Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of Health on 14 September 2016, Official Report, column 614, when he intends to undertake a full public consultation on Sustainability and Transformation Plans.

Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) are about local areas making decisions and ensuring National Health Service services are on a sustainable footing, and provide the best possible care for local people. It is for STPs to determine how best to engage and consult locally on their proposals and to make sure they comply with the relevant guidance around engagement and consultation, as set out in NHS England’s guide for local areas developing STPs.

Individual organisations that constitute each of the 44 STP areas remain accountable to their local communities including for these activities performed as part of the STP. When there are proposals to substantially change services there is a longstanding duty for STPs to consult with their local community and there are rules to ensure this.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have repeatedly reiterated this commitment to supporting STP areas to engage with their local communities, and have issued guidance outlining this. In September 2016 and following the debate on STPs, NHS England published “Engaging local people: A guide for local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans”, available at:

http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2017-0062/engag_local_people_stps.pdf

This document outlines the expectations on stakeholder involvement and in particular patient and public participation.

The Government is clear that involving people, communities and stakeholders in developing STP plans is the right thing to do to ensure that the plans and their implementation are robust and meet the needs of people and communities.