Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take in the event of the Clinical Commissioning Groups outsourcing parts of their commissioning role to get round the restrictions on administrative costs.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), as independent statutory bodies, can choose how best to carry out their commissioning functions from within their running cost budget.

Where CCGs choose to outsource their support and to buy from external providers, this funding will be charged against their fixed running cost allowance.

Service integrators and lead providers co-ordinate and provide care for patients; they are not commissioners, nor do they undertake commissioning activities or responsibilities.