Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing clinical commissioning groups to access their spending surplus in order to overcome overspending in future years.

NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations and, as a result of Government protecting the overall health budget for NHS England, NHS England announced in December 2013 that every CCG would receive a funding increase in 2014-15 and 2015-16 at least matching inflation (based on inflation projections at the time of the announcement).

The most under-funded areas, and those with the most fast-growing populations, will receive more. NHS England is spending £500 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to bring under-target CCGs up towards their target allocations.

The table below summarises the allocation per head for 2014-15 and the growth on prior year for each of the CCGs in East Berkshire.

The NHS England Board will meet on 17 December to decide how to allocate the £1.98 billion additional funding for frontline services announced in the Autumn Statement.

In line with HM Treasury requirements, The Department sets NHS England’s annual expenditure limits to allow for a controlled access to historic surplus across the whole health system. Access to historic surplus for a specific area has to be balanced against these overall requirements of the health system to deliver within the agreed financial envelope. The use of prior year surplus is only ever available on a non-recurrent basis and the use of such surpluses is controlled by the review of a business case for each application allowing prioritisation to deliver value for money for the taxpayer, and patient.