Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide additional funding to a) Leicester and b) Leicestershire to reduce NHS waiting lists.

National Health Service funding for local services, including in Leicester and Leicestershire, is allocated to integrated care boards using NHS England’s Fair Share model and the NHS resource allocation formula.

This formula is designed to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, taking into account factors such as demography, morbidity, levels of deprivation, and the unavoidable costs of providing services in different areas. It is based on independent academic research and overseen by the independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, which provides advice to my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Chief Executive of NHS England.

Through the 2025 Spending Review, announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in June 2025, the Government has prioritised health with a record investment in the health and social care system. The Government is providing £29 billion more day-to-day funding in real terms by 2028/29 than in 2023/24, alongside the largest ever health capital budget, with a £2.3 billion real-terms increase in capital spending over the Spending Review period.

This will support delivery of our commitment that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, including patients in Leicester and Leicestershire.