Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expand health service capacity in areas of expected high population growth.

The allocation of funding to local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a set of funding formulae. This formula is based on an assessment of factors such as demography, morbidity, deprivation, and the cost of providing services in different areas.

The populations used in the funding formula for each CCG are projected forward at CCG level for each year 2016-17 to 2020-21, based on Office for National Statistics’ population projections.

In 2016, NHS England also established a national Demand and Capacity programme to support the NHS to better understand demand and plan sufficient capacity, so that patients do not wait unnecessarily for treatment. The programme is jointly sponsored by NHS England and NHS Improvement.