Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS contracts were awarded to private companies in each year from 2012 to 2020; and what the value was of those contracts in each of those years.
Information on the proportion of NHS contracts that were awarded to private companies in each year from 2012 to 2020 is not held centrally.
Data on the amount of NHS spend by NHS Commissioners on private health providers and the value as a percentage of overall NHS spend from 2012 to 2019 (the most recent year for which such information is available is shown in the following table.
NHS Commissioners' spend on non NHS bodies by organisation type | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
Independent sector providers | 5,669 | 6,467 | 8,067 | 8,818 | 9,007 | 8,765 | 9,180 |
Total NHS revenue expenditure | 102,570 | 106,495 | 110,551 | 114,730 | 117,031 | 120,650 | 125,278 |
Spend on independent sector as a % of total NHS revenue spend | 5.5% | 6.1% | 7.3% | 7.7% | 7.7% | 7.3% | 7.3% |
1. The numbers above have been collected separately from audited accounts data and may include estimations