Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional funding has been allocated in the current financial year to expand secondary care capacity, including staffing and bed numbers.

The Spending Review 2025 has prioritised health, with an increase by £29 billion in real terms by 2028/29 compared to 2023/24, including investment in urgent and emergency care and electives services to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan includes the shift from hospital to community to bring care closer to home, launching a new neighbourhood health service with easier and more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services on people’s doorsteps, open 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Integrated care board (ICB) revenue allocations for 2025/26 include a total of circa £5.3 billion elective recovery funding to allow the National Health Service to continue to deliver the high levels of elective activity performance seen last year, and to deliver our Plan for Change commitments including care closer to the community. This figure includes funding for cancer services.

Over £6 billion in additional capital will be invested in diagnostic, elective, and urgent and emergency capacity in the NHS over five years, including £1.65 billion in 2025/26 to deliver new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners and beds to increase capacity for elective and emergency care.

Decisions on staffing and bed numbers are for individual NHS organisations to decide when developing their operational plans in response to the Medium Term Planning Framework 2026/27 to 2028/29.