Cancer patients are waiting too long for a diagnosis and treatment. We are determined to change that.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February 2026, sets a clear ambition to meet all cancer waiting time standards, including in the Ashfield constituency, by the end of this Parliament, ensuring patients get faster diagnosis and treatment. We will achieve this through a modernised, more productive cancer pathway, expanding diagnostic capacity, harnessing technology, and giving the most challenged trusts intensive support to deliver the improvements patients rightly expect.

The Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which provides rheumatology services for those living in the Ashfield constituency, currently reports an average wait of approximately four weeks for a first rheumatology appointment. The trust is meeting the National Health Service constitutional standard, with 100% of patients seen within 18 weeks and no patients waiting over 52 weeks. Nationally, the average wait to see a rheumatologist is approximately 10 weeks, meaning patients in Ashfield are seen significantly sooner than the national average.

While no Ashfield constituency‑specific programme is separately published, these improvements reflect work to enhance clinic capacity, referral pathways, and operational efficiency. The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board also participates in NHS England’s Referral to Treatment improvement framework, using monthly performance data to support continued progress.

Specialist care is provided through rheumatology services at Kings Mill Hospital, offering diagnosis, medication management, joint injections, and monitoring for inflammatory and degenerative arthritis. Community‑based services, including physiotherapy, podiatry, and dietetics, are available locally and monitored through the Community Health Services Monthly Situation Report. Additional support is available through national resources such as NHS My Planned Care and Arthritis Action, which provide guidance on pain management, exercise, and self‑management.

Nationally, we are supporting better care for patients with arthritis through the Getting It Right First Time Programme (GIRFT) for Rheumatology. The GIRFT rheumatology programme is supporting the NHS to deliver care more equitably throughout England and closer to patients’ homes and improve services nationally.

Additionally, as part of the GIRFT Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme, GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, including for patients with arthritis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services. Patients with MSK conditions, such as arthritis, will also soon be able to bypass their general practitioners and directly access community services, including physiotherapy, pain management, and orthopaedics, in the NHS App.

The Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which provides rheumatology services for those living in the Ashfield constituency, currently reports an average wait of approximately four weeks for a first rheumatology appointment. The trust is meeting the National Health Service constitutional standard, with 100% of patients seen within 18 weeks and no patients waiting over 52 weeks. Nationally, the average wait to see a rheumatologist is approximately 10 weeks, meaning patients in Ashfield are seen significantly sooner than the national average.

While no Ashfield constituency‑specific programme is separately published, these improvements reflect work to enhance clinic capacity, referral pathways, and operational efficiency. The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board also participates in NHS England’s Referral to Treatment improvement framework, using monthly performance data to support continued progress.

Specialist care is provided through rheumatology services at Kings Mill Hospital, offering diagnosis, medication management, joint injections, and monitoring for inflammatory and degenerative arthritis. Community‑based services, including physiotherapy, podiatry, and dietetics, are available locally and monitored through the Community Health Services Monthly Situation Report. Additional support is available through national resources such as NHS My Planned Care and Arthritis Action, which provide guidance on pain management, exercise, and self‑management.

Nationally, we are supporting better care for patients with arthritis through the Getting It Right First Time Programme (GIRFT) for Rheumatology. The GIRFT rheumatology programme is supporting the NHS to deliver care more equitably throughout England and closer to patients’ homes and improve services nationally.

Additionally, as part of the GIRFT Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme, GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, including for patients with arthritis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services. Patients with MSK conditions, such as arthritis, will also soon be able to bypass their general practitioners and directly access community services, including physiotherapy, pain management, and orthopaedics, in the NHS App.

The Government is committed to supporting people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autistic people of all ages. Autistic children and people should have the right support in place, tailored to their individual needs, to live well in their communities. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, and reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system focus on improving early intervention and support.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to appropriate mental health support and services, as well as access to autism assessments and support, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

Through the Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, NHS England has set clear expectations for local ICBs and trusts to improve access, experience, and outcomes for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder services over the next three years, focusing on improving quality and productivity. There are also clear expectations that ICBs and providers fulfil their statutory SEND duties and support the Government’s SEND reform plans.

The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB is working with system partners to review children and young people’s autism services and pathways to improve access to a system-wide, stepped support offer that aligns with current and emerging guidance.

The service aims to launch a new support and assessment model from April 2027. However, the autism support pathway redesign is part of a broader spectrum of work and transformation, owned by the health, care, and education system across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and is a key priority in delivery plans for both city and county SEND programmes.

The Environment Agency will publish updated water body classifications later this year (https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/England/classifications). This will provide a measure of the health of the water environment, focusing on the effects of pollution from sources like sewage, industry, and farming.

These classifications guide regulatory decisions and drive investment, such as the £22.1bn that water companies across England will spend on infrastructure, and environmental improvements between 2025-2030.

In Ashfield, by 2030, Severn Trent will deliver 46 new environmental actions on top of the 20 actions completed between 2020–2025. These actions can include small developments in a sewage treatment works, stopping sewage overflows, through to large interventions such as complete changes to sewage treatment.

The Environment Agency will publish updated water body classifications later this year (https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/England/classifications). This will provide a measure of the health of the water environment, focusing on the effects of pollution from sources like sewage, industry, and farming.

These classifications guide regulatory decisions and drive investment, such as the £22.1bn that water companies across England will spend on infrastructure, and environmental improvements between 2025-2030.

In Ashfield, by 2030, Severn Trent will deliver 46 new environmental actions on top of the 20 actions completed between 2020–2025. These actions can include small developments in a sewage treatment works, stopping sewage overflows, through to large interventions such as complete changes to sewage treatment.

Bowel cancer screening is delivered through the national NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, which invites eligible people aged 50 to 74 years old every two years, with those aged over 74 years old able to request a test kit. Data for the programme is available at a Nottinghamshire level, and as of January 2026, the test kit return rate was 64.9%, compared with a national average of 54.3%. All individuals in Nottinghamshire with a positive test result were offered an appointment with a specialist screening practitioner within the 14‑day national standard.

NHS England Midlands has implemented a range of measures to increase participation in the screening programme across Nottinghamshire, including for residents of Ashfield. These measures include:

• issuing digital invites, via Eastern Hub Notify, for anyone eligible who has previously been invited for bowel cancer screening. This went live on 2 March 2026. Additionally, this gives people the opportunity to update their postal address if this is incorrect. In terms of Notify, any messages that have not been read after 39 hours will be issued with a letter of invitation;
• liaising with detained estates and secure mental health sites to invite the eligible population for screening. The Eastern Bowel Hub issues a monthly request to detained estates to review the eligible cohort and ensure that all eligible individuals are invited;
• making reasonable adjustments for additional care needs, with intervention for learning disabilities fully rolled out in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Patients with a learning disability receive Easy Read information material. In addition, the Hub is working with learning disability liaison nurses in Nottinghamshire, who contact non‑responders and provide support to promote engagement and assist with completion of the test; and
• providing investment, in 2025/26, to support projects targeting health disparities. As a result, a local authority-led project has been awarded, focusing on qualitative and quantitative analysis within primary care networks, where participation in bowel and breast screening programmes is currently low. The aim of this project is to gain a deeper understanding of the reasons individuals may not take up the screening offer, enabling NHS England to tailor interventions more effectively. The insights gained will inform the development of training materials for community champions, with the Royal Society of Public Health leading on the training course design. This course is intended to equip community champions with the knowledge and skills to engage with members of the public, including those from underserved communities and health inclusion groups. Looking ahead, the project plans to train 80 champions in 2026/27. These champions will play a vital role in supporting and encouraging participation in screening programmes in Nottinghamshire.

The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets out our plans to build a system that supports every child to achieve and thrive.

It sets a clear path to raising standards and broadens children’s education. This includes a refreshed curriculum, improved transitions and an enrichment entitlement for every child.

To help improve GCSE outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, we are driving standards through new RISE teams, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and assessment system, recruiting 6,500 additional teachers and piloting a new place‑based Headteacher Retention Incentive to attract and support headteachers in the areas that need them most.

Additionally, in the 2026/27 financial year, £3.2 billion of pupil premium funding will support improved outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, and the National Funding Formula will allocate £5.6 billion according to deprivation. We are also developing a new model to better target disadvantage funding at the most entrenched need.

When this generation finishes secondary school, our ambition is for all pupils to reach at least a grade 5 across their GCSEs and for the disadvantage gap to be halved, with 30,000 more disadvantaged pupils passing English and maths GCSEs.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for audiology.

The Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are taking a number of steps to improve the provision of audiology services. These include the building of a new soundproof booth to boost testing capacity and transforming some paediatric ear, nose, and throat (ENT) pathways for direct audiology follow-ups. The trust is also improving ENT triage to ensure that patients with potential hearing loss are seen and assessed as soon as possible.

Waiting times for NHS audiology appointments are captured across a number of different data publications. Monthly diagnostics waiting times and activity data for 15 key diagnostic tests and procedures, including audiology assessments, is published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/

As of the end of December 2025, the latest available data, only three of 501 waits, or 0.6%, for an audiology assessment at the Ashfield constituency’s local NHS trust, the Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, were waiting more than six weeks. That’s better than the NHS constitutional standard of 1% and the national average of 45.5%. Since the end of June 2024, audiology assessment performance has improved by 25% in the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB. The following table shows audiology assessment performance at the local trust, local ICB, and national level:

Data is also published on community health services waiting lists, which includes waiting times for community audiology services. This is published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/community-health-services-waiting-lists/

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.

To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

More broadly, later this year, the Government will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy to reinvigorate our communities. The Government will work with businesses and representative bodies to pull this Strategy together.

The Government is committed to improving care for people living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, including those in the Ashfield constituency. NHS England supports local integrated care boards to deliver high-quality, timely services through initiatives such as the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme. GIRFT promotes earlier diagnosis, proactive management of flare-ups, and consistent adoption of best practice. Its gastroenterology report and updated inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathway recommend measures such as rapid access to specialist review within four weeks, personalised care plans, and expanded endoscopy capacity. These changes aim to cut emergency admissions, improve quality of life, and ensure equitable access to specialist nurses and multidisciplinary support across the country. The GIRFT programme has recently published a new handbook pulling together examples of innovative practice, proven solutions, and practical actions to help optimise the care of National Health Service patients with IBD. The GIRFT IBD pathway and associated handbook include specific guidance for paediatric care and the transition to adult services, recognising the unique needs of children and young people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The handbook is available at the following link:

https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/practical-advice-and-key-actions-in-new-girft-handbook-for-optimising-the-care-of-patients-with-ibd/

The 10-Year Health Plan will further improve care and support for people with IBD by expanding community diagnostic centres, reducing waiting times for endoscopy and imaging, and integrating digital tools to streamline referrals and follow-up care. It prioritises early diagnosis, personalised treatment plans, and better coordination between primary and specialist services. Investment in multidisciplinary teams will ensure patients receive timely, high-quality care. In addition, initiatives such as Diagnosis Connect will, from 2026, provide newly diagnosed patients with tailored information and support, empowering them to manage their condition confidently.

The NHS website provides comprehensive, accessible information on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, helping to raise public awareness and understanding of these conditions. The site explains what Crohn’s and colitis are, outlines common symptoms, and gives clear guidance on when to seek medical advice. It also details how these conditions are diagnosed and managed, including available treatments and support services.

To raise awareness of IBD among general practitioners and other primary care staff, the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced an Inflammatory Bowel Disease Toolkit. The toolkit outlines when to suspect IBD, the appropriate investigative tests and diagnostic tools for IBD, how to manage a flare-up of symptoms, and how to support patients with IBD.

Residents of Ashfield with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), are supported primarily through the Community Pain Management Service (CPMS), commissioned by the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board for the mid Nottinghamshire area, which covers Mansfield and Ashfield and Newark and Sherwood.

The CPMS delivers a multi-disciplinary, community-based service for adults, those aged 16 years old and over, with chronic pain and/or ME/CFS. The service is designed to be accessible, equitable, and holistic, supporting both physical and psychological needs.

Ashfield residents can access the service at several local clinics, including Ashfield Health and Wellbeing Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, as well as other sites across mid Nottinghamshire, including Mansfield Community Hospital and Oak Tree Health Centre.

Referrals are accepted from general practitioners, musculoskeletal services, and hospital consultants. The service acts as a single point of access, ensuring streamlined and timely triage and assessment.

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning National Health Service mental health services to meet the needs of people in Ashfield.

Nationally, the Government is committed to creating an environment that promotes good mental health, prevents people from developing mental health problems, and improves the lives of people living with a mental health problem including those in the Ashfield constituency.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to transform mental health services to improve access and treatment, and to promote good mental health and wellbeing for the nation. This includes improving assertive outreach, investing in mental health emergency departments and neighbourhood mental health centres, and increasing access to talking therapies and evidence-based digital interventions.

The recently published Medium Term Planning Framework sets targets for integrated care boards to expand coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, expand NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement Support schemes, and eliminate inappropriate out-of-area placements by 2029.

The Government is committed to ensuring that communities across the UK benefit from high-quality sport facilities - including new and improved pitches, changing rooms, goalposts and floodlights - to help enable people to get active and build pride in place in local communities.

In 2024/25, the constituency of Ashfield received a total of £1,849,232 from DCMS’s Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme, primarily towards a new artificial grass pitch and changing pavilion at Sutton Lawn Pleasure Ground.

This programme is investing a further £98 million towards new and upgraded sports facilities across the whole of the UK in 2025/26. At least £400 million more will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities between 2026 and 2030. DCMS is working with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering this funding, ensuring that investment best serves the needs of local communities, in the areas which need it most across the UK.

Our delivery partner in England, the Football Foundation, plans its investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), which are developed in partnership with local authorities in line with the needs of each community. The LFFP for Ashfield can be found at https://localplans.footballfoundation.org.uk/local-authorities-index/ashfield/ashfield-executive-summary/.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) continue to be one of the most effective tools for protecting and enhancing biodiversity and deliver a wide range of health and socio-economic benefits.

Natural England has an ongoing programme to assess the condition of SSSI features and implement restoration actions. Recent work in Ashfield includes monitoring at Teversal Pastures SSSI, where two units with species-rich neutral grassland are in favourable condition and managed through a Countryside Stewardship Mid-tier scheme consented by Natural England. At Friezeland Grassland SSSI, monitoring led to a new Countryside Stewardship scheme with capital works to restore lowland neutral grassland. Natural England also monitored Annesley Woodhouse Quarries SSSI, leading to a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme to increase grazing and management.

In the 2024 autumn budget we allocated £13m to Protected Site Strategies which will develop spatial restoration plans for priority sites, such as Sherwood Forest in the adjoining district of Newark and Sherwood. These strategies will put in place action to restore protected sites and manage the impact of environmental harm.

The Nature Restoration Fund in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will allow a more strategic approach to SSSI restoration and deliver improved environmental outcomes.

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the timeliness of decision making and the need to release funding when it is allocated. I shall make sure that my Department looks into that, and write to him with an answer.

Brierley Park medical centre applied for funding from the primary care utilisation and modernisation fund earlier this year. It has been successful, but it has not yet had the money, and the money must be spent by the end of the year. Will the Secretary of State please tell my medical centre when it will receive this vital funding?

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage is presented for England at national, National Health Service commissioning region, and local authority levels. Data is not gathered at constituency level.

Vaccine coverage data for the routine school-aged HPV immunisation programme in England, including for the 2023 to 2024 academic year, is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#hpv-vaccine-uptake

The department publishes data on the number of pupils that attend an independent school on school census day. This data is published in the annual 'Schools, pupils and their characteristics' accredited official statistics. Constituency level data can be found in the underlying school level data files, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th July is attached.