Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of tendering the management of the medical performers list to Capita on the administrative efficiency of that list.

No formal assessment has been made of the effects of tendering. However, the service that has been provided over recent months does not meet the specification set by NHS England when we contracted with Capita, and urgent recovery actions are in place. NHS England recognises the vital importance of making the process of joining the performers list as simple and quick as possible for applicants, while remaining robust to ensure the safety of patients. Once Capita has addressed the current issues with the service, there are plans to introduce a new system which will significantly improve the administrative efficiency and consistency of the process and provide better information back to applicants about the progress of their application.