Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that primary care networks which operate across the boundaries of multiple local authorities are able to access and coordinate effectively with a) adult social care, b) public health, c) housing, d) community safety and e) voluntary sector services.

I refer the Hon Member to the current guidance on the neighbourhood health plans and the policy statement made collectively by the Cabinet Office on 31 July, links to both of which are provided below. The Cabinet Office policy statement made a clear commitment to aligning key public service boundaries to facilitate a place-based approach that better meets local priorities.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neighbourhood-health-framework/neighbourhood-health-framework

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rewiring-the-state-cabinet-statement

We will make further statements in due course on the implications of this approach for local delivery of health services.