Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which non Foundation NHS Trusts' requests to set up their own Private Limited Company or Wholly Owned Subsidiary he approved since January 2013; and when he approved those requests.
Ministers do not have a role in approving Private Limited Company or Wholly Owned Subsidiary
The NHS Act 2004 gives foundation trusts the power to establish Wholly Owned Subsidiaries and Private Limited Companies.
Neither the Department nor its arm’s length bodies holds validated information on which NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England have created Private Limited Companies for their outpatient pharmacy services and outsourced their outpatient pharmacy services to another provider; and when each trust made that decision.