Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of tasking officials in his Department with conducting well-led reviews.

NHS England and the Department do not require or routinely collect information from National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts (also known as NHS providers) on the amount spent on developmental reviews of leadership and governance.

In September 2017 NHS England published guidance to help NHS providers to get the most out of development reviews including approaches to their procurement. NHS England has regular and ongoing discussions with NHS providers on a range of matters, including the learning from and value of developmental reviews of leadership and governance.

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of tasking officials in the Department with conducting development reviews. NHS England guidance, published in June 2017, highlights the importance of independent input into reviews and that in-depth, regular, and externally facilitated developmental reviews of leadership and governance are good practice across all industries.