Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ICBs have had to pause NHS services provided by independent healthcare providers during 2024-25.

In January 2025, the National Health Service and the independent sector established a partnership agreement, the first of its kind for 25 years, setting out how we will work together to reduce the elective care waiting list.

NHS England manages the Department’s relationships with the integrated care boards (ICBs) and, where appropriate, local systems on the use of independent sector capacity to support delivery of NHS care.

Commissioning decisions are for ICBs to make, who have a duty to arrange health services for the patients they are responsible for in a way which promotes the NHS Constitution.

ICBs are expected to live within their allocations while continuing to use spare independent sector capacity to meet elective targets. Independent sector providers deliver services agreed in contracts with ICBs, progressing priorities set out in planning guidance, including an improvement in elective waiting time performance.

Data on how many ICBs have had to pause NHS services or cancel operations scheduled by independent healthcare providers during 2024/25 is not held centrally by the Department.