Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral contribution of 7 January 2019, Official Report, column 84, on NHS Long Term Plan, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich with further details of the effect of changes to the market forces factor on funding for NHS Trusts in London to be allocated as part of the Plan.

NHS England is responsible for decisions on the weighted capitation formula used to allocate resources between clinical commissioning group (CCGs). NHS England take advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, a group of academics and other experts. This process is independent of Government.

The CCG allocation formula takes account of unavoidable cost differences between areas by applying the Market Forces Factor (MFF) to all services except for prescribing.

The MFF has not been updated in nearly ten years so it was right that this has been reviewed as part of the changes made in the Long Term Plan. NHS England and Improvement are responsible for updating the methodology and underlying data used to calculate the MFF.

The proposed changes would result in changes in income and allocations for some providers and commissioners. Changes would be implemented over five years to phase the impact on providers.

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will write to the hon. Member shortly.