Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department allocates to hospitals for providing food for patients with special dietary requirements.

Providers are not funded directly by the Department. The majority of the Department’s funding is allocated to NHS England, primarily for the commissioning of healthcare services from a range of primary and secondary care providers. National Health Service providers (NHS trusts and foundation trusts) fund their spending via income received from NHS commissioners in return for the provision of healthcare services to their local population. It is for commissioners to ensure that providers’ services meet the standards, including for providing food for patients with special dietary requirements, set out by the Care Quality Commission.