Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what form the engagement announced by NHS England on 9 May 2014 at the launch of its specialised commissioning taskforce will take.

NHS England has advised that the work of the specialised commissioning task force is not a wholesale review of specialised commissioning. It is best described as work to support financial control in 2014-15 and to plan for 2015-16.

There are aspects of the task force work which will require specific engagement appropriate and proportionate to the nature of the issue or service via the routes relevant to the topic. For example, there is engagement with clinical commissioning groups via the Commissioning Assembly on the future portfolio of specialised services. There is also engagement via the Patient and Public Voice Assurance Group about a range of commissioning issues.