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 impact of proposed changes to funding for non-clinical NHS departments on a) patient wait times, b) hospital running costs and c) hospital administration.

National Health Service providers are funded under the NHS payment scheme. When providing funding for services, the clinical and non-clinical elements of service provision are not distinguished, as a single overall price is provided.

We have, however, been clear about the need for providers to reverse the growth in corporate costs, which since 2018/19 have risen by 40%, or £1.85 billion, excluding pay and pensions. Providers have been asked to reduce that growth in corporate costs by half.

Those savings can then be reinvested in patient care, including to improve patient wait times.