Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the equality impact assessment Health Bill: ICBs as strategic commissioners, published on 14 May, what mechanisms they intend to use to ensure enhanced oversight of Integrated Care Board specialised commissioning.

Subject to the passage of the Health Bill, specialised services commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs) will continue to operate within a framework of nationally-set standards, service specifications, and clinical commissioning policies to ensure consistent and equitable access to care across England.

Alongside ICB accountability for commissioning these services, the Department, through its new regional offices, will be responsible for providing oversight and assurance of both the commissioning system and the quality and performance of providers. This will include monitoring against national standards and quality and outcome metrics for different services.

In addition, ICBs will be supported in discharging their new commissioning responsibilities through seven Offices for Pan-ICB Commissioning, which aim to ensure that we maintain a critical mass of expert commissioning knowledge and the capability necessary for the effective and efficient commissioning of these important and complex areas of service provision.