MPs urge health chief to step back from private ADHD clinics overhaul

Four MPs from Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called on Samantha Jones, the permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care, to step away from plans to tighten regulation of private clinics that assess for ADHD and autism.

The four say Jones should recuse herself from decisions affecting those services because of her past links to ADHD360, according to reporting by The Guardian. ADHD360 is described as a major provider of neurodiversity services and one of the biggest providers of NHS-funded assessments in England.

A company linked to Jones earned £26m from the health service in England over the past six years for NHS-funded neurodiversity assessments. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to introduce a tougher regulatory regime for private ADHD and autism providers, meaning stricter rules on how they operate.

Jones was appointed as permanent secretary, the department's most senior civil servant, on 22 April 2025 and started in the post on 16 June after resigning other roles in early June 2025. On 16 May, Keys Group bought ADHD360 for £22.5m. At the time, Jones was chair, director and shareholder of Keys Group and an operating partner in G Square Capital, which owns Keys Group. She sold her Keys Group shares and resigned from Keys Group and G Square Capital in early June 2025.

Ben Coleman is a Labour MP and member of the Commons health and social care select committee. Jones began her career as a general and paediatric nurse and was appointed in 2021 as expert adviser to the prime minister for NHS transformation and social care. MPs had previously raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest connected to her earlier consulting work, as reported by the Financial Times.