Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of bed occupancy levels in hospitals across England.

Occupancy levels for general and acute hospital beds have been persistently high over 2022/23, with around 95% of beds filled on average. The delivery plan to recover urgent and emergency care services, published in January 2023, recognises this pressure and commits to increasing the permanent bed base by 5,000 beds. The plan is backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding to support capacity.