Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the Neighbourhood Health Framework.

The Neighbourhood Health Framework is designed to provide clarity and consistency to integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and their partners, in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

The framework outlines the national minimum aims and objectives of neighbourhood health services. It is important that reforms are locally led, as ICBs and local authorities are best placed to design services that make sense for their local populations. Local systems can choose to go further than the minimum aims set out in the framework.

General practice, primary care, pharmacies, mental health providers, community health services, social care services, local authorities, and civil society partners are included, to deliver the ambition to shift care from hospital to communities, improve access, and provide proactive, holistic care for people with complex needs.

This is not an exhaustive list of all possible providers of neighbourhood health services but illustrates the types of providers with whom we are actively working.

No specific criteria were used to determine which providers were included in the framework. The framework does not prevent other providers from being part of neighbourhood health services.