Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) her Department or (b) NHS England has issued instructions to Integrated Care Boards to freeze any uncommitted expenditure.

NHS England asked integrated care systems in November 2023 to produce revised plans for the remainder of the financial year in order to address their financial challenges in 2023/24. The actions required were communicated in a letter, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/addressing-the-significant-financial-challenges-created-by-industrial-action-in-2023-24/