Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equal access to healthcare treatments in each English region.

The Department sets national priorities for the National Health Service in England through the 2025 mandate to NHS England, reflecting patients’ priorities to be met across all 42 integrated care boards (ICBs).

ICBs are responsible for commissioning most health and care services in England and the National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health Care Act 2022, places duties on ICBs to arrange healthcare services to meet the needs of their local population within available resources and reduce inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, healthcare services.

ICBs and NHS providers are accountable to NHS England on the delivery of the mandate and provision healthcare treatments across their populations, with the Department holding NHS England to account on this.