Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he made of trends in future deficit levels in NHS trusts in England; and if he will make a statement.

In the Mandate to NHS England for 2016-17, the Department has set out that we expect NHS England, working with NHS Improvement, to ensure that the National Health Service lives within its means and achieves the year on year improvements in efficiency and productivity needed to place the NHS on a secure and sustainable financial footing throughout the Parliament. We have put in place a £1.8 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund in order to help achieve this.