’s hospice services; and what steps he is taking to ensure equitable provision across England.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including children and young people’s hospices, also play in providing support to children at the end of life, as well as their loved ones.We recognise that there is variation in access to children and young people’s hospice services across England. This reflects a range of factors, including the way in which the independent hospice sector has historically developed, which was largely not planned with a view to ensure even geographical coverage or to prioritise areas of greatest need based on demographics. However, it is worth recognising that hospices are not the sole providers of palliative care and end of life care, much of which is provided by NHS statutory services.Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.We supported the hospice sector in England with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult, and children and young people’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, giving them the stability they need to plan ahead.For the long-term, the Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care for England, with a planned publication date of Autumn 2026. Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, and we will also consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of this work.

Whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that NHS commissioning ensures equivalent employment practices in outsourced NHS services.

The Government is committed to making work pay and ensuring that outsourced services are delivered in a way that improves quality, gives greater stability and longer-term investment in the workforce, and delivers better value for money as part of the broader commitments on procurement.In December 2025 the Employment Rights Act received Royal Assent and passed into law. This act aims to enhance worker security, fairness, and pay, as well as banning exploitative practices.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of staff providing NHS services being employed on different contractual terms to NHS Agenda for Change staff on (a) equality and (b) the workforce.

This specific assessment has not been made. Independent organisations commissioned by the National Health Service in England, such as general practices or social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales that they use.Where such organisations choose to dynamically link to any of the national contracts, including Agenda for Change, those staff will be contractually entitled to receive the same uplifts in pay and associated terms and conditions as staff employed in NHS organisations.

If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of commissioning arrangements in NHS breast screening services that result in staff providing NHS services being employed on terms and conditions different from NHS Agenda for Change contracts.

Breast screening services that deliver the NHS Breast Screening Programme are mainly within National Health Service trusts, with staff on Agenda for Change terms or conditions or medical staff on the consultant, both medical and dental, pay scale. The exception to this is the very small number of breast screening services provided by private providers. Staff delivering breast screening are directly employed by the host organisation not by NHS England.With regards the plans to transfer NHS England’s direct commissioning function to integrated care boards from April 2027, staff will remain on NHS terms and conditions.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of care provided by care agencies to vulnerable people.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What steps his Department is taking to improve oversight of care agencies and to enhance enforcement powers against providers who fail to meet required care standards.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What steps his Department is taking to prevent care agencies from supplying staff who deliver unsupervised personal care without the required registration with the Care Quality Commission.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

If his Department will take steps to ensure that agency care workers receive appropriate and accredited training to meet the needs of vulnerable service users.

We have understood that the term care agencies refers to employment agencies. Care providers are required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where they carry out a regulated activity, as described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. However, employment agencies do not usually carry out regulated activity and as such do not typically need to be registered.Providers such as care homes and those providing domiciliary care do typically carry out regulated activity and therefore are registered with the CQC. The CQC requires all health and social care providers registered with them to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff, including both registered and unregistered professionals. This requirement applies where that provider chooses to recruit staff via employment agencies.It is therefore the responsibility of the regulated provider to ensure robust and safe recruitment practices are in place, and to make sure that all staff, including agency staff, are suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

What data his Department holds on the number of healthcare professionals with specialist training in Parkinson’s disease; and whether he considers current data collection sufficient to support workforce planning for Parkinson’s services.

The Department does not collect centralised data on the number of clinicians with specific expertise in Parkinson’s disease. This is because decisions about the staffing, skill mix, and service models required to meet local population needs are made by individual National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards. These organisations are responsible for planning and commissioning services in their areas, and they determine the level of specialist expertise needed within their multidisciplinary teams. As a result, information on specialist Parkinson’s roles is held locally rather than recorded in national workforce datasets.However, we do hold data for the wider specialties central to Parkinson’s care. As of October 2025, there were 2,004 full‑time equivalent doctors in neurology and 6,324 in geriatric medicine working in NHS trusts and other organisations in England. These specialties include clinicians who provide care to people with Parkinson’s.We continue to work with NHS England through programmes such as the Neurology Transformation Programme and Getting It Right First Time to support improvements in access to specialist care. The Department has also established a United Kingdom‑wide Neuro Forum, which brings together the Government, the NHS, the devolved administrations, and neurological alliances across the four nations to share best practice and address system-wide challenges, including workforce needs for conditions such as Parkinson’s.

What steps her Department is taking to address period poverty and ensure affordable access to menstrual products.

The Government recognises the importance of women and girls being able to access the care they need for their reproductive health, including period products.We know that poverty doesn’t recognise gender, and that women and girls may suffer given the cost of period products. However, we know that period poverty reflects wider cost-of-living pressures, which is why the Government is tackling the root causes of poverty, through measures to make work pay, boosting the living wage, and investing in public services, so no one has to go without the essentials.There are a number of schemes across the Government which ensure that those who are most vulnerable can access the products they need. The Department for Education’s Period Products scheme launched in 2020 and provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study so that nobody misses out on education because of their period. Similarly, all women and girls being cared for by the National Health Service are entitled to be given, upon request, appropriate period products free of charge.We are also taking steps to ensure that products are as affordable as possible, as the tax on period products has been zero-rated since 2021, and in 2023 this was extended to include reusable period underwear.

If he will extend Business Rates reimbursements to Community Pharmacies.

In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and continue prioritising reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.