Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost has been to the public purse of the extra staff sent to those 20 hospital trusts which are trialling the refusal of treatment to patients who cannot produce a utility bill and a passport.

Between May and October 2017, 19 trusts participated in pilots to trial the effectiveness of asking for two forms of identification from patients in improving the identification of chargeable patients. No treatment was denied to patients who did not provide two forms of identification. The Department commissioned Ipsos Mori to undertake a full independent evaluation of the pilots, the results of which will be delivered to the Department shortly and published in due course. The total cost of funding allocated to trusts to support the implementation of the pilots was £412,723.