Hypnotherapists and psychotherapists are not statutorily regulated. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care operates a voluntary registry programme, and provides a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions which sit between employer controls and statutory regulation, by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registration for unregulated health and social care occupations.

There are currently two accredited registers related to hypnotherapy, and 12 accredited registers related to psychotherapy. The Government regularly reviews which professions are subject to statutory regulation, and in 2022 published the consultation, Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. This consultation sought views on the criteria used to decide when regulation is necessary, and whether there are any unregulated professions that should be brought into statutory regulation. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in due course.

NHS England has invested £314 million to expand National Health Service long COVID treatment and rehabilitation services, establishing 100 long COVID services for adults, and 13 specialist paediatric hubs for children and young people. These assess people with long COVID and direct them into appropriate care pathways, which provide appropriate support and treatment. Commissioning of post-COVID-19 services will transition from the long COVID national programme to integrated care boards by the end of March 2024. Funding for long COVID services in 2024/25 is expected to be allocated based on the current, 2023/24 distribution.

The Government has invested over £50 million into long COVID research. The projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and to evaluate clinical care.

Improving maternity care is a year 2 priority in our women’s health strategy for this year. Any decisions around maternity services need to be focusing on improving outcomes for mums and babies. However, decisions on the local reconfiguration of services are made by local integrated care boards and local trusts.

The information is not available in the format requested, as data is only available from January 2023 to November 2023. Provisional data from NHS England indicates that there were 509,647 birth episodes in total during this period, of which there was a valid delivery method recorded for 402,571 episodes. 158,562, or 39%, of these births were recorded by delivery method of caesarean.

The Department does not have responsibility for reducing the spread of bedbugs. Bedbugs are not an invasive species and are not known to spread diseases, although any individuals who think they have bedbugs should contact their local council or pest control service. Some further information on bedbugs is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedbugs/

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent group of experts who advise the Government health departments in the four nations of the United Kingdom on immunisations and the prevention of infectious disease. On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered COVID-19 vaccination in autumn 2023.

The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, namely hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. The JCVI advice is to focus the offer of vaccination on those at greatest risk of serious disease or at high risk of transmitting the disease to vulnerable individuals. For this autumn the eligible groups for vaccination are residents and staff in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years old and over, persons aged 6 months to 64 years old in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years old who are household contacts and persons aged 16 to 64 years old who are carers.

The clinical risk groups for COVID-19 vaccination are defined in the UK Health Security Agency’s ‘Green Book’ on vaccines and immunisation Chapter 14a tables 3 and 4. Post-COVID Syndrome (long COVID) is not currently identified by the JCVI as one of these conditions. The JCVI considered post-COVID syndromes when developing advice for autumn 2023 and concluded that there is not currently sufficient evidence to support making individuals experiencing post-COVID syndrome an eligible group for vaccination.

To support individuals with long COVID, NHS England has set out a long COVID action plan, including establishing a nationwide network of specialist clinics. Anyone who is concerned about ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 can find information and advice on the ‘NHS Your COVID Recovery’ website. The JCVI will continue to review evidence and will provide further advice regarding future vaccination programmes in due course.

The Surrogacy Arrangements Act (1985) sets out provisions to ensure that surrogacy arrangements and surrogacy organisations are not-for-profit and prohibits the advertising of anyone willing to be a surrogate or anyone seeking a surrogate in the United Kingdom.

The Law Commissions of England & Wales and Scotland published a report and draft bill of their review of the surrogacy legislation on 29 March 2023. The report’s recommendations reiterate that surrogacy should continue to operate in the UK on an altruistic, rather than a commercial, basis. The Government is considering the report and will publish a response in due course.

The Government already supports employers to provide a number of health and wellbeing initiatives for their employees which are tax exempt. This includes up to £500 towards recommended medical treatments to help employees return to work, as well as eye tests, annual health checks and welfare counselling. In March 2020 this was expanded, to include under the exemption for welfare counselling, counselling services which are also medical treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Interpersonal Therapy. The Government keeps all taxes under review.

No specific estimate has been made. The Department uses estimates provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the prevalence of ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom. Estimates are based on the self-reporting of ongoing symptoms by study participants rather than a clinical diagnosis. It is not possible to provide ONS estimates in the age group requested.

We continue to drive progress on delivering the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan to enhance the availability of National Health Service funded and commissioned mental health support and transformation of mental health services. Through the Long Term Plan, an additional two million people will be able to access NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24.

On 9 October we launched our Every Mind Matters campaign, which urges people to be kind to their mind. The campaign empowers people to look after their mental health by directing them to free, practical tips and advice, through the Every Mind Matters website. Every Mind Matters includes practical advice on coping with money worries and job uncertainty, and it provides links to a range of voluntary organisations that provide mental health support, such as CALM and Hub of Hope, and to organisations such as Mental Health and Money Advice, a United Kingdom-wide service that combines support for both mental health and financial problems.

We continue to drive progress on delivering the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan to enhance the availability of National Health Service funded and commissioned mental health support and transformation of mental health services. Through the Long Term Plan, an additional two million people will be able to access NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24.

On 9 October we launched our Every Mind Matters campaign, which urges people to be kind to their mind. The campaign empowers people to look after their mental health by directing them to free, practical tips and advice, through the Every Mind Matters website. Every Mind Matters includes practical advice on coping with money worries and job uncertainty, and it provides links to a range of voluntary organisations that provide mental health support, such as CALM and Hub of Hope, and to organisations such as Mental Health and Money Advice, a United Kingdom-wide service that combines support for both mental health and financial problems.

Immunisations for babies at eight weeks are routinely delivered by general practitioner (GP) practices, who take responsibility for improving immunisation access by communicating key information on vaccinations through the practice website and their leaflets, in addition to NHS England updating their central website. NHS England also proactively invite families and carers to immunisation appointments and encourage healthcare providers to take every opportunity to promote the importance of infant immunisation through midwife contact, health visitors and the routine six-week post-birth check.

The Department encourages those who have missed their immunisation offer to catch-up via their GP and for anyone unsure of their vaccination status or eligibility, to contact their GP for advice.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) consultation on reclassifying a locally acting hormone replacement therapy (HRT), Gina 10 microgram vaginal tablets, from a prescription-only to pharmacy medicine has closed. The MHRA is currently reviewing the responses received and the outcome of the consultation will be available in due course. The consultation did not apply to other HRT products.

We have published the analytical report of the call for evidence survey and Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England on 23rd December 2021.

We have published the analytical report of the call for evidence survey and Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England on 23rd December 2021.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities was established on 1 October to tackle the causes of ill-health and reduce disparities, including those which affect women.

We will also publish a Women’s Health Strategy for England to improve the health and wellbeing of women and reduced the health disparities experienced by women.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including osteoporosis. However, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The Department has processed the vast majority of the additional payments and we anticipate that the bereaved partner payments, including back-dating where applicable, will be made by the end of the calendar year.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for commissioning primary dental care services to meet local need, including for new patients. The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to increase the levels of National Health Service dental care delivered. Dental practices have been asked to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focussing first on urgent care and care for vulnerable groups, including children followed by overdue appointments. Patients should be prioritised according to clinical need, regardless of whether they are known to the practice or are new patients. This is a condition of ongoing financial support.

The level of local health service provision for patients, including fertility treatment, is decided by local commissioning groups. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines set out how fertility treatment should be offered to patients and are based on best clinical practice. The Department meets regularly with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to review fertility treatment activity data. Recent assessments show that fertility treatment in England is approaching pre-COVID-19 levels.