Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what costs have been incurred by the NHS Commissioning Board, Commissioning Support Units and Clinical Commissioning Groups in conducting the Lead Provider Framework procurement process to date, including those spent on external advisers and employed staff time.

The total costs incurred by the NHS Commissioning Board in conducting the Lead Provider Framework procurement process amount to £551,000, which includes staff costs, external legal costs and costs associated with the sizable evaluation panel.

The NHS Commissioning Board provides expert procurement and legal support to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in order to run their procurement through the Lead Provider Framework. Any costs incurred providing this support are covered by a management fee that the NHS Commissioning Board collects from any successful provider.

This helps minimise the costs incurred by CCGs when running competitions from the framework. As of December 2015, total Commissioning Support Units spend was £8.4 million with a further £1.4 million identified as future known commitments to year end.