Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) performance and (b) level of accountability of NHS Property Services.

NHS Property Services is a company with all of the share capital owned by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. As a limited company regulated by the Companies Act, it is governed by a board consisting of a majority of non-executive directors, in line with best practise in corporate governance, and this includes a Shareholder Director appointed by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Where the company needs to seek formal shareholder consent under the Articles of Association and its scheme of delegation, appropriate departmental approvals are sought.

NHS Property Services publishes an annual statement of accounts, which sets out their performance against corporate key performance indicators agreed with the Department. The latest published set of accounts, setting out performance for the 2023/24 financial year, is available at the following link:

https://www.property.nhs.uk/news-insights/news/annual-report-202324/

The 2024/25 accounts will be published in due course, which will confirm that the company has achieved 100% of its corporate key performance indicators for that year.

In common with other wholly owned subsidiary companies and Arms Lenth Bodies, the Department holds quarterly accountability and performance reviews with the Chair and Chief Executive of NHS Property Services. As is required for all organisations that are arms-length from Government departments, regular periodic reviews are undertaken to ensure the form, function, and accountability arrangements remain appropriate.