Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are available to remove an underperforming commissioned service provider before the expiry of a contract.

The NHS Standard Contract allows a commissioner to terminate a contract either by issuing notice in accordance with the contract notice period, or in a number of other circumstances which include where a provider:

• is in persistent or repetitive breach of the contracted quality requirements;

• is in material breach of any regulatory compliance standards, or has been issued a warning notice, or termination is otherwise required by any regulatory or supervisory body; or

• is in persistent material breach of any of its obligations under this contract so as to have a material and adverse effect on the performance of the services, and the provider fails to remedy that breach within a specific time period.

In addition, NHS England currently has a range of statutory functions related to the oversight and regulation of providers which include operating the National Health Service provider licence for foundation trusts, NHS trusts, and certain independent providers. NHS England may enforce the NHS Provider Licence through a range of actions, which vary depending on the severity of the breach, and as a last resort can remove the provider’s licence, preventing them from providing NHS services.