Neil Shastri-Hurst

The Department has met the costs of travel and accommodation for a small number of working group members. The total cost to date is £912.25, which is made up of £750.35 of travel expenses, and £162.00 for accommodation.

We do not envisage that the changes set out by the Prime Minister on 13 March 2025 will affect the implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan. We still intend to publish the plan in spring 2025.

The changes will set the National Health Service up to deliver on the three big shifts needed to make the service fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

We recognise the role that external healthcare organisations have across our healthcare system, and we will continue to work closely with these organisations throughout the transition.

Ministers and senior officials in Department will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. Work has begun immediately to start bringing teams in NHS England and the Department together, and over the next two years, NHS England and the Department will combine to form a new joint centre.

We are currently scoping the programme for this change, which will include an approach to the assets and resources of NHS England.

The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down. The expected millions of pounds savings made by this transformation will be reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

It will remain the policy of the Department and NHS England before, during, and after this transition that information relating to people’s identifiable health and care is shared appropriately, lawfully, and in line with their reasonable expectations.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. The whole health and care sector, including all relevant Arms Length Bodies, needs to work effectively for patients.

Ministers and senior officials in the Department will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to ensure that layers of bureaucracy are cut and more resources flow to the frontline. We will continue to work with NHS England to ensure there is continuity of funding for National Health Service trusts during this transition period.

The Department remains committed to funding health and care research and will continue to support research and development throughout the transition process and beyond.

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we will continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

Ministers and senior officials in the Department will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to ensure that layers of bureaucracy are cut and more resources flow to the frontline. We will continue to work with NHS England to ensure there is continuity of funding for National Health Service trusts during this transition period.

The Department remains committed to funding health and care research and will continue to support research and development throughout the transition process and beyond.

As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we will continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

No set date has been agreed for publication, as the wider work of the 10-Year Health Plan and the forthcoming Spending Review will influence the timing of the revised Long Term Workforce Plan later this year.

As well as engaging with patient groups, we have worked hard to engage the patients they represent directly. To engage with patients and the public, we launched Change NHS, the biggest ever conversation about the National Health Service since its creation, with over 190,000 contributions, and 1.6 million visits to our online portal so far. This is aiming to be broadly representative of England's population.

Additional community engagement has focussed on engagement with seldom heard groups. We’ve worked closely with charities, faith groups, health and care providers, local government, and others, to ensure we hear from demographics and communities that may experience barriers to being involved, and to whom the Government often fails to reach.

Further to this, we have also engaged and heard from over 1,600 stakeholder partners, over a quarter of whom advocate for different patient groups.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the structure and requirements of the team required to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.

Most members of working groups, including the chairs, were not compensated for their participation in the groups, and took on group membership as part of, or alongside, their usual role. In a small number of cases, where members of the groups brought their lived experience as a patient or carer to the group, they were compensated for their time in line with usual NHS England practice. Many of the working group meetings took place virtually. Some in-person working group meetings incurred minimal catering costs. Travel and accommodation costs were reimbursed in a small number of cases by exception, and with the prior agreement of the Department or NHS England.

Following an invitation to tender a competition process, we appointed Thinks Insight, Kaleidoscope Health and Care, and the Institute For Public Policy Research to support us to run this engagement exercise. The awarded value of the contract is up to £2,961,595.50, with an option to vary to £3,500,000 in the event that the scope of the contract evolves. This includes running the regional deliberative events with members of the public and health and care staff, further online and in-person engagement activities, the Change NHS online portal, and analysis of the insight received.

We recognise there may be some short-term upfront costs as we undertake the integration of NHS England and the Department, but these costs and more will be recouped in future years as a result of a smaller, leaner centre. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.

The urgent and emergency care improvement plan will set expectations for the National Health Service in England to deliver improvements in urgent and emergency care services and set the foundations for future areas of reform, in line with the 2025/26 NHS Operational Planning Guidance. It is anticipated that the plan will be published as part of the current NHS planning round.

The National Cancer Plan will be published in the second half of 2025, after the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan. To help inform the content of the National Cancer Plan, on 4 February 2025, the Department launched a Call for Evidence, inviting people from across the country to share their views on what they think should be included within the plan. The Call for Evidence will close on 29 April 2025.

We will provide updates on the development of the plan, including on publication dates, in due course. Those who wish to share their views can do so on the new online platform. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan

Officials have been working to develop the Down Syndrome Act 2022 statutory guidance, including engaging with sector partners and the relevant departments.

We expect to issue the draft guidance of the public consultation by the summer of 2025. The guidance will be published at the earliest opportunity following the consultation.

The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently published guidance that recommends the medicine vamorolone for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy in people 4 years old and over. The National Health Service is required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

The Department has not had any discussions with ITF Pharma UK about resources or guidance available to NHS trusts participating in the early access programme for givinostat. Departmental officials have had discussions with colleagues in NHS England about the guidance and resources that are available to NHS trusts. NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge medicines schemes such as early access programmes, including providing advice on potential financial, administrative, and clinical risks. The guidance aims to support the NHS to drive value from medicines and ensure consistent and equitable access to medicines across England. ICSs should follow the recommendations to determine whether to implement any free of charge scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/free-of-charge-foc-medicines-schemes-national-policy-recommendations-for-local-systems/

The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently published guidance that recommends the medicine vamorolone for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy in people 4 years old and over. The National Health Service is required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

The Department has not had any discussions with ITF Pharma UK about resources or guidance available to NHS trusts participating in the early access programme for givinostat. Departmental officials have had discussions with colleagues in NHS England about the guidance and resources that are available to NHS trusts. NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge medicines schemes such as early access programmes, including providing advice on potential financial, administrative, and clinical risks. The guidance aims to support the NHS to drive value from medicines and ensure consistent and equitable access to medicines across England. ICSs should follow the recommendations to determine whether to implement any free of charge scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/free-of-charge-foc-medicines-schemes-national-policy-recommendations-for-local-systems/

Currently, the Government is considering the way forward on a wide range of matters, including clinical negligence costs reform, and we will announce our position in due course.

Between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 1,635,136 more value-weighted activity appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.

This includes elective ordinary and day case admissions, outpatient first appointments, and outpatient follow-up appointments with a procedure. It does not include other outpatient follow-ups, or diagnostic tests, except for endoscopy tests which are included within elective admissions or outpatient procedures as appropriate.

Including diagnostic tests, between July 2024 and November 2024, the latest available data, there were 2,199,579 more appointments compared to the period July 2023 to November 2023.

Meetings with external organisations are routinely disclosed in the Department’s transparency publications. Two returns have been published since 5 July 2024, one in September, and one in December. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings#2024

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission, and we will deliver an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

The Department regularly monitors the number of appointments the National Health Service is delivering using internal management information. Official measurement of the additional appointments will be published at the earliest opportunity.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission, and we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

Appointments will be defined as those in scope of the Value Weighted Activity metric, which is used to measure elective activity as set out in NHS Operational Planning guidance, together with the key diagnostic times from diagnostic waiting times statistics. Value Weighted Activity includes elective ordinary admissions and day cases, outpatient first appointments, and outpatient follow-up appointments with a procedure. This excludes outpatient appointments without procedure, to ensure that the appointments we are counting are high value for patients. Elective admissions for endoscopies are also excluded to avoid the double counting of diagnostics.

Further information about the delivery of the additional appointments will be published at the earliest opportunity.

We have made the necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.

Primary care providers, including general practitioners (GPs), are valued independent contractors that provide nearly £20 billion worth of National Health Services. Every year we consult with each contracted sector about the services it provides, and the money providers are entitled to in return. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. We will shortly begin discussions on the annual GP Contract.

We have made the necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025. We will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.

Primary care providers, including general practitioners (GPs), are valued independent contractors that provide nearly £20 billion worth of National Health Services. Every year we consult with each contracted sector about the services it provides, and the money providers are entitled to in return. As in previous years, this issue will be dealt with as part of that process. We will shortly begin discussions on the annual GP Contract.