Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ask NHS England to make tackling healthcare acquired infections a priority in the upcoming long term plan.

The Government has announced a new five-year funding settlement for the National Health Service, which will see an increase of £20.5 billion in real terms by 2023-24 compared with today. NHS leaders are currently developing a long-term plan underpinned by this settlement. Although, no final decisions have been made over the share of funds to be allocated specifically to tackling healthcare acquired infections under the multi-year financial settlement, antimicrobial resistance and associated actions on infection prevention and control have been a part of the prevention workstream which is also a priority area for the Secretary of State.