Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who NHS England will consult as part of the review by the specialised commissioning task force; and whether (a) patients and (b) the public will have the opportunity to participate in the review.

NHS England has advised that the work of the specialised commissioning task force is not a wholesale review of specialised commissioning. The specialised commissioning task force was established in April 2014 in order to make some immediate improvements to the way in which NHS England commissions specialised services, and to put commissioning arrangements on a stronger footing for the longer-term. The task force comprises seven distinct work streams, which will focus on financial control in 2014-15, and planning for the 2015-16 commissioning round.

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 engagement via the Patient and Public Voice Assurance Group about a range of commissioning issues. This group acts as a forum for organisations and individuals representing patients of specialised services to contribute to the improvement of services and patient experience.