Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the future of NHS procurement frameworks.

As one of the interventions in the Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial and a workstream in the Commercial Efficiencies Optimisation Programme, NHS England launched an Accredited Framework Host programme in late 2023.

The ambition is to drive efficiency by creating the best commercial routes to market for the National Health Service, aiming to create a healthy, competitive marketplace by de-duplicating framework agreements, to deliver high quality procurement outcomes.

NHS England successfully accredited 20 Procurement Framework Host organisations, which cover £16 billion of third-party goods and services the NHS spent in 2023/24, all of whom have subscribed to enhanced standards. These standards cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.

Further details and the list of accredited host organisations is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/