To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Hospital Beds
Friday 17th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Owen (Independent Social Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average bed occupancy in NHS hospitals in England per year for the last 30 years for which figures are available.

Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)

Data on the average bed occupancy in National Health Service hospitals in England in each year is held from 2010/11 onwards and is shown in the following table.

Year Total bed occupancy General and acute bed occupancy

2010/11 85.4% 87.1%

2011/12 85.3% 86.9%

2012/13 86.2% 88.0%

2013/14 86.3% 88.0%

2014/15 87.2% 89.0%

2015/16 87.2% 88.9%

2016/17 88.3% 90.3%

2017/18 88.2% 90.3%

2018/19 88.0% 90.1%

2019/20 88.0% 90.2%

2020/21 76.0% 76.6%

2021/22 84.8% 86.5%

Source: NHS England

Note: Data for 2021/ 22 includes figures from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021.


Written Question
NHS: Private Sector
Monday 6th February 2017

Asked by: Lord Owen (Independent Social Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in respect of the Department of Health’s figure of £8,722,000 for the amount spent in purchasing services from Independent Sector Providers in 2015–16, what are the (1) contracts, (2) providers and (3) service categories concerned.

Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy

Information pertaining to contracts and service categories is not held centrally.

National Health Service commissioners purchase services from a range of independent sector providers. NHS England records independent sector providers through coding identifiers; a sample of independent sector providers sourced from NHS England’s coding identifiers is attached, due to the large amount of data. Some providers do not have separate coding identifiers, therefore there are providers commissioned by NHS England which do not appear in the attached list.


Written Question
NHS: Private Sector
Wednesday 1st February 2017

Asked by: Lord Owen (Independent Social Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the figure of £8,722,000 stated by the Department of Health in its Annual Report and Accounts 2015–16 (HC322) as the amount spent in purchasing services from Independent Sector Providers includes amounts (1) spent by NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts on such providers, and (2) paid under Private Finance Initiative and Private Finance 2 projects; and, if so, whether they will publish the respective amounts.

Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy

The £8.722 million figure in Departmental accounts is the total value of NHS England commissioners’ contracts with private sector providers in 2015-16. This includes all types of secondary care, but not primary or social care. This does not include services contracted between individual trusts or foundation trusts and independent sector providers or any private finance arrangements.