Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether decisions on the allocation of the £1bn for tackling the elective surgery backlog will be made (a) centrally by Government Ministers, (b) by Executives at NHS England, (c) healthcare commissioners at local Clinical Commissioning Groups or (d) healthcare managers and practitioners at individual NHS providers.

We are working up detailed plans for making best use of the £1 billion funding to tackle the elective backlog and would expect to communicate the implications for National Health Service providers through NHS operational planning guidance in the usual way.