Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the contracting out of healthcare provision to the private and charity sector does not lead to fragmentation or waste in NHS provision.

Our position on who should provide services is taken to ensure patients receive the best possible services and outcomes. These decisions are taken by the local clinical commissioning groups, which are clinically led and therefore best placed to act for the benefit of their patients.

Competition for quality, on the basis of fixed national tariffs, is one of a number of tools available to commissioners to drive greater integration in healthcare provision across the National Health Service.