Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan and NHS Planning Guidance commitments for 2019-20, what progress his Department has made against the commitment to phase in an updated Market Forces Factor over the next five years, applying it to payment arrangements and allocations for 2019-20; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England and Improvement is responsible for updating the methodology and underlying data used to calculate the market forces factor (MFF).

The National Health Service published operational planning guidance for clinical commissioning groups and providers on 10 January 2019, which detailed the financial regime for 2019-20. In the National Tariff Payment System for 2019-20, which came into effect on 1 April, the NHS set out that providers will transition to their new MFF values over a five-year period in equal steps, with the MFF moving by a fifth of the distance between the existing and updated MFF values in each year. The NHS manages this as part of the overall position. The MFF values for 2019-20 represent the first year of this transition period.