Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Integrated Care Boards can continue to provide consistent care and support to service users while restructuring processes are ongoing.

As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, integrated care boards (ICBs) will become strategic commissioners with responsibility for using multi-year budgets to enhance local population health while achieving efficiencies. This will help to support the delivery of the three shifts, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention, that are needed to build a health service fit for the future.

ICBs must continue to deliver their statutory responsibilities and will work with NHS England to ensure this is done effectively within the running costs allowance with savings reinvested in frontline services to deliver better care for patients.