Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the forthcoming long-term plan for the NHS tackles the backlog of appointments for elective surgery which occurs after each winter period.

The National Health Service Long-Term Plan will set out how the NHS will develop over the coming years. This will be supported by an extra £20.5 billion a year in real terms by 2023/24. This provides an opportunity to look at how elective surgery and other services can be further improved over the next decade. The plan is currently in development and will be published later in the year.