Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) NHS workforce reductions and (b) reductions in administrative and support staff on the capacity of NHS organisations to deliver safe and effective patient care.

The Government takes patient safety extremely seriously. The upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. At a local level, individual NHS organisations should be making regular assessments of the operational staff required to run their organisation and make staffing decisions accordingly to deliver safe and effective care.