Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of independent sector treatment centres.

The Department has not carried out a recent formal assessment of the effectiveness and value for money of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs). Since 1 April 2013 remaining ISTC contracts have been transferred to NHS England. There are six remaining contracts, two of which expire on 31 March 2015 and a further two expiring 31 October 2015. While NHS England continues to make monthly payments to ISTC providers under the remaining contracts and maintains on-going monthly reporting of value paid to providers, day to day management of the contracts is carried out by local commissioners who have responsibility for budgets and driving value from the contracts.

As three of the contracts have guaranteed minimum amounts paid to providers the payment to providers can be greater than the sum of the contract price, multiplied by activity, for each type of activity delivered. Reporting for the latest month of activity analysed, May 2014, shows a 99% value being achieved in that month with the shortfall arising from two contracts covering elective care activity in the South West and Manchester.