Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much financial borrowing has been enabled by NHS trusts due to their foundation trust status in the past five years.

We do not hold a comprehensive breakdown of National Health Service foundation trusts (FTs) borrowing from commercial lenders, so it is not possible to answer the specific question asked.

However, the Department provides financing for FTs in the form of Public Dividend Capital at 3.5% dividend rate and loans at interest rates at below market rates.

The lower costs and lower risks, for example terms relating to default of commercial borrowing, of obtaining finance from the Department has meant that commercial borrowing has not been typically needed.