Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require Clinical Commissioning Groups to submit data to NHS England on continence care services.

NHS England is taking several approaches to ensure clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are following the Excellence in Continence Care Framework, including;

- arranging for CCGs to have access to teams of expert clinicians, commissioners from areas that have adopted the guidelines and people with experience to review their existing service against the best practice outlined in the guideline and make appropriate improvements;

- exploring the potential for a mandatory data set to provide transparency about the continence service CCGs are commissioning, via the CCG assurance process which enables NHS England to check how CCGs are meeting the health needs of their population;

- encouraging CCGs to develop integrated commissioning arrangements with local authorities to ensure improved coordination, experience and use of resources; and

- ongoing communication and education campaigns to raise awareness about the Framework.

An updated version of the NHS England Excellence in Continence Care guidance is being developed and is due to be published in the near future. There is no confirmed date for publication at the present time.

NHS England are exploring the mandatory data set and have a long term programme to increase the transparency of information available about the National Health Service.