Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Board mergers are planned for Dorset.

NHS England has asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and reduce duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts on 1 April 2025 where ICBs were tasked to develop plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/

Dorset ICB is discussing proposals to form a wider ICB “cluster” with neighbouring colleagues at NHS Somerset and NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire. This is very much a proposal, which will need to be worked through in more detail over the coming months.