Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the Staffordshire Distressed Health Economy report by KPMG into the long-term affordability of the Staffordshire local health economy.

In 2014, NHS England, Monitor and the Trust Development Authority (TDA) commissioned research from four consultancies including KPMG to support 11 challenged local health economies, including Staffordshire, with the development and strengthening of their strategic plans. An overarching summary, Making Local Health Economies Work Better For Patients, was published by NHS England, Monitor and TDA in December 2014.

We are advised that consultancy firms (including the case of KPMG in Staffordshire), were not commissioned to produce a report as described in the question, but to support the local health economies (LHEs) with the development and strengthening of their strategic plans.

Work based on this support is ongoing, and a number of steps have to be taken in each of the LHEs. These include the consideration of strategic plans, consultations on possible reforms and the implementation of recommendations flowing from this. To release information ahead of these steps could prejudice the outcome.