The Health Research Authority (HRA) has welcomed Professor Cathie Sudlow's November 2024 review of the UK health data landscape, which was drafted with its support. The review sets out five key recommendations, namely making England's health data a critical national infrastructure, establishing a national health data service, fostering co-ordinated public and professional engagement, creating a UK-wide system for proportionate data governance, and developing standards for secure data environments. The HRA remains committed to reducing complexities in data systems, standardising processes, and ensuring trustworthy data use to enhance health outcomes and drive innovation.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting has announced plans to reform the National Health Service (NHS) operating model, including the abolition of NHS England with 50% staff reduction. The reforms, supported by £29bn additional annual funding by 2028/2029, will restore powers to Foundation Trusts, reduce centralized control and implement performance-based management. The changes form part of a ten Year Plan for Health, with £10bn allocated for NHS digitalisation and a total budget of £205bn next year. The new model aims to devolve power to frontline services while maintaining regional oversight through seven NHS regions.

Pricing and reimbursement decisions for new healthcare technologies and treatments begin with a health technology assessment (HTA). The EU’s Health Technology Assessment Regulation (EU) 2021/2282—often called the HTA Regulation (HTAR)—represents a major shift in how medicines and certain medical devices are evaluated for clinical benefit at the EU level. Adopted in December 2021 after protracted negotiations, the HTAR creates a permanent framework for joint clinical assessments (JCAs) of new health technologies, replacing the previous system of voluntary, project-based co-operation. It aims to streamline evidence generation, avoid duplicate national HTA efforts, and ultimately support faster, more evidence-based access to innovative medicines and devices across Europe. Ultimately, the HTAR establishes a harmonised framework for assessing the clinical effectiveness and safety of new medicines and certain high-risk medical devices across the EU. HTAR entered into force on 11 January 2022 and began its application from 12 January 2025 for oncology medicines, advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and certain medical devices. Throughout 2024–25, the European Commission adopted six Implementing Regulations, while the Member State Coordination Group on

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. Who is the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)? The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is the statutory regulatory body for the health professions set out below as created through the Health professions order 2001. The principal functions of the HCPC is to establish and maintain standards of education, training, conduct and performance for members of the relevant professions. This Practice Note provides a guide to the HCPC fitness to practise proceedings (FtP), investigations and applications to be restored to the Register. It should be read in conjunction with Practice Notes: Common principles in fitness to practice proceedings and Criminal proceedings and convictions in healthcare regulatory proceedings. The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (‘HCPTS’) is the fitness to practise adjudication service of the HCPC. The HCPC regulates the following professions: • arts therapists • biomedical scientists • chiropodists/podiatrists • clinical scientists • dietitians • hearing aid dispensers • occupational therapists • operating department practitioners • orthoptists • paramedics • physiotherapists • practitioner

This Practice Note explains the prosecutions policy of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in England, Wales and Scotland. In England and Wales, the HSE has the power to prosecute breaches of health and safety legislation and as such, decides whether to prosecute and brings prosecutions in the criminal courts. Although the same prosecution policy applies in Scotland, the decision to prosecute is taken by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the HSE makes recommendations to COPFS in line with the enforcement policy explained in this Practice Note. For information on the enforcement of health and safety breaches in Scotland, see Practice Notes: Health and safety investigations in Scotland and Prosecution process for health and safety cases in Scotland. To access further information on the duties imposed under health and safety laws, how those duties are enforced, how breaches are prosecuted and the sentences which may be imposed on conviction, see the Health and safety collection. The HSE publishes its enforcement policy statement (EPS) and its enforcement management model

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Amendment) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts and developed with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Rights of Women, was withdrawn by her on 19 June 2025, a day before the Bill’s scheduled second reading in the House of Commons, and will progress no further.

The Health and Social Care Committee has announced that its Independent Expert Panel (IEP) will investigate challenges in the transition from children’s services to adult health and social care services. The IEP, chaired by Professor Dame Jane Dacre, will focus on issues such as: (1) inconsistent forward planning to ensure care continuity; (2) gaps in provision where children’s services end at age 16 while adult services may not commence until age 18 and (3) communication challenges with young people and their families about care pathways. The IEP may also consider how National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines are applied and whether stakeholders feel they should be reviewed, how families are involved in service design and the extent to which services and commissioners are held accountable.

The Health and Social Care Committee has published a report containing several key recommendations for the government. The report calls for ensuring ongoing funding for six pilot 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centres beyond April 2026, and for raising mental health spending as a proportion of the NHS budget. It also recommends extending the Mental Health Investment Standard beyond the 2025–26 period, reinstating dedicated funding for service development, and making the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework a statutory duty to address discrimination in mental health services. These measures are designed to strengthen mental health services and enhance equality and access for patients and carers.

The Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) has launched an inquiry titled ‘Delivering the Neighbourhood Health Service: Estates’ to investigate requirements for transforming NHS estate to support the government's neighbourhood health service vision. The inquiry, launched on 12 December 2025, follows announced funding for 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres as part of the government's 10-Year Health Plan. The inquiry will examine the scale of estate disrepair, refurbishment demand, availability of public buildings for service relocation, capital investment requirements and workforce consultation processes for implementing the neighbourhood health service transformation. The HSCC seeks written evidence submissions by 13 February 2026 addressing terms of reference including NHS estate condition and utilisation, investment prioritisation criteria, lessons from previous Public-Private Partnership models, opportunities for non-NHS settings, and community involvement in estate planning.

The Health and Social Care Committee has launched an inquiry into the cost of inaction on adult social care reform, to individuals, the NHS, local authorities and to the wider economy. The Committee has highlighted that an estimated 161,000 hours of homecare could not be delivered between January and March 2024 due to lack of staff and that social care provision has been a challenge for multiple governments, which, despite many reviews, has not been reformed. The Committee’s inquiry will therefore focus not only on the financial cost but will also address the personal cost and the loss of potential benefits. The call for evidence for the inquiry closes on 11 December 2024.

The Health and Social Care Committee has published an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) report evaluating England's palliative and end of life care services, published on 28 November 2025 following an evaluation that began in March 2025. The report identifies systemic issues across five areas: commissioning complexities affecting service quality due to lack of nationwide frameworks for Integrated Care Boards, delivery challenges including fragmented systems and services under strain, obstacles to community-based care shifts due to funding approaches and social care inadequacies, workforce shortages in both specialist and generalist roles with insufficient education provision, and systemic inequalities affecting service quality and access for marginalised communities. The government announced on 24 November 2025 its intention to develop a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, scheduled for publication in Spring 2026. The Committee plans to hold an evidence session in the New Year with Minister for Social Care Stephen Kinnock to discuss the report's findings.

The Health and Social Care Committee has published its NHS litigation reform report. The report looks at clinical negligence and how it fails, the costs of an administrative compensation system, how inadequate investigations affect patients and access to justice. The report puts forward recommendations to the issues highlighted in the report, including the recommendation to remove the need to prove clinical negligence and instead to establish an administrative body to decide whether the harm could have been avoided.