Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what analysis of financial risk to the (a) Greater Manchester councils, (b) Greater Manchester Hospital trusts and (c) Greater Manchester clinical commissioning groups his Department has made during Manchester NHS devolution negotiations.

In formulating their proposals for more integrated local decision-making, the clinical commissioning groups and local authorities in Greater Manchester, together with NHS England, are seeking amongst other benefits to secure more efficient and economic use of the financial resources available for commissioning health and care services for their local population.

The relevant statutory organisations will be responsible for ensuring that any joint or delegated commissioning arrangements enable them to remain accountable for fulfilling their duties in relation to managing financial resources. The Government has no plans to alter the existing responsibilities of the relevant statutory bodies in this respect.