Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to encourage NHS Trusts to increase (a) the number of bills issued and (b) collections made for treatment charges for overseas visitors.

The Department sets policy, guidance, and legislation through the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 and works with NHS England to support the consistent application of these rules through oversight, guidance, and engagement with providers. The Department and NHS England actively engage with the National Health Service to support the improvement of cost recovery through routine engagement with trusts around cost recovery, monitoring of data and activity, sharing of best practice and guidance, targeted follow-ups with trusts where issues are identified, and close working with the Home Office to improve data quality and reporting consistency.

The Department has no plans at present to introduce league tables and audits to show the NHS trusts that have the lowest collection rates for charges to overseas visitors.