Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to increase capacity for urgent cancer surgery following the end of the contract with the independent health sector.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have agreed national arrangements to continue partnership working with independent sector healthcare providers. These new arrangements will replace those that originally came into effect on 23 March 2020 and which came to an end on 31 December 2020.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have agreed terms with 14 of those independent sector providers for a new fixed term contract covering the period 1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021 inclusive. The new contract will ensure that referrals and transfers of National Health Service patients to these independent sector hospital sites will continue, as a minimum at the current volumes, as the NHS transitions to local commissioning of additional elective activity under the new Increasing Capacity Framework, launched on 26 November 2020.

These arrangements will help to meet the aims of the national Cancer Recovery Plan to ensure sufficient capacity is in place to meet demand.