Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) was ever formally designated for abolition or merger under the framework to reduce ICBs from 42 to 26; and on what date it was agreed to keep South Yorkshire ICB as a standalone entity; and who made that decision.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In response to NHS England’s announcement on 1 April 2025 reducing integrated care board (ICB) running costs, some smaller ICBs considered clustering arrangements and some proposed legal merger. The South Yorkshire ICB was not formally designated for abolition or merger under this process but did consider options including shared leadership.
NHS England took decisions on changes to ICB boundaries, after consulting ministers, during Summer 2025, and ministers announced the outcome of that process in a Written Ministerial Statement on 9 September 2025. The South Yorkshire ICB was not included in the announced mergers and remained a standalone ICB.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the business case approving the redundancy payment of the former chief executive of South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) in August 2025 was entirely contingent on the successful implementation of a shared leadership arrangement with another ICB.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has advised that restructuring considerations in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) included potential shared leadership, in the context of a wider national requirement to reduce the number of ICB Chief Executive posts.
NHS England has further advised that approval of the redundancy payment was not solely contingent on the successful implementation of shared leadership, and approval of the redundancy payment was given on the basis that it would avoid the need for further redundancies, either through redeployment or new leadership arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the redundancy of the previous chief executive post at the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) satisfies the legal and Treasury definition of a redundancy given that a substantive, full-time chief executive was appointed to the same ICB on 8 April 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There was a wider national requirement to reduce the number of integrated care board Chief Executive Officer roles. NHS England has advised that, in South Yorkshire, the case was treated as a contractual compulsory redundancy case, within that wider restructuring context, with approval being given on the basis that the post would be used for redeployment or other arrangements avoiding a further redundancy.
The subsequent appointment of a substantive Chief Executive does not in itself determine the status of the earlier post or the local redundancy decision.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the Department of Health and Social Care ensures compliance with Treasury guidance on public sector exit payments and value for money protocols if the department does not assess whether interim chief executive post cover at South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board performed the same statutory duties as a redundant role.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Contractual National Health Service redundancy payments are managed through local governance arrangements, in line with the relevant contractual terms and conditions, including Agenda for Change, where applicable, and with the employer’s internal approval, accountability, and value for money processes. In general, additional departmental or HM Treasury approval is associated with non-contractual or exceptional payments, such as special severance payments, rather than standard contractual redundancy payments.
NHS England has advised that, in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), this was treated as a contractual compulsory redundancy case within a wider restructuring context and was considered in the context of wider changes affecting ICB Chief Executive arrangements. NHS England has further advised that approval of the redundancy payment was given on the basis that it would avoid the need for further redundancies, either through redeployment or new leadership arrangements.
The Department does not centrally reassess individual local post structures, including whether interim cover performed the same statutory duties as an earlier role.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total monetary value of the exit package issued in October 2025 to the former chief executive of South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board; and whether any element of that package included an employer-funded early retirement pension costs.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on exit packages is reported by the relevant employing body through its annual reports and accounts in accordance with HM Treasury reporting requirements.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 16 June (HL696), why internal departmental governance and audit systems failed to detect that the National Data Integration Tenant Data Protection Impact Assessment inaccurately described Palantir's data access permissions for over two years, until the discrepancy was raised by external campaigns.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the National Health Service, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available on the NHS website in an online-only format.
The NHS FDP, including the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT), is subject to robust governance, audit and assurance arrangements, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA), contractual controls and ongoing monitoring.
Following engagement with the National Data Guardian, NHS England identified that aspects of the published DPIA did not accurately describe certain limited access arrangements.
The NDIT DPIA, published in August 2025, described access arrangements at a high level and used wording that was not sufficiently explicit about the involvement of authorised supplier personnel.
Internal governance and audit processes, while effective in overseeing how access was controlled, approved and monitored, did not identify this because the underlying access arrangements were already subject to established controls, approvals and audit. The issue therefore related to the clarity and completeness of published wording, rather than any change in access, a control weakness, or non‑compliance with those safeguards.
The underlying technical and contractual controls on supplier access have remained consistent. NHS England is the data controller for the NHS FDP at the national level, and suppliers act only as processors under NHS instruction. They do not control the data and are not permitted to access, use or share it for their own purposes. Access is tightly governed, role‑based and fully audited.
DPIAs and associated materials are kept under regular review and updated where appropriate. NHS England has established governance and oversight arrangements, including internal assurance and external scrutiny, to ensure data is handled lawfully, securely and transparently.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death Learning together, published on 11 June, what directions they plan to give to integrated care boards under the medium-term planning framework to ensure the equitable commissioning of hospital-based learning disability liaison nurses and multi-disciplinary community in-reach services across all acute hospital trusts.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death’s Learning Together, A review of the quality of care provided to adults with a learning disability when admitted to hospital acutely unwell report and we are committed to improving the health outcomes of people with a learning disability.
The Government’s approach, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, is to ensure a clear national framework for the National Health Service while empowering local systems to design and deliver services that best meet the needs of their populations. Within this approach, integrated care boards act as strategic commissioners to ensure care better meets patients’ needs at a local level. Decisions about the design of services are matters for independent NHS employing organisations, who manage service delivery at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care, based on population need. This includes investing in the future of their workforce and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development so that they can continue to provide safe and effective care.
We recognise the value of involving patients and family carers in decisions about the care of people with a learning disability. The NHS England website has information to support services, including acute trusts, with involving family carers of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
There are currently no plans to establish senior learning disability consultant roles based on the model in the Netherlands. NHS England published guidance in 2023, updated in 2025, to support frontline staff in acute hospitals caring for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Under the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026. The Information Standard is mandated across all publicly funded health and social care providers, commissioners, and IT suppliers. As a mandatory information standard, compliance is supported through contractual and regulatory mechanisms.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the findings of the report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death Learning together, published on 11 June, will impact NHS England’s enforcement of the updated reasonable adjustment digital flag information standard; and whether the compliance deadline of 30 September 2026 will be accompanied by financial or regulatory sanctions for non-compliant NHS trusts.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death’s Learning Together, A review of the quality of care provided to adults with a learning disability when admitted to hospital acutely unwell report and we are committed to improving the health outcomes of people with a learning disability.
The Government’s approach, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, is to ensure a clear national framework for the National Health Service while empowering local systems to design and deliver services that best meet the needs of their populations. Within this approach, integrated care boards act as strategic commissioners to ensure care better meets patients’ needs at a local level. Decisions about the design of services are matters for independent NHS employing organisations, who manage service delivery at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care, based on population need. This includes investing in the future of their workforce and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development so that they can continue to provide safe and effective care.
We recognise the value of involving patients and family carers in decisions about the care of people with a learning disability. The NHS England website has information to support services, including acute trusts, with involving family carers of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
There are currently no plans to establish senior learning disability consultant roles based on the model in the Netherlands. NHS England published guidance in 2023, updated in 2025, to support frontline staff in acute hospitals caring for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Under the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026. The Information Standard is mandated across all publicly funded health and social care providers, commissioners, and IT suppliers. As a mandatory information standard, compliance is supported through contractual and regulatory mechanisms.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death Learning together, published on 11 June, whether they have any plans to introduce statutory mechanisms to monitor whether acute trusts are consistently involving family carers and utilising dedicated communication toolkits, from the point of admission to discharge.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death’s Learning Together, A review of the quality of care provided to adults with a learning disability when admitted to hospital acutely unwell report and we are committed to improving the health outcomes of people with a learning disability.
The Government’s approach, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, is to ensure a clear national framework for the National Health Service while empowering local systems to design and deliver services that best meet the needs of their populations. Within this approach, integrated care boards act as strategic commissioners to ensure care better meets patients’ needs at a local level. Decisions about the design of services are matters for independent NHS employing organisations, who manage service delivery at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care, based on population need. This includes investing in the future of their workforce and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development so that they can continue to provide safe and effective care.
We recognise the value of involving patients and family carers in decisions about the care of people with a learning disability. The NHS England website has information to support services, including acute trusts, with involving family carers of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
There are currently no plans to establish senior learning disability consultant roles based on the model in the Netherlands. NHS England published guidance in 2023, updated in 2025, to support frontline staff in acute hospitals caring for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Under the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026. The Information Standard is mandated across all publicly funded health and social care providers, commissioners, and IT suppliers. As a mandatory information standard, compliance is supported through contractual and regulatory mechanisms.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death Learning together, published on 11 June, what plans they have, if any, to establish senior learning disability physician consultant roles based on the Netherlands model.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death’s Learning Together, A review of the quality of care provided to adults with a learning disability when admitted to hospital acutely unwell report and we are committed to improving the health outcomes of people with a learning disability.
The Government’s approach, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, is to ensure a clear national framework for the National Health Service while empowering local systems to design and deliver services that best meet the needs of their populations. Within this approach, integrated care boards act as strategic commissioners to ensure care better meets patients’ needs at a local level. Decisions about the design of services are matters for independent NHS employing organisations, who manage service delivery at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care, based on population need. This includes investing in the future of their workforce and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development so that they can continue to provide safe and effective care.
We recognise the value of involving patients and family carers in decisions about the care of people with a learning disability. The NHS England website has information to support services, including acute trusts, with involving family carers of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
There are currently no plans to establish senior learning disability consultant roles based on the model in the Netherlands. NHS England published guidance in 2023, updated in 2025, to support frontline staff in acute hospitals caring for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Under the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026. The Information Standard is mandated across all publicly funded health and social care providers, commissioners, and IT suppliers. As a mandatory information standard, compliance is supported through contractual and regulatory mechanisms.