Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has issued guidance to integrated care boards on protecting frontline public health services.

NHS England has issued guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) on their public health functions, for instance the guidance Delivering a quality public health function in integrated care boards, which is available at the following link:

Delivering-a-quality-public-health-function-in-integrated-care-boards-October-2022.pdf.

More recently, NHS England issued a Model Integrated Care Board Blueprint in May 2025, suggesting the functions needed for ICBs to fulfil their roles as strategic commissioners. This included ICBs providing system leadership for population health.