Question follow-through · 102904
Health Services: Standards
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made in meeting the 18-week referral-to-treatment standard.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- 5 Jan 2026
- Target answer date
- 7 Jan 2026
- Answer
- 12 Jan 2026 · 7 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
Recorded timeline
5 Jan 2026
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made in meeting the 18-week referral-to-treatment standard.
7 Jan 2026
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
12 Jan 2026
Answer published
The Government is 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 (RTT). NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance ...
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
NHS: Occupational Health
8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to establish Staff Treatment Hubs.
Health Professions: Working Hours
8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve workplace catering and break facilities for healthcare workers.
Health Professions: Regulation
8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to update healthcare professional regulation.
Health Services: Negligence
8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to address the rising legal costs of clinical negligence.
Personal Injury: Compensation
8 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to repealing S2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948.
Health: Disadvantaged
19 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle health disparities amongst people who lived in the most deprived areas of the UK.
NHS: Staff
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the 10-Year Workforce Plan will be published; what discussions he has had with external stakeholders since has taken place since the consultation closed on 7 November 2025.
Nurses: Employment
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to align the number of nursing graduates with the availability of entry-level jobs.
Nurses: Employment
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate the number of newly-qualified nurses who lose their professional status because they have been unable to secure employment within two years of graduation.
Nurses: Employment
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent universities from withdrawing nursing courses due to employment challenges faced by graduates.
Mental Health Services: Staff
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to safe staffing levels in mental health services on patient safety; whether the Department has revised its definition of safe staffin
NHS: Retirement
27 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of guidance provided to NHS staff considering partial retirement under the NHS partial retirement scheme in relation to the potential impact