Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent progress has been made on the sale of NHS Professionals.

In a Written Ministerial Statement on 7 September, the Department announced that NHS Professionals will remain in wholly public ownership. After careful consideration, the Government has concluded that none of the offers received for NHS Professionals through the open, rigorous bidding process conducted reflected the company’s growing potential and improved performance.

Since the decision was taken to seek offers, NHS Professionals has significantly increased its performance such that audited profit before tax for the year ended 31 March 2017 was 44% higher than in the previous year. This improvement in financial performance continues to be built upon in the first quarter of the current year. The company’s improved financial and operational performance means it can now invest in improved IT infrastructure, expand its services to the National Health Service and transform into a world-class provider of flexible staff whilst remaining under public ownership – generating further savings for the NHS, all of which will continue to be reinvested in frontline services.