Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was dispensed as part of Continuing Healthcare appeals in England for every year for which data is available since 2017.

We do not collect data on the length of time taken to process NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) appeals, nor on the expenditure related to CHC appeals. Appeals for CHC follow a three-stage process which ensures that the correct eligibility decision on CHC has been reached. The first stage is for an individual to ask for a local review at integrated care board (ICB) level, followed by a second stage review by an NHS England Independent Review Panel if requested. The final stage is a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. We have interpreted 'continuing healthcare appeals' as a request for a local review, or an Independent Review of a CHC eligibility decision. NHS England only collect and publish data on the annual number of ICB Local Resolution requests, and their outcomes, but not the length of time taken to process the appeals. NHS England collect Independent Review data for internal reporting and management purposes only. CHC spend data is also collected by NHS England, but not at the granular level requested.