Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2021 to Question 66266 on Health Services: Children, for what reason that Answer did not itemise the specific funding allocation from the NHS Covid Recovery Fund for those purposes.

The funding provided to the National Health Service as set out in the answer to Question 66266 is allocated to NHS providers based on their local plans and programmes, and not to services specific to a particular patient group.

The Government announced on 6 September 2021 plans to spend over £8 billion over the Spending Review period (2022/23 to 2024/25) for a major catch up programme that will help the NHS to provide elective care that was delayed by the pandemic.

The Government also announced on 6 September 2021 an additional £5.4 billion for the NHS to support the COVID-19 response over the next six months, bringing the total government support for health services in response to COVID-19 to over £34 billion this year (2021/22). This includes £2 billion to tackle the elective backlog, reducing waiting times for patients, including disabled children.