Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ICBs have had to pause NHS services provided by independent healthcare providers during 2024-25.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2025, the National Health Service and the independent sector established a partnership agreement, the first of its kind for 25 years, setting out how we will work together to reduce the elective care waiting list.
NHS England manages the Department’s relationships with the integrated care boards (ICBs) and, where appropriate, local systems on the use of independent sector capacity to support delivery of NHS care.
Commissioning decisions are for ICBs to make, who have a duty to arrange health services for the patients they are responsible for in a way which promotes the NHS Constitution.
ICBs are expected to live within their allocations while continuing to use spare independent sector capacity to meet elective targets. Independent sector providers deliver services agreed in contracts with ICBs, progressing priorities set out in planning guidance, including an improvement in elective waiting time performance.
Data on how many ICBs have had to pause NHS services or cancel operations scheduled by independent healthcare providers during 2024/25 is not held centrally by the Department.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has with ICBs on ensuring delivery of patient care via independent healthcare providers throughout the financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2025, the National Health Service and the independent sector established a partnership agreement, the first of its kind for 25 years, setting out how we will work together to reduce the elective care waiting list.
NHS England manages the Department’s relationships with the integrated care boards (ICBs) and, where appropriate, local systems on the use of independent sector capacity to support delivery of NHS care.
Commissioning decisions are for ICBs to make, who have a duty to arrange health services for the patients they are responsible for in a way which promotes the NHS Constitution.
ICBs are expected to live within their allocations while continuing to use spare independent sector capacity to meet elective targets. Independent sector providers deliver services agreed in contracts with ICBs, progressing priorities set out in planning guidance, including an improvement in elective waiting time performance.
Data on how many ICBs have had to pause NHS services or cancel operations scheduled by independent healthcare providers during 2024/25 is not held centrally by the Department.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 8 December (HL12316), in the most recent period for which figures are available, (1) what proportion of, and (2) how many, invoices for contracts carried out for the NHS in England are not paid and must subsequently be resubmitted.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held centrally as NHS England do not collect supplier payment information on behalf of National Health Service trusts.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to PET-CT procurement in England on diagnostic access for patients from Northern Ireland who rely on specialist capacity elsewhere in the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is in the process of reprocuring some positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) services to replace current contracts that are due to expire at the end of March 2027. The geographies covered by the existing contracts will continue to be covered under the new arrangements, so no impact on diagnostic access is expected for patients from Northern Ireland who rely on specialist capacity elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The current arrangements for patients travelling to England for PET-CT and other treatments remains unchanged.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help avoid creating a single point of failure in PET-CT diagnostic services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s specialised commissioning function commissions positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) diagnostic services and is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient capacity across England to meet planned demand. To avoid creating a single point of failure in these services, NHS England has ensured that PET-CT services in England are delivered by a range of different organisations, including National Health Service trusts, the independent sector, and charities, often working in partnership. They help to provide resilience across the system.
NHS England is in the process of reprocuring some PET-CT services to replace current contracts that are due to expire at the end of March 2027. NHS England has recently concluded a round of market engagement on its proposals. NHS England has not yet finalised its proposals for the procurement, as the point of market engagement is to receive feedback and take this into account in the final design.
PET-CT scans use isotopes from a comprehensive network of United Kingdom based cyclotrons. The Government has made up to £520 million available through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund to support UK manufacture of medicine and medical technology products. This includes applications looking to establish, expand, or improve UK-based manufacture of medical radioisotopes for diagnostic or therapeutic applications.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of renegotiating current private finance debt to reduce future payouts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts are not held by the Department. Contracts are held between the local National Health Service trust and their respective private finance company. The contracts were let for a prescribed period of time, with the terms set at the outset and limited areas for renegotiation.
The Department’s Private Finance Team together with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority provides expert support and advice to NHS trusts with PFI contracts on a case-by-case basis, considering all options available whilst maintaining contractual compliance. This includes, but is not limited to, improving the performance of existing contracts, assessing the costs of existing contracts and where efficiencies and savings can be realised, and managing hand back of the assets at the end of the contract term. The Department’s Private Finance team also continues to assess opportunities to refinance debt where possible and where it would be value for money.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of current inpatient capacity and waiting times for secure mental health placements for individuals detained under the Mental Health Act in (a) England (b) Greater Manchester (c) Oldham.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nationally, NHS England collates information from annual contracts to understand the commissioned and available capacity across all adult forensic services, including high, medium, and low secure. A change notification process is managed nationally to capture in-year changes to this capacity and to monitor provider-reported activity via the Mental Health Services Dataset. NHS England does not hold information about waiting times for all individuals detained under the Mental Health Act who require admission to an adult forensic service except where the individual is transferred from prison to hospital.
NHS England and the Greater Manchester Adult Secure Provider Collaborative continue to work closely with National Health Service trusts and independent sector organisations to monitor capacity and demand for secure mental health beds for the population of Greater Manchester.
Whilst work is in progress to achieve more timely transfers into secure mental health facilities for prisoners, and work with providers around reducing overall secure length of stay, based on current demand there are sufficient adult secure beds across Greater Manchester and the wider North West region, including Oldham, to meet demand against the national adult secure specification.
Waiting list numbers are stable and consistent which indicates that commissioned provision is sufficient to meet need. As waiting lists are managed on a clinical priority basis and due to the low volumes of people requiring secure mental health services, it is difficult to provide a meaningful statistic about waiting times for admission.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has considered the potential merits of a national bulk buying energy contract for GP practices in England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) are run by independent contractors and are commissioned by integrated care boards to provide National Health Services primary medical services. Decisions around energy contracts are devolved to individual practices.
Practices’ arrangements for utilities. such as gas and electricity, vary depending on the basis or terms of each practice’s occupation of its premises. For example, some GPs have flexibility to choose energy contracts, whereas others lease premises inclusive of utilities, or pay a service charge including energy costs, where the landlord or property manager determines the energy suppliers.
Where GPs occupy NHS owned estate, GPs may benefit from any centralised energy purchasing initiatives the Government has put in place, such as Supply of Energy 2.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of invoices for contracts entered into by NHS England are settled within four weeks.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England monitors the payment of invoices made within 30 days, to confirm compliance with the Better Payment Practice Code, which sets a target of 95%. In the 2024/25 financial year, 97% of invoices were paid within 30 days, with a slight reduction to 94% in the 2025/26 financial year for the six-month period to 30 September 2025, the latest period for which figures are available.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will put in place (a) employment protections and (b) transition arrangements for long-serving NHS clinical staff being moved into civil service contracts as part of the NHS England restructure.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, or equivalent mechanisms such as the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice, are designed to safeguard employees’ rights during transfers between employers. Employment protections and transition arrangements for NHS England employees will be put in place based on these schemes.
The Department and NHS England are working closely together to identify differences in employment terms and conditions. Where changes are likely to affect staff transferring into the Department, these will be included in formal measures for consultation. This will be communicated once we are in a position to do so.