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.

answeredDepartment of Health and Social Care

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

  1. 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.

  2. 7 Jan 2026

    Target answer date

    Date supplied by the official written-questions record.

  3. 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 ...

Open official record

Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.

Later records

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