Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to direct Community Health Partnerships to return the dividend paid from Local Improvement Finance Trust contracts to local health economies.

Community Health Partnerships Ltd (CHP) invests equity and subordinated debt into National Health Service Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) companies, and the projects that they deliver, as envisaged in and required by the NHS LIFT contracts. When CHP invests in these NHS LIFT companies and projects, it receives a return on its investment via loan interest and dividends. The dividends have been used by the companies to support a range of initiatives to improve local services, for example, funding strategic estate advisors to support the development of local estate strategies that are required as part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans. All dividends received by CHP are re-invested exclusively into the NHS.