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 merits of (a) social enterprises and (b) cooperatives providing (i) NHS and (ii) social care services.

Integrated care boards have a duty to provide health services to meet the needs of their population and already work closely with the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, which includes the commissioning and delivery of services and, in some cases, by appointing representatives from the VCSE sector to their boards.

Charities, co-operatives, social enterprises and mutuals have always been part of the National Health Service and social care. Today, social enterprises provide services for approximately two thirds of the United Kingdom population, delivering more than £2.5 billion of NHS care each year. This includes services such as community care, primary and urgent care, out-of-hours services, mental health support, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres, end of life care, physiotherapy, audiology.

Social enterprises are often able to take a more agile approach and will continue to be critical to the success of the NHS and in delivery of the 10 Year Health Plan and supporting the three shifts.