Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of loans to NHS Trusts in financial difficulty at the end of the current financial year.

The National Health Service is funded through the NHS funding settlement for finance costs on loans drawn from the Department. Individual trusts are, therefore, expected to finance loan repayments from either their internal resources or surplus cash generated from operating activities. Those cash reserves are ultimately financed by the NHS funding settlement.

Loans are provided to trusts from the Department’s own cash limit set as part of HM Treasury Parliamentary Supply Estimates that are presented to and voted upon by Parliament. The NHS is expected to achieve financial balance within the figures set out in the NHS Funding Bill and that includes covering any deficits associated with loans that have been provided.

As explained in the NHS planning guidance dated January 2020, we are considering whether reforms to the cash regime might be appropriate and will provide further detail on this ahead of 2020-21. The following table shows loans issued to trusts in difficulty in the current financial year until 31 December 2019.