Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Q204 of the oral evidence given by him to the Health and Social Care Committee on 8 April 2025, HC 563, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of an increase in the geographical area of integrated care boards on the adequacy of rural NHS services' (a) funding and b) staffing levels.

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

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

Ministers and the Department will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to ensure ICBs continue to fulfil their future functions effectively within the running costs cap and unlock the benefit of working at scale to deliver better care for their population, including for those in rural areas.