Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his plans to devolve health and social care provision and expenditure to Greater Manchester, what safeguards will be put in place to protect the national standards for cystic fibrosis care created by the national commissioning of specialised services when that devolution of powers has taken place.

This is a historic partnership between local organisations in Greater Manchester, with general practitioners as clinical leaders working with elected leaders to improve services for people living in the area.

The National Health Service bodies involved, including NHS England and the relevant clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), will remain accountable for the exercise of their functions, including the commissioning of specialised services.

During 2015/16 funding arrangements will not change. However from April 2016, CCGs, local authorities and NHS England intend to pool even greater resources to allow integrated, local decision-making. There may be some exceptions to the services and funding streams which are in Scope but this detail is being worked through between the partners.

The fundamental national policies, inspection regimes, guidance and regulations will continue to apply to Greater Manchester but, in line with the Five Year Forward View published by NHS England, Greater Manchester will exercise greater freedom in how they are implemented so that local services better reflect the priorities of local patients and service users.