Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the report by the King's Fund of May 2014, entitled The NHS Productivity Challenge and its estimate of a £30 billion finding gap for the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has increased National Health Service funding in real terms in each year of this parliament investing an additional £12.7 billion over the course of the Parliament. Budgets have not been set beyond 2015-16 but we recognise the challenge posed by the pressures of an aging population and the cost of new investment. The Government is investing in technology, transferring out of hospital care while never compromising on the quality of care. The NHS is on track to make up to £20 billion in efficiency savings to be reinvested in frontline care, over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15.