Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Treasury on the use of wholly owned subsidiaries established by NHS Trusts for tax avoidance.

There have been no such discussions, however the Department does discuss issues relating to National Health Service finances on a regular basis. The Department wrote to the finance directors of all NHS providers in September 2017 reminding them of their responsibilities around tax and advising that tax avoidance arrangements should not be entered into under any circumstances. We would expect all NHS providers to follow this guidance when considering any new arrangements or different ways of working.