Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to pages 239 and 240 of the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, published on 17 December 2024, how many cases of retrospective approval for expenditure outside delegated limits have been identified in the Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts for 2023–24; and whether the Treasury has granted retrospective approval for all these cases to date.

NHS England has requested retrospective approval of five cases from HM Treasury relating to National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts’ special severance payments in the 2023/24 financial year, all five of which are still pending approval. The retrospective approval process is as set out in HM Treasury’s guidance on managing public money, Guidance on Public Sector Exit Payments: Use of Special Severance Payments.