Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the answer of 10 April 2026, to Question 122499, on DHSC: Redundancy, whether the (a) 198 and (b) 98 departures are (i) above, (ii) below or (iii) in line with exit targets to deliver his Department’s planned (A) efficiency savings and (B) NHS England merger savings.

The Department has not set targets for the number of staff that leave the Department and NHS England through voluntary redundancy and voluntary exit schemes. The 198 departures in November and December 2025 and the 98 employees who had left or were confirmed leavers as of 23 March 2026 formed part of a phased workforce reduction programme.

We are working towards a substantial reduction in size, of up to around 50% in headcount combined across the Department, NHS England and integrated care boards by March 2028. This will be delivered primarily through voluntary exit schemes, natural turnover and tight recruitment controls, and therefore the precise scale of reduction in each organisation will depend on the uptake of these schemes, and the detailed design of the future Department of Health and Social Care.