Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS boards have included sustainability in their assurance framework.

It is the legal duty for integrated care boards (ICBs) and their partner National Health Service foundation trusts under section 14Z44 of the NHS Act 2006 to consider sustainability when exercising their functions. ICBs and their partner NHS foundation trusts must consider section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008, concerning United Kingdom net zero emission targets, and section 5 of the Environment Act 2021, concerning environmental targets. ICBs and their NHS foundation trusts must also adapt to any current or predicted impact of climate change identified in the most recent report under section 56 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

NHS England does not collect data on how many ICBs have included sustainability in their assurance framework.