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 taking to establish clear mechanisms to handle disputes in the procurement of NHS services.

Mechanisms to handle such disputes are already in place. However, the Department and NHS England are establishing the Provider Selection Regime to replace existing mechanisms with a new procurement regime designed with stakeholders from the health and care system. Further information on the delivery of the Provider Selection Regime will be available in due course. The rules for the Provider Selection Regime will be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny through the affirmative process before coming into force.