Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have provided to Sustainability and Transformation footprint teams on involving university providers in the development of Sustainability and Transformation Plans.

It is appreciated that we cannot achieve the transformation required without the active engagement of the organisations, clinicians and staff who actually deliver it, nor can we develop care integrated around the needs of patients and users without understanding what our communities want and without our partners in local government. Local areas are responsible for ensuring engagement with the most relevant organisations which may include university providers. From a workforce perspective, Health Education England are working across arm’s length bodies with Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) leads to ensure workforce and training requirements are considered through the STP process.