Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) NHS trusts and (b) NHS foundation trusts that will be in deficit at the end of the 2018-19 financial year; and whether he projects the NHS trust sector as a whole to be in deficit at the end of that year.

It is for National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts to agree their 2018-19 plans locally with commissioners. NHS England and NHS Improvement have been leading the annual planning process for 2018-19, and have worked with providers and commissioners to produce a balanced plan for 2018-19. NHS Improvement published their Quarter 1 assessment of the NHS providers' plans in the ‘quarterly performance of the NHS provider sector’ on 11 September 2018. This is available at the following link:

https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/quarterly-performance-nhs-provider-sector-quarter-1-201819/

The long-term plan being developed by NHS leaders, clinicians, and health experts is expected to work towards ensuring no NHS organisation is in financial deficit.