NHS England: Charities

(asked on 4th July 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the (a) operation and (b) funding of charities working in NHS hospital settings.


Answered by
Karin Smyth Portrait
Karin Smyth
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 15th July 2025

Work is progressing at pace to develop the design and operating model for the new integrated organisation, and to plan for the smooth transfer of people, functions, and responsibilities.

Grants and contracts still held by NHS England at the point of transition will also legally transfer, or novate, to the Department. The ongoing need for these third-party arrangements will be assessed against policy objectives and funding availability, in line with our standard processes. Whilst this transformation takes place, we will ensure that we continue to comprehensively evaluate impacts, and will work collaboratively to put plans in place to prevent disruption to live funding streams.

The Department publishes figures for NHS England’s annual expenditure on the purchase of healthcare from the voluntary and not for profit sectors in its Annual report and Accounts, and the figure for 2023/24 was £1.84 billion. Further information is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6761518bd20fc50099e18fab/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-2024-print-ready.pdf

For NHS England to identify just the registered and UK-registered charitable organisations it has grants and contracts with would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.

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