Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government will publish its guidance to local authorities on Neighbourhood Health Plans.

Neighbourhood health will move care out of hospitals and into communities, with more personalised, proactive, and integrated services starting from where and how people live their lives. This will involve building stronger links to wider local government services such as housing, family hubs, and programmes such as Pride in Place, as well as links with wider civil society including the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector.

The Planning Framework for the NHS in England, published on 8 September, reiterates the commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan, that place partners develop a local neighbourhood plan, which integrated care boards will bring together into a population health improvement plan. These local plans will be drawn up by local government, the National Health Service, and its partners at single or upper tier local authority level under the leadership of the Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs).

We will be publishing further guidance to support local areas to develop neighbourhood health plans in due course. This will set out how the NHS, local authorities, and partners should work together under the leadership of HWBs to develop and implement plans.