The steps taken include the production of the Paediatric and child health advanced practice area specific capability and curriculum framework, which was co-produced by NHS England and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The framework is available at the following link:

https://advanced-practice.hee.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2025/01/Paediatric-and-child-Health-advanced-practice-area-specific-capability-and-curriculum-framework-NHSE.pdf

The framework outlines area specific capabilities and a curriculum addressing the full spectrum of paediatric health needs, including recognising and managing cardiac and respiratory conditions.

Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out how the National Health Service will reform elective care services and meet the 18-week referral to treatment standard for all patients, including children and young people, by March 2029.  As a First Step to achieving this, we have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra 2 million operations, scans and appointments in our first year of government, delivering 5.2 million more appointments.

We have made it easier to track elective waiting times for children and young people through the publication of new demographic data as part of monthly inequalities statistical releases. This was a commitment in the Elective Reform Plan and is a big step forward in improving the transparency of waiting times and will provide accountability for children’s elective waiting lists.

The Plan also sets out several commitments specifically in relation to children and young people, including that integrated care boards and providers should ensure interventions are in place to reduce disparities for groups who face additional waiting list challenges; and primary and secondary care clinicians are to improve e-RS functionality (a national digital platform for referring patients into elective care), by including data to enable better prioritisation of children and young people.

Finally, the clinically-led Getting It Right First Time children and young people programme will continue to work with providers to ensure they are implementing best practice to improve children’s outcomes and waiting times across all medical and surgical specialities.

We inherited a broken National Health Service, and reducing elective waiting lists is a key part of getting it back on its feet and building an NHS that is fit for the future. To that end we have committed to achieving the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029. Cutting waiting times for diagnostic tests such as blood tests is a crucial step in reducing the elective waiting list.

Blood tests are among the most commonly requested diagnostic investigations across primary and secondary care, and they are readily available across all 27 NHS pathology networks. Phlebotomy, the procedure to collect blood samples, is widely available across general practice, community health services, and secondary care phlebotomy clinics, supporting equitable access to blood testing.

The NHS is taking steps to reduce wait times for blood tests. These include establishing more straight to test pathways, whereby a patient is referred straight to a diagnostic test without the need for an additional outpatient appointment first, as well as investing in digital pathology and automation of histopathology services to reduce the time patients wait for blood test results to be processed.

Alongside this, we are continuing to invest in expanding diagnostic capacity in the NHS. As set out in the Elective reform Plan, we plan to build up to five more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2025/26, alongside increasing the operating hours of existing sites so that more offer services 12 hours a day, seven days a week. This is backed by part of the £600 million of capital for diagnostic services announced at the October Spending Review.

CDCs offer local populations, including children, a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to home and greater choice on where and how they are undertaken. This reduces the need for hospital visits, reduces pressure on hospitals, and speeds up diagnosis. CDCs are expected to offer their services to children and young people where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Phlebotomy is a core service provided by all standard and large model CDCs.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and improving paediatric care in hospitals will be critical to achieving this ambition. Through the Elective Reform Plan, we have set out how we will deliver the 18-week referral target for all those waiting for care by March 2029, including children and young people. The Plan is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/reforming-elective-care-for-patients.pdf.

The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26, published jointly by the Department and NHS England on 6 June 2025, also outlines increasing the number of children seen within 4 hours of attending A&E as a priority area. To achieve this, NHS trusts have been asked to make use of urgent treatment centres and to revise services and standards to meet the needs of children and young people. The Plan is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/.

The Department does not hold data on medical specialty training places by integrated care board, but is able to present data by National Health Service training region. The following table shows the number of paediatric specialist training posts available in the 2023 and 2024 entry rounds by region:

Source: NHS England, available at the NHS.UK website, in an online only format.

The table presents the number of posts offered at both specialist training stage one, and at stages three or four. The latter stages mean that the medical professionals will likely have already undertaken at least three or four years of relevant training, or an equivalent, before entry to this later stage of the specialty training programme.

We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This is central to the vision in our 10 Year Plan. 
 
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

Individual schools are responsible for decisions about their staffing. Information on the school workforce, including the number of support staff employed by schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Maintained schools have a statutory duty under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to “make arrangements” to meet the health needs of their pupils. Schools must ensure that pupils with medical conditions have full access to education, including school trips and physical education. In doing so, schools must have regard to the 'Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school' statutory guidance, issued by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Paediatric nurses are commissioned by the NHS. They are considered as part of the ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, more on which can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-long-term-workforce-plan/. The department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to clarify the responsibilities expected of schools as part of our wider special educational needs and disabilities reforms.

Individual schools are responsible for decisions about their staffing. Information on the school workforce, including the number of support staff employed by schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Maintained schools have a statutory duty under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to “make arrangements” to meet the health needs of their pupils. Schools must ensure that pupils with medical conditions have full access to education, including school trips and physical education. In doing so, schools must have regard to the 'Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school' statutory guidance, issued by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Paediatric nurses are commissioned by the NHS. They are considered as part of the ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, more on which can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-long-term-workforce-plan/. The department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to clarify the responsibilities expected of schools as part of our wider special educational needs and disabilities reforms.

As of November 2023, the latest date for which data is available, 73 people were employed in state-funded special schools in England with a role of ‘nurse’. This is an increase from 66 in 2022 and 56 in 2021.

The figures provided are based on staff roles as reported by the school and, as such, ‘nurse’ may not necessarily indicate a qualified specialist community public health nurse.

Information on the school workforce, including the number of support staff employed by schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Individual schools are responsible for decisions about their staffing. Information on the school workforce, including the number of support staff employed by schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Maintained schools have a statutory duty under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to “make arrangements” to meet the health needs of their pupils. Schools must ensure that pupils with medical conditions have full access to education, including school trips and physical education. In doing so, schools must have regard to the 'Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school' statutory guidance, issued by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Paediatric nurses are commissioned by the NHS. They are considered as part of the ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, more on which can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-long-term-workforce-plan/. The department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to clarify the responsibilities expected of schools as part of our wider special educational needs and disabilities reforms.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.

NHS England published Excellence in Continence Care on 23 July 2018, bringing together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, and health and social care staff. This guidance covers both urinary and bowel, also known as faecal, incontinence, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/excellence-in-continence-care/

In 2023, NHS England published the guidance, National clinical constipation pathway for primary care for children, for clinicians for the prevention and management of constipation in children and young people. This work involved developing the national constipation pathway alongside ERIC, The Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity, with the final guidance available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-clinical-constipation-pathway-for-primary-care-for-children/

To make children’s services better, we are changing the National Health Service through our 10-Year Health Plan to make it fit for the future. The plan will be published in June.

The Department does not hold data on the number of 999 emergency calls that mention anaphylaxis. Neither does the Department hold data on the number of paediatric allergists employed in the National Health Service.

The Department has not made an estimate of the number of adults or children under the age of 18 years old that are currently diagnosed with an allergy. The table attached shows the number of hospitalisations due to allergies in the last ten years, broken down by ages and type of allergy.

No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of the number of qualified pathologists or paediatric pathologists either across England or at the Scarborough, Hull, and York Pathology Service.

The Department is aware that workforce shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathology have led to longer turnaround times for hospital post-mortem reports in some areas of England. NHS England has therefore established a national work programme to address shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathologists. A £20,000 recruitment incentive for new trainees has been introduced, with further initiatives underway to review the training pathway, develop advanced practitioner roles, and implement a retention strategy for existing staff.

I am very sorry to hear about the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. I know at first hand how complex and debilitating long covid can be. As I mentioned in an earlier answer, there is a stocktake taking place, which should show where there are deficiencies, but let me be clear: I want to ensure that there are good services for people suffering with long covid in every part of England.

Becky’s son Will was a normal, happy teenager until he suffered multiple covid infections. His mother tried to find out what was wrong with him, but she found that there were no paediatric long covid care services in Kent. Will the Minister update the House on whether Kent, with a population of 2 million, will ever get a paediatric long covid service?

Through the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Watch programme, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes surveillance of hospitalisations due to confirmed respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The UKHSA also undertakes monitoring and evaluation of immunisation programmes, including the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing hospital admissions. Such an analysis is being developed for the maternal vaccination programme for infant RSV prevention.

The UKHSA also provided analysis on RSV prevention considerations for very and extremely premature babies as part of the October 2024 meeting of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.