Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is adequate funding for NHS services in (a) Jarrow constituency and (b) South Tyneside.

The allocation of funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a formula. The formula is based on independent academic research and includes the factors statistically associated with higher or lower need per head for NHS services.

The funding formula is based on the expected size of the population of each CCG and adjustments, or weights, per head for relative need for health care services and unavoidable costs between CCGs.

The CCG then decides how this funding is deployed across the geography and population for which it is responsible to ensure that the needs of the local population are met.

NHS England meets regularly with each CCG to review its financial position as the year progresses.