We know that people are waiting too long for community services. That is why, for the first time, we have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.

In 2025, we published Standardising Community Health Services which provides an overview of core community health services. Setting clear expectations of the core community health services, integrated care boards will support consistent delivery of community health services and effective commissioning, and will improve patient access to care.

NHS England works with local systems, including integrated care boards, to manage demand and mitigate the impact of waiting times on patients, particularly in areas of highest clinical risk. Community health services waiting time data is monitored nationally through NHS England's monthly Community Health Services Situation Report.

The Government recognises that, for children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties, timely access to high-quality support is essential.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to improve mental health services across the country, including for children and young people in the Lewes constituency. More widely, as prioritised in our Medium-Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist mental health support, tackle regional disparities, expand access and improve productivity across services.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning children and young people's mental health services for their local populations, including in the Lewes constituency, and for ensuring services meet local needs.

We are also improving community mental health support by accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to achieve full national coverage by 2029, alongside continued investment in Early Support Hubs to help more children and young people access support before they reach crisis point.

In addition, the Government is developing a new Mental Health Strategy for England, which will set out our plans to improve access to services and support better mental health outcomes.

We recognise that, nationally, demand for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays in accessing such services.

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 ADHD assessment services. The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October 2025, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for ADHD assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing existing and new guidance, as published.

The Thames Valley ICB and the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have undertaken work to improve ADHD services in Slough and East Berkshire. This includes redesigning referral and triage pathways, increasing assessment capacity through additional commissioned providers, introducing digital support and self-management tools, and improving the information and support available to families. A wider transformation programme is also underway across Thames Valley to improve the consistency and quality of assessment pathways, provide support before, during, and after assessment, and strengthen collaboration between health, education, local authorities, and voluntary organisations. The programme aims to reduce waiting times, improve patient experience, and ensure people can access support based on need, rather than diagnosis alone.

The Government announced on 4 December 2025 the launch of an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. The final report, due in the summer, will inform our new approach, so people receive the right support, at the right time and in the right place. The review’s interim report, published at the end of March, sets out the evidence reviewed so far on prevalence, describes the impact of rising demand for diagnosis and support, identifies where the evidence is uncertain, and outlines the key questions for the next phase.

Local authorities are responsible for designing and managing their own housing allocations policies to meet local need, including managing their own housing registers (waiting lists).

The government has launched a review into how effectively social housing providers use their properties, including exploring ways to reduce the time homes are left empty, encourage greater movement within the sector to address under-occupancy and overcrowding, and support people to move into more suitable properties.

Housing is a devolved matter but my Department regularly engages with the devolved administrations across a range of issues, including housing.

I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771) and 28 January 2026 (HCWS1283), and the Social and Affordable Homes Programme policy statement published on 7 November 2025, which can be found on gov.uk here.

We know that children and young people across the country are waiting too long to access National Health Service mental health services.

In the Government’s first 12 months, nearly 40,000 more children and young people received support compared to the previous 12 months. This is helped by delivering our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers this Parliament three years ahead of schedule. But more is needed. Transforming the system will take time, but we are committed to delivering a new approach to mental health.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including children and young people’s mental health services. We are accelerating the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. We are also expanding access to early intervention and community-based support, including through Early Support Hubs and Young Futures Hubs, so that children and young people can access help earlier and closer to home. Decisions about the design and delivery of local mental health services in Epping Forest are made by local commissioners and providers to meet the needs of their population. As prioritised in the NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist children and young people’s mental health services by addressing variation across the country and reducing inequalities in access. We will ensure that services for children and young people are as productive as possible in order to bring down the length of time children and families are left waiting.

We are also developing a new cross-Government mental health strategy for England, covering all ages, to be published later this year. It will be informed by the findings and recommendations from the Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health, ADHD And Autism, and will align with the modern service frameworks for children and young people and severe mental illness, and the new Mental Health Act.

The Department publishes data on Referral to Treatment waiting times. The majority of patients in this data set are considered as having received 'treatment'. A proportion of the removals from the waiting list which appear in this data set as unreported removals, a category which can occur for a variety of data quality and technical reasons, will have been removed for administrative reasons, for example, where a duplicate record was identified. The data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/

Data is not held on the exact median waiting time to diagnosis for suspected sarcoma from general practice referral. Data is published on the time from referral to diagnosis for suspected sarcoma, by time bands, at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/monthly-data-and-summaries/

The following table shows the number of suspected sarcoma diagnoses, or cancer being ruled out, sorted by time band, in May 2026 for England:

The Department does not hold the data on the shortest, median, and longest time for patients to receive the results of a suspected cancer biopsy, broken down by National Health Service trust.

There is no nationally published waiting-time data specifically for headache and migraine services. Patients referred for specialist migraine care are captured within broader neurology statistics. As of the end of May 2026, there are nearly 214,700 pathways on the waiting list for neurology services. 61.4% of neurology pathways are waiting within 18 weeks for first treatment.

Reducing waiting lists, including for neurology services, is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission. We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

The NHS RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit is supporting local NHS systems to improve headache and migraine services, including by providing practical guidance to improve pathways between primary and specialist care, and ensure patients receive the right intervention at the earliest opportunity.

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets a sustainable vision for elective care where by 2035, most outpatient care will happen outside of hospitals. Patients' access to specialists, including neurologists, will be improved by providing this specialist care in the community where possible and increasing digital access to specialists through the NHS App where it’s more convenient for patients.

There is no nationally published waiting-time data specifically for headache and migraine services. Patients referred for specialist migraine care are captured within broader neurology statistics. As of the end of May 2026, there are nearly 214,700 pathways on the waiting list for neurology services. 61.4% of neurology pathways are waiting within 18 weeks for first treatment.

Reducing waiting lists, including for neurology services, is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission. We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

The NHS RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit is supporting local NHS systems to improve headache and migraine services, including by providing practical guidance to improve pathways between primary and specialist care, and ensure patients receive the right intervention at the earliest opportunity.

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets a sustainable vision for elective care where by 2035, most outpatient care will happen outside of hospitals. Patients' access to specialists, including neurologists, will be improved by providing this specialist care in the community where possible and increasing digital access to specialists through the NHS App where it’s more convenient for patients.

There is no nationally published waiting-time data specifically for headache and migraine services. Patients referred for specialist migraine care are captured within broader neurology statistics. As of the end of May 2026, there are nearly 214,700 pathways on the waiting list for neurology services. 61.4% of neurology pathways are waiting within 18 weeks for first treatment.

Reducing waiting lists, including for neurology services, is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission. We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

The NHS RightCare Headache and Migraine Toolkit is supporting local NHS systems to improve headache and migraine services, including by providing practical guidance to improve pathways between primary and specialist care, and ensure patients receive the right intervention at the earliest opportunity.

Our 10-Year Health Plan sets a sustainable vision for elective care where by 2035, most outpatient care will happen outside of hospitals. Patients' access to specialists, including neurologists, will be improved by providing this specialist care in the community where possible and increasing digital access to specialists through the NHS App where it’s more convenient for patients.

We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment across all specialties, including cardiology. As a first step towards achieving this, we delivered on our interim target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026.

Since coming into office, the Government has improved cardiology waiting times nationally, with a waiting list reduction of almost 31,000 and an 8.1% improvement in the proportion of waits below 18 weeks. The Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board has 70.5% of its cardiology waiting list below 18 weeks, over 2% better than the national average.

As set out in the Elective Reform Plan we are investing in modernisation, reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care. These actions will improve waiting times for all patients, and specifically cardiology as a priority speciality.

We recognise that waiting lists for specialist gender services are too long. This has been caused by multiple factors, including unprecedented demand for gender services and a shortage of specialist clinical staff to meet the rapidly rising demand.

This is why NHS England is working to open new services for both children and young people and adults.

In line with the findings and recommendations of the Cass Review, NHS England has opened three new services in the North West, London, and the South West that offer a fundamentally different clinical model, embedding multi-disciplinary teams in specialist children’s hospitals. A fourth service is anticipated to open in the East of England shortly and NHS England is aiming to deliver service provision in each region of England by the end of 2026/27.

For adults, NHS England has also increased the number of gender dysphoria clinics in England from seven to 12, with the rollout of five new adult gender clinics since July 2020.

We are also working closely with NHS England to implement the findings from the Review of adult gender dysphoria clinics, chaired by Dr David Levy. This includes creating a single, national waiting list that will help effectively manage the wider waiting lists and end the disparity in wait times between the adult gender dysphoria clinics.

We recognise the negative impact long waiting times can have on mental health. This is why the Department has commissioned a pilot to support patients on the waiting list for the Adult Gender Service in the South West of England. This pilot launched on 7 April. We will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot in due course.

Separate to this, through implementation of the NHS Adult Gender Services Review that was chaired by Dr David Levy, NHS England is working to develop further waiting-well pilots to provide support to patients, including mental health access and self-management resources.

The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan: Fit for the Future, encourages the shift from hospital to community. This includes bringing diagnostic services closer to patients’ homes and improving access to timely testing in community settings. Integrated care boards (ICBs) will be integral to this shift as independent sector providers are commissioned by local ICBs, which deliver services to meet the specific health needs of their local population.

The plan also committed to a new commissioning framework for ICBs. The new strategic commissioning role is a continuous evidence-based process for ICBs to plan, purchase, monitor, and evaluate services over the longer term, and with this, improve population health, reduce health inequalities, and improve equitable access to consistently high-quality healthcare.

NHS England undertook an extensive market engagement in early 2026 to gain an understanding of the ways that the independent sector can support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic service capacity and productivity, including for mobile diagnostic services and those in community settings.

This insight is underpinning work to explore whether all relevant NHS procurement frameworks can be included in an easily accessible system. The work aims to facilitate a consistent and straightforward procurement approach, while being dynamic to enable new suppliers to join at any time.