Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the (a) cost of abolishing NHS England and (b) resulting redundancy package will be paid for from his Department’s settlement at the Spending Review 2025.

We have recently announced the Spending Review settlement, which provides an additional £29 billion of annual day-to-day spending in real terms by 2028/2029 compared to 2023/2024. Ahead of asking the National Health Service to commence a multi-year planning round, we are now carefully reviewing how the settlement is prioritised, including making provision for redundancy costs. At this stage, it is too early to say what the upfront costs of integration are, including any redundancy, while transition planning is ongoing.

While there will be some upfront costs, we expect the reform to eliminate duplication and drive a smaller centre, based in a single organisation, that will generate significant savings in the long run, which can be diverted to the front line.