Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of NHS Improvement undertaking the due diligence process on new providers one month prior to the start of a new NHS contract; and if he will make a statement.

NHS Improvement is resourced to undertake a number of functions, which include working with National Health Service providers to ensure that due diligence processes are completed in a timely and effective manner. In the case of the Liverpool Community Health contract, the publication of the Care Quality Commission report into Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust led to a pause in the transaction.