Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the annual costs to NHS Trusts from payments for public dividend capital in the latest period for which figures are available.

NHS Trust finances can be found in the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19.

The equivalent figure for 2019-20 will be published as part of the next Departmental Annual Report later this year.

The dividend charge (and interest on loans from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)) paid by Trusts is funded by the government via the NHS budget agreed annually through the NHS England Mandate. Therefore, it is not an additional cost to the NHS rather it reflects a circular flow of income within the DHSC group which encourages efficient financial management of surplus assets.